Afflicted --]

II.

Zico all but collapsed in one of the hospital waiting room chairs. It was definitely late. He probably spent five hours working with the police to come up with a sketch of the suspect for the police and retelling his account of the events again and again for different detectives

It was well after midnight and he hadn’t even seen Yukwon yet. He was about to enter his hospital room, but he had heard voices. He assumed they were Yukwon’s family members and didn’t want to disturb them. So he decided to wait.

Taeil had texted him to let him know that he had already taken Kyung and P.O. home. P.O., especially, was extremely overwhelmed with the situation; partly because being in the hospital reminded him of his emotional breakdown following the group’s Thailand controversy and partly because he had never seen anyone so close to death before in his entire life.

It had the entire group shaking at their cores.

Zico rubbed his eyes tiredly and yawned.

“Bye Yukwon!” a male shouted, instantly waking Zico up a little bit more.

He was a bit surprised to see Jaehyo there, but then he remembered he hadn’t joined Taeil and company on their way home.

He was even more surprised to see Cho PD leave the room as well.

“Hey, Zico,” said Jaehyo waving.

“How’s everything going in there?” Zico asked.

Jaehyo shrugged. “As good as it could I guess. He’s got all these wires and tubes sticking out of him and head is all bandaged up. He hasn’t woken up or moved or anything yet. He’s just… laying there.”

“Oh.”

“Zico, can I talk to you for a minute?” Cho PD asked.

“Sure,” Zico answered.

“I’ll just be at the vending machines downstairs,” said Jaehyo. “I’m such a stress eater…”

Cho PD gave Jaehyo a light pat on the back as the boy walked off in search of an elevator.

“You missed out a little bit stuff when you were down at the police station so I just wanted to catch you up on what I told the other boys,” Cho PD said.

Zico nodded, showing he was ready to listen.

“Basically, we’re not talking about Yukwon’s accident to the media at all,” the CEO explained. “If anyone asks, Yukwon was suffering from exhaustion and took a hard fall. He ended up hitting head on the floor and suffered from bruised ribs from his landing. Do not mention anything about his assault or the other boy involved. This could easily ruin both Yukwon and Block B’s image if something like this got out and Yukwon will be better off recovering without people constantly asking him about this. The police will continue to investigate this privately.”

“Makes perfect sense to me,” said Zico.

“As the leader, you’re the only person I’m giving permission to answer questions about Yukwon’s health status.”

“Yes, sir,” said Zico.

“I’m going to go draw up some press releases before I finally get some sleep,” Cho PD stuck his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “The rest of promotions are canceled, so I hope you’ll get plenty of rest yourself. Matter of fact, Minhyuk is in there sleeping right now. The nurses wanted us to take him home, but we just don’t have the heart. This is the only time I’ve ever seen him upset.”

Zico sighed. “Yeah, they’re really close. I’ll just go in there to check on them. Then I guess I’ll just grab Jaehyo and head home.”

“Alright, you guys take it easy.”

Cho PD headed off down the hallway, leaving Zico on his own to peer into Yukwon’s room quickly. He opened the door and was instantly greeted with the sound of various monitors whose hob was to ensure that Yukwon’s heart rate and breathing were normal.

He was also greeted with the sight of Minhyuk, fast asleep. He was sitting in a chair that had been pushed up nearly flush against Yukwon’s bed. The boy had his arms folded on top of the bed and his head was resting on top of them. Zico could hear his light snoring.

With a sigh her entered the room. He noticed an extra folded blanket at the foot of Yukwon’s bed. He shook it out and draped it over Minhyuk’s shoulders to keep him a little bit warmer throughout the night.

Zico frowned. He realized that was the most he could do for either of them at the moment. He hated feeling so powerless.

If it hadn’t been for the cups of ice water Taeil forced into his hands periodically and the small blocks of tofu Yukwon’s mother practically shoved down his throat, Minhyuk easily could have gone 72 hours without ingesting anything.

Three days passed since the incident the members of Block B refused to discuss, put a label on, or anything. Minhyuk stayed with Yukwon as often as he could, typically only leaving the room when his family came to visit (despite his insatiable desire to remain by Yukwon’s side, he still had the decency to leave the room and give them their much needed alone time) and when Zico forced him to go back to their dorm and take a shower.

