Chapter 4
Not 100%
All four boys (excluding Sandeul) were eating breakfast at the dining table before they had to start their day. They were already dressed and waiting for Sandeul to wake up. It's been two days since he had his break down, but none of the members have really talked about it since then, but today was the day they were going to pay a visit to the doctors.
"What time did you say the appointment was again?" Jinyoung asked.
"6:30." CNU answered.
The day of Sandeul's out burst as when CNU and Gongchan went to their manager to set up an appointment to go to the doctors. At first their manager was a bit skeptical for the strange request only because they went to the doctors three months before, but CNU said you could never have to many visits and that Sandeul had never had a physical the past year and he was over due. Finally their manager set up the appointment(one that was early to be on the safe side because of fans and what not). After CNU did his part, convincing their manager to make an appointment ASAP it was Gongchan's turn to set up a secret appointment just for Sandeul.
That was a bit more difficult to negotiate with. Since Sandeul is a grown man with autism the doctor said there is no need to make an appointment now since he should have already been when he was a small child, he also said they normally don't treat patients with autism who are adults, unless they have a server medical problem, but it was already to late to diagnose him now. But Gongchan did his best to plead over the phone for them to at least take a look at the vocalist and how it would be more of a benefit to them since they never dealt with an autistic person up close before. 30 minutes later the doctor gave in and scheduled them an appointment two days later at the same time as their other appointment.
"He's been pretty quiet lately." Baro said as he had his moth full of cereal. Baro would never admit it to anyone that he felt really bad for making Sandeul scream and pass out and that same night when it was time to go to bed he could hear Sandeul crying in his pillow until he fell asleep, but it's not like he felt bad enough to say sorry to the boy.
"I went over some interview questions with him last night and he seemed to answer them pretty well, so he should be ready for today." Jinyoung said as he finished the last of his cereal and put his bowl in the sink. He sighed before turning to the other members, they were all really gloomy and it was bringing the mood down, today was suppose to a bright happy day because next week they were debuting as B1A4 again! But... nobody seemed to care anymore and Jinyoung(being a good leader) wasn't having any of it. "Guys!" He clapped his hands in enthusiasm. "Cheer up! We're going to the doctors today and then we're going to tackle a very important interview today. Can we do it?" He asked in a cheery voice.
The other three just looked at each other, asking themselves if their leader was okay.
"Yes we can! Fighting!" Jinyoung raised a fist skipping around the dining table singing their new debut song "What's Happening?" When he was prancing around the table he could see the other boys smiling and giggling, but trying to cover their faces, even Baro had a toothy grin, he felt very proud he succeeded in lightening the dark mood around the three.
After everyone was done with their cereal and cleaning their mess in the kitchen, Sandeul walked into the living room already fully clothed and ready to go to practice, so he thought.
None of the boys actually mentioned they were going to the doctors to him, as far as he knew they were hitting the dance studio and recording booth then going to their interview then they had some free time if their schedules all ended at the approximate time.
Jinyoung was the first to notice Sandeul as he was putting the dishes away. "Oh, good morning Sandeul-ah, you got up just in time and you're dressed so that's even better." He smiled as the younger bowed. "Since we're all up and ready we should head out now. Our appointment is at 6:30 and it's already," He turned to the stove to see the time. "5:57. It wouldn't hurt us to be there a little early." He shrugged.
At that the boys put their coats and shoes on and left the dorms, filing into the van that was waiting for them in the parking lot.
"Hey Dongwoo hyung, do you think the doctor will give me another candy this time?" Gongchan asked as he fastened his seatbelt.
CNU snickered. "Only if you whine like you did last time?" The other boys laughed. "But we're not really getting physicals."
"Doctors?" Sandeul repeated in a worried voice.
When Sandeul said that the other three boys widened their eyes and looked at Jinyoung who was in the driver seat ready to put the van in gear, maybe now would be a good time to tell him where they were really going.
"Yup, we're going to the doctors today, then to our interview." Jinyoung said as he drove the van out the lot.
"But why are we going?" Sandeul said as his breath started quickening. "I don't want to go there, I don't need to go there."
"Their just going to run some test on you, nothing to bad." Jinyoung looked at the back seat were Gongchan and Sandeul through the rearview mirror were and so far the boy wasn't taking this very well. "You'll be fine. Actually this will be good for all of use so we can understand your situation better." He smiled.
"But I don't want to go!" Sandeul whined.
"Oh come on you're not a baby." Baro said in annoyance. "their just going to shoved a coupe needles in your arm and call it a day."
