~*~

Chapter XI

Come Back Again

7월 6일

“What’s that?”

Myungsoo jumped and folded the paper in half to hide it.  “Hey, hyung,” he said as Dongwoo sat down next to the bed. 

“What’s that?” Dongwoo asked again. 

“Just some thoughts,” Myungsoo said quietly, trying to shuffle the paper away, but Dongwoo’s hand flashed forward and grabbed it out of Myungsoo’s grasp. 

“Hey!  Give it back!” Myungsoo yelped, chasing Dongwoo around the small room as Dongwoo read the list aloud. 

“Go to Paris?  Survive the chemo and cancer?  Take family to Jeju?” Dongwoo read as he held the paper with one hand and kept Myungsoo away with the other.  “What is this?”

“It’s a bucket list,” Myungsoo said, his ears turning red.  “The Paris thing is already done.”

“What about the family trip to Jeju?” Dongwoo asked, finally giving it back to him. 

Myungsoo shrugged, looking down at the list.  “That gets farther away and farther away every single moment that I spend in the hospital,” he mumbled, not looking at Dongwoo.  “I’m rewritting it.”

“Can I help you?” Dongwoo asked, sitting down on the bed beisde Myungsoo. 

“Sure,” Myungsoo said with a mall shrug.  “What’s on your bucket list?”

“Taking Sebin out when she’s older, starting a family of my own,” Dongwoo listed off. 

“You want to start family?”

“Don’t you?” Dongwoo asked.  “Just maybe someday having a little daughter or son of your own with someone to share your happiness with?”

Myungsoo shrugged again and looked away.  “If it’s a child of my own... he or she will have half of my genes.  I... the cancer could be genetic and I’m not going to sentence someone to death.”

Dongwoo didn’t say anything as Myungsoo added, “Publish next photobook,” to the list. 

“Anyways, it’s going to take such a long time to actually get out of this hospital and meet someone who would actually want to marry me,” Myungsoo said as he scribbed in, ‘Learn fluent English,’ under the list. 

“Literally anyone would want to marry you.”

“That’s just for my face,” Myungsoo said, biterness in his tone making Dongwoo to regret the comment right away.  “I want to find someone who will marry me for who I am.”

Again, Dongwoo couldn’t find an answer and sighed quietly. 

Echoing his sigh, Myungsoo erased the last thing that he wrote – get a house – and slammed the pen down on the paper.  “Anyways, did you see any of the Inspirits today?”

“Of course,” Dongwoo said, thankful that Myungsoo changed the subject.  He brought a handful of bags and presents onto his lap.  “This one is for you, so is that one.”

Myungsoo grinned and took the bag.  When Dongwoo opened one of his gifts, he looked up when Myungsoo laughed happily.  Myungsoo was holding a bottle, smiling at it happily. 

“What’s that?” Dongwoo asked. 

He looked up at Dongwoo, smiling happily.  “Bubbles,” he said quietly.  He opened the bubble bottle and tried to dip the wand into the liquid, but his hand was shaking too much, an after effect from the last round of chemo.  Dongwoo covered his hand with his and helped him hold the bottle steady.  Myungsoo smiled happily and pulled out the wand, blowing on the wand.   Flow of bubbles flew out fom the end of the wand, floating around the room.  Myungsoo laughed happily, poking at the bubbles. 

Dongwoo laughed with him and took the wand from him.  Myungsoo smiled happily as Dongwoo blew another stream of bubbles for him.  He swatted his hands at the bubbles, trying to pop all of them. 

Soon the room was filled with Myungsoo and Dongwoo’s laughter and bubbles floating around the room. 

“Hyung!” Myungsoo said suddenly.  “I want to go outisde.”

He could never say no to his smile. 

A few minutes later, they were sitting on the grass outside, bubbles floating around them in the summer air. 

Myungsoo let out a loud whoop, stretching in the wind.  Dongwo watched happily as Myungsoo blew another stream of bubbles, reaching out to grab at the bubbles, laughing as he couldn’t catch them. 

“If you keep on doing that, someone’s going to think you’re a brain cancer patient instead of lung cancer,” Dongwoo scolded. 

He stuck his tounge out at him and blew a stream of blubbles towards him.  “I bet the pshycology ward,” he said matter-of-factly. 

