Part 23

DESTINY

Jooheon was reading patient information when he heard a soft 'Heon-ie'. It's from the love of his life. After two days of slipping in and out of sleepiness, Changkyun is finally wide awake and there is a guiltiness in his eyes. Probably from giving them the scare. Changkyun tries to sit up and as a caring boyfriend he is, Jooheon put away his tablet and sit on the bed letting Changkyun leaning to his chest as support. 

"What the doctor said?" Changkyun asks. 

"Your seizure is caused by emotional distress" Jooheon answered briefly. He wonders if he should have the conversation now or wait for another suitable time. 

"Sorry, I must have scared you guys"

Hearing Changkyun apologizing for something he can't control make Jooheon frustrated. So, he comes to the conclusion this is the right time for them to have the conversation. "Why don't you talk to me?" he started carefully. He doesn't want Changkyun to feel he was being scolded.  

"You just moved here. You need time to adapt and I want you to focus" Changkyun replied. "Honestly, I've been having flashes since I come home. It's nothing I can't handle though" he added.

"Are you sure you can handle it?. I mean you got a seizure" Jooheon said as he plays with Changkyun finger. 

Changkyun takes a heavy breath before he told Jooheon the truth. "When I was alone, I spend most of my time watching tv or reading my notes. It's kind of weird, I can remember my work perfectly fine, but not myself" he paused, wondering how he should continue this talk. "Do you aware that television shows these days contain a lot of violent content?. I was watching a tv show then this gunshot scene come up, it triggered something from the robbery. Initially, it was fine but as I keep seeing those scenes in almost every show...it started affecting me and I start having nightmares. I...actually, I don't sleep when you are not home" 

Jooheon heart breaks at the confession. He tightens his hand around Changkyun waist. 

"I'm sorry. I lied to you when I said I was fine" Changkyun take a look at his boyfriend's face and he can see that man is in deep thought. "What are you thinking about?"

"Actually..." Jooheon moves to face Changkyun with only like 6cm gaps between their face. "I...all of us weren't being honest with you too" he decided to come clean. 

"About what?" Changkyun frowned a little. 

"What happened to you....it wasn't a robbery like we told you" Jooheon pull out a piece of paper from his pocket. 

Changkyun takes the paper and takes a look at it. It's a timeline. He stares at Jooheon with confusion.

"Kihyun and Hoseok come up with this timeline when they are doing a stateless child case" Jooheon explains. "This is your life story for the two years when you weren't with us" Jooheon take a long breath before he starts explaining everything written in the timeline in detail to his boyfriend. Everything, including the Hope Foundation, the three siblings, the shooting incident and the John Doe case. 

Changkyun can't believe his ears. Not a single word Jooheon said makes sense to him. 

"Though you are already gaining most of your memory it will take more time for you to remember all of these. As in, for now, those memories are psychologically blocked" Jooheon explains. "When you asked why you needed a liver transplant the other day, we lied because you're too emotionally fragile at that time. We almost lost you and we couldn't take another risk, so we lied"

"Then, why are you telling me this now?. I just had a seizure two days ago" Changkyun asked. From the tone of his voice, doubts are evident. The robbery story makes more sense than this to him.

"You're tough, you're a fighter and very independent. I'm telling you this because I want you to know, once you start to remember what actually happened...you gotta need help and I want you to know, I and everyone else is here for you" 

Jooheon page went off. But, it wasn’t an emergency code.

"Go," Changkyun told Jooheon because he can tell that the man is reluctant to leave him alone. "I'm ok. Just go" he gives Jooheon a light peck.  

"I will come back," Jooheon said before he left the ward. 

Jooheon makes his way to the ER while texting Hyungwon to check on Changkyun if he has time later. The psychiatrist has been cleared to return to work today and he knows Hyungwon is probably busy catching up with his unattended work for quite some time. However, he can't help but asking for a favour because he is worried about how Changkyun receives the truth.

"Dr. Lee, you are needed at bed 8," the nurse at the counter told him.

Jooheon makes his way to bed 8 which is located at the end of the ER. When he pulls the curtains, a girl is lying on the bed looking pale with a boy holding her hand. 

"Hello, I'm Dr. Lee. Can I come in?" he gives them his trademark smiles and receives a nod from the boy. He stepped in and pull back the curtain behind him. "Where is your guardian?" he asked as gentle as he can. Try not to scare the children.

"Registration" the boy answered. 

"May I check on her?" Jooheon does so to gain the trust of the older brother. The boy looks a little protective over his little sister and he wants the boy to know that he won't do anything that can harm his little sister. 

"She got a high fever," the boy said. "The other doctor said she got an infection"

"I will check her real quick. Ok?" he said to the boy before checking on the girl.  

"Dr. Lee Jooheon?" a voice of a woman.

Jooheon turns around and it seems like the children's guardian is returned. 

