Ch. [14]
Blue Tomorrow
There was nothing wrong with Hyukjae. That’s what the doctors told him hours later when he was discharged from the emergency room. He only had a small cut in his nape that needed one simple stitch.
When Hyukjae walked out from the emergency room, he walked towards Kyuhyun who was walking side to side nervously. “Hyukjae!” he exclaimed as soon as he saw the smaller, running towards him and checking if there was something wrong. “What happened?” he asked once he was sure the other wasn’t bleeding anymore and his injury was covered with a white parch.
Hyukjae’s eyes became teary. “I don’t know…,” he admitted looking down and letting his tears fall. “S-She suddenly… I don’t know… she had never been like this…”
Kyuhyun looked at Hyukjae intently. “What’s wrong with her? And what happened to you?” he asked truly worried, even if he didn’t want to admit it.
Hyukjae bit his lower lip and he could taste his own blood, probably reopening the wound for his habit.
“Geez, don’t do that, look at that,” Kyuhyun scolded taking his tie up and cleaning the blood in Hyukjae’s lips.
“What are you doing Kyuhyun?” Hyukjae asked worried. “The stain won’t come out…,” he said taking Kyuhyun’s hand down.
“Shut up, you’ll buy me a new one later,” Kyuhyun said and continued cleaning the blood carefully.
Hyukjae just froze from the proximity. Last time he ‘talked’ to Kyuhyun, they fought and now they seemed to be perfectly okay. He didn’t say anything else and let himself being cleaned while his tears ran down his face.
“You talked to the doctor already right?” Kyuhyun asked when finally Hyukjae’s lips were clean, redder than usual.
Hyukjae nodded. “He said he would explain me with more details later…,” he said. “But he told me she was fine…”
Kyuhyun sighed and nodded. “And you? Are you okay?” he asked looking for Hyukjae’s eyes to know if he would tell the truth.
Hyukjae looked down, not being able to look at Kyuhyun’s eyes directly. “I’m a bad parent Kyuhyun…,” he said. “I just can’t protect her… I can’t do this…”
Kyuhyun’s expression softened and he hugged Hyukjae gently, electricity running through his body as he felt how perfectly well Hyukjae’s thin figure molded against his. He almost forgot everything else and he closed his eyes when Hyukjae relaxed in his embrace and looked for the warmth from Kyuhyun’s body. “You’re a good parent Hyukjae, this could have happened to anyone,” he explained, even when he didn’t know exactly what had happened.
Hyukjae was silent and Kyuhyun could feel his shirt getting wet while Hyukjae clenched his shirt tightly. “I hate this Kyuhyun…,” he admitted. “I hate being so useless all the time… I hate not being good enough for anything… Even my family abandoned me… they knew what I would become…”
Kyuhyun felt his heart clench at those words. “You’re not useless…,” he said, not even trying hard for his voice to sound so gentle. “You’re the best mother I have seen and believe me, Chaerin loves you and she’s better with you than anyone else.”
Hyukjae didn’t say anything. He just leaned his body against Kyuhyun’s for support that Kyuhyun gladly gave, Hyukjae’s back gently. “Even your family rejected me…,” Hyukjae mumbled after a few seconds and Kyuhyun froze, opening his eyes widely at those words.
Kyuhyun was about to say something, even when he didn’t have an idea of what, when a doctor called for Hyukjae and the latter quickly turned, running to the man with the white coat.
“How is she?” Hyukjae asked quickly, trembling in nervousness because the doctor’s face was really serious.
“Well,” the doctor sighed and Kyuhyun knew it wasn’t a good sign. “The convulsion lasted a long while, it’s probable that because of it her brain had stopped receiving oxygen at a certain point, we don’t know what kind of consequences that might bring so I recommend for the girl to stay here for further exams,” he said gently. “We can provide her with pure oxygen for the whole night to prevent brain damage. We’ll know her state after she wakes up.”
Hyukjae almost collapsed if not for Kyuhyun who was behind him holding him steady. “What could happen then?” Kyuhyun asked, because he knew Hyukjae couldn’t formulate words anymore. “If there’s brain damage, I mean…”
The doctor sighed. “It can be anything, from low sensibility in hands or feet, to mental retardation…”
Hyukjae flinched and took his hand to his once again bleeding lips. “M-Mental retardation?”
“Do you know why the convulsion happened?” Kyuhyun asked. “As far as I know it had never happened before…”
The doctor looked at Hyukjae and then at Kyuhyun. “We believe it’s for a severe hypoglycemia.”
Hyukjae shook his head. “No, it has to be something else,” he said. “She eats well, I prepare her food and make sure it’s healthy for her age, I also see her when she eats it all.”
The doctor pursed his lips. “Every child has a different metabolism, but in this case, I must call social services, since it could be a malnutrition case.”
“No!” Hyukjae exclaimed. “Please don’t…”
Kyuhyun gasped, if they called social services it would be almost sure Chaerin would go away from Hyukjae. “I’m sorry but I must,” the doctor said and turned around, leaving Hyukjae crying loudly for himself.
“They’ll take her away Kyuhyun…,” Hyukjae said covering his face with his hands, trembling in fear. “I’m horrible… maybe she’ll be better with someone else…”
“No,” Kyuhyun said firmly, taking Hyukjae’s hands away from his face and not liking the way his eyes were swollen, his lips bleeding again. He sighed and took his tie up again to clean the blood carefully. “You’re not a bad parent, they just don’t know, don’t give up on your daughter, what do you think she would feel?”
