~*~

Chapter XIII

“Where did you come from, angel?”

2월 18일

Quick, confusing snatches of reality poked through the haze of fog surrounding his mind.

Blue and red lights reflected off of everything, swirling around him in patterns.

Soft hands jabbed something into his hand and a cold liquid seeped through his veins.

A voice was calling to him in a haunting tune of a lullaby, a gentle soft voice helping him keep moving forwards.

The air he was breathing felt too thick, sharp and too clean on his tounge, but it felt good.

The blue and white lights were replaced by sharp white lights, flashing above him in a pattern, not longer bluring in his eyes.

Someone was calling his name, filled with worry and love.

Then it was dark.

~*~

Sunggyu fumbled with his phone as it started to ring.  It was late, and he was trying to get to sleep.

Sungjong, in the other bed across the room, was already sleeping as were the other members in the dorm, but with the consistant ringinig of the phone, Sungjong rolled over in the bed and glared at Sunggyu with one eye open. 

“Answer the phone already…” Sungjong half muttered, still mostly asleep.

Sunggyu glared back at him half-heartedly.  If they were more awake, he would’ve scolded Sungjong for skipping the honourfics, but he knew both of them were too tired and too groggy to care about anything but sleep.  When they were only half awake was the only time that they let the honourfics slide, Infinite knew that the other members needed their sleep and it wasn’t worth the argument if they knew that the honourfics would come back when they needed. 

Sunggyu’s phone kept on ringing, just out of reach from Sunggyu’s fumbling fingers.  Finally, his hand found his phone and he quickly brought it up to his ear.

“Yeobeseyo?” Sunggyu answered the phone, still only half awake, hoping that it wasn’t Weekly Idol hosts again, asking him some ridiculous question or giving him another ridiculous award even though his half asleep mind rationalized that they wouldn’t be filming Weekly Idol at 5am in the morning.

“Sunggyu…” Moonsoo’s soft voice reached his ears.

Sunggyu sat up in bed, now wide awake.  “Is it Myungsoo?”

He prayed hard for the answer to be anything, but the dreaded syllable. Sungjong was sitting up in bed, watching him carefully.

“Yes.  He’s in the hospital again.  He was having chest pains, and he… he passed out.”

“We’ll be there as soon as we’re all ready,” Sunggyu said.

“Wait, Sunggyu-hyung.  We might not hear news for a long time and it’s late so stay there and get some sleep and I’ll call you when we hear news.”

“I’m not sitting here on my while Myungsoo is in the hospital.  I’m coming to the hospital,” Sunggyu said indignantly, throwing back his covers and jumping out of his bed.

“Me too,” Sungjong added from across the room, already grabbing a bunnyhug and sweats to throw over his pajamas.

“Su-”

Sunggyu hung up, already halfway out the door, grabbing his jacket and another pair of pants as he went.  “Come on, Sungjong, let’s go.”

~*~

Sungjong and Sunggyu had arrived at the hospital in record time, coming to wait with Myungsoo’s family.  Sunggyu had left a note on the fridge for the other members telling them where they were and what happened, but not to come to the hospital until they knew anything.  They managed to convince the Kim family to leave to get a shower and get some food, leaving only Sungjong, Sunggyu and their manager, Hyoan.

Sunggyu had quietly excused himself to the washroom for a few seconds and Hyoan had gone to pick up a few phone calls.

And Sungjong was left alone, praying.  When he was growing up, he went to church, but after he joined Woollim, he didn’t have the time to go as often as he would’ve liked to.  He pressed his hands together, his lips moving in a silent prayer.

Any blessing you were to give me, bestow them apon Myungsoo instead.  He has never done anything to deserve this.  Look after Myungsoo, please, let him come home to us.  Let him stay here with us.  Send him a guardian angel.  If you’re going to take him away, if you must take him away, take him away peacefully.  Please let us have him for a little while longer.

Bring him someone to help him…  don’t let him leave us.

He was jolted out of his thoughts as he heard footsteps approaching along with the sounds of an agrument.  Sungjong looked around and grinned as he saw his hyungs approaching him, arguing with each other.

