009

At the sound of Rebecca’s shrill scream, Leo bursts into the apartment. His eyes fly from Ravi lying on the floor to the broken and bloody N crumpled against the wall, head slumped into his chest. He’s silent, quickly rushing to Ravi’s side, and together with Ken, hoist his arms over his shoulders.

Ken dips slightly as he stands shakily to his feet, trying his best to hold up Ravi who has his dead weight supported entirely on himself and Leo. I nod to Rebecca and the two of us gingerly lift up N, wrapping his arm around my neck.

~~

The hospital wing is utter chaos when we arrive through the double doors. Everything is a blinding, sterile white. White lab coats, white halls, white tiles. N’s blood splattering the floor. Nurses and doctors are a blur around us, screaming instructions at one another. My anxiety only heightens when I overhear a nurse speaking quickly with her colleague, her tone discordant and nervous.

Ravi is the first ever Augment to be treated in the hospital wing.

And then it all clicks at one.

The medical team has absolutely no idea where to begin.

Suddenly, two gurneys are pushed into the hallway and Ravi and N are strapped in. Oxygen masks are slipped over both of their noses, though the doctors and everyone else in the entire wing knows that Ravi no longer has lungs.

The two roll away with a horde of medical staff, leaving the three of us absolutely breathless in the now silent wing. Rebecca slides against the wall, curling up into a ball as she buries her face in her sleeves, still wearing Ravi’s hoodie and she chokes on dry sobs. Leo sits down next to her and quietly pulls one of her hands into his lap, rubbing soothing circles into the back of her hand. She smiles at him in return through her tears, but his face still maintains the same, serious expression as always.

I’m standing in the middle of the hallway and my knees suddenly feel weak, the lights are too harsh, my head feels too heavy, my heart’s beating too fast. Everything is swirling around me and I sit in one of the waiting chairs next to Ken to keep from passing out.

~~

The three of us take turns sleeping. Rebecca is out like a light, her petite frame resting against Leo. Her face shines with sweat, eyelashes still glistening wet with tears and I head to the nurse’s station to pick up a clean towel. After cleaning her up, I smooth out her hair and take off my own jacket to cocoon her with it. She stirs, mumbling a soft ‘Ravi’ before her head nods again and she’s lost to slumber.

Ken hasn’t moved next to me. He has his head bowed between clasped hands and he’s clenching his jaw nervously.

“Ken,” I murmur.

He turns to me and our lips meet softly. Ken immediately relaxes into the kiss, the tension melting away from his body and I feel him exhale against my mouth. He holds my chin between his thumb and forefinger as we break apart, our foreheads resting together.

“I really needed that,” he says quietly.

~~

I’m awoken by a gentle prodding in my side, surprised to find Leo bent over me, his arms wrapped around his knees. The spot next to me is empty, and Rebecca is nowhere to be found.

“We can go visit now,” Leo breathes as if to answer my question and rocks back on his heels, “you looked tired so I waited to wake you up.”

“Thanks, Leo.”

He nods and stands up, offering me his hand and slowly pulls me to my feet.

“Lead the way,”

Leo guides me through the hospital until we step into a quiet room. A nurse hovers over N with a clipboard in her hand, checking all sorts of charts and tables next to the bed before she turns to me, the skin over her face pulled tight with worry.

“How’s he doing?” I ask.

“Your friend got rattled around quite a bit. Right now, we’re managing a broken nose, several shattered ribs, severe head trauma, a possible concussion and a collapsed lung.”

My gaze flickers to N, laying motionless against the stack of pillows. He’s barely recognizable anymore. The bruises on his face have started to color themselves with hues of red and purple, his lip busted and swollen. A gauze is wrapped around his head to stop any bleeding and I feel my shoulders slump at the sight of him.

“We’ve given him numerous sedatives and analgesics to help with the pain,” the nurse continues, “so he won’t come too for several more hours, I would say.”  

She sees that Leo and I have no intention of leaving so she excuses herself with a crisp bow and exits the room. I pull up a chair next to the bed, Leo doing the same, the pair of us sitting side by side.

I brush some of N’s hair away from his closed eyes, my fingers lingering over the bandages. Would N be furious when he woke up? N is someone slow to anger, but after what Ravi did to him, it’s something I imagine would be hard to forgive.

He looks so peaceful despite his current banged up condition. My mind’s eye flashes back to his countless overtime shifts, working tirelessly over the computer. I imagine how he reacted when Rebecca first approached him about Ravi’s files, no doubt he greeted her with open arms and a warming smile, the way he always did when any of us came to him for help.

N is the obvious leader of our gang of friends, the one with the sharpest wit and motherly discipline. The thought of losing him sends a familiar burning sensation to my eyes and I quickly brush away the tears before they can fall.  

