Boom

Jackson heard the noise and turned around.  It was hard to see what caused the noise in the dark, so he started walking towards it.  As he got closer, he realized there was a person lying on the ground.  Then he saw the skateboard.  He started running towards the body, praying it wasn’t who he thought it was.  The driver had gotten out of their car and was trying to wake the boy up.  Jackson got to the scene and his heart dropped.  Lying in front of the car was Mark.  There was blood dripping from his temple and his left leg was at an angle that it definitely was not supposed to be at.

“Mark!  Mark!!  Wake up!!”  Jackson yelled as he shook the boy’s chest.  “Don’t just stand there!  Call (someone/korean 911)!” He yelled at the driver, a man that looked to be in his thirties and very drunk.  

A few minutes later, an ambulance came.  Paramedics lifted Mark onto a stretcher and into the ambulance.  Jackson got in the back with a medic and they sped to the hospital.  When they got to the emergency room, Mark was rushed away.  Jackson was left to pace the waiting room with no word from a doctor or nurse about how Mark was doing.  After some time, he realized that he should call JYP or the members to let them know what happened.  There were text message notifications and missed calls from JB and the other members.  First he called JYP, who was surprisingly still awake at 1:48 AM.  Then he called JB and let him know what had happened.  

“Yoboseyo?” Answered JB.

“JB-hyung, it’s Jackson.”

“Jackson-ah!!  Where are you two?!  Everyone is so worried!”

“Yea, sorry I didn’t call sooner.  Mark-hyung got in an accident.  He got hit by a car.”

“Wait what?”

“I’m at the hospital now.”

“Is Mark-hyung okay?”

“I don’t know… The nurses haven’t said anything and it’s family only.  They won’t let me see him.”

“Do you need us to come get you?”

“No, I’m gonna stay here for the night.  Don’t worry.”

“Okay… We’ll come in the morning and wait with you.”

“What about practice?”

“It can wait.  This is more important right now.  Call if anything else happens okay?”

“Sure hyung.”  He ended his call with JB and decided to look through the photos on his phone.  Seeing all the pictures of him and Mark made his heart clench.  After another half hour of waiting, he eventually fell asleep in his chair.  Around 3 AM a nurse came to tell him how Mark was.

“Excuse me, are you the boy that came in with Mark?” She asked after Jackson woke up.  He stood up and said, “Yes that’s me.  Is he okay?” Jackson’s eyes were red from crying and fatigue.  

“He’s fine now.  He has a few bruised ribs and his leg is broken.  He had a cut on his head but he didn’t sustain any serious injury from that.  Other than that there were just a few other small cuts and bruises.  It’ll take about four weeks for the ribs to get better and six to eight weeks for his leg to heal.  Make sure he doesn’t over exert himself and that he rests when he gets home.  No physical activity for a while okay?”  Jackson nodded and asked when he could see him.

“He’s not awake yet but I’ll tell you as soon as he is.  Don’t worry.  He’ll be fine.”  Jackson bowed to the nurse as she walked back through the sliding doors.

Mark woke up around 7 AM.  There was a nurse in the room checking all the machines and taking notes.  She looked over and saw that Mark had woken up and smiled.  

“Hi.  I’m nurse Eun Kyung.”

“Can I have some water please?”  Mark asked, half in Korean, half in English.  The nurse helped him sit up and got him a cup of water.  After he drank half the cup, he asked, “Is Jackson here?”

“Ah, yes.  He’s in the waiting room.  He stayed there the whole night.”

“Can I see him?”

“Sure, just one moment.  I’ll go get him.”  She left the water on the table next to the bed and left the room.  Mark sighed and rest his head on the pillow.  

When the nurse walked into the waiting room, she was faced with more than just one boy.  The last time she was there it was just Jackson and a few other people waiting for other patients.  Now it was Jackson and about seven other people.  Min, JB, Junior, Youngjae, BamBam, and Yugyeom all stood up and bowed, waiting for her to speak.

“Um.  Mark’s awake now-”  BamBam cut her off and asked, “Can we see him now?”

