Trigger warning!!!

Word Count: ~1.3 k

Luhan got the call from the hospital just as he had gotten into the shower so he ignored it. He remembered the water feeling so warm that he would have liked to stay in there forever. Unfortunately, that was not an option.  Five minutes after the call from the hospital, he got a call from Yixing, which was slightly annoying so he ignored that one too. Yixing could wait until Luhan was finished with his shower. When Luhan didn’t pick up then either, the younger began to send frantic texts, a surprising occurrence considering how laid-back Yixing was for the most part. Luan knew something was wrong so he popped out of the shower with a few remaining suds in his hair.

He picked up the iphone resting on the vanity to see twenty new messages from Yixing and two missed calls. The texts were variants of “pick up your phone now,” and  “this is an emergency I need to talk to you right away.” The most recent text was in all capital letters, “WHERE ARE YOU AND WHY AREN’T YOU PICKING UP YOUR PHONE!?” Luhan scanned the texts quickly before dialling his friend’s number. The phone didn’t even get through the first ring before the younger picked up the phone.

Yixing was screaming some garbled language that was a cross between Chinese and Korean as he tried to tell Luhan what had happened. From the mess of language, the older managed to pick out words such as, “car accident,” “critical condition,” and “Sehun and Jongin.” There was a clatter on the ground as the colour drained from Luhan’s face. He could hear Yixing screaming frantically into the phone wondering what had happened. Faster than anyone would believe to be possible, Luhan had vaguely dried his hair and gotten to some semblance of dressed, all the while Yixing yelling into the phone that had fallen to the ground. After the few minutes it took for Luhan to get ready he remembered that he was having a conversation with Yixing.

He stooped to pick up the phone. Yixing’s voice was past hysteria by this point and his speaking was getting worse by the second. “I’m here. I’ll be at the hospital in five minutes,” Luhan replied, breathing quickly from running around his room. He could hear his pulse in his ears almost too loudly to hear his friend.

Luhan asked at the front desk as calmly as he possibly could where Sehun and Jongin were but even he could hear the quivering desperation in his voice. The nurse’s expression darkened as Luhan explained to that he was a friend of the patient. The nurse nodded solemnly before leading Luhan down sickeningly bright hallways stinking of antiseptic and medication. He could vaguely hear the beeping of various machines that monitor vitals and other such things.

When Luhan came to ICU, his world came to a jarring halt. He saw surgeons and doctors darting back and forth trying to do damage control as best they could and fix Jongin and the university student felt sick. He ran to the nearest waste bin and emptied his stomach into it. His vision swam as he coughed. Soon he could feel a familiar and reassuring hand on his back.

“Are you feeling better now?” inquired a familiar voice, or at least that’s what Luhan thought he said. Yixing’s accent sounded even less intelligible than usual and the stuffed nose from presumed crying didn’t help make his words any clearer. Words would not come to Luhan so he merely nodded as he tried to blink away the tears in his eyes. As hard as he tried, saline ended up dripping from his eyes.

“Sehun is okay for the most part. He just hit his head,” Yixing mumbled. When Luhan could finally turn and face him, he saw that Yixing’s face was as white as a sheet, save for eyes red from crying.

“Wh-what’s wrong with Jongin? I-is he ok-kay?” Luhan stammered weakly.

“Jongin got the brunt of it,” Yixing began slowly. He sounded much calmer than he had earlier on the phone. “He apparently has a lot of internal damage and the doctors aren’t sure what will happen. As it is, they’re trying to do as many repairs as possible but they,” he swallowed, “They still aren’t sure the extent of the damage and every time they fix one thing, a new problem arises.”  Luhan was fairly sure that if Yixing had any more tears left, they would be trickling from his eyes. He almost laughed bitterly thinking of Sehun chiding him for using such flowery language despite the situation.

Before he knew it, tears were streaming down his cheeks again. Yixing pulled him into a hug and Luhan cried into his chest, shoulders shaking violently with each sob. Luhan wanted to push his friend away and deny that he was distraught and barely functional but he didn’t have it in him. All he could do was cry and feel pathetic about it.

He wasn’t sure how long they stood like that with Luhan crying into Yixing’s chest but when his tears had finally dried up, there was a pleasant nurse standing politely to the side with a clipboard in hand.

“I-it’s okay, I’m fine,” he tried, although his voice sounded strained and his words somehow muffled, perhaps by his stuffed nose.

The nurse gave a sad smile before nodding and giving a quick evaluation. “Oh Sehun is stable and should make a good recovery, although we are not yet sure the effects of the head trauma,” she began. “We think that he should make a nice recovery.” She paused as she looked down at the clipboard and flipped the page. “Kim Jongin,” she read slowly, eyes scanning quickly over the notes in a messy surgeon’s scrawl. “He is now stable. The surgeon repaired all of the internal damage we could find.” She paused to look over more notes. “For now, he is in a coma. Head trauma is not as severe as Oh Sehun’s but there was a good deal of bleeding.” Yixing was holding his breath as he listened to the medical evaluation. He clasped his hands to keep them from trembling too much. The nurse took a deep breath before she finally continued. “As of yet, we are not sure whether he will make a full recovery. For now, all we can do is monitor his condition and see whether it worsens.” It was Yixing, this time, who looked as if he were about to be sick. “We will be keeping Kim Jongin in intensive care, but Oh Sehun is stable enough to be moved to a room.”

All Yixing could do was nod, so Luhan spoke for him. “Thank you Miss,” he mumbled. She looked like she wanted to say something else but in the end decided against it, instead turning and walking down the hallway.

Moments later, Sehun was pushed out of the operating room in a hospital bed.  A new nurse was escorting the patient. “Are you two relatives or acquaintances of the patient?”  he asked politely. Luhan nodded. “Then you two can follow me to his room.”

“Visiting hours last until seven, but I think that I can convince the hospital to allow you to stay overnight in the event you wish to stay with the patient,” the nurse said helpfully.

“Understood,” Luhan murmured. The nurse bobbed his head before excusing himself from the room. Luhan pulled up a chair next to Sehun’s bed and put his hand on Sehun’s pale one. Yixing took a chair against the wall.

--

Luhan finished his story ambiguously after avoiding most details of the diagnosis. “Jongin hasn’t woken up as of yet but he is,” he paused, “stable.” That was a lie. 

A/N: Now you know about Jongin. I hope it didn't hurt too much. Time ticks on and we will be staying in the present for the most part from now on. Thank you to my readers for their support! I hope no one had too much trouble reading this!