Don't Go - Lee Donghae

Narrator's POV

What made the EXO members stand out as they stormed to the waiting lounge outside the operating room, other than the fact that they were accomplished, successful celebrities in this business, was the fact that their sense of style and fashion at the moment was only meant for airports and not for hospitals.

"How is she, noona?" They all murmured their concerns, which weren’t for the reason that their senior Leeteuk called them right in time, just before they boarded their plane -- unlike the Super Junior members, who almost started a frenzy by the airport when they received the news after they entered the plane. There was no turning back, and so it left them with no choice.

Min Jae shrugged, holding herself together as she held onto her phone, waiting for Donghae. He had been the one to call her, and not vice versa. Of course she would tell him where Min Yu is. She wasn't the one to break promises, but Donghae had the right to know. "It's going to be alright, noona," Suho comforted. "Min Yu will be fine."

They all watched the commotion from outside. Doctors and nurses all crowded the room with the observing window. They could clearly see the slow, uneven waves of Min Yu's heartbeat as she lay unconscious on a hospital bed. It was the combined effect of the tranquilizer and the morphine that put her into this state of peace as she underwent labor.

She was stirring, her eyes threatening to open but won't. Maybe the drugs were wearing off. Once she awakes, another stage of suffering will ensue. One nurse blocked the outsiders from the view as she measured the opening. Min Jae just watched closely. When the nurse nodded to the doctor, she braced herself tighter. "She's ready."

And more medical professionals hovered over her shrinking body. They waited for a few moments, just until her fingers twitched and she opened her eyes. Min Yu fumbled at the cannula by her nose, at the tubes and needles stuck in her flesh, and glanced up at the strangers watching her intently. She tried yanking her breathing tubes out, but the nurses didn't let her do so.

"WHERE IS SHE?" Donghae marched in, clearly anguished. He followed the EXO members' gazes and his eyes landed on the attended patient. The man advanced to the door. The others, foreseeing this, were already at his sides, holding onto his forearms to stop him. "Hyung, they're taking care of her already," Kyungsoo clung to his sunbae's arm tightly.

Min Jae ran ahead of Donghae and tried talking to the nurse guarding the door. Feeling overly persuaded, "Only one family member is to be allowed," he told her. She turned to the EXO members, who hesitantly let Donghae go. He, in turn, was quickly ushered inside the operating room. Trying his utmost best not to kneel down and cry, Donghae advanced to Min Yu's side.

Although she watched the doctor spreading her legs open carefully, Min Yu turned to the newcomer. She breathed in deeply, shocked that he even knew she was there. Weakly, she pushed him away. "Go..." she muttered faintly, her words choked by the pain that started to show its ugly face. "You have to push your baby outside, understand?" stated the nurse by her side.

"You don't have to see me like this," Min Yu told Donghae one last time before her breathing turned labored. The cannula stuck inside her nostrils began turning blood red because of her nose bleeding, and she started to convulse and grow unsteady. "WHAT'S HAPPENING?" One doctor exclaimed out loud, the panic getting the best of him.

Stumbling back and out of the operating room, Donghae was too overwhelmed to speak a word. They both turned to the panicking team of medical professionals as they debated on what exactly was happening while Min Yu was left to gurgle and choke on her own spit and blood. But even so, the only noise inside the room was coming from the talking staff, and not a slight whimper came from Min Yu's mouth.

Her vulnerable frame shook and trembled on the bed and her eyes rolled to the back of her head, but Min Yu could hear them panic. She could hear them when all her other senses were too weak to function properly. Her body was burning with agony, like she was bound and set on fire alive. But she pushed, as she was told to do so.

"She's fighting, she's fighting...our Min Yu is going to be fine," Min Jae comforted Donghae, heaving her hand up and down his back. He watched her as Min Yu suffered through a fit of unstoppable seizures, continuously spitting and gagging on her own blood. And she held onto the metal fences around her bed, and he wished for once that it was his hand she was holding.

The bed shook in time with her seizures, like she was an engine out of control, bleeding and breathing at the same time. The blood bubbled inside like a volcano waiting to spew, and Kai just turned around, not really enjoying the sight. The girl he played on arcades and drank soju with was self-destructing, proving that no matter how many lifesavers came her way, Min Yu was the only person who could save herself.

"Push more!" ordered the agitated doctor, her voice muffled by the face mask covering . As she had promised, Dr. Jin kept a close eye on the situation, alternating her gaze on the baby, whose head was already out, and the ECG monitoring the mother's heartbeat. She wanted so badly to save them both, and she willed to.

Min Yu, on the other hand, wanted to cry and scream and die at the same time as the pain was too unbearable for her. She grew more unstable by the minute as she tried her best to keep her eyes open, even though they keep on sinking back to their sockets, while pushing her pelvic muscles to give way and open, despite it ripping its way to her consciousness.

Everything at once was overwhelming, which was still an understatement. It felt like her bones were being crushed and trampled on at the same time. The chest pains and the torture she has had before would not suffice the excruciating agony drowning her slowly. "Push!" The doctor shouted, and Min Yu wanted to open and scream but she pursed her lips and pushed instead.

Min Jae placed her hands on either of Donghae's shoulders. "I can see him now!" she exclaimed, her gaze closing in on the child by the doctor's arms. Everyone crowded to the huge windows to take a closer look. As was necessary, Dr. Jin lifted the baby by his feet, carrying him upside down. She patted the child by his thigh to make him cry -- signaling that he was alive.

The mother, however, thankfully calmed down from her seizures, although was still dripping with blood. Outside, no one breathed. The baby wasn't crying, nor did his eyes open. "No..." Donghae muttered to himself in disbelief, waiting for the onslaught of sadness to overtake him. Min Yu, hearing the commotion in front of her, pushed herself up by the elbows and yanked the cannula out of her nose.

"Give..." she coughed and more blood came dripping out of , but she wiped it away. "Give him to me," she ordered faintly. Dr. Jin, although hesitantly, handed her the child, who was, by then, wrapped in cotton sheets stained with his mother's blood. First and foremost, she kissed him on the forehead and watched in admiration as the infant opened his eyes.

"Oh dear God thank you," exclaimed one nurse. And even though they can't hear the commotion inside, the outsiders heaved a sigh of relief. With glassy eyes, "You're so beautiful," Min Yu commented, running her hand across his cheek. Everyone had their eyes on the view, and was shielded from the ECG beeping slower and weaker.

Min Yu teared up, her breathing becoming more erratic. "You take too much after Donghae, don't you?" she whispered inaudibly, clasping her baby tighter against her chest. "Take good care of appa for me, okay?" She leaned in to kiss him once more. The heart monitor grew flat and silent. The baby cried and the nurse took him from her arms. Min Yu's eyes remained open.

-SHORT T_T it's because the next few chapters will be longer. Please bear with me~ leave comments! ^^