“I thought I told you to stay at the dorm,” Sunggyu was saying as they got within earshot.

“Well, you ditched us first,” Sungyeol argued.

Sunggyu laughed and shook his head.  “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you,” he said, a tired smile on his lips.

Hoya smiled and sat down beside Sungjong.  “Is there any news?”

“Not yet,” he replied, shaking his head.

“No news is good news, right?” Dongwoo said, a smile forming on his lips.

Sungjong smiled at them as they sat down in the hard seats.  Maybe God had already answered his prayers, there were already 5 angels around him that Myungsoo was blessed with.

~*~

2월 24일

Water lapped at Myungsoo’s feet as he stood in the shallow waters of a beach, salt water ran over his feet and retreated right away.  Myungsoo wiggled his feet as sand tickled his toes and turned his face into the sea air.

There’s only been a few times that he’s been to a beach, a couple of times with his family when he was younger and that time that Infinite went down to Jeju to film their She’s Back PV.

But he liked the sea, the fresh taste it gives, how nothing seems to matter in the waters…

They didn’t need to care much when they were in the waters.  The camera director encouraged them to forget that the camera was rolling and just play in the water just like how they wanted to.  With the responsibility of being an idol was lifted off their shoulders, they felt nearly free. 

He closed his eyes, water rushed around him, cradling him in its capable hands.  Capable of caring for him or destroying him.

Water rushed up over his face, suffocating him, drowning…

“Myungsoo, breath… just breath through it… in and out…”

A soft calming voice penerated his ears above the roaring of the waters.

“Myungsoo, can you open your eyes for me?”

Myungsoo struggled to open his eyes, fighting against the current of the roaring ocean.

Finally, he managed to open them to tiny slits.

Someone strange hovered over him.  He nearly flinched away as a hand came closer.  Myungsoo closed his eyes, willing the stranger to go away.  As he reopened his eyes, someone was leaning over him.  A beautiful someone.

He reached out to touch it…

A soft hand reached out and captured his hand.

“Myungsoo, can you hear me?  Could you answer me?”

He opened his mouth slowly, willing the syllables to come.

“…c…chu…n…s…sa…”

The world blurred out of focus and he found himself floating down towards the bottom…

One last thought went through his mind as he lost himself to the darkness.

Where did you come from, angel?

~*~

It was Sungyeol’s turn to wait.

It was all of their turns to wait.

Waiting to see if Myungsoo would be strong enough to live to see the next day.

It was Myungsoo’s turn to fight.

Sungyeol sighed.  Myungsoo’s mother was on Myungsoo’s other side, quietly talking to him. 

Sungyeol smiled softly.  Myungsoo’s mother was always beside Myungsoo, she was always was there holding his hand or quietly talking to him.  When he was first diagnosed, Myungsoo’s mother was right there beside him every step of the way.   When he saw Myungsoo with his mother, he always missed his mother as well. 

Every single day was harder and harder.  He missed the days that were easier, though they were hard, they were easier than now. 

11월 25일

Myungsoo was sleeping when Sungyeol knocked on the door so Sungyeol let himself in.  Myungsoo was sleeping sitting up against the back of his bed, his arm had a IV line in the crook of his elbow, but he stirred and opened his eyes as Sungyeol walked in. 

“Hey, Sungyeollie,” Myungsoo said quietly, stretching out his limbs. 

“Hey, yourself,” Sungyeol said, sitting down in the chair.  “Are you okay?”

Myungsoo sighed, wincing a little as the needle tugged at his skin.  “I’m cold.  It’s a side effect from the chemo, but I’m so cold….”

“Do you want me to get you another blanket?”  Sungyeol asked. 

“No, it’s okay,” Myungsoo said, crossing his arms over his chest.  “It’s only just my hands.”

Sungyeol took his hands and rubbed them, sharing his warmth with him.  “Better?”

Myungsoo nodded, smiling a bit.  “Better.”

Sungyeol gently blew on his hands before letting them go.  “I’ll bring mittens next time so your hands aren’t that cold.”

