ten

The Sweetest Thing
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TEN

 

‘Paging Dr Lee to Recovery, repeat, Dr Lee to Recovery…’

Donghae still has an hour of his shift to go when he hears the announcement that makes his heart stutter in fear. He drops everything (fortunately he’s not mid-procedure) and runs for the stairs already imagining the worst, because what if the doctors missed something, what if Hyukjae is gravely ill or worse-

He hears Hyukjae before he sees him.

‘I’m perfectly fine, I’m leaving-’

Hyukjae’s voice is slurring and dazed, he sounds quite the opposite of fine. He sounds like he needs to be in bed resting until the sedation wears off, warm and quiet. Not facing two orderlies and an angry nurse, swaying and frowning determinedly.

The nurse sees Donghae and sighs with relief. She looks like she’s had about enough of her unwilling patient.

‘He just discharged himself,’ she says. ‘Security is going to detain him because he’s in no state to go anywhere alone, but one of the nurses said to get you first…’

She’s holding some release paperwork on a clipboard and hands it to him, and it takes Donghae a moment to realize that Hyukjae is being discharged into his care.

‘But,’ he stammers. ‘I’m not- I mean, he’s-’

He needs to tell them that he and Hyukjae have never seen each other outside of Hyukjae’s work, that they barely know one another, that he has a stupid, unrequited crush and he can’t take Hyukjae home because he doesn’t know the other man’s family or his situation or anything-

Then he sees Hyukjae’s face.

The way he’s looking at Donghae, silent and pleading.

How he’s pretending to be okay, but it’s obvious he’s only holding it together with a combination of willpower and desperation.

‘I still have another hour of my shift left,’ Donghae whispers. He’s remembering how months earlier, when he first arrived in Seoul, it had been him that was near tears, lost and alone before Hyukjae’s smile and kindness lit up his whole world.

Another nurse is already on the phone to his manager and gives him the thumbs up, letting him know it’s already sorted.

‘I’m sure we don’t need to tell you,’ the first nurse says, handing him a paper bag with Hyukjae’s few personal belongings in it, ‘He needs to rest and be monitored until the sedation fully wears off. There’s a prescription for him at the main desk.’

‘Wait,’ Donghae says, ‘Wait, what if-’

A patient bell rings down the hall and just like that, the room empties.

‘Call us if you have any worries,’ the nurse says, and then Hyukjae and Donghae are alone.

Hyukjae looks at Donghae hesitantly. He’s leaning against the end of the bed, and Donghae can tell from how he’s hunched up that he’s hurting. But he blinks at Donghae and forces a smile.

‘Sorry,’ he says. ‘I- I told them you’d take me home. They wouldn’t let me leave otherwise. Is that okay?’

Donghae nods.

Minutes later they are walking out the big swinging doors and into the cold of the city as it starts to wake. It’s still dark and Hyukjae has Donghae’s coat around his shoulders, a bag of medication in his hand as he blinks and looks around, swaying and disorientated. It’s clear to Donghae straight away that he’s not going to be able to just leave Hyukjae at his own tiny apartment. He thinks briefly about checking him into a hotel, but the last thing he wants is for Hyukjae to wake up and find himself alone in a ing hotel room with no idea how he got there.

‘I’m sorry,’ Hyukjae says, the pre-dawn chill waking him a little more. ‘Sorry to drag you into this, Donghae. I’ll get a taxi from here.’

He pats his pockets for a wallet which is not there, and looks about a little helplessly.

‘You can’t go home like this,’ Donghae tells him. He’s aching to reach out and support the other man, to wrap a protective arm around his waist and pull him away from the edge of the uneven sidewalk. But he’s even more terrified that Hyukjae will think he’s taking advantage, so apart from grabbing the other man’s elbow when it looks like he’s going to walk into a lamp post, he keeps his hands strictly to himself. He’s jittering with nervous energy, worried Hyukjae is going to fall and hurt himself, worried that being outside in the cold will make him sick, and most of all worried about what he’s going to do with the other man.

‘What about your family?’ he tries. ‘Is there anywhere you can stay?’

Hyukjae shakes his head.

‘Overseas,’ he says. ‘And I don’t want to worry them. Donghae, I’m fine, really.’

He immediately disproves this by almost falling into a grimy little ornamental garden as a cyclist swerves around him. Donghae doesn’t know where they’re walking – Hyukjae seems be propelling himself forward with no destination in mind – so when they hit the next major road and Donghae sees a taxi, he flags it down.

‘Okay,’ he says to Hyukjae, opening the door for him and then sliding in after. ‘We’re going to go to my place if- if that's alright with you? I- I don’t know where else we can go, that's all.’

