28.

“What if I really die?”

The lady immediately losses the grip of the mug she was holding and subconsciously thanking that it was made of plastic or else she would break it in the middle of the night. However she doesn’t even bother to pick it up as the shock still masters her upon Baekhyun’s sudden question. Just now she saw him sleeping soundly and since she wasn’t able to get even a wink of rest, the lady decided to watch the variety shows rerun alone in the living room – definitely not expecting for her husband to come out and blurt those kinds of things.

Her feet pivots, turning to him and meet his teary and puffy eyes, his face is still red from the crying. Baekhyun was shaking, including those pupils as he timidly stares at his wife. The lady could feel her heart shattered by that sight she is having, still, she musters up some courage as she takes slow step towards him before strongly pulls him into her arms, wrapping her man in the embrace.

In that cold night, he buries his face at the crook of his wife’s neck – letting out everything that has been suddenly lingering in his mind and interrupts his sleep. Baekhyun had a nightmare, of seeing himself in the deathbed. He saw his wife and children wail over his stiff body and right when his eyes fall to her deeply sullen face, Baekhyun woke up. He finds himself gasping out of breath, sweating out of having that kind of dream.

Death scares him, he has already felt the pain of not being able to breathe on his own a few times before and to think that it would be even worse if he dies, that is frightening. It hurts, it really does.

Then a realization came to his mind – which the next day would be his last cycle of chemotherapy session; and what if everything doesn’t work out?

What if all those efforts and hard work turns out to be useless? What if he ends up leaving this world, not being able to live the life he’s dreaming of?

“I’m scared…,” Baekhyun weeps, his fingers tug on his wife’s pajamas as he tighten the hug. The man closes his eyes, never wanting to let go of that person as he feels her warmth coats his vulnerable self at the moment. “I don’t want to die, I don’t want to leave you.”

Her tears finally broke upon hearing those words. Neither do her. If only she could, she would want to take all the pain away from him and let herself to bear it alone. And deep inside her heart, she plead God for not to take Baekhyun away from her. If He wants to take either one of them away, let it be her.

For that man, she is willing to do anything.

Baekhyun nibbles his fingernails, another hand is shifting – from his daughter’s back to caressing his son’s head. Everything becomes the exact opposite since almost an hour ago. Before, he was the one who’s lying on the bed, he was the one who had his eyes shut. However the first thing that he saw after he is awake is his wife, barely walking herself to the door with blood tracing each of her steps. Baekhyun feels like his breath was about to be cut off from his chest when the next moment he could remember is having the love of his life fall and unconscious in his arms. The man has no idea how he ran towards her as it happened.

All he knows is how heartbreaking it is to witness someone he loves being in a concerning situation – sick, to be specific.

Joonie has finally stopped crying and stays landing his head on his father’s lap however on the other side, the daughter of that couple is still weeping silently while being in her father’s arms. Both of the twins had spent a tremendous amount of tears since yesterday but none of them wanted to leave their beloved parents’ side.

They insist – almost aggressively – to stay there and not going home. Meanwhile Chanyeol and Ye Eun had already leave for work though they were very eager to wait together with the small family. And that leaves Minseok, his on-call shift has ended and he decided to sit together with them.

The doctor is frustrated by the fact that he just found out that his friend is pregnant in the midst of those hectic days – taking care of her children and her sick husband. He feels devastated that life is being so harsh on his friends. It feels unfair. It is unfair. But he could do nothing about it, he could only help as a doctor who supervises Baekhyun’s condition and maybe a few words of encouragement and that’s it.

Minseok turns to his friend, who suddenly let out an inaudible sigh, “Why is this taking so long?” Then the latter leans down to reach his daughter’s forehead before planting a kiss on it. Baekhyun pats his daughter’s back again then caresses her hair. “It’s okay, Hyun Joo. Mommy will be alright.”

However the one who said that who is not alright at the moment. Baekhyun knows, he is not fine at all, which is explained by his tears slowly drops from the corner of his eyes down to his cheeks. His lips are shaky as he purse them together, holding in the cries he wanted to yell right now. His heart is wailing, now he knows how it feels to be in this situation and to imagine that his wife has been enduring being trapped in ‘seeing your significant other gets very sick’ all this time – things must have been extremely hard for her.

Why does that one perfect human being, who is almost an angel, had been the one who faced unfortunate things in her life? Why it couldn’t get any happier? Is this some kind of punishment or something?

All of those four people who sit on the bench just in front of the ward tilt their head up almost at the same time as soon as the sound of door being sled open was heard. It reveals one staff nurse and a female doctor stepping out from the room then the doctor greets them quietly with a nod, “She’s still asleep, but you are all allowed to come in now.” Then she shifts her gaze to the husband, “Mr. Byun. Mind if we talk for a minute?”

Baekhyun agrees then leans down, hugging his two kids then wipe the traces of t