Part II

Kris has never been a fan of airports, but he travels quite a bit so he’s familiar with them. He knows about secret VIP entrances, namely built for presidents and the like, but if a filthy rich teenager comes along and wants to avoid the paparazzi, well anything can be bought for the right price. That includes privacy. He lands in South Korea at 5:30 PM and takes a taxi to a fancy hotel in Seoul. He had his father’s secretary do a little digging on Do Kyungsoo, and now Kris knows that the hospital he’s in is less than a mile away. Kris plans to go over there first thing the next morning. Or rather afternoon, as it turns out when he wakes up at 11:30 in the morning and takes nearly an hour to get out of his room.

He walks in the front entrance of the hospital and suddenly realizes that he has no clue where the hell he is supposed to go. Kris sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. He can hear Lu Han laughing at him in his head. This is why Lu Han teases him all the time, he never formulates a plan that works…

“Sir?”

Kris looks up to find a woman in a uniform eying him.

“I don’t speak Korean,” Kris says in English (thank god for his childhood in Canada, there must be someone in this hospital who also understands English), and the woman’s eyes widen as she nods and hurries off. When she returns, she’s dragging another woman with her.

“How can we help you?” The second woman asks in careful English.

Kris gives her what he hopes is a friendly smile. “Is it possible for me to speak to someone about donating a kidney to a patient?”

Her jaw drops and she almost gasps but quickly covers it with a small cough. “Um, excuse me, one moment please.” And she hurries off, dragging the first woman with her.

Kris figures he’s probably given her quite a shock and estimates it’ll take her a good half hour to find someone who can help him, so he takes a seat and prepares himself to wait. He’s therefore pleasantly surprised when she returns in ten minutes with an older-looking woman. Kris stands up again and walks over.

“Good afternoon,” the woman says, holding out her hand. “I’m Dr. Park.”

“Kris Wu,” he says, taking her hand lightly.

She smiles. “I’ve heard you said something about a kidney? My nurses English wasn’t quite good enough to catch what you said exactly.”

Kris laughs. “I think she heard me correctly and just doesn’t believe it. I would like to see if I can donate a kidney to one of your patients.”

Dr. Park’s eyes widen and she clears . “Very well then, if you’ll please follow me.”

Kris chuckles to himself as he follows the bewildered doctor. Clearly, this is her first time experiencing such a thing. Dr. Park leads him to her office and gestures for him to take a seat. Once he does, she eyes him carefully.

“Mister Wu—”

“Kris, please,” he interrupts.

“Kris,” She corrects, “I’m not sure I understand. Do you have a specific patient in mind that you wish to donate one of your kidneys to?”

“Yes, his name is Do Kyungsoo.”

Her eyes widen. “I see. Do you know him? Have you ever met before?”

“No,” Kris admits. “But I heard his story from his friend, Kim Jongin.”

The doctor still looks confused, clearly she hasn’t seen the video and Kris isn’t sure if he should show it to her. He really wants to get this matter settled though, so he goes on before she can start another line of questioning.

“Kyungsoo needs a transplant, does he not?”

“He does,” Dr. Park admits. “And it’s not looking good.”

Kris leans forward. “Then just test me to see if I’m a match. If I’m not, then we need to go no further. Let’s know what we’re dealing with before we press the issue, shall we?”

Clearly Dr. Park has no better suggestion, so she agrees and escorts Kris to an exam room. A nurse draws blood and Dr. Park warns him that should he be a match, there will be more tests to make sure he’s healthy enough to be a donor.

Kris waited three days for the results, spending his time in his hotel. He got an anxious call from Lu Han wondering where the fresh hell he was, and he didn’t give away too many details, just said that he needed a break. Lu Han grumbled about not being invited along and Kris told him to go study. That was the most exciting part of those three days, really. The call wakes Kris up at 10:30 in the morning on the fourth day, he didn’t know what he was expecting but...

“Hello?” He asks sleepily.

