Recap:
Hyukjae's face brightened. He leaned closer and kissed Donghae tenderly.
It was real. Them, together as a couple. And Donghae could speak. There was nothing it could destroy his happiness in that moment.

Oh, he wasn't quite right about it.

Donghae started to cough. At first lightly, so Hyukjae paid no attention, thinking that Donghae choked on his breath or saliva. But the sound became louder and it looked like the younger was suffocating.
"Hae, is everything allright?" Hyukjae asked, concerned.
Donghae waved his hand as if he was trying to brush it off. He covered his mouth with his hand, but the cough wouldn't stop. His inhales were sharp and short, and suddenly, with one particularly intense exhale, drops of blood appeared on his palm.
Donghae widened his eyes, terrified.
"Hae, this is serious. I'm calling the ambulance" Hyukjae managed to say and with shaky hands he took his phone out of the pocket of his jeans and dialed 911.

~*~*~

Hyukjae was pacing around behind an emergency room door. He could still hear Donghae coughing from time to time while being examined by an old, but mild-looking doctor. After a painfully long moment the door opened and the doctor walked out of the room. Hyukjae came closer.
"Is everything okay? Will Donghae be okay?" he asked urgently, scratching his head.
"He should be fine" the doctor replied. "But I'm afraid he has to undergo a surgery today. We'll prepare the operat-"
"A surgery?" Hyukjae was shocked. "So it is serious?"
The doctor smiled lightly and patted Hyukjae's arm. "Please, calm down, sir. It isn't a dangerous operation. Apparently, there were two polyps in mr Lee's larynx. One of them has been ruptured today, thus the bleeding and the cough." the doctor explained.
"P-polyps?" Hyukjae stammered, doumbfounded.
"Yes, Hyukjae-sshi. They are soft, miniature nodules formed in mr Lee's larynx" the doctor said. "They can appear on one or on both vocal cords. They are usually a result of the vocal overexertion or smoking. We aren't sure why they were formed, though. Was mr Lee smoking a lot?"
"Exceuse me?"
"I asked if mr Lee was an active smoker" the doctor repeated calmly.
"No, no!" Hyukjae shook his head. "He doesn't smoke."
The man hummed. "And did he strain his voice recently?"
Hyukjae looked at the doctor, astonished. After a moment he realised that they couldn't possibly know about Donghae's muteness.
"Donghae is... he was, mute. Today... today he spoke for the first time in about four years" Hyukjae said. "And he... Shouted at me a little as well. So I think you could call it a strain."
The doctor hummed understandingly.
"Today's overextention must have been the cause of the rapture, then." he stated and Hyukjae nodded.
"We still have to operate" the older man sighed. "We'll remove the remainings of the damaged nodule and the second, smaller one that wasn't affected."
"Will he..." Hyukjae hesitated, "Will Donghae-"
The doctor could probably read peoples minds, because he answered Hyukjae's question that hadn't been asked. "He'll be able to speak again, don't worry. If he’s overcome his disability to speak once, it shouldn’t be difficult to him to communicate after the treatment” he explained. “Our specialist had done this kind of surgery many times before, so there is very little risk" he smiled warmly at Hyukjae. "You'll have to wait for a couple of days after the surgery before your... Who is he to you, actually, Mr Lee?
”Erm... my b-boyfriend?”
”You’re not related to him?”

"No, sir”

”So why am I even talking to you, mr Lee? I was sure you were brothers...” the doctor scratched his forehead absentmindedly. “Ah, let’s forget the rules for now. You’re the one who came here with him, so I guess you need to be informed”
Hyukjae nodded and muttered his ‘thank you, doctor’
”Where were we? Ah... As I said, you’ll have to wait for some time before mr Lee will be able to speak again, because it might take some time for the anasthesia to fade away”
”I understand” said Hyukjae. “Thank you again. Can I... Can I see him before...”
”Yes, of course. But please make sure he doesn’t try to speak”

Hyukjae shook hands with the doctor and went into the room, where on a bed, covered with white sheets and wearing hospital pajamas, was Donghae.
”Don’t say anything” Hyukjae said instead of his usual ‘Hi’.

Donghae signed in responce. ‘It’d be difficult. My throat hurts like hell after all this coughing’

"And here you are, silent again, huh?"

Donghae's expression saddened. He closed his big eyes and bent down, his hands gripping the sheet.

Hyukjae smiled. “Hey, don't be like this. You’ll be okay. I talked to the doctor, he said you’d be able to speak a few days after the operation” He crouched down by the bed as there was no spare chair and took Donghae’s hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll be here for the whole time. And I promise you’ll see me right after they... cut this... something that’s there in your throat” Hyukjae stood up, leaned over the bed and gently kissed Donghae’s neck, near his adam’s apple.

“See you, Hae” ha said seconds later, and Donghae smiled weakly. ‘See you’ he signed.

~*~*~

The surgery didn’t last long. Or maybe it was only so short from Hyukjae’s point of wiev, because he could have fallen asleep at some point in the hospital corridor on one of those extremely uncomfortable chairs. He woke up to the sound of the operating door slammed shut. The doctor who came out of the door wasn't the one Hyukjae was talking to earlier, this one was younger, around the age of Hyukjae, tall, slender, with long nose and reddish hair. Hyukjae got up and walked closer to the man, bowed slightly and asked,
"Is everything okay with him?"
"You're Lee Hyukjae, right?" the doctor asked in accented Korean and when Hyukjae nodded, he said with a wide, warm smile,
"Everything went well. He's young, he should be recovering fast. You can go visit him, he's conscious. But no speaking yet. He may try it in about two days, okay?"
"Yes, I get it" said Hyukjae. Thank you very much, doctor"
"Oh, no problem!" the man replied brightly and Hyukjae gaped at him when the former winked at him, turned around and sing-songed, "Good luck for you two!"

"Wha-?" Hyukjae rubbed his cheek, doumbfounded. Was this guy a doctor?

Mhm, Right. What was he supposed to do? Ah, Donghae! He realised he didn't know where he'd find his boyfriend, so he asked a nurse about the room number and after a short ride in a hospital lift he found himself in front of the recovery room. He knocked and opened the door, peering through it at first and then walked inside.

A/n: So, not everything is so nice pink and fluffy, Donghae needed to be operated on... But you know me, I won't let him suffer for a long time ^^ and I am completely not into this medical stuff, so if something's odd, forgive me :)) at first I'd thought I'd make a good angst writer, but 'MTS' went in direction of fluffy romance and I'm really sorry if that's different from what you expected :)

After a longer break, faster updates!

PS: Ninjas are everywhere. Anyone noticed? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