“You don’t have to fret over him this much,” Mrs. Kim, Yukwon’s mother, mused that second afternoon.

Minhyuk sat in a chair beside Yukwon’s bed and watched as Mrs. Kim shaved her son’s head into a neat Mohawk, careful to avoid the stitches on the right side of his head.

The poor dancer had needed emergency surgery to repair a skull fracture. The doctors said he was suffering from traumatic brain injury after several blows to the head… he also had a few bruised ribs, but that was the least of their worries. Yukwon had been hooked up to a ventilator to help him breath, an IV for fluids and his morphine drip, and had a feeding tube down his nose to keep him nourished.

He looked awful, to say the least.

And looking at him only made Minhyuk feel worse.

“The doctor said people his age recover well from brain injuries… it just takes time,” Mrs. Kim continued to muse as she dusted her son’s hair from his pillow. “Yukwon-ah is strong. He’ll make it through this and return to being his usual happy, smiling self in no time.”

“I know,” Minhyuk sighed. “But I can’t help it… he means a lot to me.”

More than you could ever imagine.

Mrs. Kim gave him a sad smile. “I’ve been thankful that Yuwkon has found such an amazing friend like you.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Kim.”

The two sat in silence after that, Mrs. Kim returning to fussing over her son’s hair and Minhyuk just staring blankly at the whole scene.

Jaehyo opened the room door and peered in, not bothering to knock. “Oh, hey guys,” he said cheekily as he entered the room. “Minhyuk, your phone’s dead.”

He carelessly tossed a phone charger onto the dancer’s lap. Besides Minhyuk, Jaehyo was surprisingly spending the second most amount of time at the hospital visiting and attempting to take care of Yukwon.

Minhyuk glared at the charger.

“Chin up, buddy” said Jaehyo. He placed a set of portable speakers beside Yukwon’s bed.

“What’s that for?” Minhyuk asked.

“Well, I was talking to one of the doctors,” Jaehyo explained. “And he said that familiar sensory experiences like smells and sounds could help Yukwon come around sooner. So I brought his iPod so he can listen to some familiar music for a while.”

“Oh, thank you Jaehyo,” said Mrs. Kim. “That’s very thoughtful of you.”

Jaehyo grinned, proud of his good deed as he connected the iPod to the speakers. He scrolled through some of Yukwon’s music before selecting the perfect choice.

Nanlina blasted through the small room.

“Hopefully he’ll remember he’s a member of Block B when he comes around, yeah?” Jaehyo grinned as he threw a thin blanket over Yukwon.

Minhyuk caught a whiff of the fabric softener they always used when they did laundry. It smelled like a pleasant, artificial spring day. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, stretching out his arms. Suddenly he started missing his bed back at the dorm. It was a hell of a lot more comfortable than hospital chairs and cots.

His thoughts were rudely interrupted when Jaehyo practically jumped into his lap, propping his legs up on the edge of Yukwon’s bed.

“Get off, Jaehyo! You’re too fat for this!” Minhyuk yelled, shoving the singer playfully.

“Fat? I’ve been following Nine Muses’ paper cup diet for a week now!” Jaehyo reprimanded. “My body is flawless!”

Minhyuk laughed. “You’re so dumb.”

Jaehyo smiled. “I was a little worried you weren’t going to laugh about anything again.”

Minhyuk shoved him again, but he did return the smile. “I guess I needed that, huh?”

“Of course,” Jaehyo answered. “Laughter is the best medicine.”

For the fourth night in a row, Minhyuk fell asleep, his hand clutching Yukwon’s desperately. His sleep wasn’t peaceful, but at least it was as deep as it usually was. Minhyuk usually slept like a rock, undisturbed by everything expect Zico literally shoving him from his bed to the floor.

Which was why he didn’t feel it when Yukwon stirred that night.

The boy had managed to turn his head from one side to the other. Feeling discomfort from the ventilator, he struggled to lift his free hand and curl his fingers around the tube. He didn’t have the strength to pull, so instead he simply let his hand fall limply back down to his side, effectively ripping the tube from his mouth.