A day after the doctors appointment Jongin's pain medications were making him sleepy and he was still in pain. He was supposed to perform for a festival but his manager had forced him to cancel. Nothing was more upsetting to Jongin than not being able to preform. Thankfully his fans were understanding and many were devastated to hear their precious idol was having these problems. So as Jongin sat at home watching tv and icing his back, the manager walked in with a box full of letters.

"Compliments of the fans. Now that you have more time, have them entertain you." he said as he placed the box on the coffee table in front of Jongin before walking to the fridge and getting something to drink.

Jongin sat up to look through the box of cards, knowing he would spend the day just as his manager said. He placed the box delicately on his lap, beginning his search for a few letters in particular.

There were a few letters he was accustomed to receiving by a few of his self-proclaimed "best fans", so Jongin sought those out first and set them aside. He further continued and ordered them by legibility and length.

A few hours had past and he realised he had fallen asleep for about an hour, in a heap of fan-mail.

Rubbing his eyes, he realised there was a single letter remaining, sitting alone in the box. Jongin had forgotten which pile the letter had been grouped with, but the envelope was a soft pink with "Kim Jongin" written beautifully in cursive English. Jongin admired the penmanship, because this fangirl had to have practiced that a lot to get it so perfect. A smile swept into his face as he realised how sweet his fans could be. They really did care for him and supported him, in fact sometimes he wished they would put themselves before him, but it was nice nonetheless.

As with every letter, he took care in opening it, and was surprised to see fairly messy handwriting on the letter itself. It was mostly legible, but just barely. There were a few spots he had to decode but his lips turned up into a soft, genuine smile as he put the letter down, looking at the cute stationary of the mail and chuckling softly. Fan mail always made him feel better.

----------------------------------------

A few days later, Jongin went with his manager and dance coach to get his MRI done. The nurse at the clinic went through the things Dr.Choi had said to look for. Jongin could feel his stomach twist with anxiety, as he was reminded of the severity of his issues. To his relief, there was no suggestion that he would have to stop dancing, or anything. At least from his current symptoms, Dr.Choi had said he doubted the problem was unfixable.

Before Jongin followed the nurse into a room which held the large MRI machine, she inquired, "Do you have any metal disks, rods from previous surgeries, or tattoos"

He blinked a little surprised at the question. "No, none at all."

"Good, and do have any loose metal on you, like keys or anything?"

Jongin shook his head and the nurse read the expression on his face before explaining to the slightly confused Jongin.

"The MRI machine is magnetic and very strong, so it's important that metal is not on you or else it could seriously injure you. It's happened before, believe it or not."

Jongin's eyes widened for a moment. "Ahh, I see. That's not good." he awkwardly replied, feeling a little more nervous.

Jongin isn't scared by much. Well no, that's a blatant lie and he knows it. Technically he just has the tendency to get surprised. Yes, that's it. Not afraid, just easily startled. But the one thing he fears, is small spaces. Jongin is claustrophobic, to a certain degree, but like everything else, he figures he can handle it. Calming himself as he layed down on part of the MRI machine, Jongin was surprised by the nurse handing him a remote.

"If you don't feel good inside the machine or anything, press the button to let me know, okay? Lie still and breathe normally, okay? The machine is going to be very loud."

Jongin nods as he is put into the machine and when he stops moving, he prepares himself for a whirring or something of the machine. The MRI didn't whir. No, it made loud bangs, like a gunshot and he leapt at the sound before making a great effort to stay still. The nurse's voice came from an intercom.

"Are you okay in there?"

"Yeah, fine." he replied stiffly.

"Try to relax. It's only for a bit longer." her voice was sort of soothing, but it still didn't help all that much.

Jongin was in the space for a little under and hour, and although he was able to cope with his claustrophobia, Jongin was more than happy to be free and on his way back to greet his manager and trainer. It was all up to the radiologist and what he would see now. They all hoped it was nothing bad.

Eventually when they got word from the radiologist who saw nothing wrong but a little muscle stretching. The doctor recommended as must as possible rest as possible until the muscle healed. It was thrilling and not thrilling at the same time but at least he didn't have to get surgery.

-----------------------------------------

A few weeks passed and sure enough Jongin didn't feel anymore back pain. He had begun to practice again, only to run into a new problem: after a short time, around 2 hours, Jongin could feel his legs getting weak and a bit shaky. Every day he wrote it off as just being out of practice and his choreographer agreed that it might take a few more days to get back in shape.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. While his condition wasn't worsening, it surely wasn't improving either.
There'd be good days and bad days of it, and he struggled through his schedules staying as stoic as possible through every interview and occasional performance.

There is one thing he would never forget that happened during these days. In the middle of rehearsing for a music festival, his legs quickly became weak in the middle of a dance. Jongin gritted his teeth, trying to will his legs to stay strong for just a minute or so more, for the song to end.