The Twentieth Chapter

The incessant knocking and the door bell ringing on his front door woke Sehun up that morning. He groaned and covered his face with a pillow to drown the sounds away. He had only been sleeping for a few hours so his head was pounding. It was almost dawn when he left the hospital where Daesom was. She suffered from chest pains all night so he stayed there with her until she was able to sleep.

The knocking and ringing finally stopped after a few minutes and Sehun muttered thanks to the heavens. Whoever it was, it was a relief that they decided to leave because his head still felt heavy. He was about to get back to sleep when his bedroom door burst open.

“Sehun! Are you still alive, Sehun?!” Chanyeol rushed to this side and pried away the pillow from his face.

Sehun shot his taller friend a glare. “Of course I’m still alive. What the hell are you doing here?” He grumbled as he sat up from bed. , his head was still aching.

Jongin stepped inside the room with a rather calm look on his face. He sighed. “I told you not to panic, Chanyeol.” He turned to Sehun. “I hope you don’t mind if we just barged in. You were not answering the door so we took the liberty to get in.”

“You’ve been absent from school for days.” Chanyeol started with a worried tone. “The last time you were seen in school was when Daesom’s friends gave you her sketchbook. We thought something happened to you. You know, like how you acted before after Sae Hee.”

Sehun looked at his friends. Chanyeol still looked panicky while Jongin, despite looking calm, still had that worried look on his eyes. All these years, they’re still the same. Looking after and fussing over him even though he had always pushed them away. “I’m fine. Sorry if I didn’t contact you guys.”

“When did you ever?” Chanyeol muttered sulkily.

Sehun just sighed. “I found Daesom.”

Shock was written all over their features because of Sehun’s announcement. “For real?!” Chanyeol looked quite incredulous.

“Where did you find her? What happened?” Jongin asked.

Sehun began to tell them everything; from that afternoon when he went to Luhan’s law firm, when Kris picked him up, Daesom’s sickness and her brother. His friends looked quite shaken with the news; Chanyeol’s eyes grew even wider as he listened in the story with his mouth gaping open.

“Daesom.. Daesom’s sick? And the doctor said she doesn’t have much time left.” Chanyeol repeated Sehun’s words, seeming like he didn’t want to believe it. “This.. can’t be true, right?”

Sehun didn’t answer. Up ‘til now, he refused to believe it, too. Chanyeol suddenly stood up. “I think I’ll get some water from your kitchen.. and maybe something to eat.” His taller friend muttered absent-mindedly and walked outside of the room.

Jongin sat down at the side of Sehun’s bed. ”Chanyeol liked Daesom before and also likes her for you. This is too much to take in, even for me.” Jongin stared at him. “Are you alright?”

Sehun nodded weakly. “To be honest, I still can’t accept it but.. I really can’t do anything but stay at her side. She needs me right now so I wasn’t able to come back to school. I’m sorry if I made you guys worry.”

Jongin suddenly looked at him like he had grown two heads. “What?” Sehun asked.

His friend blinked at him, then shook his head lightly. “I think that’s the first time in years I heard you apologize. You’ve finally melted, huh?” Jongin grinned.

Sehun looked away, embarrassed. “What the heck are you saying?” He muttered.

Jongin chuckled shortly before wearing a solemn face. “But you know, for a second there I was worried you might go back to the way you were before, that time after your parents died and Sae Hee left. But I can see that you’re handling it well right now; I’m glad.”

Sehun was now moving on from that part of his life all thanks to Daesom. She was all that mattered to him now so he won’t just give up and be that robot he was before. It made him think about his friends. “Jongin, why?”

Jongin got confused and furrowed his brows. “Why what?”

“You guys never gave up on me even though all I did before was pushing you away. To be honest, I didn’t understand you guys. Were you all just stubborn or plain stupid?”

Jongin burst out into a laugh, looking quite amused with Sehun’s question. “Maybe a little of both.” He directed his eyes at Sehun’s window, but Sehun knew that Jongin wasn’t staring at the snow falling outside but probably recalling the old times. “We’ve been friends ever since I can remember; more like brothers even. Of course we can’t just leave you alone. I have to admit that we thought of just leaving you like how you were making us to do but both Chanyeol and I couldn’t bear to see you suffering alone. We’re not like those people who left.”

It was silent for awhile, both men trying to gather up their thoughts. After a while, Jongin spoke again. “But it’s not just because of that long period of friendship. It was also because I know that if I was the one on your situation, you won’t give up on me, too. Friends don’t leave each other when they are in need; that’s the moment that they have to stay.”

No one spoke again but it was not of the bad kind of silence; it was rather comfortable. Sehun then realized that all these years while he was wallowing on misery and self-pity, he was never alone. Jongin and Chanyeol had always been there for him.

Chanyeol suddenly came inside with a tray of food that he probably got inside Sehun’s refrigerator. “You two done with your heart-to-heart talk?” There was a teasing yet small smile on his face and Sehun was relieved that his friend had somewhat calmed down from the news.

“Just shut up and put that here so we can eat.” Jongin told him with a grin.

“Thank you.” Sehun spoke in a barely audible voice but his two friends still heard it. They both gave him a smile and he embarrassingly returned it before they started to eat breakfast together.

-

“Are you ready?” Sehun asked.

“Well, I can’t do anything about it anyway. You already told them.” Daesom sighed. “Are they here now?”

“They’re already on their way.” He grabbed an orange from the fruit basket on Daesom’s bedside table and started peeling the skin off. “You know, I thought you’re going to go hysterical and yell at me for telling them about your condition.”

“I can’t really keep this a secret forever, can I?” Her fingers fidgeted on her blanket. “And I kind of miss them, too.” She mumbled, extremely embarrassed with her admission.

A smile crossed Sehun’s lips. Daesom was opening up more to him and it made him glad that she was not pushing him away anymore. He extended a hand towards to feed her the peeled orange. “Eat up.”

“I can eat on my own, you know. I’m not that fragile.” She complained but opened so he could feed her.

There was a knock on the door and they both turned to look at each other. “It’s probably them already.” Sehun said as he stood up from his chair. “I’ll just let –“ He felt Daesom’s hand clutching the back of his shirt. He pried her hand away and turned around to face her. She looked hesitant.

Sehun cupped her left cheek on his hand and gazed down at her. “It’s going to be alright.”

There was still uncertainty on her features but she nodded once. He started for the door, glanced at Daesom again, before he opened it. Standing before him were Jongin and Chanyeol, along with Daesom’s friends,