Part 31

DESTINY

Kihyun is waiting anxiously in the lobby, alone. Well, not literally. There are so many people gathering around him for the same reason he is here, waiting for the news about their injured family member. He catches the view of Hoseok going through the sea of humans to get to him as he pacing back and forth in the corner of the lobby. 

"Hey," Hoseok said as he approaches and a little taken aback when Kihyun immediately pulls him into a hug. His mind is running wild. There are like dozen possible worst scenarios that cross his mind. 

"I heard the road is closed for cleaning. How is it possible for you to get here? Where were you during the storm?" Kihyun checks for any sign of injury on his partner.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine" Hoseok replied. Relief that Kihyun reaction is not something like he thought, his friend is just worried about his well being. "Any updates about Hyunwoo?" he asked.

"I was told that he was not seriously injured eight hours ago and haven't heard anything else since then. I wonder if the 'not seriously injured' is not like how we normally define the sentence" Kihyun explains. "By the way, who told you?" 

"Minhyuk. He texted me" Hoseok answered. "How are you?" he looks carefully at Kihyun face. The latter is looking calm but he knows deep inside Kihyun is worry about his husband. 

"I'm fine. I was in the building during the storm" Kihyun misunderstood the question. "Have you heard anything about Changkyun? I'm worried about him. I heard they were looking for him. He went missing after the explosion" Kihyun look around hoping that he will see Changkyun in the crowd. "Dasom passed away from an explosion and it took years for him to move on. Honestly, if it wasn't because of the shooting incident, he is probably still out there mending his broken heart. If Hyunwoo..." he paused, not willing to say the word. "It will put him back to the starting line"

"He will be fine, Kihyun" Hoseok replied.  "He asked Hyungwon to open his Pandora Box, remember?. If he can live with the memory of his own dead experience, he can live with this" he tries to sound confident when he is actually not.

"I'm just worried if he hit his limit. Plus, I'm pretty sure the only reason why he tries to get better is because of Hyunwoo. No matter what, Hyunwoo will always be his brother in law, the only family he had left" Kihyun sees Dr. Kang Youngwon walks to them. 

"The Chief is awake. He might be a little confuse and forget some details from the mild brain concussion. But, don't worry much about it. With proper rest, the symptoms will be gone in a few weeks. He gonna have some discomfort and pain from a shoulder dislocation and two rib fractures. The shoulder is fixed and the fracture will heal in 6 weeks" Young won explains.

"That's it?" Kihyun wonder if the doctor forgets to tell him some important information. 

"We are in disbelief too. A primary blast victim usually suffers severe injuries that require surgical treatment, especially after being thrown away like that. But, in this case, the Chief only suffered a few minor injuries. It is really a miracle" Young won smiles a little too reassuring the lawyer that everything is fine. "Come with me. He was asking about you from the moment he opens his eyes

Kihyun and Hoseok quietly follow the doctor. Both are still worried. They needed to make sure the news is correct by seeing it themselves before they can exhale a relief breath. 

"Kihyun-ah" Hyunwoo greets his wife. There are only a few bruises and minor cuts on his face. Shoulder support to make sure he did not overuse his dislocated shoulder and belt support to make sure he did not strain his fractured ribs. By the look at his condition, people will believe that he was in a fight instead of an explosion incident because there is no burn wound at all.

Upon hearing his name is mentioned, Kihyun froze. He stares at the smiling Hyunwoo for a moment and suddenly become overwhelmed. He barely heard Dr. Kang Youngwon excuses himself. He just suddenly burst into tears and can't stop himself from crying. 

Hyunwoo wanted to get off the bed and comforts his wife but his current condition did not allow him to do that. All he can do is watching and saying some comforting words while Hoseok let his wife crying in his arms. 

At the same time...

"Dr. Im!" Hyungwon is running towards the Neuro who is squatting outside the doctor's locker room looking distraught. The storm traces is evident on Changkyun's body. There is a speck of dirt on his face, a bloodstain on his clothes. Despite the storm is already stopped approximately six hours ago, Changkyun hair is still wet from the heavy rain he was in and his clothes is still damp, most likely because of the air conditioner. Changkyun body is cold and he looks lost. 

"He got out" Changkyun blurts out without many expressions on his face. 

The security man informs his colleague about their search progress through the radio before asking Hyungwon if he should get help. Hyungwon replied with a simple no and told the security to return to his post. The hospital is overloaded today because of the spring storm and security patrol is needed more than any other day. Hyungwon does not wish the man to be blamed for not being in his post if something happens.

"He got out," Changkyun said. 

