Nurse come and went throughout the course of the night, checking on Seungri, given the seriousness of his concussion, but never actually waking him much beyond semi-consciousness.

Seungri certainly never seemed to be fully aware of his surroundings – and he never gave any indication of either his father's or his hyung's presence.

Morning come without both father and son even thinking of sleeping themselves. Their mouths were dry and their voices were hoarse, but there was no hint of a complaint. Seungri had spent a mostly restful night – and, medical interruptions aside, had barely even stirred.

With the morning come the breakfast trolley and, though the accompanying smells weren't exactly appetising, they were both forcibly reminded of just how hungry they were.

"Do you want to go and get something to eat?" Hyunsuk asked his son.

"Maybe later. I'm not hungry right now," Seunghyun responded – and then was left silently cursing as his stomach chose that exact moment to grumble; protesting at the lack of sustenance. Trying to hide his embarrassment, he added: "You go first, dad."

"How about both of you go?" A new voice spoke up from the back of the room – and they both spun around in their seats.

The familiar doctor stood in the doorway, looking at them with mild exasperation: "I mean it," he said. "You might as well both go and eat."

"I'm not leaving." Seunghyun speak the words almost automatically – but that didn't mean they lacked conviction. He wasn't about to be bossed around by the doctor.

"You’re leaving – and for at least twenty minutes." The doctor seems annoy with the stubbornness of the father and son. Heck, the doctor survived an encounter with Seungri when Seunghyun had been the one grievously hurt – and, if he could get past that, he could get past anything. He had used emotion to coerce Seungri into compliance on that memorable occasion; but now he was dealing with the more level-headed members of the family. He could be honest with these people – even if it wasn't a particularly pleasant subject matter.

"I need to get Seungri a thorough examination; run some more tests – and there are also certain routine procedures…" the doctor trailed off, praying that they got the message before he had to spell it out to them.

Hyunsuk got the message – and he pulled his eldest son from the room. "Let the doctor do his job," he muttered.

And then Seunghyun walk with his father. He grasped the door handle firmly in his hand. He poked his head back into the room, interrupting nothing more than the doctor taking his brother's temperature.

He closed the door firmly and then leant against it, folding his arms: "I'm still not going anywhere."

Hyunsuk sighed and shake his head. He should've known that he wouldn't get Seunghyun to physically go and get something to eat. Exasperation build within him.

"I'm so proud of them." The words were heard only in his head – but they shot down everything else he'd previously been feeling; for they weren't uttered with his own voice – not even in his head. Instead, it sounded like his wife.

Hyunsuk closed his eyes against the sudden itchy stinging behind them. In spite of his best efforts, a single tear escaped.

For once, he didn't try to hide it and he looked at his son through red eyes.

Seunghyun looked away – and Hyunsuk felt his heart catch in his throat as he realised the reason for it. His son too, was almost overcome with emotion.

Maybe, somehow, he too had heard the whisper of his mother's voice.

A sudden feeling of intense guilt swept over Hyunsuk – he had barely spared a thought for his lost wife recently; he had been so caught up in his younger son’s kidnapping. But, just as swiftly, come almost overbearing sense of deep atonement; more profound than he would ever have been able to afford himself.

He thought he heard his wife say: "take care of the boys, honey. Take care of both of them."

Hyunsuk took a deep breath and straightened up. God, Ji-Woo, I miss you so much. Then he looked at Seunghyun and try on a smile: "Twenty minutes, the doctor said." His smile solidified and he felt conviction grow within him. "We're going to eat."

"Dad…" Seunghyun had made a promise and intended to stick to it. Emotions aside, he was there for one reason and one reason only. That reason was his baby brother. "I'm not going."

Hyunsuk smiled, grimly. He knew a look of absolute stubbornness when he saw one – even if he was more accustomed to seeing it on his younger son.

"I'll bring you something," he offered.

Seunghyun nod gratefully and leant back against the wall – and then stood watching the door broodingly, counting down the minutes until he would be allowed back in.

Less than ten minutes had passed when Hyunsuk returned, holding a paper bag. Sitting in a nearby chair – still within convenient sight of Seungri’s room – he gestured for his son to take the seat alongside him. Seunghyun did, seeming only a little bit begrudging at abandoning his self-imposed guard duty. Then Hyunsuk take out two bacon sandwiches – not the healthiest breakfast, but the smell certainly was tantalising.

