Chapter 4

            The members all returned back to the dorm for lunch before heading out to do whatever it was they had each planned for the day off. 

            They were all seated around the table enjoying their food when something on the other side of the room caught Kai’s attention.  His eyes followed it as it moved from one corner of the room to the other. 

            Sehun noticed how Jongin was somewhere else and his eyes followed Kai’s gaze.  There was nothing there.  “Jongin, are you okay?” he asked.

            Kai didn’t respond.

            The other member’s conversations were halted as they looked to see what was going on with their dancer.

            “What are you looking at?” asked Chanyeol.

            Jongin didn’t reply.

            “Jongin,” said Kyungsoo.

            “Hey, Jongin,” said Luhan, Sehun and Chen, attempting to get their friends attention.

            Suho moved in front of Kai and waved his hand in front of his face.  “Jongin, are you there?”

            “Yeah, what?” he blinked, snapping out of it.

            “Did you hear us?”

            “No…you were talking to me?”

            The members all nodded, concerned.

            “Oh…sorry…”

            “I hate to baby you, but did you take your meds today?” asked Xiumin coming up next to their leader.

            “Yeah.”

            “I don’t think their working…” added Luhan, “yesterday you were talking to yourself and now today you’re seeing things?”

            “I’m not talking to myself or seeing things…they are actually there, you guys just can’t see or hear them,” Jongin defended himself.

            “We know Jongin; we’re just trying to understand,” sympathized Baekhyun.

            “Well you don’t…” Kai got up from his seat and stormed out the front door.

            “I got him,” said D.O chasing after his roommate.

            “Thanks Kyungsoo,” said Suho.

            Kai stomped down the streets of Seoul, trying his best to clear his head.  He stopped when he felt a tug on his arm.

            “Jongin you need to stop running off every time you get upset.”

            “Go away Kyungsoo…I just want to be alone.”

            “I don’t care.  If its getting bad again, you can’t be alone you know that.”

            “I’m fine…”

            “No your not, what did you see?”

            Kai searched his brain for the right words.  He wasn’t even sure what he saw, let alone remember exactly what it looked like.  “I’m not sure…”

            “Describe it.”  When Exo was first told that one of their members was schizophrenic, they were all taught by Jongin’s sisters what to do when he got bad.  That included talking about it with him as a temporary source of counseling until his doctor could figure out what needed to change. 

            The ones that usually sat down with him to talk was Kyungsoo, Suho, Chen, or Chanyeol.  They were the ones that seemed to be the most comfortable talking with Jongin about his feelings

            “I can’t.”

            “Try.”

            Kai thought for a moment.  “It was small…that’s all I remember, but really Hyung, I’m fine.”

            “No your not,” he lowered his voice incase any bystanders were listening in, “the last time you said you were okay, you tried to hurt yourself.”

            “I’m not going to hurt myself,” he responded.

            “You don’t know that for sure, Jongin.  I really think you should call your doctor and tell him what’s going on.”

            “Hyung, it’s only been two days, nothing is wrong.”

            Kyungsoo glared at his friend, “Jongin,” he then warned.

            “Fine,” Kai finally gave up, “I’ll call him…but he’s going to up my meds and then I’m going to get sick again.”

            “It doesn’t matter.  We’ll take care of you just like the other times, it’ll be okay.”

            “But our comeback…”

            “Your health is much more important than a comeback.  So what if you’re gone from a few performances?  The fans will survive.”

            They walked in silence back to the dorm.  Kyungsoo opened the front door for the two of them and Kai stormed off towards his bedroom.

            “Is he okay?” asked Suho.

            “Yeah, he’s calling his doctor,” said Kyungsoo.

            “Did he tell you what he saw?” asked Baekhyun.

            Kyungsoo shook his head, “he said he didn’t remember what it was.”

            “It’s getting worse…” said Sehun, “he’s always been able to remember.”

            “Should we call his sister’s?” asked Luhan, “they’ll know what to do.”

