It was a little past noon of the next day when Yifan finally came back into the waiting room. 

"He's awake." The doctor said, blessing Jongin with a heavy wave of relief. 

"Can we see him?" Jongin motioned to Jinki, who looked just as relieved as Jongin felt. 

"Of course," Yifan replied. "Follow me." 

They followed Yifan through a winding hallway, stopping just before the end. 

"I should probably update you on his condition," Yifan started, voice hushed in the silent hallway. Jongin nodded. "He's going to be fine, eventually. It's going to take a while, but at the moment I'm fairly confident that he'll make a full recovery. I can't guarantee it, of course, but I really believe he can make it out without any permanent damage. However, in terms of his actual health right now... both of his lungs collapsed, which is why he was having trouble breathing the other night. He should be recovered from that in a few days, though, that's not a major issue. The biggest issue is his back. The damage there is a lot more extensive than we originally thought. To make it worse, we can't even begin trying to fix anything until his lungs are healed, so we've got him in a brace for the time being. We might have to make changes to it later on when we do more tests, but he refused to do any more tests until he saw you. Oh, and as for his head injury... well, it's hard to tell how severe it is right now, I suppose, but we'll see soon." 

Jongin was silent, trying to absorb the large amount of information he'd just been presented with. Finally, he spoke. 

"Okay. Is that all we need to know?"

"Yeah. You can go on in." Yifan motioned to the doorway a few feet in front of him. Jongin brushed past, glancing back at a very pale Jinki to ensure he was following.

Jongin rounded the doorway first, greeted with the sight of a barely awake Taemin hooked up to numerous tubes and wires, looking incredibly small and fragile. Trying not to rush, Jongin approached Taemin's bedside, well aware of his boyfriend's bleary eyes watching him as he came nearer. 

"Jongin?" Taemin's voice was quiet and raspy. Jongin nodded in response, leaning down to be closer to the bed. 

"Hey," he cooed, brushing the boy's bangs aside. Taemin smiled faintly. 

"Hey. I'm sorry for worrying you, I know you're busy-"

"-Don't be sorry about anything. You come first, okay? I'm off for a few days now anyway." Jongin took Taemin's hand in his, squeezing gently. Taemin nodded slowly, blinking. 

"Is Jinki here?" 

Jongin glanced behind him at Jinki, who was standing in the doorway looking very confused. 

"He is. You can't see him?" 

Slowly, Taemin shook his head. 

"Everything's really blurry. Is he the figure over there?" He motioned to the doorway.

"Yes, Taemin, I'm over here." Jinki took a step forward, the stricken expression on his face clear to Jongin, but hopefully not to Taemin. 

"I'm sorry." Taemin blinked hard, sighing. 

"Don't apologize, it's fine. How do you feel?" Jinki comes closer now, approaching the other side of his brother's bed. 

"How do you think? I-I..." Taemin trailed off, other hand coming up to grab his head. His eyes slammed shut, and he suddenly squeezed Jongin's hand painfully hard. 

"What's wrong?" Jongin didn't recieve an answer. "Tae? Taemin, what's wrong?" 

A small groan escaped Taemin's lips as his head lolled to the side, eyes still shut tightly. 

"Jinki, can you go get Dr. Wu? I don't know what's happening to him." Jinki nodded in response, rushing out of the room. Taemin laid unmoving, his iron grip on Jongin's hand never weakening. With his free hand, Jongin  his boyfriend's hair, trying to keep his own fears at bay. A minute or so passed, and Taemin's eyelids fluttered, his eyes opening slightly. 

"Taemin?" 

Nothing. 

"Taemin, please, you're scaring me." 

The boy's lips moved, but Jongin couldn't hear anything. 

"What?" 

"I'm sorry." Taemin's voice was barely above a whisper, but at least he'd responded. 

Jongin took a second to reply, hanging his head in relief before looking back up. 

"Are you okay? What happened?" 

"The room started spinning, and I was really dizzy all of a sudden. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." 

"Did it go away now?" 

Taemin nodded, picking his head back up. 

"I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to apologize for, Tae. Don't apologize."

"I'm sor-"

"What did I just say?" Jongin smiled gently, running his hand through Taemin's hair. "You have nothing to be sorry about." 

"I... I guess so." Taemin closed his eyes again, letting out a heavy sigh. Jongin was about to ask why he was so unsure, but at that moment, Yifan and Jinki appeared in the doorway, concern written clearly on both of their faces. 

"What happened?" Yifan asked, rushing in. Taemin opened his eyes, lips parting. 

"I'm fine now." 

"Well even so, what happened?" Yifan pressed. 

"Just got dizzy."

"Anything else?"

"The room was spinning. That's it. It's over now, I'm fine." 

Yifan's brow furrowed in thought as he stood at the foot of the bed. 

"I wouldn't say you're fine, but there's really nothing we can do when it comes to something like that... there's no good treatment for the symptoms of a head injury, unfortunately." 

"Nothing?" Jinki spoke up, having returned to his place at Taemin's other side. 

