The neverending torture Hyukjae experienced was starting to take its toll on his mind and body. He was starting to lose hope and was ready to just give whatever the evil monster wanted from him just to make everything stop. Not even the thought of Donghae motivated him anymore.

 

He just wanted it all to end. Every moment he opened his eyes and found himself back inside the dark, musty, rotten room, he would close his eyes to keep his tears inside while wishing he would just die.


Would it all end if he died?...

Will that finally fix his problems?...


Hyukjae didn’t know but he was tempted enough to want to find out. After all, what more could he lose?

A small sob escaped his lips as he thought of how he could just end everything. He was so tired… it must be the only way...


Hyukjae quietly sobbed while clutching his chest to keep himself from making any unnecessary sound when he suddenly felt a set of eyes watching him.


“Hyukkie~” He heard a soft voice call his name out endearingly. Despite the sweetness in the child’s voice, a frightened chill went through his body as he scampered to distance himself further away from the other.


Hyukjae looked up and found the boy staring at him with those eerie blue eyes that could see right through his soul. The boy was a little older than the girl but this time, he came to visit him without his sister.


All these times Hyukjae has had to deal with her while the boy remained quiet as he stared aimlessly at him. Hyyukjae’s never heard him talk before but the goofy smile and red stained cheeks looked anything but inviting.

 

His fight or flight senses were kicking in but Hyukjae had nowhere to go. The more he backed away from the other the closer he got to him.


“Come play with me”, the boy whined producing a pout followed by a drip of blood at the side of his lips.


Hyukjae shut his eyes tight and looked away from the boy while vehemently shaking his head side to side, “No….I- I don’t want to play”.


“Come play with me Hyukkie,” the boy ignored Hyukjae’s answer and insisted. His hand reached for Hyukjae’s arm causing the other to flinch and whimper in pain when he felt his nails dig into his skin while squeezing his arms tightly. “I want you to see my toys! Let me show you my dolls!”.


“N-No … I- don’t...don’t want to- AH! …” Hyukjae screamed when his hands tightened more around him. He could feel the blood dripping down to his wrist while he squeezed harder the more petulant the little boy got.


“You’re going to like my dolls!” the boy exclaimed, a frustrated tone could be heard at the edge of voice as he insisted for Hyukjae to play with him, “We can play together!”


He pulled Hyukjae’s hand to the direction of a red door but Hyukjae refused to stand up. Despite his fear of what the little boy could do to him, he knew enough now to know that any door he entered would just result in another never ending nightmare for him.


Hyukjae’s stubbornness caused an angry whine to come out of the little boy and it was a second too late before Hyukjae figured that out. Out of nowhere, he felt a swarm of dark shadow surrounding him.


An invisible force that nearly knocked the wind out of him. It moved closer towards Hyukjae and the closer it got the harder it became for Hyukjae to breathe.

 

It wasn’t until later when the darkness faded and the sounded of children laughing reached his ears did Hyukjae see the reason for his lack of oxygen was due to a bunch of rugrats, eyes black as night and face pale like they’ve never seen a ray of sunshine in their lives, were practically climbing over him, choking him when they can.


“Look, they’re excited to see you Hyukkie!” the boy said gleefully then turned to Hyukjae with that same sinister smile, tilted his head to the side and saif, “Let’s play together!”


Small hands tugged Hyukjae down causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. Small hands grabbed and clawed at his skin, leaving scratches and marks that he knows would last him a lifetime.


The last thing he saw before he was completely consumed by darkness were the dark stricken eyes and sinister grins while their continued mix of mocked laughter and painful shrieks invaded his ears.

Escape was a long ways away.
*
“I vomited a crazy amount of blood! Nearly half the supply in my body. Why- it’s it’s more than that pack of blood you gave me last time I was here! My whole body shivered badly but the weather was hot and I felt this intense pain in my stomach. Like- Like someone was stabbing me! I thought I was gonna die.”


Donghae sighed as he listened to his patient telling the dramatic story of how he fell unconscious in front of his apartment building, to the horror of the security staff and the passer by, one week after his operation.


He couldn’t believe he would actually spend his time listening to the man blathering over something that possibly had never happened in the first place, considering his condition was striving after the surgery.


Lee Junho, 35 years old, a successful and tough businessman with zero tolerance to pain. In other words, a baby in a grown man’s body.


Donghae discreetly pinched the bridge of his nose while rubbing his temples in order to soothe the headache he felt forming the more he listened to the man’s words.


Ten days a go, the man was sent to the emergency with an unusual pain by his abdomen, complaining of high fever and burning sensation when peeing. Upon MRI and blood test result, he was diagnosed with kidney stones. It was a perfect text book case, nothing Donghae couldn’t handle thus he had finished the operation faster than expected. It wasn’t the first case required Nephrolithotomy for him to tackle on.


Two days later, the patient was released. Donghae checked his condition deemed him to be able to go home under the condition that he shouldn’t do any straining physical activities for a while. Moreover to watch over his diet and drink lots of water. Simple things anyone could do.


Yet, here he was, fainted in the street and sent back to the hospital.


“Lee-ssi, your blood test shows you’ve been consuming a high amount of salt and fat, even after I’ve told you to avoid salty food before. And didn’t I tell you not to engage in any straining physical activities for at least two or three weeks after the operation?” Donghae’s patience was wearing thin. Especially when the man looks as if he was feigning ignorance to his advice before.


Cho Kyuhyun, the general practitioner who was in charge of Lee Junho before he was transferred to Donghae’s care, sent him a glare which the other doctor leisurely ignored. Sometimes, being confronted with the truth is the only way someone can be forced to face their new reality.


