Several minutes and red lights later found his father and Jiyong impatiently sitting in the tiny hospital’s waiting room. Neither spoke as they sat waiting for news on the youngest member of their family who had disappeared behind swinging doors. Spotting a doctor coming out of those same doors both dad and sons are tensed.

“Family of Seungri?” the young doctor called from the doorway.

“Here” his father hollered as he stood and started towards the doctor. “How’s my son?”

“He’s being treated.” The doctor replied as he suspiciously eyed the man in front of him. “Sir, I need some information about your son’s “accident”. “What happened tonight? How did he fall?”

“It’s my fault.” Jiyong said gazing at the floor.

“Your fault? How?” the young doctor questioned with a frown. “Did you push him?

Jiyong’s head snapped up at the question. “What?! No way! I’d never do that!” he shouted.

“Then how did your brother get hurt?” the doctor prodded.

“I played a prank on him. Earlier he was playing prank on me. He’s scared of clowns. So I dressed up like one and hid in the hall closet. When he came by, I jumped out at him.” Jiyong explained. “It was just supposed to scare him. I didn’t mean for him to fall. I’d never mean to hurt him.”

The young doctor gave the upset boy in front of him a sympathetic smile before standing. “That’s all the information I’ll need for now. Thank you son.” He said.

John waited until the doctor was out of sight and then turned to glare at Jiyong. “How could Seungri have pranked you? You two have been at different schools all day?” he asked.

“Seungri’s the one that got the rumor started about me dad.” Jiyong stated. “He planted a bunch of pictures of explicit dancer in my locker.”

“What?!” John gasped. “How do you know your brother did it?”

“He ummm,” Jiyong started. “Who else would have done it?”

“So you just assumed your brother did it?” He’s father asked crossing his arms.

“Yes” Jiyong meekly replied as that fact hit him. He grabbed his head with both hands as doubts about Seungri’s guilt assailed him.

His father was so focused on the ER doors that he didn’t notice the toll Seungri’s accident and his words were taking on Jiyong. Worried and angry he let his mouth get the better of him. “You know what. I can’t talk about this right now. Just know that I’ll be watching over your brother from now on since I obviously can’t trust you to.”

Jiyong sank further into his seat. “Dad’s right. I was supposed to take care of Seungri.” Jiyong thought. “And now he’s in the hospital because of me. Some big brother I am.”

Both of the father and son sat silently waiting for news on Seungri. After the first hour his father had started pacing the length of the waiting room. He walked around the small room over and over attempting to calm his nerves and alleviate some of his anger. He was about ready to go find Seungri himself by the time he saw the doctor emerging from the ER. Altering his course he met the young man at the door. “How is he?” he asked.

The doctor smiled at the worried father. “Your son is going to be fine.” He assured the man. After ushering Seungri’s father to the nearest chair, he continued. “Your son came in with several injuries the worst of which is a severe concussion. He did come to in the ER long enough to correctly answer questions for me. We will be admitting him for at least tonight so we can monitor him. Other than that his left arm, which was dislocated, was successfully reduced. His right leg was broken. That break was set and casted. There was also a nasty gash on the right side of his forehead which required twelve stitches. We will be admitting him for at least tonight so we can monitor him. All in all I’d say he’s one lucky little boy. His injuries could have been a lot worse.”

“Thank you for taking care of my son.” Jiyong’s father said smiling for the first time since the accident. “Can we see him now?”

“Your son has being moved to a room as we speak. A nurse will be along to get you as soon as he’s settled.” The doctor informed him.

“Thank you” Jiyong’s father stated again as he shook the doctor’s hand. Exhausted he leaned back in his chair allowing himself to relax. He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited eyes glued to the doorway.

Minutes later a nurse came into the waiting room and announced, “Family of Seungri?”

Jiyong and his father quickly stood and walked over. “I’m his father.”

“Nice to meet you Sir. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to your son’s room.” The nurse instructed.

“Come on Jiyong. Let’s go.” His father ordered scowling as his son slowly shuffled over. Both of them followed the nurse to the elevator anxious to see for themselves that Seungri was truly alright.


****

Jiyong’s father sat back in his chair and rubbed his tired eyes. He needed some more coffee or he was going to fall asleep. Glancing across Seungri’s bed he stared at Jiyong who hadn’t moved since they’d walked into Seungri’s room hours ago. It looked like his eldest felt guilty as hell about his little brother’s accident. “Good” he angrily thought as he focused back on Seungri.

It wasn’t the prank he was mad about. It had all the makings of a great joke. Besides, he couldn’t blame the boys for pranking each other. They’d practically grown up watching the prank wars he engaged in with his brother. It was a great way of relieving the stress.

But this time his eldest had screwed up. Jiyong had just assumed Seungri had done the locker prank. He didn’t even bother to check it out. If he had taken the time to look into it, he probably would have found out that his brother didn’t have anything to do with that prank. It just wasn’t Seungri’s style. The kid was only ten so his pranks were still very simple. He’d never have even thought of a joke like that. Strike one for Jiyong.

