The following days were a bit of a rollercoaster for Hoseok. For some reason juggling school and hospital time had become more difficult with exams coming up. Hyeri’s health was very temperamental. The higher doses of chemo and radiation exhausted her severely. She couldn’t keep herself awake longer than an hour when Hoseok was around. He still stayed for whatever she needed. Yoongi accompanied him twice to see how Hyeri was doing but he was a lot busier than Hoseok and could only stay for an hour or two.

Hoseok was grateful to his best friend who firmly stood next to him whenever he could. Yoongi came from a big family who couldn’t support themselves entirely after his father had passed away three years ago. Yoongi being the eldest amongst his four siblings had to work all throughout his high school years. He somehow had managed to juggle a heavy bearing job with school and Yoongi found himself hurriedly preparing for exams.

Now Hoseok found himself being accompanied by Taehyung in these most recent hospital visits. With Jin’s permission of course, Taehyung was now sitting in Hyeri’s room every visit keeping them company. Interesting conversations took place even after Hyeri would fall asleep and Hoseok was slowly warming up to him. He found himself really enjoying each of Taehyung’s stories. He especially liked it when he would randomly spout out a non-relevant fact in the middle of their conversations. He would enthusiastically explain them and it was simply adorable in Hoseok’s eyes. Taehyung’s light and carefree personality brightened the room and that fed into both Hoseok and Hyeri. And for that Hoseok was extremely grateful.

Now that Hoseok was becoming closer to Taehyung he was immensely curious about his backstory. Taehyung’s illness or family had never really been brought up. One of the few times Jungkook had stopped by he had accidently let it slip that that Jungkook’s mom was Taehyung’s nanny. With that tid bit of information Hoseok could only assume Taehyung’s family was rich. It made sense since the hospital they were all currently residing in was very pricey. For the mean time he kept that in mind and when the time was right he would make sure to ask him about his life.

It was Friday afternoon and Hoseok was glad the weekend was finally here after such a tiring week. He was actually a bit excited to head to the room. He was expecting to find Taehyung already sitting in the leather chair next to Hyeri’s bed playing one of his games or reading one of his books to her, but to his surprise he wasn’t there. Hyeri was deep asleep in her bed and the room was void of any Taehyung. He usually beat him to her room whenever he visited because he made sure to come around the same time every day. He walked up to Hyeri’s bed and gave her a gentle pat on the cheek in greeting and he felt that her skin was a little warm. Her sleep seemed restful so Hoseok safely assumed they had already given her medication to keep that down. He sat on the leather chair and the silence felt quite deafening. It didn’t last long because there was a knock on the door and an exhausted Jin walked into the room.

“Oh Hoseok you are finally here. Taehyung can’t make it today he is really sick. He threatened me hours ago to dragging himself here if I didn’t bring you into his room when you got here.”

Hoseok eyes widened at the news, “What’s wrong with him hyung?”

“Taehyung has a really weak immune system and gets sick really easily. Especially now with his ailments it’s hard for him to keep himself on his feet. His fever really spiked an hour ago and we had to give him heavy medication. He is a bit delirious right now. I feel terrible seeing him in this condition all alone. I can’t spend my whole time in his room because I have other patients, like your sister.” The worry and pity was evident in Jin’s eyes. His shoulders were sagged and this was rare sight for Hoseok. The months he had known Jin he had known him to be really strong and rarely emotional. From what he could see he had to have a friendship with Taehyung already. Hoseok was a pretty observant person and he was pretty sure Taehyung had just been admitted to the hospital.

These thoughts swirled in his mind, but he decided to set them aside for the mean time. He stood up and laid a hand on Jin’s shoulder, “Don’t worry hyung. Let’s go see Taehyung.”

The whimpers could be heard as soon as they entered the room. Taehyung’s stuffed animals and books were strewn about the room. From where Hoseok stood in the entrance he could see the sweaty matted hair that was plastered on Taehyung’s forehead. He approached the bed and he saw that Taehyung was all tangled up in the hospital sheets.