"I'm afraid not. The only thing we can really do is ensure that he gets a lot of rest." 

Jinki nodded, although he looked unsatisfied. Yifan turned back to Taemin. 

"Since I'm here, I might as well check on your condition." 

"Nothing's changed." Taemin shrugged. 

"Still no feeling in your legs?"

"What?" Jinki interjected. Taemin ignored him.

"No. The brace isn't doing anything." 

Yifan ran a hand through his hair, deep in thought. 

"What?" Jinki repeated, sounding more irritated now. Jongin stayed silent, eyes trained on Yifan. It seemed like ages before the doctor spoke again.

"We'll have to make some adjustments, then. But honestly, I don't think it can do much for you until we can operate. You need a lot of surgery. I think we should schedule your first operation as soon as possible, there's really no time to waste in this situation... " Yifan trailed off, obviously thinking over what to say next. 

"Taemin," Jongin finally said, looking to the boy beside him. "You... you're-"

"-Paralyzed, yes," Taemin finished, swallowing hard. "From the waist down. But Dr. Wu says it's not permanent. If everything goes right with my operations, I won't be."

"That's right," Yifan said, continuing. "And everything should go right, so like I told you before, Jongin, Taemin's expected to make a full recovery. Probably not a quick one, but a full one nonetheless." 

"See, nothing to worry about." Taemin squeezed Jongin's hand, smiling. But the smile didn't quite reach his eyes, and Jongin could tell that Taemin was trying his best to cover the fact that he was absolutely terrified. However, Jongin knew better than to point that out, and so he went along with it, sending his boyfriend a small smile back. 

*****

A few hours later, after Jinki had reluctantly gone home to get some rest, Jongin was still sitting at Taemin's bedside, absentmindedly watching Taemin as he slept. His head swirled with thoughts about the day, intense feelings of worry washing over him. He was so preoccupied in hs own mind that he hadn't even noticed Taemin start to shift in his sleep, flinching away from invisible forces, face contorting into an expression of fear. 

Suddenly, Taemin jerked awake, upper body rising halfway upright before crumpling back to the position he was in before. Jongin was torn from his thoughts, attention instantly focused on his boyfriend, who was covering his face now, a soft moan of pain escaping the hands he'd clapped over his face. 

"," he breathed, "Oh, ." 

"What's wrong?" Jongin asked, knots of apprehension forming in his stomach. 

"That really hurt." Taemin's voice was shaky as he removed his hands from his face, allowing Jongin to see the tears glistening at the corners of his eyes, waiting to fall. 

"Do you want me to get Yi - Dr. Wu?" Jongin was already on his feet, ready to rush out of the room. 

"No - no. I'm fine, really. It just hurt a lot. Please sit down." 

Jongin hesitated for a moment, but upon Taemin's pleading expression, sat down as he'd been asked. Silence blanketed the room, and Jongin retreated back into his mind, until he couldn't take it anymore. There was one question that had been constantly nagging at his mind, and he had to ask it. He couldn't keep silent any longer. 

"Tae?" His voice was soft, quiet. He wasn't even entirely sure that Taemin could hear him, but he must have, because he hummed in response, turning his head to face Jongin. "What... what happened to you?"

Silence. Jongin glanced down at his hands, but quickly returned his gaze to the boy before him. Taemin was biting his lip, eyes clouded. 

"I..." He began, blinking. "I mean, I guess I should've expected you to ask." 

"You don't have to tell me, at least not now, but eventually you'll have to say something, Taemin." 

"I know. I think- I think I'll just get it over with." 

Jongin nodded, ready to listen. 

"You remember how I called you, right? And I wanted to go back to the apartment. It was because Jinki and I had a huge fight right before, and I just needed to get out of there, but I didn't know where to go. So I called you just to make sure I could go back." Taemin paused, taking a shaky breath. "I was really upset and just... yeah. I wanted to go back. A-and then, well. There's something I need to tell you before I continue. Just please don't be mad." 

"What is it?" Jongin could only hope he'd managed to cover the sudden anxiety he was feeling. 

"A little before any of this happened, I, um, I was talking to Minho." Taemin mumbled, staring straight up at the ceiling above him. 

"Oh." 

"Are you mad at me?" 

"No, Taemin. I'm not. Keep going." 

"I'm sorry," there were tears in his eyes again. "I'm sorry." 

"I'm not mad, Taemin. There's nothing to be sorry about." 

"I'm sorry." Taemin repeated. 

"Please continue, I don't know why you're apologizing." It hurt Jongin to see his boyfriend so distraught. 

