The bright lights hurt Sehun's eyes - they drifted in and out of his main line of sight each time he managed to keep his eyes open for longer than a few seconds. He was being forced to take deep breaths of oxygen, and he had to admit he didn't like it too much. His head stung from the loud yelling and someone continuously telling someone else to 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘, but he couldn't see who it was. His stomach hurt as well; actually, everything did. He couldn't tell which was worse. Everything passed by in a blur, and he wondered if he was having a very realistic dream or not. It felt as if he was floating, like his head was filled with nothing but air, and it eventually lead to him feeling rather dizzy.

“I have to go with him!” Jongin exclaimed as the nurse held him back - he could easily just have pushed her out of the way, but he didn't want to be rude, especially to someone who only wanted to help Sehun.
“You can't. He has to go into surgery now,” She tried to explain calmly - she had seen this kind of thing many times before, but what fascinated her, was that this man seemed so distraught when he seemed to be the one who had committed the crime. Of course, she could've been wrong, but she just had that gut feeling.
“Come. When the police come, they will be curious as to why you're covered in blood,” She said gently, then walked with the man to the bathrooms.
“Wash the blood off wherever you can. I'll bring some clothes,” She always had a soft spot for kids like this, and she knew it would be her downfall one day, but for now, she wanted to help as much as she could.
As Jongin did as he was told, he noticed how his hands trembled even when he tried to make them stop. What could he say or do to make this better? Sehun would never forgive him for this. He couldn't! No one could forgive something like this.
Jongin tried to scrub his hands clean with as much soap and water as he could manage, the water turning a diluted red color in the process. He wanted to focus on getting himself as clean as the nurse expected him to be and not the situation at hand, but he knew he couldn't leave Sehun's mother in the dark either. She'd want to know about this, and he was sure if he kept this from her, she would only dislike him more. But he was so terribly afraid of what she would do or say - would she force him into the mental asylum now? Maybe. But maybe he deserved it for what he had done.

He wiped his face as well to get the blood stains off of it from when he had panicked and touched his cheeks with his bloodstained hands, splashing some extra water over his face afterwards to get a hold of himself.
If Sehun didn't make it...no. Jongin couldn't think like that. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 Sehun made it, Jongin would go to the mental asylum. It was the least he could do to make up for what he did tonight.

The blonde left the bathroom and met the nurse just outside the door.
“Change into these. I'll get rid of your old ones,” She instructed with a firm motherly voice, and Jongin nodded softly. He was too upset to really question what was going on - all he wanted was for his boyfriend to turn out okay.
As he changed, he thought about it; he couldn't give himself up to the police. It was bad what he had done, but he knew he would only get worse if he was thrown into prison with a bunch of inmates who were violent often. Who knew what would happen to Jongin then.
“Thank you,” He said once he held out his spoiled clothes to the nurse, “I appreciate this a lot,”
“I'll come inform you of his condition when I get an update. Just wait for now,” She said with a pitying smile, took the clothes, then left. Jongin walked to the waiting room, a bit nervous, and sat down while glancing around. It wasn't too full, but it wasn't too empty either. Still, it made him uncomfortable to be in a place like this without Sehun by his side.

Having nothing to do but sit and wait, Jongin had time to think. More time than he wanted to. He was trying to gather up enough courage to call Sehun's mother, even though he didn't know what to say. “Hey, I stabbed your son”? No way. He was never good at putting things lightly; that was Sehun's job, not his.
But he had to get a move on now - Sehun couldn't babysit him forever. Jongin had to step out of his comfort zone, and do what was needed.
He sighed heavily, then grabbed his phone from the blue jeans that fit rather nicely on his dancer's form. It didn't help much that he barely remembered to keep his phone with him when he was swapping clothes, but he shook off his clumsiness and searched through his contacts for the correct number.

He tried to swallow against the prickliness in his throat, silently hoping she wouldn't answer the phone. Two rings, three, four...
“Jongin?” Sehun's mother sounded rather shocked, and Jongin almost slapped himself for not thinking to check the time and calling when it was her lunch break. But maybe doing it now was better - at least she couldn't blame him for telling her later.
“Hi,” He whispered as his teeth began to gnaw into his lip. He still didn't know what to say, and he knew whatever he told her, it would infuriate her. Sehun still needed them both, though, so he squared his shoulders and cleared his mind of all the scary thoughts.
“It's Sehun. We're at the hospital right now. I'll tell you what happened when you get here,” He said in a flurry, and quickly ended the call before she could start questioning him. In all honesty, he was still afraid, but he hoped she wouldn't yell and scream at him too much. He deserved it, but he really didn't want it. He could never handle conflicts well.