“How did the audition go?” Myungsoo asked.  A few days ago, Sungyeol had asked Myungsoo to help him for his audition for a mecial drama. Sungyeol had told him that it was a good role, if he got it, it would be a great break-through in his acting career.  “Have they called you back?”

“It went well,” Sungyeol said.  “They called me back and they wanted to give me the lead role.”

“Really?  That’s great!” Myungsoo grinned. 

“I refused.”

Myungsoo stared at him as if he was crazy, which Sungyeol might have been out of his mind.  “Why did you refuse the role?” Myungsoo asked, totally confused. 

“Because it reminds me about you,” Sungyeol said quietly.  “I’m supposed to be a doctor in the hospital and it just reminds me that you’re in the hospital and I don’t think that I can do a whole TV show with that burden on my shoulders.”

Myungsoo frowned, as if he was trying to figure something out.  “Sungyeol, why don’t you think that if you take this role, you’ll be finding a cure for me?”

“Because that won’t happen,” Sungyeol said.  “Anyways, I already talked to the directors and Daeyeol’s getting the role instead.”

“Are you sure?” Myungsoo asked, playing with his hands.  “It would’ve been good for you, then you could’ve gotten more roles in the future, this could’ve been a breakthrough role for you.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sungyeol said, waving his hand.  “As long as I’ll succeed with Infinite, with you, I don’t care about my acting.”

Myungsoo raised his eyebrow.  “You know there’s always life outside of Infinite.”

“Of course I know,” Sungyeol said.  “But if I think too much about a life outside of Infinite, it reminds me when I didn’t have Infinite and I was just another boy with dreams to make it big, but with no where to go.  I was always hoping that I would get a break-through role soon and I would become a big actor.” 

Myungsoo smiled happily, reaching out to take Sungyeol’s hand.  “I hope that you’ll find your break-through role then soon.”

Sungyeol gave him a small smile in return.  “Infinite was my break.  That’s my break-through role, one that’s going to last me forever.  I’ll always be Infinite’s Lee Sungyeol.”

Sungyeol sighed, watching Myungsoo closely.  “I should’ve took that role,” Sungyeol whispered.  “Even if I was pretending, I could’ve pretended that I found a cure for you and that you weren’t like this right now.”

“I said that Infinite was my break-through role, and I would always be Infinite’s Lee Sungyeol.  Will you always be Infinite’s L, Infinite’s Kim Myungsoo with me?”

Like for the past few days, Myungsoo didn’t answer, only the constant beeping of the machines. 

Sungyeol rubbed his hand over his face as he remembered the what Dr. Song had said a few days ago when Myungsoo had frist arrived at the hospital. 

“The tumor was pressing against one of Myungsoo’s airways, causing him to have troubles breathing.  Due to the pain and lack of fresh oxygen, Myungsoo fainted.  We removed the tumor that I mentioned earlier.  When Myungsoo wakes up, I think it will be best if we start him with radiotherapy.  If he takes the radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy well, his chances for survival might go up.”

“You better take this chance for survival,” Sungyeol whispered, looking down at the bed sheets.  “I need you…”

Sungyeol’s head jerked up as the machines next to Myungsoo’s bed started to beep.

He looked up at Myungsoo’s face, his eyelids were twitching and his face was flushed.  Myungsoo tossed in the bed, his arm ripping from Sungyeol’s hand to claw at his chest.

“Sungyeol!  Get a doctor!” Myungsoo’s mother ordered.

Sungyeol shot up and rushed out of the door.  “Nurse!  Nurse!  Doctor!” Sungyeol yelled.  “Help!”

A nurse rushed over and ran past him into Myungsoo’s room.

“Please step outside as I help Myungsoo-ssi,” she gently pushed him and Myungsoo’s mother outside.  “I need help in here!” she yelled and a rush of nurses and orderlies ran into Myungsoo’s room.  Sungyeol watched as the nurses drew the curtian over Myungsoo’s window, blocking them out of the room. 

Sungyeol wrapped his arm around her shoulder as she started to cry.