Dongwoo smiled back, watching the bubbles float around them.  “It’s a nice day to be outside,” he said, looking up at the sky. 

Myungsoo nodded and stretched his arms over his head.  “It’s so nice to be free,” he said happily.  “I wish that I could be free like this all the time.”

Nodding, Dongwoo reached out to smooth down his hair.  “I’m sorry about that comment earlier,” he apologized. 

“No, it’s okay,” Myungsoo said with a small smile.  “It’s true.”

“Hey, if anyone just wants you for your face, I’m going to beat them up for you.”

Laughing, Myungsoo pulled out his bucket list and looked at the short list.  “If you look after me, then I know I’m going to be okay,” he said, staring at his list. 

Taking the list from Myungsoo, he crossed one point – survive the chemo and cancer – off his list.  “You already defeated the cancer, you are okay.  You’e going to be able to defeat anything,” Dongwoo promised.  “No matter what happens, I hope that this will stay on your bucket list forever.”

 Be Infinite forever

~*~

7월 10일

“Hyung?”

Woohyun immediately looked up as Myungsoo called his name.  “What is it?”

Myungsoo laughed as he found Woohyun’s quick reaction funny.  “Hyung, I have a story to tell you.”

“What?  A story?” Woohyun asked confused, when Myungsoo had called his name, he had thought he was in pain or something, and he was unprepared for such a causual statement. 

“Yes, you act as if you don’t know what they are.” Myungsoo smiled cheekily.

“Yah!  I do not!” Woohyun yelled, blushing a bit. 

“Yes, you do,” Myungsoo replied back, knowing that Woohyun would argue back.

Woohyun jumped onto the edge of the bed and ruffled his hair in a gentle tussle.  “Take that back.”

“Do you want to hear my story?” Myungsoo blackmailed, although he was smiling and it looked like he wanted to keep on playing with Woohyun like that, like nothing was wrong.

Woohyun let go of Myungsoo and smiled, letting him start the story.

“There was a boy, his name was Woohyun.  He was one of the most caring people in the world.  He was one of the brothers who I think will always be part of Infinite.  Because that’s who Infinite was, they were going to last for infinity. 

“This Woohyun- and hyung, I’m not saying that it’s anyone that we know- he always smiled.  Even when it annoyed the other members, he knew if he smiled, he would make the others smile eventually. 

“One day, one of Infinite was diagnosed with cancer.  He was worried that if he told Woohyun, Woohyun’s smile would be gone and that he wouldn’t be able to see Woohyun’s smile ever again. 

“But when he told Woohyun, Woohyun smiled at him and told him that it was going to be okay.  He stayed by my side, held my hand when I was scared, kissed me goodnight, and he told me that he would let me go if I needed that.”

“Did you say ‘me’?  This Woohyun-that-is-not-the-Nam-Woohyun-that-is-sitting-right-in-front-of-you showed you?” Woohyun asked teasingly. 

Myungsoo paused, thinking about his words.  “Well, I could say that this Woohyun is the one sitting in front of me and the other Infinite member is me… but not in this story.”

Woohyun laughed and nodded for Myungsoo to continue. 

“Woohyun showed Myungsoo how to make his wishes come true.  The two of them would stand at the highest of the hills and give their wishes and dreams wings.” 

Myungsoo swung his legs off the bed and sat facing Woohyun.  He look his hands and looked him straight in the eye.  “I let one wish fly away and I didn’t tell you what it was.  I think it’s time to tell you.”

“You don’t need to,” Woohyun said, shaking his head quickly.  “You told me that it was a secret.”

Myungsoo shook his head, cutting off Woohyun’s protests.  “I think it’s time for you to know.  I want you to know what it says.”

Woohyun wanted badly to stop Myungsoo from telling him.  It was so hard to hear Myungsoo’s words.  After so many months of waiting for Myungsoo to recover, he was sitting in front of Woohyun, alive and healthy. 

“‘I want to fly up to the ends of the heavens, hug the breeze in the air, and whisper with the winged angels.

“‘I wish for all Inspirits’ happiness and well being.  Sleep well to see the new tomorrow.  I sing this song for you.’”