Jiyong’s next failure had been the planning. Every prank needed to be planned out to the smallest detail taking into account things that might cause problems. Safety first. He had been drilling that into Jiyong’s head and yet the kid hadn’t even noticed something as big as the stairs! Strike two!

And his last mistake had been not obeying orders. After Seungri’s last disastrous prank, he had sat both boys down and told them in no uncertain terms that pranks were strictly forbidden for the rest of the year. He knew that would be a tough order to follow but he had expected Jiyong and Seungri to comply. Yet its Jiyong had seen fit to ignore that particular order. Strike three!                                                                                       He would have to fix this little problem once Seungri was released.

Decision made him reached over and gently ran a hand through Seungri’s hair smiling as Seungri leaned into his touch. Blinking back the moisture in his eyes that was definitely from fatigue he slowly retracted his hand and stood. “Jiyong, go down to the cafeteria and get me some coffee.” He ordered as he walked to the window.

“But dad, I wanna stay with Seungri.” Jiyong argued.

“That was an order, Jiyong.” His father growled. “Think you can follow this one.”

“Yes sir” Jiyong replied hanging his head. He slowly stood and shuffled to the door. He cast one last glance at his father and little brother before pulling the door open and leaving the room.

 

The next day

Seungri sat on his bed glancing between his brother and his dad and attempting to figure out how everything could go so screwy in the short time he had been out of it. First he’s in a hospital from a fall he doesn’t remember. And then there’s the way Jiyong and his dad are acting. It’s like they’ve switched personalities or something. Jiyong always been the one who took care of him when he was hurt or sick while his dad just kind of stayed in the distance. But ever since Seungri woke up, his dad has been fussing over him while Jiyong quietly sat over by the window. Seungri needed some answers and he needed them now. That brought up another problem; who to ask? He usually went to Jiyong with any questions, but his big brother hadn’t said more than a handful of words to him all morning. That left his dad. “Oh, this is gonna be fun.” Seungri thought as he shifted on the bed trying to find a more comfortable position for his leg.

“Eat your soup, Seungri.” his dad ordered from his spot by the window. “The doc won’t let you out of here until you eat something and keep it down.”

Seungri peered at the thick concoction with the oily residue on the top and gagged bringing his dad immediately to his side.

“ Are you okay?” his dad asked snatching the kidney shaped bowl from the night stand. “You gonna be sick?”

“Only if I eat that.” Seungri replied pushing the tray table away from him. “It looks like something Dracula puked up.”

His dad snorted. He set the bowl back down and ruffled Seungri’s hair. “Thanks for the nasty mental image.” He said. “Want me to call the nurse and have her bring you something else?”

“Yes” Seungri mentally cheered. His plan was working perfectly. “Dad, could umm, Jiyong get me some chicken noodle soup from that diner? Please dad?” he asked as he turned his puppy dog look on full blast.

“Sure” his dad replied. Reaching into his wallet he pulled out a few bills and handed them to Jiyong. “Go get your brother some soup.” He barked.

Seungri watched Jiyong’s eyes light up as he took the money and hurried out of the room. As soon as the door shut behind Jiyong, Seungri rounded on his dad. “What’s going on dad? What happened?” he questioned.

His dad gave Seungri the once over as he carefully sat down on the side of the bed. “What’s the last thing you remember?” he asked.

Seungri cocked his head to one side as he went over yesterday’s events in his head. “Umm, Jiyong coming home mad.” He answered.

“He tells you why he was ticked.” His dad probed.

Seungri thought for a moment. “I don’t remember.” He sheepishly confessed. “Why?”

“Seems someone played a prank on your brother yesterday. Plastered his locker with pictures some of explicit dancer.” His dad explained. “Jiyong seemed to think you were the prankster.”

Seungri mouth dropped at the accusation. Seeing the anger in his dad’s face Seungri tensed as the memory of his dad’s reaction to his last prank came to mind. “I, I, I didn’t do it” he stuttered. “Honest dad! It w-wasn’t me.”

“It’s alright, Seungri.” his father soothed as he wrapped his youngest in a hug. “I’m not mad. I know you didn’t pull that prank.”

Sagging in relief Seungri snuggled closer to his dad enjoying this seldom given form of comfort. Safe in his father’s arms he thought over what he had learned and suddenly Jiyong’s actions that morning made sense. Jiyong was angry at him! That’s why he wasn’t talking to him and why he was so happy to leave the room. Jiyong didn’t want to be around him! Seungri hugged his father tighter as that realization sunk in. Seungri forced his sluggish brain into service trying desperately to come up with a way to get his big brother back. Unfortunately all that seemed to accomplish was to double the headache from hell. Deciding he needed to work on his plan sometime when his head wasn’t so close to exploding, Seungri pulled away from his dad and slowly laid back down. Closing his eyes he decided to take a little nap until Jiyong got back.