Pain

*****

‘I want you by my side, but I can’t bear to see you in pain either.’

Yoochun walked on the 9nth floor hallway of the hospital with a confused look. He had just come back from the checkout counter with the intention of wanting to settle Jaejoong’s hospital bill. But unexpectedly, it was already paid. When he asked the lady at the counter to check who the payer, Yunho’s name was clearly shown on the system. The guy had finished the payment earlier.

Yoochun quickened his step as he felt the need to confront his friend, asking the guy to clear the doubt which he had kept to himself since few days ago. He had already felt unsettling about the matter.

As he opened the door of Jaejoong’s room, there, he found his friend was busy keeping all Jaejoong’s things into a duffle bag. The boy was allowed to discharge from the hospital finally, since his condition had passed the critical stage; for now. Even so, he still needed to follow the procedure of coming to the hospital frequently, for the follow-up checkup and treatment.

“Yunho, can I talk with you for minutes?” Yoochun asked directly as he stepped into the room. He glanced to the little boy on the bed who engrossed in playing with his plushy, blue elephant.

Yunho turned to Yoochun and quirked his brows, confused at the serious tone his friend used. “Okay…” He agreed.

After informed Jaejoong that he would comeback in a short while, Yunho walked out of the room and followed Yoochun’s lead.

“Where did you get that much of money?” Yoochun asked straightforwardly after he took the other out to an open area on the top floor of the hospital building.

“Huh? What…are you asking about?”

“Oh, please Yunho… don’t hide the thing from me anymore. Truthfully, I can see you look suspicious lately. So, just tell me. Where did you get that much of money to pay Jaejoong’s hospital bill?” Yoochun asked again.

Yunho heaved a sigh and avoided making eye-contact with his friend. “Obviously… I worked for it. It’s not like I robbed some bank. It is a money that I gained by doing some work.”

“What work?” Yoochun seemed didn’t satisfied with the unclear answer, asked again. Since he knew there was no way Yunho would get that much of money with his currents temporary jobs and within the short time.

Yunho turned at his friend and met Yoochun’s eyes that still staring at him, waiting for a clear explanation from him.

“Okay…fine!” Finally, he surrendered as the look that Yoochun threw at him had enough to urge him to speak out the truth. “Actually… it’s the money I won from get into a floating fight ring.

“W-what?” Yoochun’s face was struck by a surprise look upon heard Yunho’s admission.

“Yeah, I… I actually ran into this one man who owns an underground nightclub in downtown. He had offered me a lot of money if I become his fighter. And I just need to get into ten fights to win the amount which is enough to pay all Jaejoong’s operation and treatment cost. But, I’d just got into five fights so far and won all the matches. So, I was able to ask for the advance money where I’d used it for settling Jaejoong’s hospital bill.”

Yoochun rendered speechless for a moment. He did realize that Yunho was really a stubborn and prideful guy, but he didn’t expect the other would go that far in order to not burden him and his family anymore. “So, that’s mean you still need to get into five more fights in order to pay the advance that you’ve taken from the man?” Yoochun asked, despite in his stunned state.

Yunho nodded.

“How much? I will pay the rest of the advance money that you've taken from that man and you can stop working for him.”

“No. That’s enough, Chun.” Yunho rebutted immediately.

“Yunho, how many times do I need to tell you? What use of being friend if I can’t ease or share your problem?” Yoochun looked at the other disappointedly.

“But you and your family have done enough for Jaejoong and me. I can’t keep troubling you and your father again. And I know your father's company is not in a stable state right now. You should bother about that more than troubling yourself about my matter.”

“But it's nothing serious as your situation now.” Yoochun argued.

“Okay then, tell me… Are you rather doing this illegal thing than asking me for a help? Do you realize what will happen if you’re being caught during the match? You’ll probably lock up in jail for getting yourself involved in this illegal fight. And have you ever thought of what will happen to Jaejoong? He would probably being thrown into an orphanage because of having an ignorance brother like you. You’ll not just ruin your future, but your little brother’s life too!” Yoochun blurted out discontentedly, as he had enough seeing the other being stupidly stubborn.

“I've already considered all those things before I decided to take this risky job. That’s why I won’t get myself being caught and I know how to handle it myself, Yoochun.” Yunho said firmly. “So, you don’t need to advise me. I can handle my own things.” He added, and with that said he walked off, leaving Yoochun unable to argue anymore.

Yoochun sighed and ruffled his hairs in frustration. That Jung Yunho was sure stubborn and hard as stone.

***

Yunho stared at the dining table with an empty look, while waiting for the water to boil; preparing hot water for his little brother's bath. His mind was running by the thought of the meeting he had with another stranger man a few days ago.

He had story all the things he had hidden to Yoochun, but that was not all. He was still not telling the guy about the biggest thing he had just dealt with the other man he met. Somehow, he felt bad for hiding the important thing from his best buddy when the guy had always trust him. But he knew it was better for not telling Yoochun, since what he will do next would probably causing his best friend totally disagree with his idea or worse... hate him.

Yunho broke from his reverie state when he heard the clang of something fall from the other room. Recognizing the presence of the little boy in the house which was still in his recovering process, Yunho rushed to find the kid after he turned off the stove.

"Jaejoong!"

Yunho found the boy was lying on his futon while trying to take hold of a glass of water which had dropped near him. The spilling water had already wetting some part of his sleeping sheet. The boy's face was sweating and looking pale; seemingly he was bearing some pain.

“Yunnie…h-hurt…” Jaejoong whimpered as his right hand clenching his chest.

Yunho rushed to the kid in worry. He filled the glass of water and grabbed some medicine that the doctor had prescribed the kid to take after he had going through the surgical.

"Where does it hurt? Tell me." Yunho asked after he assisted Jaejoong to take the medicine. He pulled Jaejoong into his arms and held the kid close to him.

Jaejoong pointed to his chest that struck by the sudden, sharp needle pains. It was one of the common symptoms after the surgical process. It seemed the drug that was infused into his small body during the operation was started showing the side-effect.

Yunho gave a soothing caress on the boy's chest, hoping it will ease the pain; there was nothing he could do to make the boy stop from his suffering.

Jaejoong had his eyes shut tightly, holding back his tears while biting his bottom lip until it turned reddening as he tried to hold the painfulness. The stabbing pain on his chest was too much for a boy at his age. However, he didn't want to cry anymore, since he had promised to his brother to be a strong boy.

"Hey, it's okay... you shouldn't hold it back." Yunho said as he could see the boy seemed trying hard to hold back his tears.

"You know there's a time where it is okay to cry, if it can lessen your pain. So, just let it go…"

With that said, Jaejoong let out his sob and let his tears drown his brother’s shirt. He just couldn’t hold it back anymore.

"It's okay... the pain will go sooner." Yunho coaxed the boy and held the small frame of Jaejoong closer into his embrace; staying by the little one’s side when the boy was going through his hardest time.

***

It had been a week since Jaejoong had a constant attack of the sudden chest pain. And now, Yunho could see it was not worse as the boy