“He’s going to be okay,” Sungyeol said quietly.  “He’s strong, he’ll make it through.”

She smiled at Sungyeol and wipped her eyes.  “Thank you, Sungyeol, for being here for my son.”

Sungyeol tried to smile.  “There’s no where else I would rather be.”

The two sat down on the chairs across from Myungsoo’s room.  Sungyeol pulled out his phone and was about to call Sunggyu as the nurse came outside again, followed by the group of nurses.  Sungyeol stood up with Myungsoo’s mother, looking to the lead nurse for more information. 

“He’s okay.  He’s not very aware, but he’s awake.  You may go in now,” she said.  “His lungs were flooding, we drained the liquid in his lungs so that he could breathe again.  He’ll be okay.”

“Thank you,” Sungyeol bowed to her as Myungsoo’s mother entered the room again.  “Thank you so much.”

He walked back into the room and stood by Myungsoo’s bed.  His eyes were closed, his mother was already by his side, whispering to him. 

Sungyeol sat down in his chair again and took Myungsoo’s hand in his. 

“Hey, Myungsoo.  Thank you for being strong,” Sungyeol whispered.  He leaned closer, and whispered in his ear, “Wake up please...” 

He sat back in the chair, waiting for Myungsoo to wake up.

 Few hours later, Sungyeol was still there, Myungsoo’s mother had fallen asleep, still holding Myungsoo’s hand tightly.  Myungsoo’s eyes fluttered open.  

“Myungsoo?” Sungyeol asked, leaning over into Myungsoo’s field of vision.  Myungsoo let out a shaky breath, his eyes finally focusing on Sungeol.  His hand reached up weakly towards him.

Sungyeol captured his hand and lowered it down again.

“Myungsoo, can you hear me?  Could you answer me?” he asked again.

Myungsoo’s mouth opened and closed a few times.  Sungyeol leaned down so his ear was near Myungsoo’s mouth to hear what he was saying. 

“…c…chu…n…s…za…” Myungsoo’s voice was faint an whispery, but it was a voice of an…

“천사?” Sungyeol asked.  “What do you mean, Myungsoo?”

But Myungsoo was already asleep. 

~*~

2월 27일

He was falling… falling…

Myungsoo felt like he was falling, he wanted to thrash around to find something to hold onto, he wanted to scream for someone to save him, but he could only helplessly fall through open air. 

Suddenly, Myungsoo hit the ground, driving the breath out of him.  He lay there disorietoriented for a moment.  Myungsoo slowly blinked open his eyes.  He tried to move his body to find out where he was and who he was with.

He couldn’t move his body, his limbs were leadened and heavy.

He was alone…

Umma?  Abeoji?  Moonsoo?  Sunggyu-hyung?  Dongwoo-hyung?  Hoya?  Woohyun-hyung?  Sungjong-ah?  Where are you?

He couldn’t call out.  Nobody could hear him.

He closed his eyes and tears dripped out of the corner of his eyes.  Nobody was there.

He was alone…

“Myungsoo?  Myungsoo-yah?  Why are you crying?”

Myungsoo opened his eyes again, there was someone standing above him.

“Myungsoo?”

The voice faded in and out as it called his name.

He raised his hand shakily, reaching for the angel…

A soft hand captured his hand and lowered back down to his side again.

“Myungsoo, you’re crying.  Why are you crying?”

He wanted to ask him where he came from, if he was leaving, if he was going to leave with him.  Myungsoo struggled to make a sound leave his lips, uselessly opening and closing his mouth a few times before a few strained syllables left his lips. 

“Ch… he…ns…ah…”

“Myungsoo… why do you keep calling me chunsa?  It’s Sungyeol.”

Sungyeol’s fingers brushed over his cheek, his thumb gently wipping away his tears.

“Myungsoo, don’t cry…”

Myungsoo blinked again, feeling tears falling down his face again.

He wasn’t alone…

“He isn’t responding to me and he’s crying.  I’m not sure if he’s in pain or not.”

Sungyeol stepped out of Myungsoo’s field of vision and a pretty lady appeared. Even though he could see the nurse in front of him, he never felt more alone. 

