Doctors and close family only. The sign alone pressed a sight through Minho’s lips and he leaned forward in his chair, arms on his knees. This was, of course, the natural outcome. The fact that he had been able to visit earlier had been a miracle in itself and he was perfectly aware that he could no longer expect special treatment. Technically, now that Taehyun was admitted to the hospital, he was no longer his nurse and he could no longer expect the certain privilege that had come with it sooner. Like being able to always spend time together, or even just knowing at all times what kind of state the boy was in. No he had a few hours of “visiting hours” every day, he had to practically beg nurses and doctors for any kind of information and he absolutely hated it. Minho liked his order, liked to know what was going on. And so when he didn’t have that control anymore, it became so much harder to keep himself together.

“Mr Song?”

A voice he faintly recognized, but couldn’t place until he looked up. What met him was the sight of a small, stern looking woman, backed by a tall boy with similar facial features as Taehyun. But perhaps a bit rounder?  “Ah! Mrs Nam!” he blurted out, cheeks lighting up in a subtle pink as he stood up. Rubbing his hands at the back of his jeans, he held one out to shake the older woman’s hand, but she simply stared at it without taking it.

“We appreciate what you have done for our Taehyun. But as you might have realized, your services are no longer necessary. “

“Yes?” Minho blinked, mouth hanging open at the sudden notice, gaze falling on the envelope in the woman’s hand. Judging by the size of it, there would be a check inside of it, a check with enough money for him to not mind the matters of the Nam family any longer. “But Taehy-… But Mr….” He swallowed again, mouth feeling dry as he struggled to find the right words to say. What could he say? Heck, what was he even supposed to call Taehyun? ‘Mr’ didn’t seem quite right, and just ‘Taehyun’ didn’t seem quite formal enough in front of the boy’s mother and brother.

“Since your services are cancelled early, we have included inconvenience fee. We hope it is enough for you to not go around saying strange things or spreading weird rumours regarding our son.”

“Rumours Ma’am? “ Dark eyes moved from mother to son, the latter looking suddenly embarrassed and shuffled a few steps backwards, eyes on the ground. What were they talking about? What would they know about… about what had happened? And why would it be a bad thing?

“Mr Song. Do we really have to spell it out for you? Please stay away from our son for now.” The woman the check into Minho’s hand with surprising force and then she pulled a handkerchief from her purse and thoroughly dried her hands on it. “Stay away from him!” Her disgust seemed to yell “end of discussion” and Minho was simply too tired and worried about Taehyun to take up the fight then and there. That didn’t save him from being angry, though, and he slowly curled up the envelope in his hand as the woman walked away. The boy, Taehyun’s brother, seemed prone to leave too, but he hesitated, eyebrows slanted in a way so much alike his hyung’s that Minho’s heart clenched. “…Please don’t listen to her,” he mumbled quietly, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides as if he was still unsure if what he was doing was right or wrong. “Hyung, he… he’s only really calm if he talks about you. He seems much more peaceful then, so… don’t listen to what mom says. She’s just stressed too!”

“Donghyun?”

The woman’s voice broke through their conversation, and the boy looked over his shoulder and gave a little nod. “I’ll let you know when she’s not there, so… so go see him as much as you can, okay?” Without waiting for an answer he pressed a note into Minho’s empty hand before jogging off after his mother. Both of them leaving Minho at a loss of words and two very different notes in his hands. On one side, yes, he should respect the wishes of the family. This had only been a job from the beginning too, hadn’t it? But… but Donghyun was family too. And he had told him to see Taehyun. That had to count for something too, and he should be able to listen to that too, right?

Letting out a little groan, Minho pushed both notes into his pocket after fishing out his cellphone before dumping back in his seat. This was getting beyond confusing and complicated. Couldn’t he just spend time with Taehyun as he pleased? They didn’t have much time left together either way.

Fingers moved across the screen of his smartphone, thumb hovering over the message button when a message ticked in.

‘Why the long face?’

Seungyoon. Minho furrowed his brows at the message before looking up, gaze screening the hallway to both sides of him, landing on a tall, gangly person in a white doctor’s coat. The person lifted his hand in greeting and the dumb smile made Minho want to throw a punch at his friend.

“Yo!” Seungyoon chuckled, sitting down in the chair next to Minho, placing his hand on his shoulder in what could only be meant as comfort. “How are you holding up? I heard about…” The regular playfulness in the younger’s face was shaded with worry, and Minho could practically feel the other trying to analyse him not only as a friend, but as a doctor.

“Well, they fired me, for once. So I am nothing but a drifter from today on,” Minho said ironically, crossing his arms and leaning back in the chair. His lips curled in a bitter grin and he could practically feel the check burn through the fabric of his jeans. “As for Taehyun…. I have no idea. Do you know anything? I… I can’t seem to find out anything.” And not knowing was even worse than actually knowing all the details. If he at least knew a bit more, he could make sure he had time to do and say all he wanted, he could offer up proper support, he could… He could be there. That was most important.

By his side, Seungyoon was grimacing, fighting his own internal battle. “Minho, you know I can’t share information about patients… “ he warned, their eyes meeting for a short moment that ended in him clearing his throat and looking away. If the situation hadn’t been so grave, maybe Minho would have smiled at how obvious Seungyoon was being, but not now. Now he just wanted, no, needed to know what was going on. “Don’t doctor me now, Kang,” he warned, rubbing his knees in a restless manner. “It’s been a week and I hardly know anything! God knows Taehyun himself will tell me anything the few times I see him, I… Just answer me this one thing, okay? How long?”

Seungyoon seemed even more uncomfortable than before and he shifted in his chair, putting one long leg over another. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“Yes.”

“A few weeks. A month, top.”

A muscle in Minho’s jaw tensed and he felt the familiar burning in his eyes. A few weeks! That was even less than he had anticipated. Time was really starting to run out, and he was just sitting in a stupid chair waiting as that precious time slipped away? How could he do such a thing? How could he do that to Taehyun? Minho’s chest tightened and the dull pain he had felt there before intensified, gradually getting so bad that a few tears trickled down his cheeks.

“Minho, look…” Seung Yoon’s hand was on his shoulder again, but Minho just shrugged it away.

“How could you not tell me? How could you…? You said you’d try to help him, and you’ve done nothing! You’re just throwing us all down the stupid rabbit hole, not even knowing when we will hit the bottom!” A few passing patients and visitors stopped and turned at the rumbling voice yelling at the poor resident doctor who had been unlucky enough to give him whatever bad news he had been told to share.

“It’s not in my job to decide-…”

“You know how I feel! Don’t give me that!” Minho’s whole body was shaking now, the spark of anger that had been lit by Taehyun’s mother and the check now firing up into an inferno at his friend’s words. “You’re just as bad as the rest of them!”

“Look, now that isn’t fair! I’m just doing my job!” Even Seungyoon sounded annoyed now, and he stood up, standing in front of Minho and grabbing onto his shoulders. “I’ll do what I can, okay? But I can’t promise anything. My job is on the risk for this already by just telling you, so… so stop yelling at me, you !”

They looked up at each other then, Seungyoon’s choice of words so very unlike his character that for some reason they both smiled faintly at each other shook their heads and silently agreed upon a small truce. What else could they do? None of them had expected such a situation, none of them had ever really gotten as involved in their work, in their patients as Minho had now.

“I… Taehyun’s brother said he would call me when his mother wasn’t there, so… at least I should be able to go see him then? And if you…”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll see what I can do about you seeing him after visiting hours. Good? You are not going to bite my head off now?” Seungyoon crossed his arms almost protectively across his chest and arched an eyebrow. “Now stop bugging me, I’m working!”

Those words, together with the little huff of Seungyoon’s as he turned to walk away slowly made Minho’s anger melt away and fade into thankfulness. In this all, at least he had friends who cared for him. At least… at least he would be able to see Taehyun and spend more time with him than before. Reclaiming his phone and the notes he had stuffed in his pocket, he pressed in Donghyun’s number before writing up a short message:

‘This is Minho. Please let me know as soon as I can come. Thank you.”