"Mr Yang." The female doctor had to pause then, as she took in the father and son in the small group. When no introductions were immediately forthcoming, she had to ask: "Are you all immediate family?"

"Yes," Hyunsuk answered – offering no further explanation; making no attempt to elaborate on the lie – and his eyes dared the doctor to call him on it.

"Alright." The doctor shrugged it off. It wasn't her business anyway. "Your son has been moved into a room. He's exhausted and dehydrated and has quite a nasty concussion. Other than that, he has no broken bones; just some very heavy bruising. So he will be sore for a while…"

"Stop!" Hyunsuk barked the word out, startling everyone around him; but his words were directed solely at the doctor – who was suddenly coming across as being almost overbearingly condescending. "Stop talking to me as though I'm a child. I am not a child." He zoned in on her with all his intensity. "I know what happened to my son and I also know that he was drugged. Have you identified that drug yet?"

"We had ran a standard blood test, but it didn't show up anything…"

"But not a full toxic test," Hyunsuk bit out – acutely aware that procedure wouldn't demand one – but, given to his younger son's circumstances, should have been done anyway. He heaved in a deep breath, striving to keep his temper. "The man who kidnapped my son gave one of his victims Misoprostol. To his pregnant victims." He didn't miss the look of shock that crept past the doctor's face. She clearly know of Misoprostol – and its uses. "So, please, do what we ask, help us save my son’s life and stop treating him as though he's just some kid who fell off his bicycle."

Seunghyun had been shifting restlessly throughout the exchange – barely even listening to what was being said. He had heard the words that his baby brother was being moved into a room and everything else was just background noise.

Seungri being formally admitted meant that his brother would soon be able to receive visitor. He even took a half-step towards the elevator, before realising that he was the only one who had moved.

And then he couldn't help but pick up on the increasing tension between his dad and the female doctor. But the only thought in his head was that they didn't have time for this.

Though he agreed with what his father was saying, Seunghyun was tired of the arguing; of fighting with seemingly everyone they came across; tired of words, of just being told things, when what he really needed was to know. He needed to see his brother for himself. He needed to see him alive and whole and back on the road to being okay again.

It was like a physical craving.

"Can we see him?" he blurted out – totally unable to help himself.

The female doctor started to turn towards him and Seunghyun caught a glimpse her expression as she did so. Her lips were tight and thin, her eyes hard. She was clearly angry at the way his father had spoken to her.

A second later, she was facing him and her smile was back in place – but now even he, in the height of his emotions, could see how false it was. Her next words cemented in place how right he was about how superficial she was:

"Visiting hours…" she began.

"Don't." Seunghyun speak before his father could – knowing that the words might be slightly less damaging coming from him. Slightly. "Don't even think about trying to keep us from see my brother."

"Look..." Her tone towards him was decidedly more friendly than it been towards his dad: "To the family, every case is an emergency; they should always be the exception to the rules."

"I don't care about the rule." Seunghyun interrupted, with uncharacteristic sharpness. "Call Doctor Seo (Taiji) if you don't want to take the responsibility, but we are going to see my brother."

The female doctor looked down, biting her lip. It was clear to her that she had lost this battle – and it was equally clear to Seunghyun that she hate that fact.

And he didn't give a damn about her feelings. All that mattered was that she gave them permission because they were mere minutes away from seeing Seungri.

But she still had the last parting shot: "Only two of you at any one time," she ordered. "And I will be instructing the nurses to enforce that."

But her words didn't provoke any reaction – because there was never going to be even a hint of a discussion as to who those two were going to be.

Hyunsuk, Seunghyun, Ga-in and Jae Suk – at all of their insistence and against his protestations – piled into an elevator and then they all stood around feeling somewhat uncomfortable about what had just transpired.

Both gather and son were feeling more than a little perturbed – though they only communicated that with the occasional guilty glance towards one another.

The hospital staff had been good to them in the past: had waived visiting rights; had helped them with anonymity when a case required; had even lied on their behalf when it had been necessary to ensure their safety.

It made them feel mildly guilty – and more than a little disconcerted – that they had flaunted all of that good faith, just because they had encountered a doctor who was clearly having a bad day.

Their eyes met again – and, this time, held for a moment longer.

"I'm not happy we're in bad term with the doctor responsible for taking care of Seungri," Seunghyun admitted, softly. It was a hard admission to make – it felt as though he was somehow siding with the female doctor. But the concern he voiced was very real; and truly terrifying. Seungri had enough to contend with, without adding a disgruntled doctor to the list.

