***Double update-ish?  Make sure you've read the whole of Ch 56 before reading this!  For those of you who only read Ch 56(b) (because I split it), you can either go back one chapter to read the whole thing (since Ch 56 is now in one whole part), or, if you don't have the settings to read M-rated material, you can click here to be taken to a version with the potentially sensitive stuff removed.  You'll be directed back to this chapter at the end of it.***

It was a horrible evening and an even worse night.  Jongin and his friends had arrived in time to polish off the gang members that had forced their way into the hotel and loitered on the ground and first floors, and they’d helped Jongdae and Yixing sort everything out, explained to the local police force, and directed the paramedics up to the right room.  And that was about all that had gone right.

Luhan was still slipping in and out of consciousness by the time they’d got him to hospital, and he’d been whisked away into emergency surgery almost the second the ambulance had stopped.  Yixing had also been spirited away within seconds of them arriving, and then nurses were prying Semi out of Minseok’s hands too.  It had taken a while for coherency to return to Minseok, at which point it sank in that the shock was causing complications with the pregnancy and they needed to stabilise her.  Jaera cried herself to sleep in Sehun’s VIP room, curled up in her uncle’s bed, while Jaehwan huddled in his father’s arms.  He eventually fell asleep too, but it was fitful.

Minseok was so out of it that he didn’t actually realise for several hours that Luhan’s sister was in the room with them, sitting silently in the corner or occasionally asking Sehun a question in Chinese.  It wasn’t until a nurse came to inform them that Semi was fine and anxious to see him that he got a chance to speak to Weiyi as they all moved to Semi’s room, which was also on the VIP floor but distinctly larger.

Weiyi tapped him on the shoulder as he bundled Jaehwan up in his arms.

“Are you. . . Minseok?” she asked hesitantly.

She looked so incredibly like Luhan that for a moment he thought the man himself had joined them.  He managed to put on a smile for her and nodded.

“You must be Weiyi.”

“Yes.”  She nibbled anxiously at her top lip.  “I-is my brother all right?”

Minseok really wished he could give her good news, but he knew as little as the rest of them.  She seemed to understand that, though, and just returned to chewing her lip.  Minseok could feel tears pricking at his eyes at the unfairness of it all.  This was all supposed to have been so that Weiyi could be rescued and Luhan could see his sister again.  Luhan wasn’t supposed to put himself in mortal danger for who knew what reason and just throw that all away.

The waiting game was somehow worse through in Semi’s room.  Sehun transferred Jaera to her mother’s bed and sat in the chair on one side of it, his injured arm all bandaged up, while Minseok held Semi’s hand and Jaehwan draped himself over her, his head resting as close as he could possibly get to the baby inside.  For some reason, it seemed to comfort him.  Jongin was talking to Weiyi in the corner, occasionally joined by Kyungsoo, and after a good while, Jongdae wheeled Yixing up to join them.

Around five in the morning, an exhausted-looking surgeon came in.

“Could I speak to any family members of Mr Lu?” he asked.

The adults all across the room exchanged glances.  Weiyi stepped forward with a nervous look at Sehun, and then at Jongin, and then said very abruptly in Mandarin, “I don’t know if I’ll understand him.”

Minseok stood up.  “I’ll go.  He’s close enough to be my brother anyway.”

Kissing Semi’s knuckles, he let her hand go and followed the surgeon out of the room, Weiyi just a couple of steps ahead.

The surgeon took them down a floor to a private office and invited them to sit down.  Minseok was instantly on edge, and Weiyi clearly was too, because she hesitated for a good long while before doing so.  Steepling his fingers together, the surgeon looked over them both.

“Could I ask how you’re both related to the patient before we proceed?”

Minseok glanced at Weiyi, who looked a bit too uncomfortable to answer, although she appeared to have understood the question.

“Weiyi is his younger full-blood-related sister by a number of years and I’m a family friend of the same age.  We grew up together.”

“Would either of you be able to shed any light on Mr Lu’s medical history?” the surgeon asked.  “Or any family history of con diseases?”

Minseok looked at Weiyi again.  She seemed completely non-plussed.

Seeming to sense it was a no, the surgeon leant back and scrubbed a hand through his hair.

“Is. . . there a problem?” Minseok wondered, although it was obvious that there was little about Luhan’s condition that wasn’t a problem.

The surgeon grimaced.  “We’ve managed to get the bullets out and stop the bleeding, but Mr Lu went into cardiac arrest four times during surgery.  We’ve done what we can to stabilise him and we’re running tests, but the scans we have show significant scarring to the heart tissue and the rhythm we’ve been picking up on the ECG isn’t indicative of a healthy heart.  Currently, we suspect a potential cardiomyopathy or progressive cardiac conduction defect, but nothing in the way of a heart condition was mentioned on the medical records we received before starting on the operation and any extra information you can give us would be greatly appreciated.”

As Minseok was trying to absorb this, Weiyi turned to him, asking if he could translate for her.  Dazed, he did so.  She gave a sharp intake of breath.

For Minseok, though, everything was beginning to slot into place.  It might not have been on Luhan’s medical records from prison, but he had to have known.  There was no reason for him to have kicked up such a fuss over Semi insisting on Dr Bang taking that blood test on him otherwise.  He’d been pretty defensive the times he’d fainted or collapsed, and lied about them to the doctor too, if Minseok remembered correctly.  Perhaps the reason it wasn’t on the prison records was because it had been mid-diagnosis, or a strong likelihood that