Yoongi was in the greatest mood than he had ever been. Every nurse that came in, he greeted with a smile. He even decided to leave the door wide open and open the curtains all the way to enjoy the bright, snowy view.

For a change, Yoongi wanted to take a break from lying in the bed all day and sit on a chair beside the window to admire the view. Every time he thought of the first day he played in the snow a few weeks go, a smile would creep up his lips. Ever since then, his personality brightened a little each day but his condition got worse.

Since Jimin first met Yoongi, his hair had faded from the bright mint color to almost a colorless, white look. It suited him well, thanks to the naturally pale skin he had. His hair was tangled from running his hand through it all day. The bags under his eyes were still as prominent as ever and his cheeks lost a little bit of color. But otherwise, Yoongi looked like he just rolled out of bed as he did any other day of the week.

Humming to himself to tune out the annoying heart monitor, Yoongi heard some distant shouts and turned his head toward the door. Glancing out the hall, he watched as a figure flashed past the door. A figure with the striking orange hair.

Jimin?

Yoongi’s heart pounded heavily, setting off the heart monitor. It couldn’t have been. He must have mistaken someone else as him.

But a familiar voice in the hall proved him wrong.

Instantly, Yoongi detached himself from the machines, took the oxygen out of the wall and slid on his slippers as quickly as possible. This wasn’t right. Jimin wasn’t supposed to be here.

Today was Friday.

Hoping it wasn’t what he feared, Yoongi peeked outside of his room, watching a group of patients crowd the hallway. “It’s Jimin.”  “Oh no, and his father was doing so well too.”

“I’ve never seen him look this terrified.” He heard the patients mutter to each other and pushed his way through them to witness the scene just outside of a familiar room. His father’s room.

“Jimin, you can’t come inside, you’ll get in the doctors way.” One of the nurses tried to move him out of the way so another could roll a cart filled with medicine inside.

Yoongi watched the scene in shock. He had never seen the expression on Jimin’s face before. There was always a smile on his face, no matter the situation. But instead, all he could see were fear in his eyes. Jimin yelled and begged to let him in, but the nurse wouldn’t budge.

Nurses urged the patients to go back into their room as it was causing a disturbance across the 6^th floor. They all knew about Jimin and his father. The murmuring increased as Yoongi pushed his way through the crowd of concerned patients. “Excuse me, let me through.” His voice shook as he watched Jimin’s breathing increase rapidly.

Squeezing through, Yoongi managed to get past the nurses and stood beside Jimin, taking his hand in his own as Jimin turned around in surprise. “Min Yoongi.”

“What happened Jimin?” Yoongi asked he peered in the room on the other side of the hall, watching as the professionals stood around a bed, someone shouting some words he couldn’t make out.

“I got a call from them saying it was an emergency, but they haven’t said anything yet-” Before he could finish, the doctor rolled his father’s bed out of the room and down the hall. “What’s going on? Where are you taking him?” Jimin yelled at one of the nurses as he pulled Yoongi with him to follow.

They eventually came to a stop in front of two giant sliding doors that was forbidden from entering. A nurse stopped them in their tracks before Jimin made any rash decisions. “A few organs in his body are failing, they have to pull him into surgery right away. We’re not sure how it’s happening, but your father’s condition had become unstable this past week.” The nurse softly told him as if she had done this hundreds, maybe thousands of times. The boy beside Yoongi fell to his knees, no emotion could be read on his face, and it terrified him.

“Jimin.” He said his name quietly, pulling him up from the floor. “Let’s sit over here, we can wait here until your father comes out. He’s got a fighter in him, you’ve told me so.” Jimin didn’t respond, but Yoongi knew he heard him. Leading him to a room full of chairs with a few families scattered amongst them, he sat Jimin down in one of the empty row of chairs. He couldn’t find any other words to say. This was a hospital, there was nothing comforting about this place. Instead, Yoongi sat patiently beside Jimin, his hand gently holding his for comfort. Jimin kept his eyes on the doors to the surgery room. It opened every now and then for nurses to run in and out. But Jimin’s heart stopped every single time the doors moved.

Yoongi felt his hand tremble a bit and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Hey,” Jimin listened but his eyes remained glued on the sliding doors. “Remember when you told me about Busan? About the lamb skewer restaurant? Well picture it exactly how you described it to me.” Yoongi said quietly, turning Jimin’s words toward him. “But instead of just me eating alone, imagine the both of us. I’m on my twentieth skewer and not even close to being full yet. We’re watching your father build a sandcastle with your little brother on the beach. The day is bright and sunny, your whole family is laughing. There isn’t a single worry about anything in the world.” He stopped momentarily and continued.

“When your father comes out of those doors there, that’s exactly what we’ll do. We’ll take you and your father back home and do everything we can until our legs give out. Okay?”

Jimin turned his head toward him, glancing into his eyes. Yoongi couldn’t make out what he was thinking, but for a moment, he saw a glimmer of hope in his eyes. It was so quick, if he blinked, he would have missed it.

Without a word, Jimin wrapped his arms around Yoongi’s shoulders, burying his face in the nape of his neck. “Thank you…you’re right. We’ll all go to Busan together.” Yoongi put a hand on his back, patting it gently as Jimin’s trembling shoulders finally calmed.

------------

The hours grew on with dread. The hall full of chairs got emptier and the sky outside the window darkened. Jimin was fast asleep on Yoongi’s shoulder. The stress must have knocked the poor boy out. Just before Yoongi himself was about to pass out, a nurse approached him with a concerned expression.

“I’m sorry, Yoongi, but you have to go back to your room now. You’ve been out too long and you need to start another round of medication.”

Yoongi sighed and begged her for him to stay out a little longer, but he already did that far too many times earlier. The nurse gave her final word. Defeated, Yoongi nudged Jimin lightly, waking him up from slumber. “Jimin…I have to go back to my room now. Do you want to come with? I can convince the nurse for you to stay for the night.” Jimin sat up and shook his head tiredly, running a hand through his pumpkin hair.

“I want to wait here until my dad comes out. I’ll be fine, go to your room.” He gave Yoongi a nod of approval with a faint smile. “Go on.”

Yoongi hesitated for a moment but then stood up and followed the nurse down the hall. As he was about to turn the corner, he heard the doors behind him opened up and spun around. A doctor walked out with a solemn expression and approached Jimin. Yoongi stopped in his tracks but the nurse urged him to keep going. The oxygen in his tank was running out and without it, he would go into another asthma attack. But that wasn’t important to him.

“Are you Jimin?” He faintly heard before turning the corner and paused, listening carefully as the nurse nudged him lightly. “I’m sorry Jimin…” Yoongi couldn’t make out the rest, but according to the scream that sent a shiver down his spine, it was exactly as he feared.

His heart had never felt so heavy in his life. He never this kind of pain in his chest before, a ball of fear in growing in his stomach. He wanted to do everything he could in his power to turn around and run back to Jimin’s side. To tell him that the doctor was lying, that it was just a bad dream he could wake up from. That he would continue waiting by his side until his father walked out of those doors.

Instead, Yoongi followed the nurse back to his room, filled with regret that he knew would hang onto him for the rest of his life.

That Monday, Jimin never came to his room.