Chapter 4: 3230 words

(by the way: I just updated this earlier today so if you haven't read chapter 3 GO BACK NOW)

"Keep Breathing- Ingrid Michaelson" 
The storm is coming but I don't mind
People are dying, I close my blinds

All that I know is I'm breathing now
I want to change the world
Instead I sleep

    Wonwoo woke up very tired that afternoon; he'd had a lot of trouble falling asleep earlier do the stress of what the immediate future that night would hold. Maybe support group would help Wonwoo, it had a good chance of being beneficial to his strategy at death. What's more depressing than a bunch of dying kids? What's more draining of your hope than to be surrounded by people who shouldn't have any. But that's the problem, these kids probably did have hope. Most of them, probably weren't dying. Some probably weren't even really sick. Some might be dying but think they aren't.

    Wonwoo was so tired that he slept straight through Mingyu's second arrival that day. Mingyu actually had to wake Wonwoo up he slept so long. "Wakey, Wakey, sleepy head. I guess I really do wear you out" Mingyu said with a laugh as he nudged Wonwoo awake. For what seemed like the hundredth time that week, Wonwoo woke up face to face with Kim Mingyu. 

    "Ugh" Wonwoo grunted and rolled to his side, pushing Mingyu's face away, "You've got to stop doing that." 

    "Doing what?" Mingyu said innocently, "Waking you up with my sweet face every morning and afternoon?" Wonwoo just glanced warily at the intern, before sitting up and facing him. "So, since it's already 3PM and we have a little bit before we will head down to support group, let's go ahead and do homework. We can start with Literature, for you, since it's your favorite." Mingyu had a cheesy smile on his face, as he pulled out their books. 

    Trying to just wake up, Wonwoo just rolled his eyes before he rubbed them and sat up straighter in the bed. He took the notebook and assignment from Mingyu and pulled his own copy of "The Great Gatsby" and his glasses off of his nightstand.

     Wonwoo turned to Mingyu, "How about, since I'm going to your support group tonight, I'll do your Lit assignments and you can do my math assignments?" Wonwoo knew it was a stretch. Mingyu, in all his happy hopefulness, knew that if Wonwoo slacked on his assignments, it would make re-entering school much harder. Wonwoo didn't really plan on re-entering school anyways, but Mingyu did nothing but hope. 

    Mingyu thought about it for a second, "Hmmmm, you drive a hard bargain. Fine. But I want you friendly at support group tonight, alright?" 
Wonwoo nodded, but didn't make any promises. They worked the rest of the afternoon in total silence. 

    At 4:50, Mingyu helped Wonwoo out of bed and into his wheelchair. He pulled him down the hall to the elevator and loaded him in. They rode the elevator in silence, and Mingyu pulled him out of the elevator and down the hall. They stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall on the 2nd floor, next to the chapel. 

    Mingyu looked down at Wonwoo, "Ready?" Wonwoo gulped and adjusted his beanie on his head before nodding and signaling to Mingyu that he should keep going. Mingyu pushed open the door and pulled him in. 

    Wonwoo was immediately assaulted with sounds of loud chatter and laughter. Cheeriness, just what Wonwoo had feared. It was a pretty large room, probably used as a meeting room and maybe a Sunday school room on Sunday's. The room was fairly dark, something that Wonwoo wasn't at all opposed to. In the middle of the room, there was a circle of chairs and wheelchairs filled with about 10 mostly college aged looking boys. Wonwoo could tell from their various stages of hair, that they were in various parts of treatment.

    There was one boy in particular with extremely long hair, and Wonwoo even wondered if it was fake, knowing that wigs were a prominent trick for cancer patients, although less popular with boys. Although, as the boy spotted Mingyu and immediately excitedly waved them over, Wonwoo assumed this boy wasn't a patient and was the leader of the support group, Mingyu's cousin. 

    Mingyu pulled Wonwoo's wheelchair over to the circle and inserted him on the edge next to the long haired boy. "Okay!" The long haired boy spoke with energy and grace, a certain pleasantness that flowed through his voice and rid it of any harshness that the excitement should've presented, "So let's get started! We have a new member so we will all go around and introduce ourselves and our "little monsters of disease."" He laughed at this and if Wonwoo hadn't already found his cheeriness rather nauseating, he did now. "I'm Jeonghan, this is my 3rd year as an intern, I graduated last year from Korea University and I'm now in my first year of med school at South Korea Med." Although Wonwoo didn't like his cheeriness, he couldn't bring himself to dislike the intern. The intern was simply trying to help, and it wasn't his fault he didn't understand what they were going through. 

    Jeonghan turned to the boy next to him, a younger looking guy with shorter hair styled up. The other guy wasn't in a hospital gown, so Wonwoo assumed he was a patient who was not currently hospitalized or in remission, considering his hair. He looked remarkably healthy and Wonwoo would assume that he was co-leading the group, if not for the large scar across his forehead. 

    "Hi" The guy smiled a sweet smile that matched his quiet gentle voice. Wonwoo appreciated the gentle voice in contrast to Jeonghan's excitedly cheerful one. "My name is Hong Jisoo. I'm currently studying Pre-Med at Korea University. I've been apart of support group for three years, since Jeonghan began the young adult cancer group here. I was diagnosed with brain cancer 4 years ago, and began treatments shortly after. After several surgeries and rounds of chemo, I have been cancer free for almost an entire year now. I think God for everyday, and come in for check ups once a month, and support group once a week, or twice" He said with a laugh and a glance and a smile at Jeonghan. 

    Wonwoo could tell the two boys were close, and couldn't resist the envy that rose up in him do to their closeness and health. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he wanted that. He wanted his health back; he wanted his friends back, but he wasn't weak and he wouldn't get healthy. Healthy people get healthy friends. 

    Jisoo also proved one of Wonwoo's points. He knew there would be a healthy religious miracle kid. Wonwoo didn't expect himself to envy that kid though. 

    The kid on Jisoo's left looked much more like someone Wonwoo could relate to. He was hairless, with deep, dark circles under his eyes, a robotic leg and no arm. He was tiny and would still look extremely young if it wasn't for the hard stern look in his eyes. "My name is Jihoon. I'm not so lucky. I would've just graduated high school. But I've been homeschooling these past couple of years. I've had osteosarcoma for 2 years now, and it's cost me an arm and a leg already." He laughed dryly. His joke obviously made some of the other boys uncomfortable, but Jisoo and Jeonghan just looked at each other and smiled at Jihoon's blunt humor. <