Without exchanging a single word, they both dug into their sandwiches, washing them down with satisfying gulps of strong and bitter coffee.

But their breakfast was cut abruptly short as, simultaneously, they caught sight of a familiar – but unwelcome – figure walking down the corridor towards them.

The sandwiches, and even the coffee, were abandoned as Hyunsuk and Seunghyun got to their feet to meet the approaching female doctor. She was holding a file in her hands and it was clear that her finger was marking a specific place in that file. Occasionally, she glanced down at it – and she was clearly distracted as she walked; not even noticing the father and son until she was practically on top of them.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, clearly startled by their sudden presence. She looked at the file again. "I need to speak to the other doctor."

"If that's my son's file, then you need to speak to me." Hyunsuk didn't try to hide his belligerence – his promised apology to the doctor, made in haste the previous night, instantly forgotten.

The female doctor take a deep breath and her eyes hardened. But the confrontation was short-lived, as the door to Seungri’s room opened and the head doctor stepped out; pausing momentarily to hold the door open for two nurse to enter. Then his eyes look at Seunghyun and briefly shake his head told the young man that he wasn't yet allowed to go back in.

Seunghyun understand – and he was also curious as to what the female doctor had to say. It was clear that she had some new information. Regret spiked through him, that they had such an antagonistic relationship with this doctor. He didn't think she would withhold information out of spite – but she wasn't about to actively seek them out to share it with them.

Then she went and proved him exactly right, as she opened the file for her fellow doctor to see. Both father and son looked down at the open page, but there were so many words – long and incomprehensible words – along with seemingly random numbers, that it was like trying to read a foreign language.

The head doctor clearly understood what he was reading and, taking the folder from  the female doctor, his expression turned grim. "Thank you," he said – and it was clearly a dismissal.

"What is that?" Hyunsuk ask the head doctor.

It was a bad sign that the doctor's response with a heavy sigh – and a sudden aversion to looking directly at them. But he was a man used to delivering unpleasant news and he took a moment to compose himself before having to fulfil that task yet again.

"Your son toxic screen come back positive for traces of Chlorpromazine and Scopolamine," he eventually answered. Then, knowing that those names would mean nothing to the men before him, the doctor attempted to explain: "Chlorpromazine is an aliphatic …" He trailed off, realising how unhelpful that explanation was. He tried again.

"Basically, it's an antipsychotic; a dopamine blocker…" At the blank looks he was still receiving, he shook his head and then put it in the most lay terms he could come up with: "It's a drug commonly believed to be used in mind control."

"Commonly believed?" Hyunsuk echoed – struggling to understand what he was hearing; which was not a feeling he liked. He strove to concentrate; to focus on the details, as he had done for his entire working life: "What about the other drug?"

"It's a derivative of belladonna," the doctor. "It would induce fear, paranoia and delusion. Coupled with the other drugs… Well, your son would believe anything he was told to believe."

"Isn't that fatal?" Seunghyun blurted out – speaking for the first time since the doctor had joined them. Maybe it was just his own paranoia, but his heart had begun to race when he heard the word 'belladonna'. Deadly nightshade. That was the other name for it – and he cursed his intellect for giving him that information. Deadly. He felt sick at the thought – at the cruel irony that they might have rescued his baby brother, only to lose him to some slowly administered poison.

Suddenly panicking, he darted towards to Seungri’s room – but strong arms caught him and held him fast.

"Take it easy." His dad tightened his hold of him, even as Seunghyun struggled to get free.

"I need to see Seungri!" he yelled – but it was less in anger and more in desperate pleading.

"You need to calm down."

"No…" Seunghyun felt his strength waning – but one word did stand out starkly in his mind: "The belladonna." He swallowed ruthlessly down on sudden nausea. "Will it kill him?"

"No it won't," the doctor answered. "I didn't mean to mislead you – but the drugs is just a derivative of belladonna. It's not fatal."

"But…" Seunghyun couldn't collect his thoughts – could barely collate the information he was being given. And he hated feeling so out of his depth. He turned supplicating eyes towards his dad.

"Seunghyun…"

Whatever Hyunsuk had been about to say was lost as the door to Seungri's room open again and one of the nurse come out.

"Doctor," she said, gesturing towards the door she had just exited. "He's waking up."