“A few at a time is probably best.  He just woke up so it’s best not to overwhelm him.  He asked to see Jackson.”  Jackson came forward and followed the nurse to Mark’s room.  While walking to his room, the nurse told Jackson to be careful not to put any pressure on Mark’s chest or leg because of the injuries.  She opened the door and let Jackson in.  He bowed again and thanked her before walking into the room.  Immediately when the door closed Jackson ran to the side of the bed and hugged Mark’s head.  They both started to cry.  Mark brought his arms up and hugged Jackson back, resting his hands on his shoulders.  

“I’m so sorry Mark.  I’m so so so so sorry.  This is all my fault.” Jackson sobbed into Mark’s hair.

“No it’s not.  Jackson, I’m fine.”  

“None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for me.” Jackson pulled away and wiped his eyes.  Mark reached over and grabbed Jackson’s hand.  He pulled Jackson down to sit on the edge of the bed.  He kissed the back of Jackson’s hand and squeezed it tighter.

“It’s okay Jackson.”  Mark said.  But Jackson wouldn’t meet his eyes.  He just stared at their intertwined hands.  “Hey.  Jackson.  Look at me.”  Jackson slowly turned his head and raised his gaze so that he was looking Mark in the eye.  “It’s okay.”  Jackson bend down and kissed Mark.  He let go of his hand and held Mark’s face, not letting go.  Mark wrapped his arms around Jackson’s waist, careful not to pull him too close so that he was putting pressure on his chest.  Jackson leaned down and kissed Mark, one hand on Mark's neck and the other on the pillow next to his head to support his body.  Mark ran his hands through Jackson's hair, knocking his SnapBack off.  For the second time, Min walked in on the boys making out and was just as shocked as she was the first time.  Hearing the door open, Jackson quickly stood up and hastily put his SnapBack on.  Seeing it was Min, the boys relaxed a little.  She already knew their secret.  

"Sorry to interrupt.  The 2pm sunbae-nim’s wanted to come check on you, and so did a bunch of other people, but they were all busy and I was the only one with some time in between schedules.  Are you okay, Mark?”

“Yea, I’m okay.  They shouldn’t worry so much, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay… Well I have a schedule to get to so I’ll get going.  Your members want to come in and see you.  Don’t want to keep them waiting.”  Min waved goodbye and left the room.  Jackson sat back down on the bed next to Mark and sighed.  A few seconds went by where neither of them spoke.  Then Jackson suddenly said, “Let’s tell them.”

“What?”

“Let’s tell the guys about us.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  Let’s do this.”  Jackson got up to go get the other boys and bring them into the room.

“Whoa whoa whoa.  Not right now.”  Mark said as he reached out to grab Jackson’s wrist.

“Why not now?”

“It’s just… It’s just doesn’t feel like the right time.  I don’t want to tell them here, in the hospital.  Can we wait until I can go back to the dorm and then tell them?”  Jackson thought about this for a moment, weighing their options.  In the end, he said, “Yea.  Yeah sure.  You’re right.  It’s too open here.  We can tell them at the dorm.”

“Thanks babe.”  Jackson kissed Mark one last time before he went out to bring the other members in to see Mark.  

When the door opened again, Mark was flipping through the channels on the TV.  He looked over and was overwhelmed by the commotion.  BamBam, Junior, and Yugyeom, rushed in and went to hug Mark.  They were a little too aggressive and forgot about his injuries.  The group hug put too much pressure on Mark’s chest and he felt a wave of pain.

“Ahhh, ah, ah.”  Mark winced and tried to push the three off of himself.

“Ya!  Don’t crush him!” JB yelled from behind the hug.  Realizing their mistake, the three quickly backed off.  They all had worried expressions on their face, hoping they hadn’t done anything to make his injuries worse.

“Hyung!!!  We were all so worried about you!  What happened?”  Mark was bombarded with questions about last night.  

“I was skateboarding ahead of Jackson and didn’t pay enough attention.  A car came speeding towards me and I couldn’t get out of the way.”  Mark lied.  While the others were gathered around Mark, Jackson was standing a little bit away from everyone else with his head down.  JB walked over to him and put his hand on Jackson’s shoulder.

“Jackson, you look exhausted.  You should get some sleep, go back to the dorm and rest.”

“But we have practice.”

“You can miss today.  You need to take care of yourself first.  Practice could result in you getting sick or injured, and we don’t need two members hurt.”