“Shoot. Hoseok-ah can you help me untangle him? He is going to yank out his IV.” They both approached the bed and Hoseok made sure to gently hold him as Jin got to work. It was evident his fever was high because as soon as he sat him hands on his arms he felt the heat radiate up his arms.

The whimpers continued emitting from his mouth and he began to thrash a bit in Hoseok’s grip, “Mom….. I’m scared.” His whimpers had turned into words and his eyes wrenched open.

“I WANT TO SEE! I DON’T WANT EVERYTHING TO GO DARK! MOM PLEASE IM SCARED!” Hoseok was thrown off guard at the sudden screams coming from Taehyung. Taehyung was now awake and full on thrashing in his arms. The screams continued and tears were now escaping through Taehyung’s eyes. Hoseok instead of letting go of him tightened his grip and gathered him strongly into a hug. Jin at this point had booked it out of the room in what Hoseok could assume to get a doctor. He held Taehyung tightly and made sure to whisper comforting words as he soothingly patted his back. Taehyung’s thrashing calmed considerably, but the loud wails and screams couldn’t be controlled.

Without him even noticing both the doctor and Jin rushed into the room. Hoseok knew it was time for him to let the doctor do his work and stepped out of the room. As soon as he stepped out he let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding in. His hands were shaking and he was trying to process what in the world Taehyung had been screaming in his delirious state.

“Hoseok-ah Im sorry I left you like that. I needed to get Doctor Choi right away to sedate him. He should be fine now.” Hoseok hadn’t even notice Jin stepping out of the room. He hadn’t even felt the comforting hand that Jin laid to rest on his shoulder.

“Hyung, what did Taehyung mean by what he was screaming?”

Jin sighed heavily at his questions and was silent for a bit before he opened his mouth, “What Im about to tell you is very serious. I won’t go into much detail and I’ll just wait for Taehyung to reveal everything to you when he is ready and feels like it, “Jin’s face immediately turned grave, “The reason why he was screaming that was because we recently found a tumor in his head. Taehyung is going to completely lose his eyesight. He is going to be blind.”

Hoseok found his eyes widening once again at the news. He couldn’t believe somebody like Taehyung could suffer in that way. After all in the short amount of time he had known him he was starting to slowly add a bit of color to the blank and dank walls that had formed in Hoseok’s mind. He felt a slight sense of panic at the thought of the people around him suffering so mercilessly. He had no idea how to ease their pain and this new news of Taehyung was completely disheartening.

After a little while Doctor Choi had exited the room. Jin had gone off to another patient’s room before going to check on Hyeri once more. Hoseok quietly snuck into Taehyung’s room and absentmindedly began to clean up the mess of toys and books that had been thrown around. There was a photo album amongst the books and Hoseok took the liberty to flip through it a bit as he sat in the chair next to Taehyung’s bed. Taehyung was completely knocked out with sedatives, but from Hoseok could see it his mind was not at peace judging from the grimace etched into his sleeping face. With gentle fingers he smoothed out Taehyung’s frown and admired his face a bit longer before once again resuming the examination of the photo album. He flipped through the pages carefully and a majority of the pictures consisted of a young Taehyung and Jungkook.  They were both adorable as children but what piqued Hoseok’s curiosity was that Taehyung was dressed in a hospital gown for a good chunk of them.

Taehyung had been in a hospital the majority of his life. Hoseok needed more pieces to the puzzle that was Taehyung’s life. For now all he could do was hold Taehyung’s hand and feel his tight grip in his. He promised himself then and there that he would be strong for the both of them. For his sister and this adorable stranger who just happened to walk into life when he needed it the most.

[A/N]

Im SOOOO sorry for the late update. Please also excuse my short update as well. Ive been very busy and it was my birthday this past weekend so yeah.... hehehe.... Taehyung's past and illness will be revealed next chapter so stay tuned for that!!! Woo hoo!! Till next time...

(excuse my poor grammar, this is a bit rushed as well)

I will work harder!!!