~*~

Chapter V

“He’s okay…”

10월 28일

Sunggyu took a deep breath as he opened the van door opened when they arrived at the hospital.  He knew what would be waiting for them: press.  The press always needed the lastest scoop.  As he stepped out of the car, there was a pack of cameras, flashing lights, microphones pressed up into his face.

Sunggyu pushed away the michrophones and cameras the best he could. He lead the way through the crowd to the front doors of the hospital, holding Woohyun, the first one behind him, close to him as he pushed his way through.

All of the reporters were demanding different answers from him.

“Kim Sunggyu, as the leader of Infinite, do you have anything to say?”

“Do you know what happened to L?”

“What happened today?”

“Lee Sungyeol, you yelled at a fan-”

Sunggyu swerved back and grabbed Sungyeol’s arm pulling him roughly along, trying his best to ignore the other reporters in the small stretch between the van and the hospital doors.

The silece in the hospital waiting room was nearly deafening as they hurried up to the front desk.

“We’re here for Kim Myungsoo,” Dongwoo said to the receptionist.

“Kim Myungsoo…” she mused as she looked at her computer.  “I’m sorry, you will need ID as his emergency contacts or family before I can give you information.”

“What?” Sungyeol nearly yelled.  “We’re all part of Infinite for god’s sake, what more do you need?”

Sunggyu silenced him with a hand on his arm and a harsh stare.  “Hyoan or Jungryul is on his emergency contacts, aren’t they?” he said rationally, looking hopefully at the two. 

Jungryul was already fishing out his ID and handing it to the nurse.  She checked it quickly and looked at the computer for a little longer before handing back his ID.  She smiled softly and sympathetically.  “He was brought in by ambulance thirty minutes ago, there’s no update on his condition.”

~*~

Myungsoo felt so tired.

Just so tired.  He just wanted to sleep and sleep and sleep.

But nothing would let him sleep.

There was a faint echo of sirens in the background, disturbing his sleep. Voices in the background vibrated through his bones.  

“The patient’s name is Kim Myungsoo.  Male, 22 years old.  Unresponsive after he collasped on stage.”  

The voices kept on echoing around him, fading into the background.  The cold started to seep into his bones, freezing him into place. 

He wanted to call out for someone, afraid that he was alone in that place.

A soft breeze whispered by him and he was whisked away.

Myungsoo smiled as he started to fly, high above the clouds where the cold couldn’t touch him, where the future and past didn’t matter. 

Suddenly, he was falling…

Falling…

~*~

Sungjong stepped into the cool hospital room.  They were allowed to see Myungsoo after a hour of waiting.  Myungsoo was in the same state he was when he collasped on stage.

Pale, not moving.

Sungjong reached over the various wires and touched his hand. “Myungsoo… wake up…”

But he didn’t.  Sungjong fought back the tears as he watched for any signs of Myungsoo waking up.  He studied his peaceful face, it didn’t look any different from when Myungsoo was sleeping peacefully in the dorms, that scared Sungjong so much.

“Please, hyung,” he whispered. “Wake up…”

Sunggyu patted his shoulder.  “Everyone, go home, okay?”

“No!” Woohyun said.  “Why would we go home?”

Sungyu sighed.  “All of us are not needed here, go home, I’ll stay with Myungsoo and I’ll call you if anything else changes.”

Sungjong looked down at the ground.  Everything that Sunggyu said was true and probably better for them, but he didn’t want to leave.

Dongwoo tugged at his arm.  “Come on, Sungjong.  Let’s go.”

Sungjong sighed.  He looked once more at Myungsoo.  He gently brushed Myungsoo’s cheek, taking off the smeared make up off the corner of his eye.  Sungjong let his hand linger once again on his cheek.  “Wake up soon, hyung,” he whispered.  “You need to wake up…”

~*~

Myungsoo felt very warm and safe.

There was a slight lightness in his chest, but other than that and the feeling that he had forgotten something, he felt okay.

Myungsoo heard someone knock on a door softly.  Next to him, there was some shuffling and a few seconds later, he heard a door open.

“Hello, Abeoji, Umma,” someone farmiliar said, Myungsoo couldn’t place that voice, but with that voice, he knew he was safe and home was near by.  “It’s good to see you, but I wish it wasn’t this way.”

“Same with us,” a voice that he recoginized as his father’s said.  “We talked to the doctor and nurse.  We’re really thankful for what you did for Myungsoo.  How are the others?”

“Dongwoo took them home to rest,” the first person said.  “Sungyeol and Sungjong didn’t want to leave Myungsoo though.  Is Moonsoo coming too?”

“Yes, he’ll be here in the evening.”  

Evening?  Where… why?

 “Thank you for staying with our son,” a warm and comforting voice, his mother’s voice, said.  Her voice was filled with worry, which only fuelled the feleing that he had forgotten something.  He hated when his mother sounded worried, especially when it was about him.

“Can you tell me anything?  The doctors wanted to talk to family only, so we didn’t get any information.  Jungryul’s on his emergency contacts, but they wouldn’t tell him because he still has direct family.”

Well, his family was here, weren’t they?  And he knew the first person was family… why didn’t he call himself family?

Myungsoo tried to open his eyes to figure out what was going on but failed miserably.  He tried to voice his frustration but all that he heard was a faint moan.

But that faint moan was all that it took for the people in the room rush to his side.

“Myungsoo?  Are you awake?”  A soft hand brushed against his check. “Myungsoo?”

He moaned again, trying hard to open his eyes.

“Should we call the doctor?”

He recognized the voice now.  Sunggyu-hyung.  How did he get there?

All of it came back in a flash.

Getting to the Music Bank, getting onto stage, getting dizzer… falling down…everything going dark…

He heard an echo.

