𝑀𝑦 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 | 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑔

Chapter 24

"Hey, Jisung?" It was Mark, but Jisung couldn't figure out why Mark would be calling him.

He had been walking home from his dance practice, his legs tired and aching, his hair falling over his eyes. The last thing he had expected was a call from Mark, of all people, but he had answered despite his initial confusion because Mark only called when he deemed something was important- unless it was Dongyuck, but Donghyuck was an exception to every rule for Mark.

"Why are you calling me?" Jisung asked.

"Rude much," Mark scoffed, "It's hyung to you. And I called to tell you that you need to come to the hospital right now. Chenle's in trouble."

Jisung's steps faltered, and he nearly collided with an older lady walking in the opposite direction as him. She sent a scowl his way and pulled on the leash of her dog, mumbling something under her breath about 'dumb teenagers, always on their phones and never paying attention to anything around them'.

Jisung couldn't hear her over the rushing in his ears and the pounding of his heart.

"What?" He heard himself say, but he didn't feel in control.

It felt like someone else had taken control of his body, and he was just a puppet for their pleasure. Everything he did was without thought, without control; brainless, robotic movements because the only thing Jisung could wonder was what exactly had happened to put the love of his life in the hospital.

He hadn't been there.

That was his second thought.

He had noticed Chenle acting strangely at school, but he had brushed it off as something relating to his parent's divorce, and he had hoped that the older would talk to him when he was ready. The middle of a class wasn't the best place to have an emotional conversation.

If only he had pushed a bit more. He should never have left Chenle's side.

"Jisung? Are you listening to me?" Mark asked, "Johnny found Chenle in an alley. He was completely beaten up. He broke his arm, his collarbone, his ankle, and he has a concussion too. And- and there was glass everywhere. There was so much that he had to go into surgery. He's in surgery right now, and he'll probably be unconscious for a while."

"Okay," Jisung mumbled into the phone.

"Where are you? I'm coming to pick you up, I don't trust you to get here on your own right now." Mark said.

Jisung told Mark where to find him, and the older hung up the phone a few minutes later. He only hung up once he was in his car, driving to get to Jisung, who stood completely still in the middle of the sidewalk, older men and women in suits walking around him as they walked back to their homes after a busy workday.

Their worlds hadn't been thrown upside down, in their minds everything was completely normal and fine. They didn't see what Jisung could see; the world losing its colour, every sound becoming dull and painful to his ears, every emotion fading away until it left only a permanent feeling of numbness in its place.

A single tear ran down his cheek, followed by another, and soon he was crying a near waterfall of tears.

He couldn't even be bothered to care about the looks he was receiving, because Chenle had been hurt and he hadn't been there. Chenle was in the hospital and Mark had known before Jisung. Chenle was in surgery and Jisung didn't know if the older would survive. He didn't even know how long it would be until he could speak to his boyfriend again, let alone if he would ever have the chance.

He couldn't even remember the last words he had said to Chenle.

What kind of horrible boyfriend was he?

- 🐥 & 🐬 -

A full day passed in the hospital. Chenle had gotten out of surgery, and he was in stable condition, but that didn't mean anything to Jisung. Because Chenle had fallen into a coma, and he had overheard whispered conversations between two of the nurses wondering if Chenle would ever wake from his comatose state.

It was impossible to know when he would wake, or if he would ever wake, but it had only been a day, so the doctors were holding onto hope for the brunette male, refusing to make any definitive claim to those who had come to visit him.

"Lele, I don't know if you can hear me, but I love you," Jisung said aloud to the quiet room.

There were no doctors or nurses, so it was the perfect time for him to let out everything he had been feeling without the pressure or judgement of having strangers intruding in his every private thought.

"I still don't know what happened to you," Jisung admitted, "Does that make me a terrible boyfriend? I knew there was something wrong, you were acting strange in class and you wouldn't hold my hand, you didn't want me to kiss you or even touch you-."

Jisung had to stop mid-sentence, taking a deep breath to stop himself from crying. He wanted to be strong in case Chenle woke up. He didn't want his tears to be the first thing the older male saw upon opening his eyes.

"I ignored it because I was stupid and I thought you would tell me eventually and I didn't even think about the fact that maybe eventually was too far in the future, and maybe this was something that I needed to know immediately, so that I could protect you. And I can't be mad at you, even if you didn't tell me, because I should have pushed more too."

"I can't lose you because of one stupid mistake," Jisung sobbed, "Please."

"You won't lose me."

Jisung's head snapped up so fast that Chenle flinched. For a few moments, Jisung was unable to say anything, frozen stock still. It seemed so unreal, and the intrusive thoughts that always came to bother him at the worst of times whispered to him that it was all fake, it was probably a dream, nothing this good ever happened to him.

"Hi," Chenle whispered weakly, and Jisung snapped out of his trance.

"Promise me you'll tell me next time," Jisung blurted out, "Please, I can't be the last to know. I can't- I can't get another call telling me- telling me that you're- and I-."

"Shouldn't I be the one crying here," Chenle tried to joke, voice coming out as a weak whisper, and it did manage to steal a teary-eyed smile and watery laugh from Jisung.

The older male reached out with his unbroken arm, running his fingers through Jisung's messy hair. He tugged lightly, and Jisung shifted forward on the hospital bed so that he could hold Chenle tenderly in his arms, making sure not to jolt the injured male too much as he moved.

Chenle buried his face in the crook of Jisung's neck, and Jisung could feel his boyfriend's steady breathing against his neck, like a comforting breeze of wind on a hot summer day.

"I promise," Chenle whispered against Jisung's skin, "I lo- You're important to me, Sungie. I promise I'll never hurt you like this again."

- 🐥 & 🐬 -

𝑆𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝐼 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑠𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑤... 𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑡?
𝑄𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛: 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑥𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠?
𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 ✨𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑠✨.