Alright~ So as many of you are aware, Breathless has been featured. Naturally, I freaked out. I managed to thank a lot of you in your comments, messages, wall posts, and yes, even Tweets, but I'd just want to say it again right here where everyone can see it: THANK YOU VERY MUCH! For my subbies who were here from even before the feature, I couldn't have done it without you guys. To those who arrived to this fic because of the feature, welcome! If I haven't gotten around to responding to some of your comments/replies, hang in there, I intend to do so as soon as I can!

As you may know if you've read my last a/n in the previous chapter, this is the last chapter of Breathless. But fear not, for an epilogue is sure to come after this one. Also, several spin offs from this AU focusing on the other characters will also be written in the future, but probably not anytime soon. I plan to focus on my other fics as well, not to mention that this is my final semester in college. I really have to up my game school-wise because this is my university swan-song, if you guys get what I mean. I'll be really busy working on my thesis and a bunch of other academic stuff in the next months, so I can't really commit to solid update schedules after this. But fear not, because it's only until December, if all goes well. 

Ah, by the way, I've been beta-ing a fic by my best friend, Banana654321 (She's the one y'all have to thank for getting me into Kpop and encouraging me to write this fic in the first place. As a rubber ducky would function to a programmer, she was there for me during the early development stages of Breathless). It's an OCxKyungsoo fic, and to be honest I really don't dig OC fics, but we do everything for our best friends, right? Hers are the only ones I read, really. She is a fluff master and deny as she might, also has quite a knack for writing angst. Anyway, I'm now credited as co-author on that fic, because she says so (lol JK ily bish) and y'all can see that fic right here. Check out her other fics as well (and she's gonna smack me for saying this) because they're all pretty amazing. :D 

Without further ado, because let's be honest who's reading this a/n when I know you've all been clamoring for this update? If you are, mention the word flipflops in your comment! :P Also, answer the Poll on the Foreword (I posted this late OTL but y'all who end up reading this, head over there to give your two cents on the matter!)

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Breathless's penultimate chapter (before the Epilogue, that is)!

*hands out tissue boxes*

~~

Hey, has anyone seen Kyungsoo-hyung? He wasn’t at the house when I woke up…” he asks as the bells of the café jangle to indicate his arrival. He glances around the small space to determine if said hyung was anywhere in it, but he wasn’t. Only when he zeroes back into the faces of the three who were staring at him does he get a sinking feeling in his chest.

It’s Sehun’s stricken expression that hits him like a punch in the gut.

“Sehun? Minseok-hyung? Luhan-hyung? Where is he?” he asks, looking around the café once more, thinking that he just missed the dark-haired hyung the first time.

“Jongin-ah, it’s okay.” Minseok begins, but he cuts him off. They never call him Jongin.

“Hyung! Kyungsoo-hyung! Where are you?” he calls out, frantically opening the door to look outside. “Hyung? Where is my hyung? I need to find Kyungsoo-hyung, he’s out there somewhere.” He exhales in a rush and runs out of the café before anyone could stop him.

“Jongin!” he can hear Luhan-hyung shouting behind him. But he can’t stop, not now. “Jongin, stop!”

But he doesn’t listen and runs back to the apartment because Kyungsoo-hyung probably left him a note to tell him where he’s gone. He runs and runs, knowing Kyungsoo-hyung’s around somewhere and he just needs to be sure where.

When he reaches the apartment, he is out of breath and he fumbles with the key before he could open the door properly. He runs to the kitchen, checking the magnets on the fridge and the table, but sees nothing out of the normal.

“Kyungsoo?”

He runs to his bedroom, bed still unmade from where he’d rolled off earlier that morning. Nothing. He runs to Kyungsoo’s room and freezes just as thundering footsteps behind him indicate someone’s arrival.

“Jongin-ah.” Luhan-hyung wheezes.

He couldn’t speak, not as he processes the sight before his eyes.

The bed is made, but that’s to be expected because Kyungsoo has taken to sleeping in his bedroom with him. But what got his tongue was the fact that the cabinets and drawers were all open and empty, telling him something he’d rather not know.

“No.” he whispers. “No, this isn’t true. What the is this?!” he backs up in disbelief and he feels his back hit the other wall.

“Jongin, listen to me…” Luhan-hyung implores.

“No no no no. Explain!” he shouts eyes widening as he takes in a shuddering breath. “What the is going on?”

“I can’t.” the hyung’s lower lip quivers. “I can’t explain.”

He moans in agony, sinking to the floor. His chest is unbearably tight. “No.”

And then he hears it, a whisper, a promise.

“I love you, Kai.”

--

It’s Sehun who reaches the room first, panting heavily as he twists the knob on the door to open it and barge inside. He sees Taemin sitting on the edge of the bed with a stricken look on his face. “What happened?”

“I think he remembered. The suicide attempt. Or a suicide attempt. I don’t know.” Taemin whispers with a shaky breath. His hands are clenched on his lap and he is shaking uncontrollably. “He was just shouting that he didn’t want to die yet and thrashing around and crying in his sleep so I woke him up and he just wouldn’t stop crying afterward.” He angles his body to look at Jongin whimpering in his sleep. Taemin sighs and runs a shaking hand through his hair.

“And then he passed out?” Sehun asks just as the two hyungs arrive in the room, catching their breaths with a nurse at their heels. Sehun steps forward to block Taemin from the nurse’s view and flips the idol’s hoodie onto his head to hide his face. “I’m sorry, but our friend isn’t feeling well. I’ll just take him outside to get some air.” He mutters quickly, as Taemin shoots him a surprised but grateful look.

Minseok gives a firm nod in understanding. “Is Kai okay?” he asks instead, leading the nurse further into the room and giving Sehun ample space to usher Taemin out of the room, luckily without being recognized.

Sehun shrugs helplessly and leads Taemin towards the door, the nurse fortunately too focused on checking up on Jongin’s state to notice.

Sehun and Taemin barely hear the nurse’s confirmation that Jongin’s vitals were stable before the door closes behind them.

Taemin is still shaking when he turns to face Sehun in the hallway. “T-thanks.” He brings up the mask back up to cover his mouth.

Sehun shrugs, nonchalant, but his face betrays his worry. “Do you… do you think he remembered?”

“I don’t know…” Taemin shakes his head. “He was screaming repeatedly that he didn’t want to die and he was flailing around. Was he- did he try to drown himself?”

Sehun releases a shuddering exhale and nods, a memory flashing through his head. “He did. Oh, gods. He’s remembered.”

Taemin sighs. “I don’t think I should be here. I don’t think it would do him any good to relive the pain all over again…”

“No,” Sehun answers firmly. “Don’t be a coward. Face him and apologize for the you left him in. I know he told you to seize your dreams, but you could’ve been there for him when he needed you most. I know that may sound selfish for Kai, but you were his best friend. You should have understood that.” ready

Taemin inhales deeply and nods. “My offer to pay the bills still stands, no matter what. Contact me when he’s awake and ready to talk to me… But if he doesn’t want to face me, then tell me. I’d understand.”

“Why do both of you underestimate how much you meant to him?” Sehun asks, frustrated.

“What? Who else are you talking about?”

Sehun shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll contact you when everything’s calmed down. You better get out of here before anyone recognizes you.”

Taemin reacts as if to answer, but nods once instead.

--

"He hasn't woken up since."

Kyungsoo's breath hitches. "It must have come as a pretty big surprise to his system."

"Hyung, I'm scared," Sehun mumbles on the other end of the line.

"I know, Sehun-ah. I know... But you've got Minseok-hyung and Luhan-hyung. You've even got me... and I'