“MYUNGSOO!”

Beeping sounds in the background started to speed up.  “What’s going on?” Sunggyu asked as warm hand brushed his cheek. 

“Myungsoo, open your eyes…”

Myungsoo tried to reach out, searching for the person calling his name. 

“Hyung!  Wake up!  Wake up now!  Hyung!”

“Myungsoo, can you hear me?  Nae adeul, please, wake up.”

He took in another breath and let out a cough as the breath got stuck in his throat. 

“Myungsoo, adeul, wake up.”

Myungsoo coughed again and peeled open his eyes slowly.  Her warm hand gently touched his forehead, encouraging to open his eyes a little further. 

The beeping in the background was slowing down, but still elevated from its original pattern.  He blinked slowly, trying to make sense of the blur of colours in front of him. 

He was in a hospital room, red light from the sunset coming in from the window.  His breath was coming out in unsteady gasps, not breathing deeply enough for his too fast heart rate, and he was sweating bullets.   The memories of how he got there still eluded him, drifting on the edges of his mind.  His mother and father were standing on the left side of the bed and Sunggyu was on his right, all three of them had concerned looks on their faces.

“Myungsoo, are you okay?” his mother whispered, her warm hand never leaving a his head, her thumb gently brushing his cheek. 

He nodded slowly, trying to find a decent breath.  “Ooo… umma?” he whispered, his voice breaking.  “W… hat happened?”

Her eyes fluttered over to his father and Sunggyu, Myungsoo followed her eyes and spotted Sunggyu.  His mind allowed him to remember one thing from before he out: performing with Infinite on the stage for their new comeback.  “Hyu… ng…” he whispered weakly, reaching out to Sunggyu.  “I’m sorry…”

Sunggyu blinked, looking more confused than Myungsoo had ever seen him.  “What do you mean?  You didn’t fail, why do you think that you did?”

“I ruined the performance,” Myungsoo whispered as a nurse came into the room.  “I’m sorry.”

Sunggyu shook his head.  “It’s okay, Myungsoo-yah, don’t worry about that now.”

His mother nodded and gently touched his cheek.  “You did well, Myungsoo, just rest for now.”

Myungsoo nodded, his sleepy gaze never leaving his mother’s face even as the nurse checked him over.

He heard Sunggyu leaving the room and suddenly he felt alone.  “Umma… Abeoji…” he called out in a small voice.  “You won’t leave me, right?”

“Myungsoo, we’ll never leave you,” his father said gently, taking his hand.  “We told you that we’ll always be behind you, were ever you decide to go.”

He smiled weakly and took his mother’s hand in his other hand, holding onto his parents’ hands as tightly as he could.  Even though it made him feel like a little kid, he felt safe with his mother and father beside him. 

“I love you…”

“Oh, Myungsoo-yah, just go to sleep now.  I’m here and your father is too, Moonsoo will be here soon, we’ll be here when you wake up.  Get some rest so that you can go back to Infinite again.  We love you too.”

Myungsoo sighed, his eyes dropping already, sadness clouding his heart.  Even if he got some rest, would he be able to go back to Infinite?  He was back in the hospital for a reason he didn’t even know.  He ruined one of their performances, would he be able to go back? 

Would he be able to come back to Infinite?

His mother started singing a song, the one that would never fail to put him to sleep.  The same lullaby that his mother would sing to him since he was a little boy.  

I stood upon a hill,

Stared up at the blue sky

And drew a lovely person from my heart.

He felt his mother’s soft fingers run over his check, wiping away a tear that he wasn’t aware of.

“Don’t cry, Myungsoo, it’s all okay.”

~*~

It never felt so relieving to pick up his phone and to dial the farmiliar number. 

For a few hours after the other members left, Sunggyu sat beside Myungsoo’s bed, waiting for his parents to arrive and for Myungsoo to wake up.  It was so hard to wait, he badly wanted to shake Myungsoo until he woke up, but he restrained himself, holding the fabric of his pants tightly.

The small knock on the door seemed to wake Myungsoo up.  As soon as his parents came to his room, he started to wake up. 

Sunggyu held his phone up to his ear, listening to the farmiliar ringtone as he waited for the call to be picked up. 

He hated how Myungsoo seemed to need to gasp for breath as his heartrate sped up.  When his mother called his name, his eyes opened slowly, fixing on his mother.  Sunggyu had to smile at the trusting, loving look on Myungsoo’s face as he whispered with his mother.  When Myungsoo seemed to realize that Sunggyu was in the room, it scared Sunggyu as Myungsoo apologized for ruining their performance.  None of them thought that he would think that he had failed them and they definitely thought that he didn't fail them. 

Sunggyu quietly excused himself to the hallway as the nurse came in to check on Myungsoo to call the others.  Dongwoo was never the one to pick up phone calls quickly, but the call was picked up in barely a ring.

“Sunggyu-hyung?”

“How’s Myungsoo?”

“Did you get any news?”

“Is he okay?”

Sunggyu winced as everyone started yelling at him through Dongwoo’s end, but he smiled and sighed, letting himself relax, finally being able to say the magic words.  “Get to the hospital.  Guys… he’s okay.”

He smiled as he heard the cheers from the other end and a loud rustling as they all hurried to get to the door.  Sunggyu looked towards the door again and looked at Myungsoo with his parents.  He closed his eyes, his racing heart finally calming.

“He’s okay…”

Hello~ 

I hope you're enjoying this! 

My first story Shot got to a 100 subs yesterday, if you read that one and kept on reading my stories, thank you for the support!  I hope this story will get to 100 subs too.  I'll do something special if it does! 

Thank you for commenting on the last chapter! I hope that you'll comment, subscribe and upvote this time too. In next week's chapter i'll tell you why Myungsoo's in the hospital!