Sehun's mother arrived only twenty minutes later - as elegant as Sehun made her out to be - and Jongin felt that prickly feeling in his throat again. His mouth felt extra dry, and his hands began to tremble again. What a way to meet Sehun's mother for the first time.
“I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to...” He started once she was within earshot, and she put her hands on his shoulders. He almost cringed as he prepared himself for what would happen next, but there was no yelling like he thought there would be.
“I know it wasn't you. I won't fault you for something you have no control over,” She said in a soft voice, and he slowly began to relax.
“You're not...you're not mad? You're not going to force me to stay in the mental asylum? You're not going to keep me away from him?” He questioned in a low voice, and she shook her head with a slight smile.
“Who do you think I am? The wicked witch?” She almost chuckled, then let go of him, “let's go get something to eat. I'm starving,”

“I suppose Sehun has told you everything,” Jongin said as he looked down at the rather stale cheese sandwich they got from the vending machine in the cafeteria of the hospital.
“More than he told you, I'm guessing. I've seen these cases before, Jongin. I know it isn't you who hurt him,” Sehun's mother stated, not too satisfied with her lettuce and tomato sandwich either.
“As much as I want to let you off the hook, though, I can't. And you know that too,” She said after only a few seconds of silence.
“I don't want you to let me off. I want to be held accountable for this. I know if I don't do something about this, Sehun could end up worse next time,” Jongin said honestly as he fiddled with the plastic container their sandwiches came with. He knew this monster inside of him couldn't be stopped, and he couldn't let it go untamed much longer. Who knew who else would get hurt? Jongin couldn't stand the thought of knowing Kai could hurt more people when Jongin had the power to stop him. For good? Who knew.
“What do I have to do to stop this...thing?” He asked, and Sehun's mother glanced at him for a few moments before she began explaining.
“You'll have to come to the mental hospital with me. I'll do a form of therapy that has helped countless others fix this problem as well. I'll allow Sehun to visit as much as I can, but I cannot leave you two unsupervised. Now that I know Kai is serious about killing my son, I can't take that chance. I hope you can understand,” She said with beautifully crinkled brows; Jongin now knew where his boyfriend got his looks from.
“Of course,” The blonde nodded firmly, and Sehun's mother continued.
“This could take a long time, Jongin. And the results vary. You might be rid of him for good, or he might come back now and then. It depends on the person. But what I can tell you, is that I'll be here with you, and Sehun will too when he can be. We'll get through this together,” She smiled warmly and gave Jongin's hand an affectionate squeeze; he wasn't too keen on this, but what more could he do? He didn't want to endanger Sehun's life more than he had already. It would be something Jongin wouldn't be able to recover from if he had to kill Sehun, even if he wasn't in his right mind.

They returned to the waiting room afterwards, and Jongin rubbed his eyes tiredly after about an hour of sitting around and doing nothing. Mostly everyone else had left, but he felt more comforted having Sehun's mother with him. It also felt nice knowing she didn't want to skin him alive; she was surprisingly understanding about it all, and she seemed to have no malice for the blonde, which soothed his fears a little bit.
“You're not mad about this. Why?” He had to ask - it had been bothering him ever since she arrived and didn't scream her head off like he thought she would.
“As I said before, I've seen this and I've helped people through it. I understand. It's as if another person did this, not you. I'm not happy, of course, but I can't hold you accountable. After all, you were the one who called the ambulance after it happened, and you wouldn't have done that if you wanted Sehun to die,” She explained in a soft voice, and Jongin felt a smile grow on his face. He never knew someone could be so understanding in a situation like this, but he was more grateful for it than she could ever imagine.
“Are you tired? I can stay awake in case the doctor comes,” She offered once she noticed Jongin's excessive blinking and slight nodding off.
“No, no! I couldn't expect that of you,” He said as he shook his head. In truth, he was feeling rather drained. The adrenaline had come and gone, and now he was just tired.
“Nonsense. Come lay,” She patted her lap, then chuckled softly when she saw Jongin's quizzical look, “if I let you sleep on these uncomfortable chairs, Sehun will have my head. Besides, you're like a son to me as it is,”
It warmed the blonde's heart to know she thought of him this way, especially since he never really got to experience what it was like to have a caring parent. Did she go with Sehun to parents days' at his school? Jongin never got that privilege. It hurt each year, simply because of how the other kids would laugh at him for it. No matter what, he always spent those days alone.