Lee Junho was perplexed. Unexpected to the doctor’s outburst. He attempted on another coaxing, trying to make believe of his so-called critical condition.


“Yes you did advise me on that, eat healthy diet, no vigorous exercise, cut the salty food and alcohol … I’ve done it Doctor! It’s so hard not to eat salty food, though … how can I eat bland food all the time?”


“When I told you that you are not supposed to do any straining physical activities that includes 2KM jogging, so soon after your operation … and especially when you didn’t take your pain medication, Lee-ssi”, Donghae cut him, “Eating salty food and drinking alcohol are prohibited as well unless you want a complete Nephrectomy …!”


He was about to continue ranting when Kyuhyun elbowed him on his rib to stop him from spilling his frustration.


“What Dr Lee was about to say is that you’re in a good condition”, Kyuhyun intercepted, “But perhaps you should take it easy, Sir”, Kyuhyun sent Donghae another death glare, urging the older man to shut up.


Thanks to Kyuhyun, the both of them were able to finish their morning rounds without having to make a phone call to the hospital’s lawyers about another potential lawsuit.


However, that didn’t mean the younger doctor would not scold Donghae’s terrible bedside manner.

 

“What were you thinking, Hyung?! This hospital can only afford one sarcastic doctor and it’s me! Don’t you have any idea what kind of power that man has with the board? He could have gotten you fired had I allowed you to berate the man.”
 

Donghae didn’t say a word and just let Kyuhyun talked his ear off. His mind was somewhere else completely as he too was starting to lose hope with each day Hyukjae remained unresponsive to treatments.

 

What kind of doctor is he if he can’t even figure out what was going on with his boyfriend?


It had been days since Dr. Shin had told him that Hyukjae’s condition had stabled. There were no improvements, but at least he wasn’t getting any worse. That was the good news. The scans they had taken of him had still not come out despite the rush Donghae had placed on it.

Donghae’s mother had not stopped bothering him either about joining them for a family dinner. It got so bad that Donghae had considered the possibility of blocking her number. It didn’t help that Donghwa piled on the crazy by texting him daily to give them a call. It was done in a much less crazier manner but still...couldn’t they see he was busy and needed some space?


Amber sent him some pics taken during the dinner party last night. Their mother had invited Siwon’s family, including Jiwon who sat next to her, smiling and laughing like the good daughter-in-law she always acted around her to be. It bothered him that they still expected the two of them to get together when he had been so clear about his feelings and intentions with Hyukjae.

 

Amber followed the photo with the green barfing emoji which elicited a small laugh out of Donghae.

 

“I’d rather you stick with Hyukjae oppa...get me tf out of here! >.<” she threatened

It was short and was probably just a joke to Amber, but it was enough to lift Donghae’s spirit. At least one person in his family was sane enough to respect and support his decision to be with Hyukjae.


Hyukjae…

 

Just thinking of him was enough to make Donghae miss the other more. He checked his schedule to see when he would get the chance to see his lover and frowned when he saw the names of two of his patients he needed to see before lunch.


He had planned to visit Hyukjae before then but it couldn't be helped. He’ll go after their appointment and maybe just say hi to Hyukjae’s parents who said they would come to visit Hyukjae today.
 

Two hours passed quietly, as Donghae was done with his last patient, he went down to Hyukjae’s floor. A cup of cold Americano in hand and his phone on his other hand, Donghae reached Hyukjae’s floor.


“Hyukjae-ssi is having some guests, Doctor Lee”, Nurse Kim at the Nurse Station informed him. Donghae thanked her for the information and continued to walk towards Hyukjae’s room.


Upon entering the room, Donghae was mildly surprised to see who had visited his lover. He saw two men, both looked about the same age as Hyukjae, one had honey colored blond hair while the other had covered himself up with a hoodie.


A new flower bouquet was placed on the side table, Dr Shin suggested putting scents that Hyukjae associated with positive feelings to help him find his consciousness. Since that was the only thing that could be done for now, Hyukjae’s family and Donghae made sure that there would be fresh flowers or aromatherapy pots around Hyukjae at all times.


Donghae slid the door shut behind him to announce his presence before slowly entering the room. The blonde haired man was the first to look up to him with his dimpled smiled and said his warm greeting.


“Donghae-ssi, Hi!" He bowed and Donghaw instinctively did the same "I'm Leeteuk, I work with Hyukjae at the Café. I'm sorry that our first meeting happened this way."


Donghae shook his hand and tried to muster a smile. “N-No, don't be. Thank you for taking care of Hyukjae, Leeteuk-ssi”.


“Of course,” Leeteuk smiled one more time at him before turning to the person behind him. “This is Yesung, by the way. He also works in the café with us."

 

Donghae looked at the man and made a small wave but the other simply tilted his head down in greeting before looking away. He found it strange but chose to just ignore it and headed closer to be by Hyukjae's side.


Leeteuk moved out of Donghae's way in order to allow him more room when his phone suddenly rang. Afraid to disturb the peace in Hyukjae's room, he pulled his phone out and immediately excused himself to answer the phone outside.


Once he was out of the room, Donghae noticed the man in the hoodie change his body language. He pulled his hoodie down to reveal his face and Donghae's eyes widened as he immediately recognized those sharp eyes that stared at him.


“You!” He pointed an accusing finger at him then instinctively held on Hyukjae's cold hand as to protect him from the other.


“Please, let me expla-"


“Get out." Donghae cut him off and was ready to attack him in a moment's notice. It was one thing to invade his home bu