🖤⛓️ wish you back 🖤⛓️ -a jakehoon ff

chapter 9: don't let him down...

--Jake POV

I woke up in a cold sweat due to a constant, non-stop vibration underneath my pillow, reaching to grab my phone despite the fact I was only half awake.

As I clutch my phone in my hand and try to focus my vision on the screen, my eyes slowly begin to decipher the contact "Heeseung" scribed in big letters across the top of it, which took me by surprise.

I don't talk to Heeseung-Hyung very often, so that must mean this call was important. That being said, I picked up.

"Good morning hyung, is somethi-"

"Jake, there's no time to waste! Get out of bed and come to Seoul Hospital right now!"

"Why- Who's been taken to the h-" Before I could finish my question, I was cut off by an abrupt beep, signalling that he had ended the call.

Heeseung is never usually one for cruel jokes, so I decided to follow his instructions, getting out of bed to brush my teeth, and quickly throwing on clothes that would be acceptable to go out in.

~

When my bus arrived at the hospital, I ran inside, meeting with Heeseung, Jay and Jungwon at the entrance.

"What's up!? What happened?" I question them, out of breath from running. As I inspected them closely, I could see that Jungwon's eyes were puffy and red - as if he had been crying for a very, very long time - Jay having a furious look on his face, and Heeseung looked me in the eye sympathetically.

"Well," Jay started. "I'm not sure if Nicho told you, but.. his dad's been abusive ever
since his mother passed away."

"Huh-" I try to speak but I am cut off.

"Just listen." He continues. "Last night, he was particularly wasted from the amount of alcohol he had drunk, and he ended up beating Nicholas. That included being punched in the torso and.. that only worsened the effects of the cancer in his stomach. He passed out, and seeing that, his father ran away, not wanting to get into any trouble with legal authorities, and his neighbours later found him - still unconscious and brought him here. Since us three are his emergency contacts, we were called and told to come look after him."

"And?? What's his condition like right now?" I asked, feeling more anxious than ever, trying to hold back the dizzy feeling that washed over me.

Heeseung sighed, opening his mouth to speak. "Pretty bad.. The doctors said he'll probably make it, but, to be honest, I'm not so sure."

Hearing that last phrase alarmed me, causing me to start to impulsively take action in a panic.

"What's his room number?!?" I shouted at them, to which they replied with "412".

Upon hearing that, I sprinted down the corridors as fast as I could, my heartbeat increasing in what felt like double digits. I passed by rooms numbered 407, 409, 410, 411, until I stopped, reading the number of the door I was stood in front of.

It read "412".

Leaning down to rest my hands on my knees for a few seconds, I waited for my breath to return to its usual pace before flinging the door open to reveal my friend, Nicho, laying down on the white hospital bed.

As I scanned his appearance, my heart began to shatter into millions of pieces. He was covered from head to toe in dark purple and green bruises, with scabs and cuts all over his body, especially his legs. His stomach was exposed, and across it, all that could be seen was purple, his natural skin tone hidden by all the different shades of bruises. His left eye was covered in the deepest mauve, meaning it must have been extremely painful to keep it open. Yet that's what he did. Despite all the signs on his body pointing to excruciating pain, all he did was look at me with a small smile present on his lips.

Watching him like that, all I could do was break down in tears, stepping closer to the side of the bed. I wanted to hug him and assure him that everything was okay, and that he would be fine, but I knew that any physical contact with his body in this state would cause him to feel agonising pain, so I resorted to sitting on the chair next to him and tightly gripping his hand.

"Why..didn't you..tell me..?" I managed to speak out in between sobs.

He turned to face me. "There's no point." He muttered. "There wouldn't have been anything you could do either way."

"But there's always the police that can help!!"

"Nothing can help you when it's your own father..who used to love you so much. It hurts too much to criminalise him. I would've rather not done that."

"..."

"Listen..I know I don't have much time left - don't lie to me to make me feel better. All I want to tell you before I go is thank you..for being my friend, and for letting me confide and have trust in someone, even if it was just for a short period of time.."

I wanted to muster up a reply but I could barely let out a word as a result of all the crying.

"And, don't let him down..I know he may not act like it right now, but one day, you'll remember everything. You'll remember how much he means to you and why it hurts so much to be near him.. He loves you..just know that.. Everything he's doing is to protect you, so please..for me..realise how much he's willing to do for you.."

"Who..?" I ask, with a weak voice.

"Park-"

Before Nicho could finish his sentence, the room's atmosphere was filled with a continuous blaring noise, sounding from one of the machines next to his bed.

And, all I could feel was the numerous doctors and nurses pushing past me into the room and shooing me out, while I was still trying to figure out what had happened.