‘No,’ Hyukjae mumbles, leaning heavily against the cold glass of the window. ‘Choco. I want to go home.’

‘You can’t,’ Donghae says unhappily. ‘Not yet, anyway. Hyukjae, you can’t even walk straight. Once you wake up properly, we’ll both go, okay? We’ll look for Choco together.’

‘I really-’ Hyukjae begins, blinking heavily at Donghae. Then the taxi turns in traffic and he loses his balance, sliding to rest warm and heavy against Donghae’s shoulder. Donghae waits for him to right himself, heart beating painfully, but he doesn’t; so Donghae gently eases him up again, trying to ignore how Hyukjae’s fingers tighten briefly around his arm. He- he’s not fully conscious, it would be wrong, but oh, how Donghae wishes he could just pull him close and wrap his arms around him!

Hyukjae wraps his arms around himself instead, seemingly focusing only on trying to stay awake.

 

The night sky is greying at the edges as the taxi pulls up outside Donghae’s building.

‘Why are we here?’ Hyukjae looks around the elevator in weary confusion. ‘Where- do you live here?’

‘Yes,’ Donghae tells him, guiding him to his front door and keying in the code. ‘Um- please just- make yourself comfortable?’

! That sounded terrible!

Cursing at himself, Donghae leaves Hyukjae slowly removing his sneakers while he turns on the lights and sweeps a pile of clean laundry off the sofa. There are dirty cups stacked on the coffee table and crumbs where he’d guiltily sneaked a piece of toast, as well as a stack of new toothbrushes scattered over the breakfast bar.

‘Um,’ Donghae says again, grabbing as much of the mess as he can. ‘I’ll be right back!’

He darts into his bedroom and shoves the armfuls of laundry into the walk-in wardrobe then pulls out a soft fluffy blanket and a spare pillow for Hyukjae. The sofa is large and comfortable so Donghae plans to wrap him up warmly and get him settled there, maybe turn the TV on so it’s less awkward. The other man is still in the blood-splattered clothes he was attacked in, so Donghae finds a big loose sweater too, and some sweatpants. He turns and runs back into the main room, where Hyukjae is just standing, blinking and glassy-eyed.

‘Um!’ Donghae says yet again, even more desperately, holding out the clean clothes. Hyukjae takes them, and his bottom lip wobbles.

‘You can get changed here!’ Donghae quickly ushers Hyukjae into his room to give him some privacy, because he’s not going to be able to handle it if Hyukjae starts to cry. The other man’s brief, drug-induced flirtations at the hospital are long gone; he looks beaten-down and exhausted, and Donghae is trembling from the willpower it takes not to open his arms and hug him.

‘Thanks,’ Hyukjae whispers. With his back to Donghae, he pulls off his stained sweater. Donghae pivots immediately, closing his eyes at the glimpse of smooth skin, cheeks burn

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bitterkitty
OMG 2000 subscribers!! thank you so much everyone, for reading... i'm very sorry i haven't updated for so long, i have not abandoned this story! as soon as i finish my (almost finished) studies, i'll be back!

Comments

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lety0000 #1
Chapter 27: Ay no! No he dormido en dos dias leyendo este fic sin dejar de leerlo porque me encantó! Y ahora veo que no esta actualizado hace años😭😭😭. Muero de dolor! Por favor actualizalo señora autora!! 🙏🙏🙏❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
oliviachan99 #2
Chapter 1: OMG...this is so romantic and the narrative suit Donghae!!
crescentbunni
#3
Re-reading this again because I love how much of a love fool Donghae is around Hyukjae.
And I still get tears from reading Hyukjae’s terrible situation but Mrs Kim is so kind to help him subtly! I hope he does pull through and things will get better for him :’))
mukupriya #4
Please update this fic
Kethryveris
#5
Chapter 27: J'aime tellement cette fic, que je viens de la relire, ils sont si adorable tous les deux. J'espère pouvoir lire la suite. Merci pour ton travail💙❤️❤️❤️
0donghaek #6
Chapter 27: This will be my first time commenting on a fanfic. I hope you'll update this story, I really really like it!!
iykwimimi
#7
Chapter 26: I’m on the current chapter! Aaahh will patiently wait for your next update! Please take care ♥️
iykwimimi
#8
Chapter 14: Please come home. :((((( I cried 😭😭😭😭
dorimu
#9
im so happy that you are going to continue writing this fic
blossomgalz
#10
Chapter 27: It's been a while since I picked up reading all my bookmarked fics on here. Re-read the front few chapters and I just gotta say, I have an inkling that Mrs Kim was specifically instructed to place that huge order from Hyuk by either Siwon or Heechul, but I guess we'll find out soon enough 🤭🤭

Hope you're doing well, author-nim!