“Kris, this is Dr. Park.”

“Ah yes, how are?”

“I’m very well, thank you. Kris, your results came back today. You’re a positive match for Kyungsoo.”

Kris pauses, sits up. “What does that mean, exactly?”

Dr. Park sighs. “Well, as I said, we’ll need to run some more tests to make sure you’re healthy enough to donate, and there’s still a chance that the law won’t allow the surgery, we’ll have to see.”

But there’s a way around the law, Kris knows that. There’s always a way, for the right price.

Kris gets a physical exam, his height and weight are recorded, they make him run on a treadmill, they take more blood, they go through an in-depth history of his health. Come to think of it, he’s an ideal organ donor. Twenty two, healthy, drug free…he’s perfect.

“ual activity?”

Kris groans and resists the urge to hit his head off the table. “I’ve been here for a week, isn’t this kid dying? Aren’t you wasting your time?”

The doctor questioning him sighs and rubs his eyes. “We need to make sure you’re healthy enough for this operation.”

Kris leans forward and glares at the doctor. “I’m twenty two. I don’t smoke, do drugs or drink in excess, maybe three nights in a month. I played basketball up until I was eighteen, I still work out and I don’t get winded from climbing the stairs. What more do you want from me?”

The doctor eyes him seriously. “It’s your mental status we need to examine too. I don’t know if you realize what this surgery means—it’s an invasive procedure and there are risks involved, there are risks to living your life with one kidney…”

“The risks are minimal and plenty of people go on to have healthy, normal lives,” Kris interrupts. “I’m not looking to join the NBA after this, I just want to go back home and know that I saved a kid’s life, alright?”

After a brief silence, the doctor sits back. “I believe you, but let’s keep filling out these forms, yes?”

Kris has been in Korea for three weeks before he gets fed up. He’s spent the whole time studying Korean and he’s gotten pretty good at understanding it, or maybe that’s just because songs and dramas say the same lines over and over again. But really, he’s bored and he wants to go home. Enough is enough. He puts in a call to a few select people at home, and they put in a few calls in his name. in less than twenty four hours Dr. Park calls him up, bewildered, to tell him that the procedure is a go.

“I suppose we can start prepping you next week sometime…”

“Can it be sooner?” Kris asks. “I kind of want to go home.”

“Well the thing is…we haven’t even told Kyungsoo that he has a donor yet. We don’t like to get the patients hopes up in case there’s a problem with the paperwork or…”

She rambles on, and Kris tunes her out. Kyungsoo doesn’t know? Jongin doesn’t know? These kids have been running around for the last three weeks not knowing that their problems were all but over? He winds up hanging up on the good doctor and driving over to the hospital himself. He plans to go see Dr. Park, but first he wants to wander a bit.

He eventually finds himself in a hallway with childishly decorated doors, all covered in paper cut outs of flowers and hearts, with names painted on the glass. He curses himself for not learning to read Korean while he learned to speak it, he can’t even read the damn alphabet, how is he supposed to know what’s going on? Then he nearly walks into a boy who is exiting a room in a huff, and they both almost go falling to the floor.

“I’m sorry,” the boy says hastily, bowing several times. “I’m sorry.”

Kris registers familiarity, he’s seen this boy before, and he thinks he knows where.

“Kim Jongin?”

The boy lifts his head and Kris takes in flushed cheeks and red eyes. He’s been crying.

“Who are you?” Jongin asks, sounding hoarse and congested.

Kris flounders. “I…I’m uh…”

Jongin stares at him. Kris eyes the hallway around them. All the doors are shut, and there are no doctors around. He returns his gaze to Jongin. He’s not sure how to say it in Korean, so he points to his side, around where his kidney would be.

“Donor,” he says in English. “For Kyungsoo.”

Jongin’s face goes absolutely blank, and Kris wonders if Jongin understood him.