He laid his head down on her lap carefully, and before he could properly fall asleep, he felt himself be covered with a blanket of some sort. Maybe her coat.
The sun had just peeked in between the blinds of the waiting room and lit up the waiting room in a warm glow when the doctor came out to meet them. Jongin was shook awake gently, and he got up sleepily to greet the doctor with Sehun's mother, his eyes not even half open yet.
“As you're both aware, he was in surgery for a good five or six hours. That being said, he went through some complications, but is just fine. Sehun's liver was punctured and it took us a good while to get the bleeding under control to fix it. He'll have to stay here for a week or two just to make sure there's no internal bleeding, and then he can go home to rest,” The doctor said with a smile and nod, clearly happy they could save another patient.
Jongin almost crumbled with the relief, and his mother thanked the doctor after he said Sehun could receive visitors for a short while before he needed to get some rest.
The two went to the room to find a rather sleepy Sehun with an oxygen mask dominating most of his face, and Jongin felt his eyes well with tears at the sight.
“Hey,” He whispered in a very soft voice, sitting down by Sehun's one side as his mother sat on the other, and the black haired man gave a faint smile behind the mask as Jongin's hand held his own.
“I'm so sorry. You know I would never do that to you,” The blonde said, and it was obvious from his boyfriend's frown that Sehun didn't blame him for anything. Sehun was telling him to shut up about it in the nicest way that only Sehun could say it.
“We've come to the conclusion that it will be best for Jongin to be admitted to the mental hospital,” His mother stated, and Sehun turned his head to glance at her for a little bit before he tugged the mask down, much to Jongin's protest.
“Not yet. I want to be able to visit him, mother. You know how I feel about this,” He said in a raspy voice, and Jongin felt his heart warm up once again; no matter how much Sehun did for him, it always surprised him just how much the younger one seemed to adore him. Maybe he didn't show it a lot and often deemed Jongin as a pest, but they both knew Sehun loved him to bits and pieces.
“The sooner, the better, Sehun,” His mother said with a sigh, “don't be difficult about this,”
“No. I won't have it. I promised Jongin he wouldn't have to face this alone, and that's exactly how its going to be. Now, don't try to change my mind on it either,” He said sternly, then put the mask back over his face.
“Fine. But as soon as you're better, he'll be admitted,” His mother replied, knowing she wouldn't win against her stubborn son, and he nodded satisfied with the change of plans.
“We can't both come visit you here at the same time, but we'll arrange days for the two of us. I'm sure you'd want to see Jongin more often though, so I'll only come twice a week while he comes three times. I'm not sure about the weekend,” She said, and Sehun gave a faint nod which indicated he was happy about her choice. His hand still held Jongin's gently as he listened to his mother, and afterwards he turned his head back to Jongin. He knew the blonde was almost bursting at this point to speak just because he never really could keep quiet, so he motioned for Jongin to start speaking.

“I didn't mean to do it! I was so scared when I called the ambulance...but you kept telling me it was okay, even if you were bleeding out! You told me what to do, to stop the bleeding, too. You were so calm, Sehun, really! You weren't even mad at me,” The blonde began rambling on, and both Sehun and his mother smiled; it was true that Jongin brought sunshine and happiness to Sehun's life, especially in moments like this. She was happy her son had found someone like Jongin, as clumsy as he was.
“Don't worry about the mess. I'll clean everything up at home and make sure it's all perfect for you! I'll even cook a big meal...what? Shouldn't I?” Jongin asked when Sehun frowned before he chuckled behind his oxygen mask, and he shook his head.
“From what I've heard, you're not exactly the best chef,” His mother spoke up, and Jongin scoffed.
“I almost burnt the kitchen down only once~ I'll do better and watch the oil this time!” He whined, and both of them chuckled softly, Sehun squeezing his hand affectionately.
“I'll also write a letter for you to read for when you miss me in here,” The blonde said, and his boyfriend smiled as a thank you.
“Well, I'll give you two some alone time. I'll see you soon, son. Get enough rest,” Sehun's mother said, leaned down to kiss his forehead, and then walked out.

She loved Jongin, she really did, but if he didn't get better with the treatment, then she would have no choice but to keep him away from her son. She wanted Sehun to be happy, but not at the expense of his life. Jongin was a threat to that, and as much as she hoped Kai would eventually disintegrate in Jongin's mind, she was still a mother and putting her child's needs came first. She wouldn't let Kai kill her son, her only child, if she could stop it. It would be messy, and Sehun would maybe hate her for making Jongin disappear, but she was looking out for him as any other mother would.
When she got back to her office, she started making arrangements; one, to have Jongin come to the hospital as a patient in due time, and two, to be rid of him in case it didn't work out.