The Odd Doctor Out | A Drama | S. 2

364 🩺 Stronger Together

Hours later that evening ~

As his phone started vibrating on the bedside table, Hongjoong glanced across at the caller ID... Seonghwa.

Looking across at Yeosang sitting beside him staring idly at the wall and trailing his fingers through Wooyoung's head of hair resting in his lap, he gauged whether or not he should take the call...

He decided he probably should, considering how their last call ended...

Answering, he held the phone to his ear...

'Hwa, is everything okay? You disappeared earlier...'

'I'm fine. There was a fight break out in the reception at the end of that long corridor on level eight, and Yunho ended up in ED.'

Hongjoong's eyes widened, and as they did, he noticed Yeosang suddenly turn to him with a surprised, yet concerned look upon his blotchy, sullen face.

'Is he okay?' Yeosang asked softly and hoarsely, leaving Hongjoong to relay the question.

'I headed down to check on him during my break, but he was having scans done at the radiography clinic, so I don't actually know...'

Hongjoong glanced at Yeosang, swallowing back the discomforting feeling in his throat. 'Are you okay, Hwa?'

He heard the sound of a contented breath at the end of the line. 'I'm okay~ I just rang to see how Yeosang was...'

The blonde's jaw tensed as he gulped, but alas, he leant over towards the phone. 'I'm doing fine~ Thank you for checking in~' he whispered hoarsely.

'... And your relationship...?'

Yeosang bit his lip sadly. 'Single...'

'I'm so sorry...'

'Don't be~' he whispered.

Hongjoong reached around his shoulders and cradled him against his chest.

'For what it's worth... Which isn't much... But... It's his loss... He'll realise very quickly he should have held onto you with both hands...'

Hongjoong glanced at Yeosang, expecting him to have started crying once more, but instead, he was relieved to see a small smile upon his lips. Pained as it was, as he rested against him, still trailing his fingers through his brother's hair in his lap, he seemed almost like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders...

Like he no longer had to hurt anymore...

'Sang, you are so incredibly strong, do you know that?' Hongjoong whispered.

The boy looked up at him, confusion woven intricately into his expression.

'I would be a mess... Hwa, you better not leave me, or you'll break me...' he breathed.

'You better not leave me. I will weep, permanently.'

Hongjoong exhaled in amusement, and Yeosang softly chuckled, still overhearing the soft call in the silence of their room.

'I'll leave you two alone, I just wanted to apologise for hanging up on you earlier, and see how Yeosang was doing...'

'Marry him,' Yeosang said softly without hesitation.

Hongjoong chuckled softly, and on the other end of the line, he heard Seonghwa's nervous laugh.

'Hwa, baby, I'll see you later~.'

'Okay~ I love you...'

Hongjoong felt his heart flutter, and almost felt guilty for being so happy in his relationship, when Yeosang's had just gone up in smoke.

But Yeosang took it in his stride, even putting on a playful (yet still pained) expression and leaning right over to the phone microphone. 'I love you too~oo~oo~' he teased, making both of them softly laugh.

'Bai~' Hongjoong chuckled, before hanging up.

He turned to the blonde and ruffled his hair, making his head sink down into his shoulders as he giggled. 'You're so cheeky,' he whispered, smirking as Yeosang tried to shoo his hand away from his head.

'You love it,' he responded, softly giggling.

But all the commotion woke Wooyoung, and as he crawled up, rubbing his eyes, he saw them gently play fighting, and his lips pulled into a soft, magnificent smile. 'I can't leave you two alone for two seconds. Look what happens.'

He reached out and rubbed his knuckles against the top of both of their heads, reducing them to laughter, and making them sink down into themselves, ending up in a pile in the sheets.

And Wooyoung seemed to melt. 'Guys... I know it's like, dinner time, but... can we make pancakes?'

Hongjoong glanced at Yeosang, who seemed to exude content.

'You want pancakes?'

Glancing between the two brothers, Hongjoong felt the corner of his lip smirk up as he saw Wooyoung gauging his brother's expression. And that was when it hit him. Wooyoung was trying to bring normality back, whilst getting him to eat, but also covering the fact that pancakes, were in fact Yeosang's favourite food.

Whether or not Yeosang noticed, Hongjoong couldn't tell, but as Wooyoung pretended like he was craving them worse than anything he'd ever craved in his life, his brother sat up and attacked him with a hug. 'Let's go make Woo some pancakes, hmm?'

The blonde smiled widely, reaching out and grabbing both Yeosang's, and Hongjoong's wrists. And as he dragged them out of bed and into the corridor, he felt his heart aching for their little family.

Their family... They weren't the most normal group... But their history together had brought them together so tightly that their moods all swung the same way together...

When one was sad, they were all sad.

But as the others tried their best to pick them up off of the floor and shine some light into their life again...

The three who were sad, would become the three that were content.

And even though the pain had still a long way to go before it would ease, their little family was the lifeline that held the promise of things finding a new place of happiness, once the dark shadows cleared.

And for Hongjoong...

He just felt incredibly blessed, that he could be a part of it.

~~~

A/n: Okay I'll leave it here, haha. my god, it's almost the season finale jesus. What happened to all the time?!?!

Also, I often wonder how the length of this book compares to like, those super famous long books lmao. My google docs is literally lagging like a turtle 😬