“You get it? You understand?” He asks in Korean. “I’m—”

Jongin starts to cry, silent tears slipping down his face. He slowly steps forward, wraps his arms around Kris’ waist and hide his face in Kris’ shirt.

“Thank you,” Jongin whispers, his voice muffled but understandable.

Kris returns the hug, patting Jongin’s back as he starts to cry harder. “It’s okay,” Kris says, his heart breaking slightly as Jongin continues to cry. “It’s okay.”

Dr. Park hands Kris a form. “I suggest you read it carefully, it goes into the details of the risks of anesthesia and living with one kidney and—”

“Will I be able to swim?” Kris asks. “Not sprint swimming or anything, just ordinary laps in a pool?”

Dr. Park gives him a blank look. “Um, yes…”

Kris grabs a pen off her desk. “Then show me where to sign.”

Two minutes and four signatures later, Kris has signed his life away and is getting prepped for surgery. He can’t eat for twenty four hours and he needs to take some special pills, and then it’s a four to seven day recovery from the operation. Kris doesn’t go to his room right away though, instead he and Dr. Park make a detour to Kyungsoo’s room, so Kris can meet him for the first time. Dr. Park will be operating as a translator for them.

Kris hesitates before he walks in the room, he’s really not sure what he’s supposed to say. Undoubtedly Kyungsoo will want to know why he’s here, and why he’s donating a kidney, and Kris can’t answer that because it’s not his story to tell.

Kris really has to wonder what the hell he’s doing. It’s not about the press anymore, it’s something else. Something perhaps more terrifying. He’s never going to see these kids again, he’s never going to know how their story turns out. Why does he care if Kyungsoo accepts Jongin’s confession?

Dr. Park touches his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

Kris mentally shakes himself. “I’m fine.”

He walks in and is immediately relieved to see Jongin sitting on Kyungsoo’s bed. In the video Jongin made he showed a picture of Kyungsoo in his hospital bed, and in those few months Kyungsoo has gotten much thinner and paler, but nobody can deny the spark in his eyes. Kyungsoo says something and Kris looks over at Dr. Park.

“If I could get up, I would hug you,” she translates.

Kris grins at Kyungsoo. “Hug me later then. How are you feeling?”

“Better, now that I have  chance to live,” Kyungsoo says nervously.

There’s a chance that even now, the organ won’t take. Kyungsoo is not yet out of the woods, and Kris can read the stress on Jongin’s face as Kyungsoo says this.

Dr. Park taps Kris’ arm. “He wants to know how you found him.”

Kris keeps his eyes on Jongin, who gulps when he meets Kris’ gaze.

“Tell him now,” Kris commands. “You have to, Jongin. Don’t keep this from him anymore.”

Dr. Park translates and Jongin’s hands start to shake. He looks down, fiddles with Kyungsoo’s blankets and bites his lip.

Kris marches over and kneels to Jongin’s eye level. “Tell him now, or you might wish you had.”

Apparently that needs no translation, because Jongin gets right up and goes to stand beside Kyungsoo, who looks up at him nervously. Kris knows enough Korean to understand Jongin’s simple confession.

“I’m in love with you, Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widen, he gasps and claps a hand to his mouth. He stutters, looking back and forth between Jongin and Kris. Jongin then launches into a long stream of Korean, which Kris can only guess must be an explanation. Dr. Park isn’t translating anymore as she’s started to cry, so Kris is on his own as far as understanding goes. It turns out not to matter, because Kyungsoo grabs Jongin by the shirt and hauls him down, kissing him square on the mouth.

“Well, that worked out nicely then,” Kris laughs.

In hindsight, Kris should have known Lu Han would be there when he came out of surgery.

“I’m going to yell at you later,” he promises cheerfully as Kris turns his head away and bites back a pained groan. “How do you feel?”

“Like I just had a kidney ripped out of my body,” Kris answers cheerfully. “How about you?”

Lu Han hums thoughtfully. “I’m torn between being very proud and wanting to hit you over the head with something hard. You do realize that Zitao has been worried sick about you, right?”