And those words seemed to be powerful since Hyukjae stopped crying and nodded, this time not rejecting Kyuhyun’s hands on his face cleaning the blood. “T-Thanks Kyuhyun…,” he said gently. “Really…”
Kyuhyun looked at Hyukjae and then he could completely understand Siwon. Because Kyuhyun too, was starting to hate watching Hyukjae cry. “You should go and wash your face,” Kyuhyun said and Hyukjae nodded, turning around and walking to the bathroom.
Kyuhyun took advantage of Hyukjae gone to go after the doctor.
•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•
“He won’t call social services,” Kyuhyun informed with a soft smile and Hyukjae looked at him not believing his ears.
“What? Why?” Hyukjae asked, because truly, he had been thinking on a way to convince social services that Chaerin was better with him than anyone else. He didn’t have any idea until the moment.
“Let’s just say… I convinced him,” Kyuhyun said smiling and he liked how the light came back to Hyukjae’s eyes.
“Oh my god Kyuhyun! Thank you! Thank you so much!” Hyukjae chirped throwing himself to hug Kyuhyun tightly. “I have no idea how much you gave him but I promise I’ll pay you someday,” he promised smiling gently.
“You don’t need to,” Kyuhyun said, smiling because lately Hyukjae had been in his arms a lot.
Hyukjae smiled. “But I will,” he said and Kyuhyun simply nodded. He knew how it felt to be in debt with someone and he didn’t like it.
Hours passed by and for a few minutes, Kyuhyun froze in his place because Hyukjae had leaned against his shoulder while sleeping and he didn’t want to wake the other up. He too, was injured and Hyukjae needed to rest.
After a while, a doctor came and said Chaerin had woken up and she was fine, there were no damages to her brain and she could go home after some routine studios.
Hyukjae nodded furiously and accepted, now crying from happiness and thanking the doctor endlessly while Kyuhyun could only see; and it was in that instant that he realized how tired he was and how much he needed to sleep.
The time to pay the hospital’s bills came and Kyuhyun sneaked to the reception to do the payment, only to realize Hyukjae had paid already. How? He had no idea. As much as Kyuhyun knew, Hyukjae didn’t have any money and his accounts were frozen so he could do nothing with everything Siwon left for him. “You already paid?” Kyuhyun asked as Hyukjae and him walked to the room to get Chaerin back home.
“Yes, I need to pay first to get Chaerin discharged,” Hyukjae explained with a huge smile in his lips, anticipating the moment he would see Chaerin smile again.
Kyuhyun cleared his throat. “How?” he asked and they stopped in front of a door.
“Half from what I’ve been saving from my job in the cafeteria and the other half with an advanced payment my boss gave me… apparently I’ll work for almost free the next month…,” he chuckled and opened the door, revealing a little girl sitting on the bed while swinging her legs at the edge of the bed, smiling brightly when she saw Hyukjae. “But isn’t it worth it?” Hyukjae asked gently before stepping inside to hug his daughter.
Kyuhyun looked at the scene. It was indeed worthy.
“Sr. President!” Chaerin chirped happily, grinning like Kyuhyun remembered her.
“Hey pretty, how are you?” Kyuhyun asked gently and Chaerin blushed, giggling softly.
“The woman there told me I slept a lot so I feel good,” Chaerin answered nodding for herself.
Hyukjae chuckled. “Let’s go home baby,” he ordered and Kyuhyun carried the little girl in his back towards the black car now missing a plate and with a note that said he should go pay to the traffic police station.
The ride home was silent, mainly because Hyukjae couldn’t help but play with Chaerin in the back seat and because Kyuhyun didn’t want to ruin the moment.
It was as if nothing had happened.
•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•●•
A month passed and Chaerin didn’t have another convulsion. Hyukjae didn’t tell Kyuhyun how was that he injured himself so Kyuhyun was truly curious. He asked if he had seen his mother and Hyukjae said she left before everything happened.
“Can I ask you a favor?” Hyukjae asked while Kyuhyun and Chaerin played together in the living room with a small ball.
Kyuhyun looked up. “What is it?” he asked and Hyukjae smiled nervously.
“Umm… I was called for an interview with the court…,” Hyukjae trailed. “Tomorrow afternoon… so I was wondering if you… umm… could, just if you can, amm… take care of Chaerin… just for tomorrow afternoon!” he said hurriedly.
Kyuhyun chuckled and turned to Chaerin. “What do you say pretty? Shall we have a date tomorrow?” he asked and the girl blushed, looking down and biting her lower lip. Just like Hyukjae.
Hyukjae smiled and watched how Chaerin nodded slowly and Kyuhyun ruffled her hair lovingly. “I think that’s a yes,” Hyukjae said gently and Kyuhyun turned to him again.
“You can join us after the interview,” Kyuhyun offered and then it was there, the biting lip habit, the blush and the look down. Chaerin and Hyukjae were more alike than they thought..
“I… I’ll just let you two enjoy…,” Hyukjae said turning around. “I’ll go prepare dinner.”
Kyuhyun chuckled as he looked Hyukjae’s quick steps and he turned to Chaerin. “What should we do then?” he asked and Chaerin’s smile grew.
It was a relief for both Kyuhyun and Hyukjae, how Chaerin slowly came back to normal, only mumbling sometimes how much he missed her father but that she wished he was doing well in heaven. Hyukjae would smile and kiss her cheeks as an answer.
“Ice cream!” Chaerin chirped. “Mommy likes strawberry and I like vanilla.”
Kyuhyun chuckled. “Then let’s go to the mall and buy toys and ice cream, what about that?”
Chaerin smiled and nodded, looking down at the ball that was in her hands and handing it to Kyuhyun to teach her the truck he did before.
Kyuhyun chuckled and they kept on playing. He could see how much Chaerin resembled Hyukjae but how much her smiled looked like Siwon’s as well.
There was no doubt that that small girl was the most beautiful Kyuhyun had met.
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