“Hey, Myungsoo, I’m going to go call your mom.  She’s at home so she’ll be here in ten minutes, don’t worry.”

Sungyeol’s voice faded away again and he was alone…

He was never so sure about the time that had passed while he was unconsious, but he always knew it was more time than he wanted.  Myungsoo wanted nother more than to spend the time he had left with Infinite and his family, but as he spent more and more time alone in the darkness. 

He was too tired of being alone.  He summoned the strength and pushed himself up to his elbows.

“Myungsoo!  What are you doing?”

Sungyeol was pushing him down against the bed again.  Sungyeol pulled the blanket over Myungsoo again, brushing his hair back. 

“You shouldn’t over exert yourself.”

Myungsoo grabbed onto the front of Sungyeol’s t-shirt and didn’t let go, holding onto him tightly.

Holding onto his angel so he wouldn’t be alone.

A soft hand was brushing his face, wipping away his tears and smoothing down his hair.

“I’m right here, Myungsoo, I’m not going to leave you.”

Myungsoo relaxed in Sungyeol’s arms.

He was no longer alone.

Sungyeol’s warm arms wrapped around Myungsoo, holding him just as tightly.  Myungsoo smiled softly, burying his face closer to Sungyeol.

“Don’t leave me, Myungsoo-yah… I’ll be your angel, but don’t you become a true angel yet.  Do you hear me?  Just stay here with me, I’ll stay here with you, it’ll all be okay.”

I want to fly up to the ends of the heavens

Hug the breeze in the air,

And whisper with the winged angels.

~*~

11월 4일

Myungsoo held his hands in his lap tightly, waiting for the others to arrive at the hospital, he had asked Jungryul to bring them as soon as their schedules were done for the day.  He needed to tell Infinite that he was diagnosed with cancer. 

He had told the CEO earlier that day, and Jungyeop had immediately told him that he would put Myungsoo on sick leave until he was better.  Myungsoo nearly went to protest, but Myungsoo’s mother who was with him thanked the CEO so sincerely that Myungsoo snapped his mouth shut. 

Myungsoo wanted to promote with the other members, but he knew his body wouldn’t be well enough to do all of the promotions he wanted to do. 

Sighing, Myungsoo struggled to sit up in the bed, pulling the IV closer to his body. 

“Hyuuuuuuuuuuuung!” Sungjong burst into the room happily.  “We’re here!”

Myungsoo held a hand to his chest to calm his racing heart.  “Sungjong, why did you do that?”

Sungyeol came into Myungsoo’s room, just as happy as Sungjong.  “Hey, Myungsoo-yah!  Doing better today?”

“Guys!  Don’t go so fast!” Dongwoo followed them into the room.  “And don’t be so loud, we can hear you from the end of the hallway.”

Woohyun, Sunggyu and Hoya followed him into the room, all of them laughing. 

“Guess what, Myungsoo-yah!” Woohyun said happily, holding something behind his back.  “Guess what?”

Myungsoo started to laugh, guessing what Woohyun was holding behind his back.  “I don’t know, hyung, what is it?” he asked, following with Woohyun’s game. 

“First place!” they all yelled at the same time, Woohyun waved the trophy in the air.  “First place!”

Myungsoo grinned and hugged Sungyeol back who was hugging him tightly.  “That’s great!”

About a hour of fooling around later, Jungryul came back to the hospital for Infinite.  “Boys!  We need to go now,” Jungryul said. 

They all stood up, groaning and sighing.  “See you tomorrow, Myungsoo, sleep well,” Sunggyu said. 

Myungsoo nodded as they all started to leave the room, but called out to them before they left.  “Hey, guys.  I’m switching rooms.  The doctors diagnosed me and I’m changing wards to a more speciallized one.”  

“Where’s your new room?” Sungyeol asked. 

“I’m not sure, I’ll text you the new room number later,” Myungsoo said, trying not to meet their eyes, knowing that he would start crying it he did. 

“Okay,” Woohyun grinned.  “See you tomorrow, Myungsoo!”