"Needles?" At the mention of the pointy object Sandeul started to cry again making all the members hit the rapper on the head including Jinyoung who should have both hand on the wheel.
CNU crossed his arms and glared at Baro. "You really are an idiot you know that. Why do you think we didn't tell him we were going to the damn doctors? Aish!" He hissed.
Baro rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "Heh, sorry about that..." He turned around in his seat to find the maknae cooing Sandeul as he continued to cry. Then he got an idea. "Hey Sandeul." Sandeul whipped his eyes and looked up at the younger." I'll make you a deal. if you don't cry at the doctors uh..." He tried to think of a good bribe. "Oh! Gongchan-ah will give you his lollipop that the doctor gives him." He smirked at Gongchan.
"What?!" The maknae glared at Baro.
"But were not even getting physicals." CNU said again, but no one seemed to hear.
"O-ok..." Sandeul whipped his face full of tears and smiled.
"What?!" Gongchan turned to Sandeul in surprised that he took the bribe.
Baro turned back around in his seat and stretched his limbs. "My work hear is done."
When the boys arrived at the hospital their manager was waiting outside for them, which surprised everyone since they all thought they were going in solo. But he was only there to them inside then make a few phone calls about their scheduled interview later that day. When all five boys were in the lobby, they looked around and were happy to find that only a few people were there, but then Sandeul spotted someone that caught his eye.
"Hey, Jinyoung-ah" CNU whispered to Jinyoung getting his attention, when the boy replied with a 'what' CNU flicked his head in the direction Sandeul was sitting so he could watch what the vocalist was doing. Then Gongchan did the same to Baro.
What everyone was so mezmerized by was Sandeul and a little boy, no older than five, were waving to each other on opposite sides of the room. The sight was sweet and fun to watch. The little boy was with his grandparents who were sleeping in the chairs next to him and he had a few stuffed toys with him that he was holding. Next thing the little boy got out of his chair quietly trying not to wake his sleeping grandparents, when he got to were B1A4 was sitting he stopped and stretched his arm out to Sandeul with one of his stuffed green dinosaur toys in his hand. Sandeul hesitated a little before he accepted the dinosaur and when he did the little boy smiled the ran back to his own chair were he pretended to sleep when his grandparents woke up.
"Did that really just happen?" Baro asked amazed and a little annoyed.
The other four were just as curious as to how that actually happened when the two didn't exchange a single word to each other, but none the less Sandeul was in a brighter mood and seemed to not mind that he was at the doctors any more, the toy was a distraction and B1A4 was grateful for that.
"Wow, He's already getting fan gifts and we haven't even debut yet." Gongchan pouted.
A couple more minutes of waiting in the waiting room a female nurse came out calling them all into the hallway so their doctor could talk to them. When their male doctor came out he was still a little surprised that they were all their.
"I thought I just saw you guys not even six months ago." He said looking through their files he had in his hand. "Are you guys sick." He examined the boys through his spectacles on the tip of his nose.
"No were-" The doctor cut Jinyoung off.
"It says that you guys set up a secret appointment for an autistic patient?" He asked flipping through their files once more. "None of you have any background of the sort so why now?"
"It's not for any of us. "Jinyoung clarified as put Sandeul in front of the doctor. "It's for him."
The doctor pushed his glasses up and looked Sandeul up and down, which made the boy a little uncomfortable at first. Then the doctor shook his head and motioned for all the boys to follow him into a nearby exam room. When they were all present and accounted for in the room the doctor set his files down and sat down in front of his computer entering in some data of the sort. "So your asking me to check to see if he has some type of autism?" He asked still typing on his computer.
"Well, no, but I mean we already know that he has autism because he told use he does himself and he knows he does, but we want to know how serious it is." Gongchan answered.
The doctor turned away from his computer for a moment to look at them. "All types of autism are serious, it's a serious mental dysfunction and a lot of people with it don't have a big future."
Jinyoung was shocked that their doctor had said something like that and turned to Sandeul to make sure he wasn't offended in anyway, but noticed that he was more focused on the stuffed toy he had received to even know what they were talking about.
The doctor went back to typing on his computer. "Most patients with autism don't have the learning capacity farther than a small child and don't have the mentality to learn much more."
Gongchan had enough of this doctors negative attitude and pouted. "Can you please just run a few test on him. It's our first time working with an autistic person and we don't want to go in blind folded. We debut in a week and we want him to be prepared for-" The doctor interjected.
