XLVII - Awake and I'm Sorry

Parking Love
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A/N: Early update since I'm going out :)). Sorry for making Gyu cry but I'm gonna make him cry for another two chapters including this. It was expected on this chapter that he would cry but more on happy tears than sad. Same as on the next chapter. 

 

The nurses hurried inside Woohyun's room followed by the resident doctor on duty. Sunggyu remained on the sidelines tearing up inaudibly while the medical team were doing their assessments.

 

"Mr. Nam, we know it's uncomfortable. Just wait a little bit longer. We're checking all the specifics and your attending physician’s order. For now, follow my instructions Woohyun-ssi." One nurse was browsing through the electronic chart at the bedside while the doctor continued with the assessment of Woohyun's responses to stimuli.

 

Sunggyu wept more when he saw Woohyun opened his eyes when instructed. He responded to sounds and pain as well. Woohyun, you're back. You really are awake.

 

"Dr. Kang, there's a standing order to extubate once awake with good response to stimuli."

 

"Re-check all his breathing parameters again and prepare the oxygen, nasal cannula and ambu-bag on bedside just in case. Get the crash cart on stand-by in case extubation didn't work and we have to reintubate again."

 

Nurses were running in and out of the room following all the resident doctor's order.

 

"Ok. Woohyun-ssi, follow my instructions. We're removing your breathing tube."

 

Sunggyu watched Woohyun being briefed about the process, and he was praying that it would work. Because in some cases, though the variables were good, extubation still fails.

 

After a few moments of explaining the procedures to Woohyun, the breath assessment through auscultation started. One nurse was instructed to suction the remaining secretions while another one was preparing the oxygen.

 

"Woohyun-ssi, as I removed the tube, start inhaling and exhaling deeply and slowly. Then cough after the tube was removed." The resident doctor deflated the cuff that is anchoring the tube in place and little by little, the tube was pulled out carefully until it's gone.

 

"You did good Woohyun-ssi.” Woohyun did everything that was instructed.

 

The resident doctor evaluated Woohyun's breath sounds again while the nurses was checking then cardiac monitor and his blood pressure.

 

"Dr. Kim." He was startled by the resident doctor's soft voice. "He's ok now. He could breathe just fine." The resident then started giving orders to the nurses.

 

Sunggyu turned his back and sobbed. He had been waiting for this day and yet he still couldn't believe Woohyun was awake. He wiped his tears and turned around when someone tapped his shoulder.

 

"Dr. Kim, there's already an order for referral to respiratory therapist. The therapist will be here in a while. You can talk to him now but his voice will still be hoarse due to the strain caused by the tube and because of dysphagia (difficulty in swallowing). His attending might refer him to speech-language pathologist for swallow evaluation. The nurses will do his oral hygiene. Do you have his toothbrush ready or do you want to continue with the foam swab for the meantime?"

 

"I'll do it Dr. Kang. I can manage from here. Thank you." When the doctor and nurses left, Sunggyu took everything he needed. He’s been doing Woohyun’s oral hygiene for 3 weeks and he could do it on his own.

 

*****

 

Sunggyu slowly approached Woohyun's bed. Woohyun's eyes were closed but he knew he's awake. He wondered if Woohyun remembered anything he heard when he was unconscious. Some patients in coma woke up remembering everything and some were like him who woke up without any recollections of what he heard during his sleep.

 

"Woohyun.” He called softly. “I need to help you brush your teeth and clean your mouth." He saw him opening his eyes, slowly turned the gaze on him and nodded.

 

Woohyun just silently accepted his help and followed his instructions. He knew he was still in daze and confused. Disorientation was normal after waking up from coma.

 

After he was done, he turned away to put everything in the in the bathroom.

 

"G-gyu." He stopped from walking when he heard Woohyun's faintly audible voice. It seemed like he got out of daze too quick.

 

"..."

 

"G-gyu."

 

For whatever reasons, Sunggyu became scared of looking back at Woohyun. He had been waiting for this moment but he couldn't even look at him. All he could do was silently cry while his back was turned away from Woohyun. His heart raced fast hearing the voice that he longed to hear for three weeks.

 

"C-come h-here G-gyu." He heard the strain in Woohyun's voice by just uttering few words. And because he couldn't have him strain it more because he knew how it hurt, he slowly walked back with head low and stood-up by the side of the bed after putting the things on his hand on the bedside table.

 

Sunggyu was still avoiding looking at Woohyun. He fidgeted with his fingers while looking down and tears streaming on his face and falling to his hands.

 

He felt Woohyun's hands on his and it made him cried more. When he couldn't take the heaviness, he was feeling any longer, he sat on the bed and buried his face on Woohyun's neck, sobbing much louder than before. Woohyun's right hand patted his back.

 

*****

 

Sunggyu didn't know how long he stayed face buried on Woohyun's neck crying. It could be a minute or an hour but his tears never stopped from falling.

 

 

Woohyun tried removing Sunggyu's head from his right shoulder but due to the limited mobility he had, he couldn't. So, he just let him cry. He didn't care if his shoulder was already wet because of Sunggyu's tears, it was the only way to comfort him.

 

He wanted to speak but it caused too much stress on his vocal cords because of being unused for weeks. It hurt when he called Sunggyu's name. He had many things to say to the crying man in his arm but he had to wait until his voice comes back.

 

When he realized that the crying would not stop any sooner, he patted Sunggyu a little harder but he gave him no response. He would think that Sunggyu already fell asleep on his shoulders if only he wasn’t hearing his sobs and felt his shoulders moving from crying hard. It broke his heart seeing the him weeping like there's no tomorrow. So even if it’s hard, he tried speaking again.

