The Smiles We Left Behind

Breathless
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An update~! *angels singing from the heavens* Honestly, I didn't know If I could manage to post an update, given that hell month has started for me. It's the time in the academic semester when all the courses are giving their last hurrahs by flooding us with every possible kind of schoolwork there is. I'm panicking, given that I have so much to do, but I couldn't afford to leave you guys hanging after the last update now, right? So here you go, my beloveds, Breathless part 6. It's a little heavy on the angst again, so prepare yourselves.

~~

 

Kim Jongin wakes up with a familiar face peering at him. “Taemin.” He breathes out, voice cracking from sleep.

There’s an unreadable expression on his friend’s face. “Hey.” He whispers tentatively. “How are you?” Taemin shuffles closer to Jongin nervously.

“Well…” Kai trails off, motioning awkward to himself. He smiles sheepishly. “What are you doing here?” he frowns when Taemin’s presence sinks in.

Taemin flinches. “If you don’t want me to be here, I’ll just leave. I-I just wanted to see how you were doing. Our old dance instructor heard the news and he managed to reach me… I’m sorry, I’ll leave if you want me to.”

Kai smiles, though it is wobbly. “No, don’t leave. Let’s talk.”

--

When Sehun arrives a few hours later, Taemin is nowhere to be seen and Kai is sitting up in bed, looking pensively at the window. “Hungry?” the younger asks, lifting a plastic bag of food to Kai’s line of sight.

Jongin looks at him and shakes his head. “No thanks, I’m not hungry yet. Besides, the hospital dinner will arrive in a while, right?”

Sehun nods. “I’m going to call the hyungs, by the way. I’ve found a way to get them here.” He mentions, gauging for a reaction in his friend. He doesn’t mention that said means is Do Kyungsoo himself.

“Really? I’m glad.” Jongin visibly brightens at this news, but a funny look crosses his face and he looks back to the window.

“You okay? What time did Taemin leave?” Sehun asks quietly, playing with his chopsticks in what he hopes is a nonchalant-looking manner.

Jongin nods. “About 40 minutes ago. He said that he had to get back because he just escaped from his managers or something like that.”

Sehun raises his brows in response. “Oh. Did you two get a chance to talk?” he shoves a kimbap in his mouth to keep himself from acting too curious, even though in all actuality he really, absolutely is.

A sigh. “Yeah. But I think I lapsed out on him more than once, and I have no recollection of more than half of what he was saying. He kept apologizing though. And he was different from what I remember of him. It was really weird. ”

Sehun nods. “Dr. Gongchan did say that the memory thing is going to take quite a while. Don’t worry about it. At least the hyungs will be here soon to join us. It’ll be just like old times, huh?”

“Yeah, except something feels… empty.”

Sehun doesn’t get a chance to comment as a knock on the door signified that the cart distributing the patients’ food has arrived. When he turns to Kai again, the other boy has seemed to have forgotten his last statement.

--

“Hello, you’ve reached Minseok,”

“And Luhan!”

“And Luhan. Here at Exotic Brews!”

Sehun smiled at the familiar voices that answered his phone call. “Hey, it’s me, Sehun.”

“Sehun!” Both Xiumin and Luhan’s voices exclaimed excitedly.

The next barrage of phrases was along the lines of ‘how are you?’ And ‘how’s Kai?’ Sehun couldn’t say, as both hyungs were rattling out a variety of the questions at a rapid pace, simultaneously. “Er, we’re good. We’re both okay. We’re well taken care off.” He says, before realizing the truth in his words. A flash of Kyungsoo’s image appears in his mind before Sehun could help it. Indeed, they were both well because of Kyungsoo’s (and of course the other doctors as well) efforts.

“Oh, that’s good.” Luhan breathes out on the other end of the line. “We’re so worried about you two.”

“We wish we could come and take care of you guys,” Minseok adds wistfully.

“Hey, uh, listen. I might have gotten a hold of tickets for the both of you to come here…” Sehun starts.

The synchronized “What?!” that answered him was equal in tone, volume, and intensity that Sehun has to move the receiver away from his ear.