"Wait, you're actually going on stage with him?" He scoffed and pointed at Sandeul who was still focused on the toy. "First of all, that's a terrible idea because you don't know anything about his condition."
"That's why we're asking you for your help!" Baro raised his voice also annoyed with their doctors attitude. "Damn if you could just run some stupid test to tell us how stupid he is and get it over with that would be great. We debut next week and we want it to be good and I don't want him," Baro pointed to Sandeul. "to screw it all up. So stop denying use help and run the damn test!" He hissed through his teeth.
At that point Baro got the doctors attention and even Sandeul's. The doctor swallowed a lump in his throat and started to enter Sandeul's personal information. "I'm pulling up some of his older medical records now and should be able to run some test on him in an hour or so." The doctor brushed his fringe out of his eyes.
"Thank you." Jinyoung and everyone else bowed before they left the room and waited in the hallway.
Since they still had an hour until anything could be done CNU and Jinyoung went to the convenient store to pick up some food since Baro was complaining that he was still hungry.
Baro grunted. "That doesn't make any damn sense. I'm the one that's hungry, I should have gone to the store."
"That doesn't make any damn sense." Sandeul mocked still playing with the toy. Gongchan giggled at Baro's dramatic change in expression when his hyung said that.
"Hey don't mock me!" Baro quickly snatched the toy from Sandeul and threw it down the hall, making Sandeul chase after it.
"That wasn't very nice Baro." The younger rolled his eyes.
"Show some respect and say hyung then!" Baro sized up to Gongchan who was sitting in a chair.
"Then start acting like one you asswhole." He pushed the rapper away.
"You asswhole." Sandeul said form behind with his toy in his hand earning a loud laugh from the maknae that echoed down the hall.
Before Baro could spit something back the doctor came out of the exam room calling them in.
"So you can run an exam on him now?" Gongchan asked.
"Yes, so what I'm going to do is run a quick CAT scan on him, examine the pictures that come up on the screen, you guys can take a look at them too and then when the rest of the group comes in we'll talk as a whole about your friends condition while he's in another exam room, sound good?" The doctor explained.
"Why would he be going to another exam room?" Baro asked.
"I contacted a child behavior specialist who also works on mentally challenged teens and adults, so he will be with her for about 30 minutes going over some things." He clarified. "So if I could have him change into a hospital gown now, we can get started." The doctor clenched his clip bored and handed the hospital gown the Baro. "I need to run his file over to the specialist then I'll be right back." The doctor said as he exited the room.
Gongchan took the gown from Baro and handed it to Sandeul. "Here Sandeul hyung you have to put this on so the doctor will examine you."
"But I don't want an exam."
Gongchan sighed then thought of something. "You see that thing right there?" He pointed to the big CAT scan machine in the middle of the room. "You're going to lay inside that and their going to take pictures of your brain."
"But I don't need any test on my brain because umma said I'll be this way until I die."
"Sandeul hyung just put it on." Gongchan sighed pushing the gown in front of him.
"But I don't want to." Sandeul took a step back.
"Sandeul put the stupid thing on and after I'll buy you food." Baro blurted out without thinking.
"Okay hyung!" Sandeul didn't hesitate to drop his new toy on the ground along with his clothes to put the hospital gown on.
"Oh gosh, eww! Sandeul you're suppose to keep your underwear on!" Gongchan and Baro covered each others eyes.
"Sorry hyungs!" Sandeul pulled his underwear on and sat on the bed of the machine. "Now Baro hyung has to buy me food cause he said so." Sandeul pointed to Baro with a goofy smile on his face.
"I'm not your hyung you idiot. And only this one time because I still don't like you."
"You know that's a lie Baro hyung." Gongchan slapped Baro's back and laughed earning a growl from the rapper. "Aigoo"
Before Jinyoung and CNU arrived back at the hospital, Sandeul was already half way done with his cat scan. Along the way the doctor was explaining what they were all staring at on the computer scream of an x ray version of Sandeul brain. There wasn't to much to look for since the patient was already confirmed to have autism, but the doctor still clarified what parts of Sandeul's brain are weak and undeveloped. For instance he explained that Sandeul has a normal brain but that most of the functions are stunned like a persons growth. He pointed to some specific parts of the brain (that the boys didn't even know how to look at).
"Why is there so much red and yellow, does that mean anything?" CNU pointed to all the red and yellow blotches on the computer screen.