Zitao, his childhood buddy. “I thought he was in Japan,” Kris manages. “Why is he worried?”

“He came back a week ago,” Lu Han sighs. “Any way, I called for a nurse. She’s on her way to make sure you’re alright.”

Kris reaches out and grabs Lu Han’s sleeve. “Why’d you come?” He asks.

Lu Han pats his hand. “Like I’d let my friend come out of major surgery with no one by his side? The press is singing your praises by the way, they don’t know who you gave your kidney to, just that you did it.”

“Screw the press,” Kris mumbles as a nurse comes in. “I did it for Kyungsoo, not them.”

After a few days Kris gets another surprise visit.

“Look at you!” He says happily as Jongin wheels Kyungsoo into the room, Dr. Park following them closely. “You look good.”

Kyungsoo’s smile lights up his whole face. “You too,” he says happily, and then he says something Kris can’t understand.

“He said that he’s recovering well and it looks like there’s no complications,” Dr. Park translates.

Kris sighs in relief and eyes Jongin. “And how are you, Kyungsoo’s boyfriend?” he teases.

Jongin blushes scarlet and stammers while Kyungsoo and Kris laugh at him. Eventually Jongin gives up and settles for thanking Kris again.

“He says they have no idea how they’ll ever repay you,” Dr. Park tells Kris.

Kris looks the pair of them over and imagines that they probably don’t have a very welcoming future ahead of them. The world is a cruel place, and they’re about to be tested by it.

“Do me a favor,” Kris finds himself saying. “Stick together, the pair of you. Don’t let anyone boss you around or tell you how to live your lives and don’t go splitting up over something stupid. That’s how you can thank me.”

When Dr. Park translates, Kyungsoo gets teary eyed and reaches for Kris’ hand.

“You’ll still talk to us right?” He asks. “This isn’t the last we’ll hear from you, is it?”

Kris opens his mouth, shuts it, and thinks real hard for all of twenty seconds. “Kyungsoo, you want to go to New York City, don’t you?”

Kyungsoo nods eagerly and rambles on, but Kris holds up a hand. He looks over at Dr. Park. “Tell him that I want to plan his trip to New York City. Plane ticket, hotel, sightseeing packages, it’s all on me. and I’ll cover Jongin too.”

Dr. Park’s jaw drops and she stumbles a bit when she translates. Kyungsoo and Jongin both gape at Kris and start to protest, shaking their heads and saying that he doesn’t need to, it’s too much, etcetera. Kris slaps his hands over their mouths. “Shut up,” he commands. “I want to do this for you.”

Kyungsoo ducks out from behind Kris’ hand. “You’ve done enough!” He cries, then repeats in English, “Enough!”

Kris shakes his head. “No, it’ll never be enough. You two…I originally came here because I wanted to do something crazy, something I could look back on and feel like I did something amazing and worthwhile, and that my life wasn’t a total waste. But once I met you two I decided I wanted to do this for you, and I didn’t care what I got out of it as long as the pair of you got to live happily ever after, and I’m going to do whatever I can to make that happen.”

It takes a while to translate because Dr. Park starts crying again, and when she’s done Jongin and Kyungsoo are crying too and it’s all a big sobbing mess.

“Will you come with us?” Kyungsoo hiccups. “We’d love it if you were there.”

Kris shrugs. “I might have to move a few things around but I’m sure I can make it.”

Kris makes the preparations, takes a crash-course in Korean, fends off the paparazzi (who now want a picture of his scar) and within five months everything is in place. It wasn’t easy getting there though. First, he had to make sure the trip started after Jongin graduated high school since they couldn’t very well take off in the middle of the semester. Then he had to convince Jong and Kyungsoo’s parents to allow them to travel abroad with a stranger (though how strange can you be when you donate a kidney to your son/your son’s boyfriend?). And then once he got their permission, he had to promise that he wouldn’t leave Jongin and Kyungsoo unsupervised for even a second, and that included at night.

