Kyungsoo was in the hospital for a total of two days before being discharged on the morning of the third day on a Saturday. He was young and luckier than most people with his condition, hence the early discharge. But the following Monday was already the start of the fall semester.

Therefore, Kyungsoo was given a two weeks rest period and told to come back to the university only in the third week of the semester. Kyungsoo had prepared teaching materials so the tutor replacing him for the two weeks only needed to use that.

Kyungsoo’s mother and stepfather were informed of his condition but the earliest they could return to Korea was on the following weekend. They were rather wealthy thanks to the business Kyungsoo’s mother founded with her husband after divorcing Kyungsoo’s father. Being in the middle of important business negotiations, she could not see to put Kyungsoo above it and return home.

As a consolation, she only wired a rather hefty amount of money into Kyungsoo’s account to cover expenses. After Chanyeol had called her too, she offered him money to take care of Kyungsoo in the meantime, which Chanyeol declined.

When Kyungsoo had no one, Chanyeol stepped up. He took a week off himself and the university granted the leave to him because he needed the time off to take care of Kyungsoo.  He would just have to arrange for the other week where he needed to go back to work and Kyungsoo didn’t yet.

On the day Kyungsoo was discharged, Baekhyun was there to help Chanyeol bring Kyungsoo back home. Kyungsoo could walk but he was not recommended to do so to avoid strain and pushed in a wheelchair instead all the way to the car.

Kyungsoo was not feeling the best but he didn’t think he felt too bad either. He didn’t really understand why Baekhyun or Chanyeol were even making a big fuss about his condition. Personally, Kyungsoo didn’t think it was too bad and that dying wasn’t really a huge problem for him.

Nonetheless, he kept quiet the entire drive home, where Baekhyun drove and Chanyeol sat in the rear seat with Kyungsoo.

Chanyeol brought along a bag of clothes, supplies and a sleeping bag which he would need for the one week he planned to stay over at Kyungsoo’s place.

Kyungsoo never recalled agreeing to have Chanyeol stay over at this place to take care of him but he didn’t refuse it either. Kyungsoo did think that it was nice to have people do stuff for him. Arguably, it was also nice to have some company at home after being alone for a while now.

Kyungsoo just had to tolerate the fact that Chanyeol was literally ordered by the doctor to make sure he ate his medication on time, went to appointments, avoided alcohol, eat only the recommended diet and avoid stress for the next few weeks.

If it were up to him, Kyungsoo would have probably done nothing of that.

On the first day home, Baekhyun stayed around until noon to help clean up Kyungsoo’s home so he could recuperate in a conducive environment. The vomit on the table from when Kyungsoo had his heart attack had been there since and was in dire need of a cleaning.

Once Baekhyun had cleared up Kyungsoo’s room, he immediately went to sleep on his bed. In the hospital, Kyungsoo was hardly able to sleep whatnot with all the machines he was hooked up to and the nurses coming in by the hour to check on his condition.

When Kyungsoo woke up, it was almost nighttime and he could see how dark the sky already was through his window. On his bedside table, either Chanyeol or Baekhyun had left stuff for him there including his glasses, phone and a bottle of water.

Feeling hungry, Kyungsoo got out of bed and made his way to the kitchen to look for something to eat. He was still feeling tired and far from being refreshed despite being asleep for the entire afternoon. Kyungsoo blamed his health and the hospital stay for that.

Outside his room, Kyungsoo saw Chanyeol in the living room on the couch. The television was but Chanyeol was on his phone.

Chanyeol noticed Kyungsoo coming and immediately turned around to look before standing up.

Chanyeol called out, “Kyungsoo! You’re awake. How are you feeling?”

Kyungsoo looked around his house as if he were looking for something before turning back to Chanyeol when he didn’t think he saw anything differently. Kyungsoo merely replied, “Hungry.”

“Oh, great!” Chanyeol chimed up, “I had my house helper make a pot of ginseng chicken soup for you. I picked it up a few hours ago but I can reheat it for you. You’re going to love it. She makes the best and I always have it when I feel unwell.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kyungsoo uttered under his breath, a bit too low for Chanyeol to pick up since he had moved to the kitchen area.