“Oh Sehun, you better not have spent any money on this. You know we’re saving every penny we can get to pay the bills.” Luhan calls out warningly. “It’s already probably way more than we could afford at this point, given that you’re at a hospital in the city, and the surgery, and the pain medications…” he frets.

Sehun grimaces and runs a hand through his hair in apprehension. “Yeah… about that. I might have gotten us a way out of that too…?”

“You better not have sold your kidneys nor done something equally stupid as that.” Xiumin.

Sehun stops. “What? No!”

“Then how?” Luhan asks agitatedly.

Sehun fidgets. “You know what? I’ll explain when you get here. The nurse is already glaring daggers at me. I’ll send you the tickets, okay? I’ll just text you the details, we miss you guys! See you soon! Bye!” he exclaims in a rush before he slams the phone down and gulps. He was not ready to face an interrogation just yet. Especially if said questioning would bring up two of the people they hadn’t heard from in over three years, the other far more.

He looks up from the phone, afraid that it will start ringing.

Baekhyun is staring at him from the other side of the nurses’ station, his chin propped up by his hand. “I’m not glaring daggers at you.” He says.

“Uh, yeah,” Sehun says awkwardly as he pushes himself off the counter of the station and abruptly walks back to Kai’s room. “Thanks for letting me use the phone.”

Chanyeol arrives from checking up on some of the patients and sees a perplexed Baekhyun spinning around on the swivel chair morosely. “Hey, Baek.” He greets.

Baekhyun looks up at him, brows furrowed in confusion. “I wasn’t glaring daggers at him.”

“Uh, what?”  

--

When Minseok and Luhan arrive a few days later, Kyungsoo hears about it from Chanyeol and Baekhyun, ever alert and snoopy.

“Hyung!” Sehun reacts gleefully as he runs over to hug both elders each. “You’re here. I’m glad. Did you have a safe trip?”

“We did, thanks.” Minseok nods but shoots Sehun a look loaded with meaning. We’re going to talk later.

Sehun nods, grimacing.

Luhan rushes forward to Kai who’s sitting up on his bed with a wide smile on his face. “My dongsaeng~.” He coos.

Jongin laughs. “Hyung, stop.”

Luhan clucks and crosses his arms petulantly. “I can’t help it. I missed you. I was so worried.”

“I missed you too,” Jongin replies. “I’d hug you two if it won’t hurt so much.”

Minseok smiles. “It’s fine.” He touches Jongin’s shoulder reassuringly. “How have you been?”

Jongin winces. “Okay, I guess. I think my memory’s mostly fine now.”

Luhan shoots Sehun an inquiring look to which the younger responds with an imperceptible shake of his head.

“That’s good, do your other injuries still hurt?” Minseok asks.

Jongin nods. “Yeah, but they give me pain medications every now and then to help ease the pain. I’m okay, for the most part. The

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psychophoenix
[Breathless!AU] Is anyone still alive in here? New update to Breathless, and no, it's not a chapter but a question. Let me know your thoughts!

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tonnettie
#1
Chapter 12: They compliment each other
Mistycal #2
Chapter 8: Woo ok still a lighthearted one phew
Mistycal #3
Chapter 7: OOOOOF ok things about to get wild in heree
Mistycal #4
Chapter 5: Lmao that last part tho
Mistycal #5
Chapter 3: Oh I really forgot all about this story huh. Dang ittt nooo Kaii
Mistycal #6
Chapter 1: Ok I'm so ready for a roller coaster ride
Kaisoolover1288
#7
Chapter 12: I love ittttt
NaysaKropka #8
Chapter 12: I love this story ?
Shey_real24 #9
Chapter 4: This story is soooooo beautiful. ❤❤❤
moonlightprays #10
Chapter 12: I’ve been away for a long time from fics too but i revisited now and saw this update and honestly this fic stuck on me i’ve read this twice for about three or two years ago during my college days. Now I’m that I’m working and want to go back to reading, I’d love to see an AU of this. ♥️