Myungsoo waved as they left the room, but as soon as they wre far enough away, he let out a silent scream and kicked the air in frustration. 

How was he supposed to break it to Infinite that he was going to die?  How was he supposed to break their happiness? 

~*~

11월 5일

Sungyeol looked down at the text message that Myungsoo had sent him earlier with his room number. 

“416,” he said to Sungjong who pushed the button for the 4^th floor. 

“What’s on the forth floor?” Woohyun asked as the elevator made its way up. 

“I’m not sure,” Sungjong said as the doors slid open. 

Their question was answered as they saw the ward sign across the hall from the elevator. 

“Oncology?  What’s that?” Dongwoo asked innocently. 

“That’s… cancer?”

Sungyeol took one look at the room numbers and hurried into Myungsoo’s room. 

“Myungsoo-yah?” he called out as he entered Myungsoo's room. 

Myungsoo was sitting in his bed when Sungyeol and the other five followed him into Myungsoo's room.  He gave him a shaky smile as he read the concern on their faces.  “I’m sorry…”

“But… you didn’t tell us?” Sunggyu said quietly. 

Myungsoo nodded slowly, biting his lower lip.  “Sorry…” he mumbled, tears filling his eyes. 

“What…”

Myungsoo removed his hand as Sungyeol tried to hold his hand.  “The doctors don’t know how much longer I have to live.”

“But you’re still going to live?” Sungjong asked, tears in his eyes too.  

He looked down.  “We… I don’t know…”

“What kind of cancer is it?”

He didn’t make eye contact with him.  “The tumor is in my lungs,” he whispered as if whispering the words would make it not true.  “It’s lung cancer.” The tears fell down Myungsoo’s as he finally told the other members the news.  “I’m sorry,” he whispered again. 

Sungyeol knelt down in font of Myungsoo, holding Myungsoo’s face in his hands.  Myungsoo avoided his gaze, trying to look anywhere else as Sungyeol kept his face in his hands.  Sungyeol wanted to cry as he saw Myungsoo’s expression, it was so lost and scared.  “Myungsoo, don’t apologize,” Sungyeol begged, hating how the tears were staining his best friend’s face.  “We’re sorry that we didn’t try to help you earlier…”

Myungsoo tried to smile at him, tears still falling down his cheeks.  “I’m sorry…  I don’t want to die, I’m giong to do everything so that I can stay with you.  I promise.”

“We’ll stay with you every step of the way.”

With tears still falling down his cheeks, Myungsoo nodded. “I’m sorry…”

~*~

2월 27일

“I’m sorry too, Myungsoo…” Sungyeol whispered as he held Myungsoo closer to him, nearly hearin the echo of Myungsoo's apology as he waited for Myungsoo to wake up.  Myungsoo was curled up against Sungyeol, his hand crushing Sungyeol’s jacket in his fist and faint streaks of tears stained his face.

Sungyeol looked up as Myungsoo’s mother rushed into Myungsoo’s room. He raised his finger to his lips.  Myungsoo’s mother walked over to his side, looking down at sleeping Myungsoo.

 “Is he okay?” Myungsoo’s mother ran her fingers through Myungsoo’s tangled hair.

Sungyeol nodded.  “After a little while he calmed down again,”  Sungyeol sighed and looked back down at Myungsoo.  “He’s going to be okay, the nurse said that she’ll call the doctor and maybe he would need some more tests later, but for now he just needs rest.”

He shifted slightly on the bed.  Myungsoo’s face disolved into a scowl and he snuggled against Sungyeol’s chest again.

Myungsoo’s fragile voice calling him ‘chunsa’ echoed in his ears.  Sungyeol reached down and took Myungsoo’s hand in his.  He still didn’t know why Myungsoo was crying, it hurt him so bad.

After stepping out a to call Myungsoo’s mother and talking briefly with the nurse, he came back into the room and found Myungsoo trying to push himself onto his elbows.