The doctor sighed leaning back into his chair and took off his glasses. "That's what I'm really worried about. Unfortunately all those red and yellow blotches scattered all over the place are parts of his brain that have failed to mature, but the thing is since the last time he had an x ray, most of those red spots have decreased by 5 percent."
"That's good news then right?" Jinyoung said in enthusiasm.
The doctor sighed again this time showing another part of Sandeul's brain on the screen. "It would only be really good news if he didn't take that x ray over 15 years ago. As far as I can tell, he's not getting any better any time soon. Autism isn't something you can cure like the flu, you cant get surgery and you cant take medicine to get rid of it." All the boys sighed I disappointment to listen to what the doctor said. "But that doesn't mean to give up on the guy. I'll show you his weakest points and hopefully it will give you some insight on how he see's things."
The boys were all ready to get the main answer they were searching for and that gave them a little more hope, especially Jinyoung.
"Ok so this top part and all the way around to were his forehead is here, is called the cerebral cortex or the frontal lobe and it's main function is higher functioning mentality, his general movement and precipitation and behavioral reactions, what's not so good is that 30% of his cerebral cortex is red, but the other 70% is both yellow and blue which is a little below average but not to bad. But I know you guys like to goof around and hit each other on the head, but to Sandeul this front part is very sensitive and should not be hit repeatedly or hard, got it?" He pointed to each and every member.
They all just nodded their heads in response and continued to listen.
"This next part here, the basal ganglia is located deep in the cerebral hemisphere, which we just went over, and this helps regulate automatic movement as far as walking and moving his arms, and for the looks of it its more than functional as you can tell, he seems to be walking and moving normally."
"But if his basal... whatever is normal how come he cant dance?" Gongchan asked focused on the screen trying to look for answers.
"Well just like anything, dancing comes with practice, but his cerebellum located in the bottom back of the brain here is not very developed which is in charge of coordination and the muscles you use to speak. I noticed when he talks he stutters sometimes so now you know why. And if you noticed he stutters more than usual sometimes or it takes longer to learn a dance is because his brain stem has it's highs and lows, but its random so you never know when that is. The brain stem serves as a messenger, sending messages between various parts of the body and his cerebral cortex, but it also controls breathing and the heart rate so if you notice he's having a harder time breathing than normal after a show or practice you have to take his out immediately."
"Oh wow..." Gongchan gasped.
The doctor turned to face the boys pushing up his glasses. "Having autism is not something you can push to the side, it's a real serious disorder that the patient has to live with for the rest of their lives. That's why I personally don't think it's a great idea for him to debut with you guys, and I know you boy groups are really active and have tight schedule and perform non stop, its actually bad for all of you health wise as far as stress and mentally, but this is like being in the heart of a lighting storm for Sandeul..." He faced his computer screen and changed the view of Sandeul's brain. "Moving on, this part right here this little sliver is the hippocampus. Sandeul must be really good at remembering things, right?"
"...Oh yeah he mentioned that he's good a remembering history and he learned the lyrics to our new song in less than a day." Jinyoung said surprisingly proud.
"Well the reason behind that is because the hippocampus is developed almost 50% more than the average human." All the boys eyes popped out when the doctor spoke those words. "So that's excellent news for all of you, but... the only major problem he has is his amygdala... it's really bad in that area..." The doctor sighed once more leaving all the boys in agony waiting for him to reveal the worst. "The amygdala is not in good condition and its very common for it not to be in autistic patients, but anyway it's responsible for all his emotional responses like aggressive behavior and so far... only 10% is matured. So that's not good... a normal functioning brain is around 70 to 85% mature. I think you see where this could be a problem... Has their been any incidents at the dorms were you experienced a lash out, first hand?"
The boys were silent debating weather they should mention Sandeul's break down a few days ago, then surprisingly Baro was the first to speak.
"Actually we did a few days ago, he passed out screaming and crying because I... because... I... I-"
"He called him a 'retard' and Sandeul hyung told him to stop but he didn't and I guess it made him mad." Gongchan interjected.
"Ahh I see. Well, there really is no way to avoid a sudden mood change it could be the smallest thing that could affect it, but over all his mental capacity is of a 6 or 7 year old child, that doesn't mean you have to treat and baby him like on, but know and be aware of how a child of that age reacts to certain things like being bullied or teased," He dropped his gaze on Baro. "but take things slow and work your way up to more complex things. Don't forget that he's not a baby, he is a grown man like all of you, but he learns differently and is a bit more slow at things. I would say that Jung Hwan is leaning towards the more high functioning level of autism, but to a certain extent, and those people can live a perfectly normal lives with assistance, so just keep in mind-" Sandeul cut the doctor off as he started singing the lyrics for "What's Happening?" while he was still lying in the machine. The doctor smiled and got out of his chair closing Sandeul's medical files. "I think were done with this exam."
