[CHAPTER XVI]

Prayer

Hakyeon has been waiting outside the bedroom along with Jaehwan and Hyuk. They were waiting for the doctor to come out. When the door opened, the three of them rushed at the door to ask about Taekwoon’s situation.

“Is he okay? Will he be okay?” Hakyeon asked frantically.

“Calm down. He’s lost quite a lot of blood from the injury but he seems quite fine. He’s a very strong young man. So don’t worry too much about it and let him get some rest. I’ll come back tomorrow to check up on him and if anything happens, don’t hesitate to let me know.” The doctor said and left.

“Hakyeon-hyung. You should go to sleep. You look drained and tired. I know you’re worried about Taekwoonie and so am I but you’ve been waiting here for the past few hours. We’re all worried but he’s not going to like it when he wakes up to find you looking like this,” Jaehwan advised.

Hakyeon refused.

“I can’t…” He wiped his tears. “He pushed me away in order to protect me! And now… he’s the one who’s hurt. I… can’t lose him,” he said as he cried even harder.

“You’re not going to lose him, even the doctor said he’s fine. You’re worrying too much.” Jaehwan trying his best to comfort the older one.

“You don’t understand Jaehwan. I’ve been getting bad dreams and each one of them have been telling me that I might lose Taekwoon. I don’t have a good feeling about this and we just reunited after so long.” Hakyeon trying to wipe the tears that didn’t know when to stop.

“They’re just dreams. Don’t think too much about them. Please. You need to rest.”

Hakyeon continued refusing Jaehwan’s advice and told Jaehwan to go home while he went inside the bedroom to check on how Taekwoon was doing. The bandages that wrapped around Taekwoon’s head and broken ribcages, the stitches all over his body, every sight of Taekwoon broke Hakyeon’s heart. He didn’t know why seeing Taekwoon this hurt would break him so much. Was it because of the influence of those dreams that he kept having? He couldn’t help but continued to worry.

He held Hyuk tightly, who was just as worried for his master as Hakyeon.

“Will he be okay?” Hakyeon asked Hyuk. Hyuk Hakyeon’s tears away and gave him a nudge, he tried to comfort the boy who seemed so desperate and worried for his master.

Hakyeon continued to sit beside Taekwoon to look at him and hoped that his friend would wake up and be alright. He scrunched his narrow shoulders together and kneeled down to pray for his friend.

“Please God, Let him be alright. He’s… all that I have. Please don’t take him away from me.” Hakyeon pleaded.

As if the Gods really heard Hakyeon’s sincerity, Taekwoon’s hands started to move.

“I’m okay, Hakyeon-ah,” Taekwoon answered in a weak and barely audible voice.

“Taekwoon-ah!” Hakyeon bounced up and started to tear up again, both from his worries and relief.

“Why are you crying again?” Taekwoon stretched out his arms to wipe away Hakyeon’s tears even though his body was still aching with pain.

“Ya! Don’t move! You have bandages and stitches all over you! What if you opened up a wound?” Hakyeon commanded.

“Then why are you crying?”

“I’m not!” Hakyeon answered while wiping away the evidence. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry too much about me okay? You look tired. Did you not get any rest?” Taekwoon was concerned about the rather obvious dark circles that were forming below Hakyeon’s eyes.

“I’m okay. As long as you’re okay as well,” Hakyeon said.

“You should go to bed. Don’t worry about me and get some sleep.”

“But-“

“No buts. Go,” Taekwoon tried to push Hakyeon away.

“Don’t want to! How can I sleep when I know you’re in this state?” Hakyeon refusing stubbornly at Taekwoon’s request, knowing that the other had no strengths to fight back.

Taekwoon sighed at Hakyeon’s stubbornness.

He knows very well that nothing would budge Cha Hakyeon when he’s being more persistent than usual. They wouldn’t have been friends for so long if it wasn’t for that personality of his after all.

“Fine,” Taekwoon said as he grabbed Hakyeon’s arm and pulled him closer. “Then you’ll sleep here with me instead.”

‘!!’