Woohyun pressed his lips together, trying not to cry as he finally heard the words that Myungsoo wrote on the sky candle all those months ago.  Maybe to anyone who wasn’t in their shoes, would’ve found this quite silly, but to Woohyun and Myungsoo, it meant everything to them, the fact that Myungsoo was able to tell him the story himself was a miracle.

Myungsoo gently brushed off the single tear that stained Woohyun’s cheek.  “Don’t cry,” he whispered.  “Remember the Woohyun in my story?  He’s always smiling for Myungsoo.”

“It sounds like you’re leaving when you say it like that,” Woohyun murmured.  “I spent so long worrying that I’m going to lose you.”

“I was thinking that I never got to tell you before,” Myungsoo whispered, his fingers catching the tears that were falling down Woohyun’s cheeks.   “If I had died, you would’ve never known.”

Woohyun nodded.  “Myungsoo?”

“Yeah?”

“Did Myungsoo in your story… did he recover?”

Myungsoo nodded, tears starting to fall down his checks as well.  “He did.  He recovered because he wanted to smile back at Woohyun.  He wanted to smile back at Infinite who worried so much for him, he wanted to make sure they smiled for the rest of infinity.”

Woohyun let out a sob and Myungsoo gripped him a tight hug, whispering the last of his story into Woohyun’s ear.   

“‘When I asked for an angel, they came to me.  Even when my infinity was about to end, they stood beside me. 

‘Thank you, Infinite.’

“Thank you, Woohyun.  Thank you.”

~*~

8월 13일

“Hyung!  Hyung!  Hurry!”

Sunggyu laughed and hurried down the street, chasing after Myungsoo and Sungyeol who were racing down the street.  Myungsoo had been discharged from the hospital in late July, returning back to his parents’ house to spend some more time resting.  Today, for the first time in a long time, all seven of them were heading out to dinner together. 

Myungsoo was laughing and spinning around, happily.  Sunggyu was surprised that more Inspirits weren’t around, it was the first time Myungsoo had gone much farther than two steps out of the house or hospital for a long time.  Myungsoo grabbed Sungjong’s hands and spun around in a circle with him, causing Sungjong to laugh happily.  Stumbling a little as they stopped, Myungsoo threw his arm across Sungjong’s shoulders and looked behind them at the other members.  “Dongwoo-hyung!” he yelled down the street.  “Woohyun-hyung!  Hurry!”

The two members caught up with them, smiling widely.  “We can slow down, Myungsoo,” Woohyun complained.  “The meat won’t go anywhere.”

Myungsoo shook his head, a wide grin across his face.  “We need to get there quickly!  I’m hungry!”

A bit less than a hour later, they were seated at a table at the resturant, laughing and talking to each other.  It felt nearly the same as yesterday, they were all smiling and laughing as they made random jokes about things that would only make sense to them. 

Myungsoo smiled at the others, as they continued to joke around.  Nearly 3 months ago, he had told Woollim’s CEO that he wanted to terminate his contract, though before he did, Jungyeop convinced him to think about it more and he hadn’t talked about his contract with Jungyeop since then.  As Myungsoo sat at the table with the other six members of Infinite, he knew what his decision was. 

They were all laughing loudly.  Sungjong was talking, drawing out something in the air.  Sungyeol said something else, obviously making fun of Sungjong which sent Hoya and Dongwoo into a fit of laughter while Sungjong tried to hit Sungyeol.  Woohyun added something on from his side which made Sunggyu laugh loudly. 

This was something that he couldn’t let go. 

“Myungsoo!” Woohyun whinned, jarring Myungsoo out of his day dreaming.  “Help me win this argument with these airheads.”

“There’s no way that you can win,” Hoya argued.  “We already got you trapped.”

Dongwoo cackled with laughter as Sunggyu shook his head at them fondly. 

“Guys?” Myungsoo asked quietly, but loud enough for all of them to hear.  “You know when Jungyeop told you about your service?”

“How can we forget?” Hoya asked dryly. 

“I think you should go,” Myungsoo said.  “It’s a good time to go and I know that all of you want to make a new album.  Don’t even try to deny that part.”

“But what about you?” Sungyeol asked, worry in his eyes. 

“I know what I need to do,” Myungsoo said firmly.  “You need to do what you need to do.”

“Okay...”