Sungyeol rushed to stop Myungsoo.  As he scolded him for trying to get up, Myungsoo, grabbed onto the front of Sungyeol’s jacket and he didn’t let go.  Sungyeol felt tears drip down his checks as he combed Myungsoo’s hair and wipped his cheeks.

“I’m right here, Myungsoo, I’m not leaving you.”

As if Myungsoo would let him go any time soon.

Sungyeol started singing to him softly until he fell back asleep.

“Do you want me to wait with Myungsoo?” his mother asked.

Sungyeol smiled, knowing that Myungsoo’s mother wasn’t asking if he wanted to but she needed her son with her.  He tried to put Myungsoo back down on the bed, but he gripped tighter onto Sungyeol’s t-shirt, pulling Sungyeol down again.

“Myungsoo-yah…” Sungyeol whispered in his ear.  “Myungsoo, you’re mother’s here.” 

Myungsoo didn’t reply, but his grip on Sungyeol’s shirt relaxed, Sungyeol gently slid his shirt out of his grip and stepped back and let Myungsoo’s mother sit with Myungsoo.  Myungsoo scowled in his sleep, shifting around before sighing and snuggling against his mother again.

Sungyeol smiled and sat down in his chair.

While watching Myungsoo with his mother, he started to miss his mother more.

“I’ll be back later,” Sungyeol said to Myungsoo’s mother.  “Take care of Myungsoo.”

“Sungyeol, I’ll always take care of my son,” she replied softly, brushing Myungsoo’s brow with her fingers.

Sungyeol smiled and nodded, turning to leave the room.

“Sungyeol-ah?”

He turned back as she called out again.

“My sons includes you, too.”

Sungyeol blushed and returned to hug her.  “Thank you.  You take care of all of us.  Myungsoo loves you so much.”

She smiled and patted his hand.  “My son needs to tell that to me himself soon.”

~*~

Sungyeol stepped out of the taxi after paying and thanking the driver quickly.  He hurried over to a small resturant by the station.  The door rang happily as he opened the door.

“Welcome,” a female waitress greeted him. “Oh!  Sungyeol-ssi!”

Sungyeol smiled at the waitress and bowed to her.  He didn’t know her personally, but he figured that because she worked here, she would know who he was. “Hello, is my mother or father here today?”

“Yes.  I believe that your mother’s in the office,” she said, pointing to the back of the resturant.

“Thank you,” Sungyeol said, bowing to her again and hurrying to the back of the restaurant.

He knocked on the door and waited until his mother’s voice called out from behind the door.  “Come in.”

Sungyeol opened the door and smiled at his mother.  “Hi, Umma.”

“Sungyeol!” his mother hurried around her desk and hugged him warmly, the feelings of childhood security flooded over him again and he felt so safe, like nothing could touch him.  “How have you been?”

“Okay,”  Sungyeol said, smiling into her shoulder before letting go so that she could look him over to make sure for herself.

“Have you been eating enough?” she questioned.  “I can get something from the kitchen for you.”

“It’s okay,” Sungyeol said, as his stomach gave out a loud grumble at the mention of food.

“Aigoo.” Sungyeol’s mother patted his cheek and lead the way out of her office.  “Let’s go eat, I’ll make you something good to eat.”

Sungyeol grinned and followed her.  As his mother fussed over him, happy to see her son again, for a moment, he nearly forgot that his best friend was at the hospital, so weak and so small.  For a moment, he felt like there was nothing wrong and his mother could heal anything that he needed.

Because that’s the power of a mother’s love. 

Hello! 

MyungYeol for everyone!  Yay!  

Funny story of my week:  In math, we decided to learn how to count to ten in as many different languages we could within our classmates, so we got English and French as a whole class, I know it in Japanese, then my other classmates could say it in Spanish, German, Cantonese, Russian, Punjabi and Arabic.  Our teacher said that because we're counting to ten, let's say it in 10 languages, so nobody had any other, so I started to say it in Korean.  So I was saying, "일, 이, 삼, 사, 오..." and I was trying to remember 6, someone yelled out "OPPAN GANGNAM STYLE!"

Please upvote, subscribe and comment!  Thank you!! I love you all!