Body And Soul

5. Reality

"Sir...what are you doing out of bed? You shouldn't be walking around," said the nurse at the nearby desk, looking at Jungkook as he stood before her in his hospital gown.

After having stared at his changed reflection for a few minutes, he knew that he needed to find out what had happened to his body. It had to be in this hospital somewhere. So instead of walking back to his hospital bed, he had walked right into the hall and to the nearest nurse's station.

"I'm fine," said Jungkook as he looked at the concerned nurse. "I want to know about the accident I got into."

"If you're wanting to know the extent of your injuries, you're going to have to wait for your doctor..."

"No...no...I mean, I want to know about another man that I think was in the accident with me. Jeon Jungkook."

"I can't discuss another patient's information with you even if you're..."

"Just give me a room number. Please. That's all I'm asking."

The nurse looked like she was debating it for a moment before looking up the name in the system. She took a sticky note and scribbled down the number before holding it out to him. Jungkook snatched it immediately, walking off down the hall in his hospital gown as fast as his pain riddled body would let him.

Jungkook made his way though the labyrinth of baby blue hallways; his bare feet feeling like they were walking through snow as he walked over the cold white tiles beneath him. He caught a few people looking his way as he maneuvered through the halls. It was probably because - even in a hand bandage and hospital gown - this body looked like it was runway ready. Jungkook took the next corner a bit faster even though his body protested.

'This isn't your body,' thought Jungkook, using that to continue to propel him forward.

He was soon outside the hospital room that the nurse had written down. He entered without a second thought; freezing in horror a second after stepping through the doorway.

Lying on a hospital bed before him - completely passed out and white as a sheet - was his body. It looked like he was dead.

"I can't be dead," muttered Jungkook as he walked closer to it. "They wouldn't give a dead body a hospital room."

He walked over to the bedside as his heart beat faster in his chest. Unlike his private hospital room, his body was sharing a room with an elderly man who was currently asleep. Jungkook was thankful for that, taking the moment of privacy to grip his body by the arm, giving it a gentle shake.

"Wake up," he said out loud. "You need to wake up."

His voice apparently woke the elderly man in the room as the man opened his eyes to look Jungkook's way.

"He won't hear you," said the elderly man. "He's been like that since he was brought in. He's in a coma."

Coma. Jungkook gulped as he looked down at his pale body. If he was in Kim Taehyung's body, it was only logical to assume that Kim Taehyung was in his.

'No, that's not logical,' thought Jungkook. 'None of this is logical! None of this makes sense!'

Before he could say anything in response to the elderly man, he heard footsteps coming down the hall. Not wanting to get caught by anyone, he quickly walked towards the elderly man. He stood near his bed as he gripped the dividing curtain, swinging it in a rattled matter behind him to hide his presence. The elderly man quirked a brow at Jungkook as Jungkook held a finger up to his lips to indicate that he needed to stay quiet.

Jungkook stayed frozen where he was as he heard the footsteps enter the hospital room. At first he thought it was a doctor until he heard the sniffling. Staying hidden where he was, he listened as a soft thunk sounded out.

"I...I wasn't sure what to bring you. I felt bad for not bringing some sort of gift last time. I was just so concerned about getting here after everything that I didn't think about it...I was hoping today when I came with flowers, you'd be awake..."

It was Laylin. Jungkook held his breath as he heard her hiccup over a sob; the scrapping of a chair across the tiles indicating that Laylin was sitting down now.

"...Please come through this. I'm sorry I made you buy those stupid tickets...it's my fault that you are here...you...you can't die. You need to come out of this coma. Do you hear me?"

Laylin's words died out then as the grief overcame her as she sobbed. Jungkook felt his heart ache as he stayed paralyzed where he stood. The elderly man kept looking at Jungkook completely confused as to why he was hiding when another set of footsteps could be heard entering the room.

"Excuse me, miss. Was there someone else in here with you when you came in?" asked a male voice.

"No," said Laylin. "I just got here though. Why? Is something wrong?"

"We had a patient decide to take a stroll down here when he's supposed to be on bed rest."

Jungkook was immediately panicking as he cast his eyes about the little curtained off space he stood in. He noticed a nearby window, but it was obvious from looking out it that he was several floors up. He wasn't Spider-man, so he wasn't going to attempt escaping that way. There really wasn't anything he could hide behind either in the immediate vicinity. Jungkook knew that he was screwed. He could hear footsteps walking in his general direction as the male voice asked, "Did you shut Mr. Lee's curtain?"

"No...No I didn't," replied a female's voice, more than likely a nurse.

Jungkook didn't have time to react as the curtain was drawn back and he was left staring into the face of a doctor. Jungkook sheepishly raised a hand in greeting like he was a two-year-old that had just gotten caught with their hand in the cookie jar. The doctor sighed, gripping Jungkook by the arm as he started to walk him out of the room.

"Come on, Mr. Kim. It's nice to see you're alert enough to walk, but you know you have to stay in bed."

As he followed after the doctor feeling like a dog on a leash, he caught Laylin's gaze out of the corner of his eye. Her eyes were wider than quarters as she stared after him.

"Kim Taehyung?" she asked in shock just as Jungkook was tugged out of the room and back down the hall.

'Oh if only she knew,' he thought.