#Taejin: Married to My Best Friend

Chapter 13: NO!

The night was still young and the snow poured down lightly outside. It was cold and quiet. Taehyung walked out of the bathroom after cleaning up himself and slid back under the warmth of the comforter.

"Are you satisfied already, Babe, or do you wanna have a third round?"

Seokjin giggled. "I want to, but I have a 10-hours surgery tomorrow. I still want to be able to stand."

Taehyung giggled. He pulled Jin into his embrace, kissed his temple, and stroked his hair gently. They went silent for a moment before Taehyung was curious enough to ask, "Why are you insisting on this marriage thing, Schatz?"

Seokjin stayed silent.

"It's okay, you can tell me anything, you know?" Taehyung prompted.

"I—-I saw too many deaths lately..." He stopped and tightened his grip on Taehyung's waist, and continued after a little while. "Do you know that the survival rate for lung cancer patients is only 40%?" He said, more like a rhetorical question.

"It means that 60% of them will die within 5 years after the preliminary diagnosis. And many of them only have 1 to 3 years maximum to live. And if you were too late and the cancer had already reached stage 4, then your survival rate is reduced to only 5%!"

Kim Seokjin was a Pulmonologist, a medical doctor specializing in respiratory system diseases, including lung cancer.

"Schatz, are you giving me a 2-credits-lecture about lung cancer's life expectancy right now?"

"I'm serious, Tae. There was this woman. She came this January to the hospital with complaints of shortness of breath. Her preliminary diagnosis was pneumonia. But when we assessed her more, we found out that her lungs were literally drowning in fluid. So we did a Thoracentesis procedure to remove the fluid. Then we did several other tests and finally found out that she had lung cancer on the base of her trachea."

"Ooh!!" Taehyung gasped.

"I know, right?! That was the worst part of having cancer. If the cancer was on one of the lungs, then we can remove the lung, but if it was on the trachea, then you just have to wait for your slow excruciating death."

"That's horrible..."

"I have to inform her family that her life expectancy might only be 1 to 3 years maximum. But she died last August, Tae... Only seven months after the diagnosis."

"Baby..." Taehyung pushed Jin gently to see his face. He then caressed his cheek and kissed his forehead.

"Life is so fragile. So short. My parents were happily married for about 35 years before my dad finally passed away... Even 35 long years felt too short, Tae... I wanna have a longer time with you. I don't wanna have any regrets. I wanna fill our lives with lots of memories and happiness that I can treasure when I grow old... and start to lose my memory—-"

"NOO!!! BABY, NOOO!!!" Taehyung shouted. He was shocked and shaken. "NOOO!!! You're not gonna end up like your mom! NO! Noooo!" He hugged Seokjin tightly, with tears suddenly streamed down on his face. "You're not going to forget me! You're not! You'll be okay! We'll be okay..."

"But we don't know that yet, Love..." Seokjin whispered, wiped his wet eyes.

"You won't, Schatz! You won't. Not you.... Not my baby..." Taehyung sobbed in grief, his body was literally shaking uncontrollably. The pain of that thought alone had made him feel an immense physical torment. He never thought of that, though the possibility was always there all along. Now he understood why Seokjin kept asking Taehyung to marry him. He didn't want to waste any precious time.

They had seen the worst happen right in front of their very eyes... How Seokjin's mother started to lose her memories... bit by bit, time by time... How she started to forget her loved ones that once were very dear to her...

They hugged each other, sobbed and cried to sleep. Trembled and terrified of what the future might hold for them.... 

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