An Extra Beat of Love

38. Improvement

"Jeonggukie, it's been eight hours, love. Go and take a little break. I'll look after him," Jihyo said from the other side of the phone. "No, Eomma. I'm not leaving. You can go home if you want," Jeongguk whispered firmly. With a sigh, Jihyo said, "okay," and hung up. 

Jeongguk sighed as well and placed the phone back on the table before getting back to threading his fingers through Taehyung's hair, something that he had been doing for eight hours, ever since Taehyung got out of the surgery. 

He had tried talking to him for a while, trying to motivate him, but the second the machines around Taehyung started beeping like the world was going to end, he shut his mouth and didn't open it again until he received a call from his mother. 

The nurses and the doctor that had rushed into the room after the beeps had warned Jeongguk to be careful once again before leaving. He could see that the vitals were slowly improving and the beeps were becoming less irregular, but he still didn't dare to open his mouth. 

It was after an hour since the call that Taehyung slowly started showing small signs of life. Jeongguk almost leaped out of his chair when Taehyung's eyes fluttered, but it was almost half an hour after that that Taehyung actually opened his eyes. 

Out of joy, Jeongguk totally forgot that he was not supposed to make sudden noises and without even giving Taehyung the time to register his surroundings, he yelled his name, startling him and making the machines go haywire once again. 

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he kept chanting with tears flowing down his face as the nurses and the doctor, Dr. Bogum, as Seojoon had called him, ushered him out of the room angrily. 

"This is the second time, Mr. Jeon. I really hope you stay more careful or I will have to ban you from the room," Dr. Bogum said after stabilizing Taehyung and sending him back to sleep. 

"I'm sorry," Jeongguk sniffled again. "I understand your feelings, Mr. Jeon, but I will have to repeat it again, please be careful. You can talk to him now, he isn't that sensitive, but yelling is not good," the doctor continued. "Okay," Jeongguk said and walked into the room once again after the doctor left. 

"I'm sorry, my baby, I scared you, huh? Why do I always end up scaring you??" Jeongguk sniffled, his hand automatically going up to stroke Taehyung's head. He didn't get a reply, but this time, he didn't stop talking. 

Jihyo tried to get him out of the room a couple of times, but when that didn't work, she tried talking to the doctor herself. Seeing Taehyung's improving condition, the doctor let her into the room as well, along with the permission for two other people to stay. 

Seokjin and Yoongi offered to stay right away. Unable to refuse or stop them, their spouses decided to go to Jeongguk's house and help his father manage Hana instead. 

Jihyo, Seokjin, and Yoongi then successfully managed to convince Jeongguk to get out of the room and get some food into his body. Jeongguk left reluctantly and returned fifteen minutes later, declaring that he had had enough food in his body and that he couldn't stay away from Taehyung at a time like this. 

They spent the next five hours in silence, slowly falling asleep in their places one by one. 

Jeongguk fell asleep on the chair next to Taehyung with his head next to his stomach after a really long and hard struggle against his eyelids, only to jump awake when he felt a hand stroke his head clumsily. 

"Ohh, Taehyung," he whispered when he noticed the latter's tired eyes trained on him. "How are you feeling?" he continued and received another tired half-smile and a weak thumbs-up in return.