The doctor lead the boys to the open room where Sandeul lay inside the x ray machine, still singing.
"Jung Hwan-shi." The doctor called.
Sandeul only responded with more song lyrics.
"Sandeul." The doctor said again, but Sandeul continued to sing. "See, this is a perfect example of a low function behavioral reaction, its very common, that's how you can tell if a patient is autistic before diagnoses. If they fail to answer to their own name. If your directly speaking to them of course and not yelling an x number of feet away, there might be a slight delay too."
Finally after a few moment Sandeul stopped singing and propped himself up on his elbows looking at everyone in the room with him. "Am I done? Can Baro hyung buy me food now?" He asked with wide puppy eyes.
"Aish." Baro hissed rubbing his neck. "Just put your clothes on so we can go. But not in front of us this time!" He added to avoid their incident they had earlier again.
Sandeul nodded, grabbed his clothes that were on the chair next to the machine, then walked to the side of the machine to change where no one could see him.
"If he can remember things so well, how come he cant remember not to call Gongchan and I hyung?" Baro asked shoving his hands in his pockets.
"That I'm not so sure, oh and I cant get the child specialist to come in today because she's making a few house calls so it'll have to wait another time, hopefully soon. If you guys can wait in the lobby I'll meet with you shortly to give you some important information about living and caring with an autistic patient." The doctor said before he excused himself.
When Sandeul was all changed with his stuffed green dinosaur toy in his hand, they all went into the lobby like the doctor said, but they found their manager their instead.
"Manager hyung, what are you doing here?" Jinyoung asked confused along with the others.
"I didn't think all your physicals would take two hours to complete. Did you forget you had an interview today? Then after that you still need to practice and record the rest of your songs."
"Oh yeah our physicals... Sorry, but we're still on schedule, we made a early appointment for more than one reason." Jinyoung apologized.
Their manager sighed. "Ah, whatever, I have to go get all your post interview stuff set up so I'll see you at the TV station." Their manager said as he ran out the hospital doors.
Just then their doctor came walking into the lobby holding a cream colored folder in his hand. "This is all you need to know and I'm sire you can find a lot more stuff online now and days, so good luck with everything and if you need help feel free to contact me." All of B1A4 bowed in thanks for all the doctors help as he turned to go back to the exam room.
"Wait." Sandeul called out to the doctor. He stopped walking and turned to face the group. "Please don't tell anyone... that I'm au-autistic." Sandeul said while looking the doctor straight in the eyes. "I don't want to be sent home yet."
"...Everything is confidential." He said as we turned his back and continued to walk down the hall.
CNU sighed in relief. "Wooh, at least we can trust him, that was long. We should meet manager hyung soon." He stretched as they made their way to the parking lot.
When they got into the van it was now CNU's turn to drive as everyone was all buckled and ready to go. "Wow! I am ready to tackle this interview!" CNU cheered and the others joined in."
"Lets fly high!" Baro, Jinyoung, CNU, and Gongchan all said in unison, they still haven't taught their little chant to Sandeul yet, but they'll get around to it.
"Baro hyung I think you should buy me barbeque after the interview is over." Sandeul smiled.
"Ohhh. I think Baro-ah should buy everyone barbeque after the interview." Jinyoung smiled raising his hands so they touched the roof.
"Barbeque! Barbeque! Barbeque!" Everyone chanted as they drove off to the TV station awaiting to make their first appearance with B1A4's newest addition.
B1A4 Fighting!
~A/N~
Thank you so much for waiting for this chapter to be updated! I'm really sorry for the long wait in the future updates will not be so far apart, but they wont be to close either kekeke^^ Anyways, thank you for reading as always and please comment and subscribe<3 Oh and just to let you know this chapter was a to write because all the brain science stuff, I felt like I was writing a report. And if not all, most of the stuff I mentioned about Sandeul brain is accurate biased on pictures and info I found on the interweb^^
P.S. This is only part 1 of 2 since they still have their interview then BBQ! Let's hope Sandeul doesn't put B1A4 as a whole in a bad place!
Next chapter will be updated on Tuesday, so look forward to it!!!
Just thought to let you all know, Not 100% will be completed with 14 chapters and possibly a bonus one^^
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