Then his dad smiled at him, in unmistakable sympathy: "I know," he agreed. "But I'm hoping that she's a professional and that she takes her vows seriously. Other than that, I'll apologise to her in the morning."

"She should be apologising to you." Aunt Ga-in spoke up then – and her tone spoke volumes about her opinion of the doctor.

Then the elevator jolted and a synthetic voice piped out the words 'fourth floor'.

Seungri's room was situated only about a few room from the elevator. Either that, or there was another patient in the hospital who required a police presence.

SeungHyun's heart rate increased as he approached. He hadn't thought that Arashi might have needed hospital treatment – but what if he had? What if he had, cruelly, been ensconced on the same floor as Seungri?

He speeded up; somehow without actually breaking into a run. When he reached the door, one of the police officer nod at him. Seunghyun inwardly appreciated that he'd been recognised and suddenly felt reassured by their presence. It also somehow told him that this was the right room: their senses were tuned outwards – not at the room behind them; which would have been the case had it been a prisoner they were guarding.

His hand grasped the door handle and he turned to look back at his father. Yang Hyunsuk looked grey with worry and fatigue. He looked about a thousand times removed from the man who had spent more than a decade as a police officer; who had become a successful P.I; who in both of his careers, had put countless criminals away.

But, in that moment, he was none of those things. He was just a father – like so many countless others who had passed through that hospital – worried sick about his son.

Seunghyun reached out and clutched his dad's hand, as acute sympathy welled within him – but, even as he did so, he couldn't help but glance towards the door; which now a step away.

"I'm not going to leave him," Seunghyun vowed – remembering past conversations and promises made; with himself, with his family even with God. "Never again." He took his first step into the room – but deliberately pitched his voice low; just in case there was some chance his brother might be able to hear him. "I won't." And, reaffirming a vow he had so recently made to himself, he added: "For the rest of my life, if that's what it takes."

They entered the room together – and then were both pulled up short by the sight of a nurse leaning over Seungri’s's bed.

Seunghyun would have darted forwards – concerned by this latest development – but his dad caught hold of his bicep, before he could do anything rash.

"Excuse me." Hyunsuk approached slowly and cautiously – and Seunghyun even wondered if his hand was creeping towards where he normally carried his gun. He felt his own heart rate increase; his own paranoia slide up another notch. What was this nurse doing to his brother?

"Hey!" He couldn't help but cry out in protest.

The nurse whirled around – and they could both see the needle that she held in her hand.

"What are you doing" The question came simultaneously from father and son.

"Doctor asked for another blood sample," the young nurse answered – still clearly startled by them bursting in on her. "She said he needs more tests."

Hyunsuk and Seunghyun exchanged a look at that – apparently the doctor had taken their words on board.

His senses still honed – and still more than a little on edge – Seunghyun glanced quickly around the room; looking for anything out of place; anything that might suggest something untoward was happening.

His gaze was drawn to the nightstand and his eyes narrowed when he saw a book lying there – propped open so as not to lose the place, but doing irreparable damage to the book's spine. It looked innocent enough; but he couldn't help but be curious as to what it was doing there.

The nurse saw what he was looking at and smiled, sheepishly: "doctor said that he shouldn't be left alone, but he'd be asleep for some hours. I was just trying to pass the time."

Mentally filing away the second thing the seemingly blasé doctor had done at their request, Seunghyun looked at the book more closely and then smiled at the title. It might not been Seungri's favourite book of all time – but it certainly alluded to one of his favourite movies.

Seungri would have appreciated the irony; would probably even have used the book as a way of flirting with the pretty young nurse.

Seunghyun’s smile faded. At least, the old Seungri would have. The present Seungri – the one currently lying in that hospital bed… he couldn't even hazard a guess as to what this version of his brother might do.

The nurse returned to her duties and carefully withdrew the blood sample from Seungri's arm. Then she smiled again and headed towards the door. Seunghyun's voice stopped her from exiting:

"Please," he said – an irrational fear niggling at the back of his mind. "Take your book with you."

And, though he knew it was irrational, Seunghyun couldn't help but make that request. In the movie that Seungri loved so much, the part with the nurse reading from that very same book had precluded scenes of terrifying and violent nightmare images.

As soon as the nurse – and her book – had left the room, Seunghyun took a deep breath and exchanged one last long look with his father.

Then, together, they walked towards his brother’s hospital bed.