"I'm Joo Junyeon. Jinhee and Jinwoo, foster mom" she introduces herself. "We are actually referred here from another hospital. They said this hospital has the best paediatrician. There is no bed at the ped ward right now, so they told us to wait here. I was told to give this file to you" she explains as she gives the file to him. 

Jooheon goes through the file and something crosses his mind. He excuses himself and heads outside of the ER. He fishes out his phone from his pocket and makes a call. 

Kihyun is walking to his car when he receives a call.

"Jooheon-ah, is everything ok?" he worried if something happened to Changkyun again.

"Changkyun is fine and I already told him the truth. He seems ok so far, but I don't really know what is in his mind. I told Hyungwon to check on him later" Jooheon explains. "By the way, I'm calling you to ask about something else. Are you free to talk?" 

"Sure. Just done with my case, heading to my car right now" Kihyun replied as he takes a look left and right before crossing the road. 

"The other day you said Harriet and Henry are using their Korean name again. Do you know what their name is now?" 

"Kwon Jinwoo and Kwon Jinhee. Why are you asking?" 

"I think they just show up in the ER with their foster mother Joo Junyeon" Jooheon bow down to the janitor who is passing by him. 

"Last time, I heard there is a family interested to foster them. But, I never follow up with the orphanage about it" 

"Can you drop by later and see if it's really them?" Jooheon suddenly heard a weird sound from the other line. Like a static sound piercing his ears. He stares at the screen blankly as the call ended. "What is he doing?" he said before returning to his patient. 

"You look good in your doctor suit" Changkyun commented when Hyungwon walks into his ward. 

"Everyone here thought I date two men. Let's not add you into the scandal" Hyungwon replied as he approached Changkyun who is standing near the window. 

"How is your first day at work? Busy?"

"Not really, they want me to take it easy"

They stand next to each other without saying anything while watching the sky. It's cloudy today. 

"Hyungwon-ah"

Hyungwon looks at Changkyun and the latter stares back. Changkyun didn't say anything but Hyungwon can tell what is in his mind. "No. Whatever you're thinking, I'm not doing it. Let time do its work" Hyungwon said firmly.

"They won't let me return to work like this, Hyungwon. You know it better than anyone else, living like this broke me more than anything else" Changkyun try to persuade the psychiatrist.

"It's too dangerous" Hyungwon moves away from the window, avoiding Changkyun pleading eyes. 

"I need to know exactly what happened to me. I don't feel safe in my own house. Let alone being outside. I don't even have the courage to close my eyes. These feelings will always haunt me and I will always be at risk of another seizure attack. How many seizures do I have to go through until I remember those horrible memories?"

Upon hearing that, Hyungwon turns back to look at Changkyun again. 

"Hyungwon, please. My first seizure attack lasted more than five minutes. How long do you think it will last the next time I have it?. How many attacks until they declared me unfit to be a surgeon?" Changkyun plead.

"How about me? Have you thought about me? If I open your Pandora Box for you and you don't come back, what do you think will happen to me?" Hyungwon takes a breath to calm himself down. "I don't give my liver to you and got a heart attack to see you spend the rest of your life with an emotional shutdown"

"I pretty sure you don't give me your liver and got a heart attack to see me live in a constant fear either" Changkyun replied. "I'm no psychiatrist, but I'm a specialist in Neuro. I understand your concern but trust me, you don't want to see me wasted my life like this"

Hyungwon stares at his friend. Sometimes he just wishes he did not have a soft spot for the younger man like he did all this time. The last time Changkyun was this restless, he ended up breaking someone's mental defence out of his concern over Changkyun well being. Specifically, he broke Kihyun's. Now, he needs to do it once again. But, this time it was on Changkyun himself.

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hazhatt #1
Chapter 98: male population is increasing thanks to hyunwoo and kihyun
yellowtulip123 #2
Chapter 98: aaaaa kinda sad when the baby was not a girl, but the last sentence really make it up haha. finally dasom is back. thank youuu for the update
Sunflower_Heart
#3
Chapter 98: Yeay!!? The baby is here!!!
hazhatt #4
Chapter 97: Thank you for the updates XD
Sunflower_Heart
#5
Chapter 97: I'm so happy while reading this chapter. Thank you so much for your update
Neny_haneul
#6
Chapter 96: thank you for the update!! another baby is coming yeayy 😁
yellowtulip123 #7
Chapter 96: omg omgg there's an update and is the baby girl's coming??? thank youuu so much for the update. really need to re-read again so i remember the feel haha anyway thank youu so much for coming backk
Grabila #8
Chapter 96: Can't believe it that there is an update in 2023! Welp yaye I missed it and very happy you're back
Sunflower_Heart
#9
Chapter 96: Yeay you're back with new update.

Yeay too for the new baby
Yha-mhine #10
So touching.. ❤