"H-he wanted to reconnect or something. I don't really remember. But he wasn't doing much, he was just always asking for advice. He didn't know how to deal with his mother, and he didn't know how to turn down the girl she wanted him to marry. So I tried to help him out, I don't know why, but I did. He called and texted so often, it got irritating, but I never put an end to it. I don't know why. B-but anyway, when I was on my way to the apartment, he called me. He asked if I could meet him somewhere, and I told him I didn't have time. But he insisted... he wouldn't stop, even when I hung up on him, he started texting me, and I guess I felt bad because he was that desperate, so I caved in. And then I was just walking through the city, and it was getting dark, and I forgot my jacket, so I started to rethink whether or not I should meet up with him. But as I was about to text him and tell him that I really couldn't meet up, a car came from a side street and I just wasn't fast enough, I guess. It didn't feel like it hit me hard, but I was knocked off my feet. It really wasn't bad until I realized that I couldn't get up and that there were four men walking up to me really slowly. Someone I couldn't see picked me up from behind, and then I was put into the car's trunk-"

"-Nobody noticed any of that?" Jongin interrupted, then quickly added. "Sorry. Keep going." 

Taemin shrugged. 

"We weren't in the car for very long, I don't think. When it stopped, they dragged me out of the trunk and into a random alleyway." He was trembling as he spoke. "They threw me on the ground, and they just... I don't really know what happened, honestly. I was in a lot of pain and I couldn't move or feel anything below my waistline and I out after only a few minutes. And then I woke up here, and Dr. Wu told me you were here, but he was trying to run all these tests and I just wanted to see you."

He was still focused on the ceiling, eyes fixed on the blank white surface above him, but he was breathing erratically, his upper body shaking. 

"Tae," Jongin reached out, cupping the boy's cheek in his hand. "Look at me." 

Taemin turned his head, tearing his gaze away from the ceiling, but he didn't look at Jongin, instead glancing around in every other direction besides forward. 

"Look at me, Taemin. Is that all?" 

"What do you mean?" Taemin whispered.

"Is that the entire story? There's nothing more you can tell me, right?" 

"No," he finally looked at Jongin. "I don't think so." He'd started to cry, and Jongin gently wiped his tears, leaning forward to kiss his forehead. 

"Thank you for telling me." 

"I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"I'm sorry. Just let me say it, I just need to say it, I'm sorry, Jongin, I'm sorry." 

Jongin sighed. He needed to do something to calm his boyfriend down, but he had one more question. 

"Do you know why..." he trailed off, rethinking whether or not he should ask now. 

"What?" Taemin looked terrible. Jongin didn't know why he'd even started asking that question. 

"Nothing, Tae. Just relax, you're exhausted." 

"No, what were you going to ask?" the boy insisted. 

"It's not important, I'll ask you some other time." 

"For 's sake, just tell me!" 

Jongin was taken aback at Taemin's sudden outburst. He had to diffuse the situation, and right now, because he could feel it going very bad very quickly. 

"Tae, you need to calm down, okay? It's not good for you to be this upset." 

"I want to know, just tell me, god damnit." 

"Okay, okay." 

He didn't know what else to do. 

"I was going to ask you if you had any idea why Minho was here while you were unconscious. That's all." 

"He was here?" Taemin suddenly paled. This was not a good sign, and Jongin knew it. 

"Yes, he was here. He didn't see you, but he was in the waiting room with Jinki and I. I made him leave, though."

Taemin said nothing, gaze turning back to the ceiling. He was nearly hyperventilating now, and shaking much harder than before. 

"Do you know why?" Jongin pressed. No response. "Taemin-"

"Stop talking." 

"I-"

"Just stop talking, please, Jongin." Taemin tried to turn his head away, but Jongin still had his hand on the boy's cheek, stopping him.

"Let go of me." 

"Taemin-" 

"Let go! I don't want you touching me!" his voice rose to a yell.

"What's gotten into you?" Jongin stood up, removing his hand from Taemin's face. He was more than confused, something was most definitely not right. 

"Go away! Stop it! Why won't you just leave?" 

"Tae..." He stood there, dumbfounded, as his boyfriend began to scream at him. 

"Get the away from me!" Taemin's eyes went to the door. "Get him away from me! I don't want him in here!" 

Jongin turned to see Yifan entering the room with three nurses following, brow furrowed in concern. Taemin continued to scream. 

"I think you'd better go," Yifan said, glancing from Jongin to Taemin. 

"What? No, I-"

"Just go, Jongin. I don't think he's going to stop until you do," Yifan patted him on the shoulder sympathetically. "Come on now." 

"Get him out!" 

It took all of Jongin's willpower not to look back at the hysterical boy as he began to leave the room. He was almost out the door, Yifan behind him, when the screams stopped. And all of a sudden, there was dead silence. 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N 

I'm so sorry about these slow updates, school has been keeping me sooooo busy :(((

I'll try to be quicker with the next chapter, and there might be a bonus chapter coming soon, but I'm not sure yet, because I have barely any time :/

Also, I might've mentioned it in another author's note of mine, but I'm hosting my first writing competition to celebrate the end of the year, so if any of you write and are interested in entering, you can go look at it here :D

Anyway, thank you to all my readers and subscribers and upvoters, you guys are really the best, thank you for sticking with me through these slow updates <3<3

(On another note, how did you guys like Taemin's comeback? I loved it!!)

Thanks for reading!

-H