Kyungsoo sat himself down on a chair at the dining table in the kitchen while Chanyeol was reheating and stirring the soup pot atop the stove.  Chanyeol had his broad back turned to Kyungsoo from where he was at.

This was a normal sight for Kyungsoo A, to see his husband preparing food in the kitchen. But for Kyungsoo B, this was probably the first time he witnessed something of this kind. Realizing that, Kyungsoo sighed softly. He didn’t want to be reminded of it now.

While the soup simmered, Chanyeol laid out two plates of rice on the table since he had planned to eat with Kyungsoo. For Kyungsoo, he scooped a little bit less rice as per the doctor’s orders to cut down on carbohydrates.

He also prepared a pitcher of plain filtered water and two glasses on the table.

As Chanyeol was setting the glasses down, he turned to Kyungsoo and reminded, “After dinner, you have to take some medication and one more before you go to sleep. I’ll try to remind you when I can and on Monday, you have an appointment at nine in the morning.”

“Yeah, alright,” Kyungsoo replied a bit monotonously, looking away from Chanyeol’s face and instead noticed the watch on Chanyeol’s wrist.

Chanyeol was still wearing the same watch Kyungsoo had bought for his birthday last year.

“You’re still wearing the watch I bought,” Kyungsoo noted.

“Yeah, I like it actually. It feels just nice on me,” Chanyeol beamed, adjusting the watch on his wrist.

Kyungsoo found it a bit amusing and chuckled a little, “It’s not expensive though like all the other watches you have.”

Chanyeol chuckled too, “Yeah, I know but you gave it to me so it’s special for me. I bought the rest myself so there’s no real value other than monetary worth to me.”

“You’re weird,” Kyungsoo playfully commented.

To which Chanyeol laughed off.

After dinner,  Kyungsoo and Chanyeol watched television for a bit. Kyungsoo called Baekhyun to thank him for the help and later went to sleep even before ten at night.

The next morning on Sunday, Chanyeol had to wake Kyungsoo up at six in the morning so he could take his medication on time.

The following Monday, Chanyeol drove Kyungsoo to his medical appointment where Kyungsoo’s condition was assessed, his prescription revised and new dietary plans were given out to him.

Kyungsoo was even referred to a therapist to manage his stress but he didn’t plan on going for that. He only wanted to go to the appointment with the cardiologist next week.

As the closest person to Kyungsoo, Chanyeol was also given a list of symptoms he should watch out for in Kyungsoo in case a repeat of the case would happen again.

After the appointment, Kyungsoo told Chanyeol that he was craving sweets and junk food, even if he was advised against consuming it in the first few weeks by the doctors.

Instead, Chanyeol drove Kyungsoo to his house and had the house helper make cabbage chips fried in healthy olive oil instead.

Kyungsoo was more surprised that Chanyeol had willingly invited him into his home rather by the fact that cabbage could be turned into chips.

For a while, Kyungsoo just stood there in the large doorway of Chanyeol’s house looking inside as if he was waiting for someone- Chanyeol particularly- to tell him that he wasn’t welcome and that he should leave.

But none of that happened and it was Chanyeol who actually helped guide him inside, not knowing that Kyungsoo already knew the layout of his house well enough from a different time.

Later in the evening, Kyungsoo even got to meet Chanyeol’s lawyer parents who had come back after a day in the law firm they ran together with a few other associates.

His in-laws from another time were as he vaguely managed to remember them to be. They had heard of Kyungsoo’s condition and were nice to him, inviting him to stay with Chanyeol if he wanted to.

It felt all surreal to Kyungsoo and he even wondered halfway if Chanyeol was going to reveal that this was just some elaborate prank and that he really didn’t care at all for Kyungsoo.

None of that happened though and Kyungsoo went to bed that night feeling rather fuzzy inside but still strange. He wondered what it is he did this time that caused this to happen?

Kyungsoo’s mother was due to return on Thursday but she wouldn’t be available to help care for him until Friday. Honestly, he saw no point in having all these adults fuss around him