“Your parents say no ,” Kris told the pair of them in an email.

“Damn it all,” Kyungsoo sent back.

“HYUNG WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU WHY ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT THAT?!” Jongin responded. Funny, Kris found himself thinking. He’d always thought Jongin would be more forward about that sort of thing. Oh well, he thinks as he forwards Jongin’s response to Kyungsoo. Jongin emails him about an hour later to tell him to mind his own business.

Kris has actually been to New York City before, so he knows a bit about the area, the key part being he can navigate the subway, which turns out to be good because Kyungsoo and Jongin are hopeless with direction. They barely make it through the damn airport in one piece, and they just manage to meet Kris in the waiting area five minutes before the plane is set to take off.

“I’m going to put the pair of you on a leash,” Kris grips as they board. They don’t even answer, they’re too busy being stunned by first class.

“Do you fly like this all the time?” Kyungsoo asks.

“No,” Kris sighs. “Usually I take the private plane.” He smirks when they gape at him. “I’m kidding.”

They’re staying in the city for a month, with trips planned to see Broadway musicals and go to amusement parks and baseball games. The first week is all sightseeing, and they run around New York City in July almost nonstop. They crash on the eight day and Kris basically orders the pair of them to take a day to rest.

“I’m too old for this,” Kris grumbles as he slouches over on the couch, still worn out from the circus that was the trip to Flushing the day before.

“Oh hush,” Jongin scolds. “You had fun.”

Kris lifts his head to tell Jongin that fun doesn’t make up for the abuse his feet took from all the walking, but the words die in his throat as he takes in the sight of Jongin and Kyungsoo cuddled up on the loveseat. Kyungsoo’s legs are draped across Jongin’s lap and his head is on Jongin’s shoulder. One of Jongin’s hands is playing with Kyungsoo hair, the other one has s up the back of Kyungsoo’s shirt to trace the scar from the operation.

Kris’ hand goes to his own back and he traces the raised skin. It’s a very small mark, barely noticeable at all, and it could probably be taken away with a simple procedure, but Kris doesn’t want to make it go away. This is his reminder that he did something amazing. He gave two boys a chance to love each other, a chance to be together like a normal couple. He gave Kyungsoo a shot at a normal life, he gave Jongin a chance to have someone who would love him no matter what. There’s no better feeling than that in the world.

Sometimes Kyungsoo wakes up at night and wonders if it’s all a dream. When he does, he always touches the scar on his back to remind himself that it was real. In New York City, he wakes up in Jongin’s arms before he can do that and it’s reminder enough. On one such night Kyungsoo wakes up to find Jongin already awake and staring down at him.

“You were kicking me in your sleep,” he sighs, pulling Kyungsoo closer and holding him tighter. Kyungsoo nudges his head under Jongin’s chin and kisses his neck.

“Sorry,” he says quietly. “I don’t remember what I was dreaming about, but it wasn’t kicking you.”

Jongin chuckles and kisses the top of Kyungsoo’s head. “Alright, I forgive you. Now go back to sleep.”

Kyungsoo hums happily and closes his eyes. “Jongin?”

“Hm?”

“Do you think in a few years, Kris can be the best man at our wedding?”

Jongin freezes. “Um…wedding?”

“We’re having one,” Kyungsoo says flatly. “I’ve dreamt about getting married for years, and damn it all if I’m not walking down the aisle in a church to marry you.”

“Kyungsoo, I was excommunicated…” Jongin says hesitantly.

“From a church that didn’t value you,” Kyungsoo says gently, looking up to pat Jongin’s cheek. “We’ll find one that does value us. Your uality doesn’t mean your wedding is any less important than anyone else’s, Jongin. You deserve this as much as anyone else.”

Jongin smiles and kisses Kyungsoo’s cheek. “Okay, I got it. I love you, Soo-ah.”

Kyungsoo grins as his heart flutters. “I love you too, baby.”

THE END :D