No one said anything for a moment, quietly accepting the idea.  “We’ll need to tell Jungyeop then,” Sunggyu said heavily.  “Let’s go after dinner.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and the conversation returned soon after, everyone talking about everything and anything except for their old conversation.

“We’d like to pay the bill now,” Sunggyu said polietly to the waitress after they finished eating and it was time to go to the CEO’s office.  As she left, Sunggyu searched around for his wallet, but Woohyun stopped him before he could get it. 

“Hyung, I’m paying tonight.”

Sunggyu’s mouth dropped open, the other members had identical expressions of surprise on his face.  Woohyun never spent his money, he was by far the stingiest member.  Never before, he had treated like this before. 

All of them stared at Woohyun, stunned as Woohyun pulled out his wallet and payed the bill.  Everyone, but Myungsoo. 

Myungsoo smiled happily as he wrapped his jacket tightly around himself, remembering Woohyun’s words from the hospital back in May. 

“Hyung will buy.”

They were all outside on the sidewalk when Woohyun finished paying the bill and came outside, tucking his wallet into his backpocket.  “Let’s go,” Woohyun said cheerfully.  As he turned around, he found Myungsoo hugging him tightly. 

The fans on the sidewalk around them screamed as Myungsoo didn’t loosen grip.  Maybe people would think that it was just pat of fan-service, but Myungsoo’s hug was filled with emotion as he didn’t let go.  Laughing, Woohyun patted the top of Myungsoo’s head with a fond smile. 

“Thank you, hyung,” Myungso said, letting go of Woohyun after one last squeeze. 

“That’s what family is for,” Woohyun said warmly.  “You know we’ll do anything for you.”

Myungsoo nodded, looking around at all of the other members.  “Don’t worry, okay, I’m going to be with you every step of the way.”

“Does that mean that you’re going to...?” Sungjong asked hopefully. 

Myungsoo just smiled.  “I really love you guys, don't forget that.”

~*~

All of them sat in Jungyeop’s office, looking around at each other to make sure that they were making the right choice. 

“So what have you decided?”

Sunggyu looked around at the others who all nodded back.  “We’re going to follow your plan,” he said.  “A comeback without Myungsoo and then going to do our service.”

Jungyeop smiled and nodded.  “We’ll be starting the prepreations in the next week,” he said.  “I’ll call you back when I have all the details.”

Myungsoo nodded, carefully watching the others for their reactions varying from happy to melancholy, but all of them ready to start a new journey. 

“And Myungsoo?  What have you decided?”

Myungsoo looked around at the others and hesitated.  Sunggyu picked up on the reason for his hesiatation first and stood up.  “We’ll wait in the hall for you.”

Smiling, Myungsoo nodded gratefully.  As soon as everyone left the room, Jungyeop started talking.  “I guess by how you didn’t want the others you still want to drop out of Infinite?”

“I’m not going to,” he announced.  “I can’t give up on Infinite when they woudn’t give up on me.”

Jungyeop smiled and nodded.  “I knew that you would change your mind,” he said kindly.  “But now you need to promise me somehting.”

“Anything.”

“Don’t let go of Infinite.  Your brothers love you so much.”

~*~

Holding his new contract with the plans of a solo comeback, Myungsoo left Jungyeop’s office to be greeted by the other boys, looking at him with anxious faces.  Unable to help his smile, Myungsoo threw his arms around the closest member, Dongwoo, in an enthusastic hug.  Dongwoo laughed and hugged him so tightly that lifted him off his feet in return.  Even though Myungsoo didn’t tell them the news, all of them knew and joined the hug.  Myungsoo laughed and reached out to hug all of them, happy to be wrapped up in their warmth. 

A long time ago, they embraced like this when they knew that their name from that moment on was going to be Infinite.  Again, now, they hugged, happy that their name forever more was going to be Infinite, because Infinite isn’t Infinite if there aren’t seven. 

Myungsoo looked around at the others, smiling at each of them.  “Thank you so much.  We’re back to being together forever.” 

tadaaaa~  

SOTH and SOG both have 4 chapters left now :'(  Everything is coming to an end so quickly!!  But both have 4 chapters left so that means 8 chapters, but still feels so short.  I hope all of you will enjoy the next few chapters!  

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