 

"G-gyu. S-stop." He felt him moved away and returned to look on his own hands again.

 

Woohyun lifted Sunggyu's chin so he could look at him. His eyes also started to be clouded with tears seeing Sunggyu's face. He longed for him even during his sleep. He remembered. He heard everything that was happening around him; he just couldn't wake up. He didn’t even know what woke him up and why he woke up. The stream of tears flowed freely from his eyes and now they were staring at each other like they did before he turned his back away from him when he left his apartment. He touched Sunggyu's face and wiped away the tears that kept on falling from his now red and swelling eyes.

 

Woohyun didn't want to see those tears anymore. He knew Sunggyu had been crying beside him for weeks; had been crying alone. He heard his silent sobs. He heard his loud cries. He even heard his muffled whimpers even he tried to hide it with music. Sunggyu had already shed too much tears because of him and he hated himself for that.

 

He didn't know how but Sunggyu mustered the strength to speak amidst of heavy emotions he was feeling. He suddenly heard him talking in between his tears.

 

"Hyun, I'm sorry. It was my fault."

 

"N-no G-gyu."

 

"I should've listened to you and not let you go that day. I'm sorry."

 

Sunggyu's tears didn't seem to have an end and it made him mad knowing that he couldn't say any words to comfort him without hurting his throat. All he could do was wipe away his tears and listen to him say sorry over and over. And, he never wanted to listen anymore, he heard enough while he was asleep. What he wanted to do now was to hug Sunggyu tight which he couldn't do as well. His condition was starting to make him furious. He couldn't even hold Sunggyu properly.

 

Woohyun tried of thinking something he could do to make Sunggyu stop crying. He tried patting his own shoulder again hoping Sunggyu would understand what he meant and he was glad he did.

 

Sunggyu buried his crying face again on his neck and he did his best to hug him tight using his arms full of contraptions. He could see that there was already blood backflowing from the tubing but he didn't care. It wasn't important.

 

"I'm sorry Hyun. Thank you for waking up."

 

"Ssssshhhhh... it's ok." Woohyun just tried whispering using more air than forcing his voice out; and it was much easier like that. “I love you.”

 

Sunggyu moved his head away from Woohyun's neck and stared at him. He then cupped both of his cheeks and leaned forward for a long kiss. They rested their forehead against each other, tip of the nose touching and lips almost slightly brushing.

 

“Do you remember everything you heard while sleeping?” He nodded and it made Sunggyu tear up more.  "Don't leave me again. I’m not strong enough to endure everything if you leave. Please, don’t die on me again. I love you so much Hyun."

 

With a soft weak voice, Woohyun tried to utter, "I won't. I love you too."

 

Woohyun scooted a little bit to his left and let Sunggyu lay down beside him. The older immediately nuzzled back his nose on this neck and closed his eyes after turning off the bright room lights that had to be when Woohyun woke up.

 

“I missed you.” That was Sunggyu’s last words before he closed his eyes and relax on his hold.

 

Soon, both drifted to sleep. The respiratory therapist who just knocked and opened the door retreated after seeing the sight in front of him to give them some privacy. He could come back a little later.

 

The couple slept soundly and peacefully until morning. They never even woke up everytime the nurses went inside the room to monitor Woohyun and give medications.

 

 

That early Monday morning, the first to wake up was Woohyun. He was woken up by the sound of the door opening and little loud voices talking. It was Sungyeol and Myungsoo who entered and they instantaneously stopped talking when they saw Woohyun putting his fingers on his lips asking them to keep quiet because

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StrawberrySkye
Glad I finished this without going insane ^_^

Comments

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sunggyu_chingyu #1
Chapter 52: it's so beautiful authornim 😭 this fic make me smile,laugh, and cry 😭 you did a very good job 🥺 can't thank you enough for writing this fic ❤️ thank you so muchhhhh...hope can read another great chapter story from you ❤️
emholic
#2
Chapter 52: Love the story authornim~ you did a very good job on this one and love the notes at the end of the chapters additional knowledge and hindsights 💜.... this fic making me jealous i wish i have such a loving bf like woohyun, i'm envious of sunggyu, lucky hamster!
Foreverins
#3
Chapter 52: A great ending for a great story.. This was such a nice story. To sum it all, I loved how you have included like everything in this fic. And you took your time to update this fic every day.
Thankyou so much for writing this beautiful story. I loved reading this. I have said this in every chapter.
And thankyou so much for including me in your note. I feel so happy. ❤️
And yes.. So excited for your next story. Will be waiting for you
dgh2673 #4
thanks for writing it and we are waiting for your new story 😀
Simran20 #5
Chapter 52: Can't be more emotional than this...seeing the status completed really made my heart💔, this was one of the fics I always looked upto now matter how busy I am..and can't believe it's over. You really did a wonderful job in writing this beautiful fic and I am glad that I was following it from the start. Even I am a er for second gen and I can totally relate with you. Looking forward for your new fics and hope you get a lot of motivation author nim. Thankyou so much and till next time take care, god bless ❤️❤️❤️between thankyou for mentioning us.
Foreverins
#6
Chapter 51: What a Rollercoaster of emotions. I am happy because they got their happiness. After all the drama, they deserve this happiness
Simran20 #7
Chapter 51: Can't be more happy for them❤️❤️ Thankyou so much for the update author nim ❤️❤️
Foreverins
#8
Chapter 50: This is great.. You have put such a great effort in writing this. Loved the proposal. I am happy because both of them are happy. Loved reading this as always