I place a kiss between N’s brows, touching Leo on the shoulder as I stand and he shuffles closer to N, taking my spot. As I turn to leave, he nods to me and goes back to watching N with quiet eyes.

“I’ll make sure he stays safe,” he whispers.

~~

When I step into Ravi’s room, I almost want to spin back on my heels and leave.

The bed sheets are pulled up to his waist and Ravi lies shirtless, bandages and gauze wrapped around his torso up to his mid chest. His skin has started to fall away, revealing bits of machinery and gears underneath. He’s hooked up to numerous strange machines, wheezing and beeping loudly.

Ken and Rebecca sit at the far end of the room. She sits up straight, arms folded into her lap, her knuckles bone white. Ken has his head in his hands, his foot tapping quickly.  

Rebecca’s eyes snap to me when I move to them and she slowly gets to her feet.

“I’m gonna go call the others and let them know what happened,” she murmurs softly and continues to fidget with her fingers. She pauses in front of me on her way out and I feel my heart drop.

She looks exhausted. Dark bags droop heavily under her eyes, her hair tangled and unkept. Rebecca has her arms wrapped around herself, her face so pale and fragile, biting her lower lip in order to keep from crying anymore.

I tackle her into a hug, holding her close and I feel her break down in my arms, her body trembling as she in a shaky breath. She rests her chin against my shoulder, burying her face into my shirt as she cries softly.

“I’m sorry,”

“It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault.”

I feel her nod and the two of us stay in each other’s embrace for a few more seconds before she pulls away, wiping her tears with her sleeve.

“I’ll be on the phone if you need me,”

Ken stays absolutely still as I take the seat next to him. His eyes are closed, his face creased with worry and he looks to me when he hears Rebecca leave the room. He gives me a short lived, weak smile before he glances back to Ravi and coughs.

It’s raining again. Thunder rumbles in the distance, followed by a bright flash, water droplets pelting against the glass windows as Seoul returns to it’s signature grey weather.

“I hate the rain,” Ken whispers, his gaze unfocused ahead of him, “remember when I told you about Ravi and I walking home when we got caught in a storm?”

It takes me a second to realize what he’s referring to before I nod at his question. It seems like so long ago when Ken had come home with me after the club, watching the rain storm together. Before all this. Before Ravi was lying on the verge of death in front of me.

“There’s more to that story that I didn’t tell you,” he says. His tone is quiet and still, like he’s decided that he wants to share something with me. Ken shifts next to me, his eyes catching mine for a few precious seconds before he looks back to his hands.

“Back in highschool, I suggested to Ravi that we walk back to my place. He told me he wanted to catch the train home since the weather was picking up. He was scared, I could tell. I told him he was being stupid for worrying. Ravi obviously didn’t like that, since he’s so in’ proud,”

Ken lets out a breathy laugh and shakes his head, his fingers digging into his palm.

“Turns out, I had underestimated the storm. It was raining cats and dogs, the air was so charged that the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. And then-”

He stops, his gaze cutting to the ceiling like he’s having trouble recalling what happens next. Moisture glistens in his eyes and he chews his lower lip.

“And then I saw him go down right in front of me,” Ken’s voice breaks and he hangs his head as tears begin to spill, “the water and electricity did something to his system an-and he just...stopped moving. I dragged him to shelter. I was so scared, he was so still and cold. My heart was beating like crazy and my hands wouldn't stop shaking, but I was somehow able to reboot his system.”

Ken shivers and looks to Ravi again.

“I can’t stand to see him like this for a second time, not again. He doesn’t deserve this.”

The room goes silent, save for the tap of the rain and the dull hum of the machines.

“He’ll pull through,” is all I can manage to whisper, my lungs feeling unbearably constricted as the realization hits me that Ravi may never come back.

Ken draws in a sharp breath and is suddenly on his feet, his jacket billowing as he starts to pace, tangling his hands into his hair. He rushes to Ravi with quick strides.

“Wake up,” Ken’s voice is low and raspy, almost like his throat has been scratched raw, “wake up, wake up,”

His tone increases in volume until he’s screaming, screaming himself hoarse.

“Wake up! Wake the up!”

The normally composed and boisterous Ken is breaking down in front of my very eyes and my heart shatters.

I hurriedly cross the room, my fingers finding his forearms. He doesn’t resist when I pull him into me and his hands loop around my waist.

“Promise me you’ll stay safe.” Ken whispers. His voice is trembling so hard that I immediately find myself nodding into his shoulder as he continues, “I can’t stand to see another person I care about get hurt. I can’t lose you too.”

“I promise. I’m not going anywhere.”