Chapter 5

            Kai sat in the treatment room while he waited for his doctor to come in.  He quickly checked his social network accounts to see if anybody had seen him coming into the hospital or if anybody had overheard his and Kyungsoo’s conversation earlier today.

            He really didn’t want to world to know that he was schizophrenic.  It would ruin his image.

            There was a knock at the door, “come in,” he called.

            His doctor entered and said, “Hello Jongin, how’ve you been since the last time we saw each other?”

            “Fine…I’ve been busy with Exo.”

            “I can imagine.  Alright, so I’m just going to check your eyes quick alright?”

            Kai nodded while the doctor shined the light in his eyes in search for any abnormal movement.  He knew the drill…and he hated everything about it. 

            “Can you roll up your sleeves?” he asked.

            Kai nodded and obliged.  He hated this part the most…it reminded him of when he got really bad in middle school while he was a trainee and began to self-harm.

            “Your scars have healed nicely,” commented the doctor, “you haven’t thought of starting up again, have you?”

            “No.” he answered bluntly.

             The scars were almost all completely gone, and there was no way he was going to mark up his beautiful skin again for the world to see.

            “That’s good.  Now, I’m going to prescribe you a heavier dose of medication and see if that does anything.  If it doesn’t, it might be time to start looking into different meds, since you have been on the same ones since diagnosis.  Give it a few weeks to kick in, and if you don’t notice a change, come back.”

            Kai nodded, it was the same speech he heard every time he came in to get a higher dosage, and he was sick of it.

            The doctor handed Jongin his new bottle of pills and sent him on his way.

            When Kai arrived back at the car, Taemin was still on the phone with his girlfriend.

            “No, you hang up first,” he said.

            Kai rolled his eyes at his best friend.

            “Alright, I love you too, bye,” Taemin hung up, “how was it?”

            “Fine…What did Maggie say?”

            “She’s tired of school and wants to hurry up and graduate so she can move here.”

            “Well, she still has another year.”

            “I know…It’s upsetting, isn’t it.”

            “If you dated somebody your own age, you wouldn’t have this problem, your relationship isn’t even legal…”

            “Well, isn’t somebody cranky today,” stated Taemin.

            “I know, I’m sorry.”

            “That’s okay, you just need to get laid.”

            “No.  That’s not it.”

            “Call that Haelee girl, I’m sure she’d be willing to help out,” Taemin teased.

            “Whatever, man.  I’m sure she’s not like that.”

            “How would you know?  You hardly even know this girl.”

            “I just don’t get that sort of vibe from her.”

            “Call her.  You deserve to have some happiness in your life!”

            “I am happy.  I love being with Exo, and I love getting to meet the fans, I sort of like you,” he laughed.

            “Ha.  Ha.  Very funny.  But I’m serious Jongin, your last girlfriend was, like, junior year of high school.  It’s been too long.  When’s the last time you had ?”

            “That’s none of your business…”

            “So, high school then?”

            Kai scoffed, “no...There were a few groupies while we were on tour…”

            “Dude, you can’t sleep with groupies, they get pregnant and then lie about it being your kid!”

            “I think you’re getting confused with Sasaengs.”

            “Same thing…So what do you want to do today?”

            “I’m going to take my pill, and then call Haelee and ask her out.”

            “Sounds like a plan,” Taemin pulled up in front of Exo’s dorm, “don’t forget to use protection.”

            Kai flipped off his friend then got out of the car.

            “I love you!” called Taemin.

            “Love you too,” Kai opened to door to the lobby of his dorm building and went back up to his room.

            Kai unlocked the front door and slipped off his shoes and hung his hoodie back up on the coat rack.

            “Hey, your back,” said Chanyeol and Baekhyun from the living room.  They were deeply into an episode of Supernatural and couldn’t take their eyes of the TV.

            “Is this the episode where Dean starts to act like a dog?”

            “Yes, now shut up,” said Chanyeol, “this is hilarious!”

            Kai laughed and retreated to his bedroom where Kyungsoo was contently sitting on his bed reading a book.

            “Hey, how was it?” he asked from his corner of the room.

            “Fine, they upped my meds…”

            “You knew they were going to.”

            Kai put one of the new pills in his mouth and took a drink from his water bottle that was on his nightstand.

            “What are you going to do today?” asked Kyungsoo closing his book briefly.

            “I’m going to call Haelee and ask her out.”

            “Jongin!” called Chen from down the hall.

            “In here!” he called back.

            Chen entered into the bedroom they all shared and jumped onto his bed, “did I hear you say you were gonna ask that girl out?”

            “Yeah, why?”

            “Come clubbing with me and Elena!  It’ll be like a double date!”

            “Nobody wants to see you and your girlfriend grind on each other,” said Kyungsoo.

            “Well it doesn’t matter if we’re grinding on each other when literally everybody else is doing the exact same thing!” defended Chen.

            “Sure,” said Kai, “sounds like fun.  But we can’t stay out too late, I just had to take new medication and I’m going to get sick.”

            “That’s fine, Elena’s parents don’t like it when she’s out late anyways.  It’ll be perfect!”  Chen got up and gave Kai a big hug, “you’re the best, and we’re leaving at 7:30 on the dot to pick them up, okay?”

            “Gottchya.”

            Chen left their bedroom and Kai dialed Haelee’s number.

            “Hello?”

            “Hi Haelee, this is Jongin.”

            “Hey Jongin, what’s up?”

            “I was wondering if you wanted to go clubbing with Jongdae, his girlfriend and I tonight.”

            “I’d love to!”

            “Great, we’ll pick you up around 7:45.”

            “Okay, I’ll see you then!”  Haelee gave Kai her housing information and said goodbye.

            “So, you’re going on a date tonight.” Said Kyungsoo without looking up from his book.

            “I guess so…”

            “Text me before you get back if things get heated so I can sleep somewhere else.”

            “That’s not going to happen…the one’s you really have to worry about are Jongdae and Elena.”

            “Nah…they’ll probably just go to her house again and Chen will get chased out by her dad in the morning.”

            “Ha!  Probably…”

            Chen peaked his head into the room again, “are you guys talking about me?”

            “Yes,” said Kai and D.O together.