Hyungwon check for Changkyun's vital signs. Except, the repetitive chanting of 'he got out', Changkyun is in a good condition. No sign of severe injury or any injury that required immediate medical help. "Come, Changkyun. You need to clean yourself" Hyungwon help Changkyun to stand up and the latter just follows his lead, completely unaware of his surroundings. They entered the locker room and Hyungwon makes Changkyun stand under the shower. He told Changkyun to take off his clothes but Changkyun is unable to understand him so he does it himself. He takes off Changkyun surgical clothes gently, revealing a few cuts on the Neuro body, caused by a broken glass window or the broken windshield. "This will sting a little" Hyungwon said as he turns on the warm water. 

Changkyun hissed in pain when the water touches his wound. Changkyun looks around confused like there was someone who forcefully wakes him up from his deep sleep. Except, he wasn't sleeping. He is under the shower with Hyungwon bathing him.

"You had a blackout" Hyungwon simply saying before Changkyun can ask anything. He stops and stares at the liver transplant scar on Changkyun's body for a moment before he continued. 

Changkyun notices the tears in Hyungwon eyes but he chooses to not say anything about it because he doesn't know what is the meaning behind the tears. 

"What is the last thing you remember?" Hyungwon voices shake a little. 

Changkyun tries to remember what happened while staring blankly at Hyungwon. A fire. He remembers there was a fire. Then, everything coming back to him. He lost his balance from being shocked by the flashback. Hyungwon catches him before he hit the steel pipe behind him.

"Tell me," Hyungwon said.

"Hyunwoo. He return to the bus when we were told to clear the area because he saw a baby. I wanted to help but the firefighter drags me away. Luckily, he got out a second before the explosion and got thrown away from the impact. They found him 2 metres away from the bus with a baby in his arms" Changkyun can feel his head hurts a little as he tries to explain the situation properly. 

"If you can remember that much, then I only need to worry a little about you because it means you are just shock and your body decided to go on protection mood" Hyungwon turn off the water and reaches out for the towel before he gives it to Changkyun. "I was worried of you having another emotional shutdown"

Changkyun takes the towel and smiles a little at the 'emotional shutdown' comment. He doesn't really remember about it but Jooheon had told him about how detached and unresponsive he was during the phase. 

"What?" Hyungwon is confused at Changkyun response. 

"There are so many things happened lately. My sister is death and her body was never found. I almost ended up like that too. I was dead and miraculously brought back to life. A few months ago, it almost happened to Kihyun. That thought still sends shivers to my spine every time I think about it but this scar scared me the most" Changkyun touches his liver transplant scars before he looks up at Hyungwon. "I got this from you and the fact that I almost caused your death...." 

"I make that decision, Changkyun. If I die that day, it was my choice. You did not cause me anything" Hyungwon reprimanded his friend. "Go wear some clothes. I'll wait for you outside then we'll go get your wound treated. Later on, we'll have a date" 

Changkyun watches the tall man left. He believes the 'date' Hyungwon mean is actually a 'mental health evaluation test'. He walks to the closet and takes a new pair of surgical clothes. He checks himself in the mirror after he is done. "It's ok, Changkyun-ah. One day, life will get tired of upsetting you" he said to himself before he left to meet Hyungwon outside the locker room

Somewhere in the hospital...

Minhyuk is looking for a place where he can get away from the chaos for a moment. After being stuck in four hours of high-risk surgery, he really needs to get a quick getaway right now. He saw Jooheon is sitting in the hallway on the floor, with his head down. He carefully approaches the paediatrician. When Jooheon looks up and his eyes are all red from crying, Minhyuk immediately kneels down to hug him. "What is wrong?" Minhyuk guesses the tears are related to Changkyun. When the firefighter announced there is no doctor on the exploded bus, only the citizen who has been declared dead prior to the explosion, Changkyun suddenly went missing in the middle of the searching process.

"I can't fix him. Hyunwoo runs to the fire and almost die trying to save this baby boy and I can't fix him. He was fine when I close him up but he passed away in the NICU. Hyunwoo put his life on the line for this baby and all I need to do is fix the damage. I've failed" Jooheon blurts out, face buried in Minhyuk chest. 

For the first time in a while, Minhyuk is glad that his guess is wrong. He hugged the paediatrician even tighter to calm him down. "You are a great surgeon, Jooheon. You save sick children every day and you know very well that you can't save them all. We can try our best, but it's all up to mother nature to decide for them"

There is silence. Minhyuk stays in his position as he patiently waits for Jooheon to calm down. 

"They said after the storm, the calm will come. Nothing calm about this" Jooheon whines as he tries to wipe away the tears stain on his face. "Everywhere I go is crowded with desperate people and crying people. I feel suffocated" he let go of Minhyuk and lean his back to the wall.

"Everything was chaotic last night. We are all in the auto-pilot mood. It takes time before the calm come" Minhyuk replied.

"Stay here with me until the calm come?" Jooheon asked.

Minhyuk nodded.  They both lean-to each other as they watch the light raining downfall outside the hospital building through the window, in silence. 

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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.. ❤