            “No,” responded Suho, “I think we should wait to hear what his doctor has to say.  Then if he continues to get worse, we’ll talk to Hana.”

            The members nodded in agreement and went back to their lunch.

            Kai threw himself onto his bed and dialed the number of his doctor.

            “Jongin?  This is a surprise, is everything alright?” he heard from the other line.

            “Yes…no…I don’t know,” he answered, “the members think something’s wrong and they wanted me to call you.”

            “Well, what’s going on?” he asked.

            “Last night, I saw Lion again…and the members noticed me spacing out again and they all heard me talking to myself…nothing out of the ordinary…they wanted me to call you just in case, I guess.”

            “Well, it doesn’t sound like everything’s okay.  The last time you saw Lion was when you were in middle school, then we upped your meds and you were okay.  Why don’t you come in today and I’ll see what’s going on, okay?”

            “Yeah…sure…I’ll be there soon.”

            “Bye Jongin.”

            He hung up. 

            Kai put his pillow over his face and screamed into it.  He really didn’t want to go to the hospital again.  He hated getting sick from his medication, and he really hated having to take a break from his schedules while he waited for his body to grow accustomed to the heavier doses he was required to take.

            Kai really didn’t want to bother ’s by asking one of them to take him to the doctor’s on their day off, so he texted Taemin.

            To Taemin:

            I need you to take me to the doctor, are you busy today?

            From Taemin:

            No, I’m not busy.  What’s going on?

            To Taemin:

            I need to up my meds.

            From Taemin:

            Okay, be there In 10.

            Kai left his bedroom and took a seat with s while he waited for Taemin.

            “So what’s the plan?” asked Suho.

            “Taemin’s taking me to the doctor.”

            “I could’ve done it, you didn’t need to bother Taemin.”

            “I didn’t want to bother you…and Taemin and I probably would have ended up hanging out today anyways…” he told his leader.

            From Taemin:

            Here

            To Taemin:

            Okay, be out in a sec.

            Kai put his shoes on and pulled his hoodie over his head. 

            “I’m leaving.” He told the remaining members in the house.

            He locked the door behind him and climbed into the passenger seat of Taemin’s car.

            “Hey,” said Taemin, “so what’s going on, why do you need to up your meds?”

            “It’s just time…” Jongin answered.

            Taemin knew that Jongin wasn’t telling him the whole truth.  But he also knew that Kai didn’t like talking about his illness with people, so he didn’t push.

            “How’s Maggie?” Kai asked referring to Taemin’s girlfriend.

            “Good, she’s home right now though, so I haven’t seen her in a while.”

            “I don’t know how you keep a long distance relationship going with her, man.  I’d never be able to do it.”

            Taemin laughed, “It’s not that bad.  Kinda when you’re though.”

            “Okay…ew…I don’t need to hear that,” replied Kai, then they laughed together.  “I met somebody.”

            “Seriously?  What’s her name?”

            “Her name’s Haelee and she’s going to school for child psychology.”

            “What else do you know about her?”

            “Not much, we ran into each other a few times on the street and that’s about it.  I’m thinking about asking her out.”

            “Is she pretty?”

            “Yes.”

            “What’s she look like?”

            “She has long hair, glasses, she’s, like, 5’5”.”

            “So she’s the same height as Maggie?”

            “Yeah, about.”

            “Since when do you like girls with glasses?”

            Kai shrugged, “funny, Sehun said the same thing.”

            “We’re here,” Taemin said pulling into the hospital’s parking lot.

            “This won’t take long,” Kai got out of the car, “you can wait here or come in, I don’t really care.”

            “I’ll wait here, I gotta call Maggie anyways.”

            “Isn’t it like 5am where she is?”

            “Yeah, but she has to get up for school, so it works out.”

            “I love you, and I love Maggie, but couldn’t you have waited for her to finish high school before you started dating?”

            “Nah…I hardly ever see her anyways, so it’s fine.”

            I shook my head at my friend, closed the car door and went into the hospital.

Next Chapter coming up shortly!

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