Reasons to Stay // Hyunin

~35~

RIIING RIIING RIIIIIIIING

At the back of his murky mind, Jeongin heard the obnoxious ringing. There were strange images in his head. He thought he saw a flash of his Seungminnie-hyung. What? Why? Hadn't he chosen to live? Wasn't he back on earth? Or maybe God had decided not to give him a second chance...

He couldn't feel his body at all. The only thing he could feel was what seemed like the pressure of the whole universe weighing down on him. The weird images became more distorted as he began to find it difficult to breathe, the deadly drugs circulating in his bloodstream.

The "doctor" was hovering over him in evil delight. Although he hadn't had time to get the quickest and strongest poisons, he still had a fatal enough one that he was able to use. If Jeongin wasn't rushed to a hospital and treated in 2 hours, then he would go bye-bye. The doctor was sure nothing could stand in the way now. The lady would never know, she would just think that Jeongin's overdose had taken its toll.

The man was enjoying his pride when his device started ringing obnoxiously, and he would have cussed except that he was too scared. He'd never heard this alarm before. It was the noise Eun had set as a real emergency alarm that hadn't been needed for all the years this man had been in the gang. His eyes grew wide and his shaky finger slowly pressed pick-up.

A voice immediately spoke to him, he was pretty sure it was Ah-Jong, saying, "Notification for everyone no matter where you are or what you are doing, drop the mission #0208. Make all efforts to save the boy. If he's found dead then we're all dead. We're in danger and we can only keep him alive. Don't ask any questions right now, you will be filled in later. This is serious. Boss's orders!"

The phone quivered in the man's hands. What?! His head mechanically turned to look at the dying boy on the bed. Impossible! This had been a priority mission for years! "Posh" Eun must be out of his mind! There must be something terribly wrong...

But as most gang members, each one is afraid for his life. And if this man's life may be in danger, then he will do anything to save it. His previous triumph was washed away and was now replaced by a sickening regret and wish that he wasn't the one with #0208 in his hands. But he was. And he was dying. If he's found dead then we're all dead...

In a frenzy the doctor stuffed his supplies in his bag and tried to pick Jeongin up. He called for help and the restaurant owner's son came in quickly. "Hospital, right now," the doctor informed and the son helped carry the unconscious Jeongin into the doctor's car outside. Without another pause, the man jumped into the driver's seat and sped off towards the hospital.

It was too strange for the doctor to even think what might have happened. But he only had one goal in his mind now, to get Jeongin to the hospital and keep him alive. He had been a gang member for a number of years, and extremely loyal gangster who knew that there wasn't time to question the boss. It didn't matter what the mission was, if Boss commanded it then he was obedient.

He arrived at a hospital in 15 minutes and scrambled inside, screaming crazily to the front desk, "Drug overdose! He's in my car, he only has two hours to live!" Two emergency responders immediately rushed out with a stretcher and hauled Jeongin in, disappeared down the white hallways.

Seeing the burden was no longer in his hands, Gangster wasted no time to yeet his butt outta there.

----

"Seo? You have a visitor."

At hearing his name called, Changbin looked up from the book he had been told to read, Why There Are Some Things That We Just Shouldn't Do, it was a book with annoying humor because Changbin's felony was obviously unintentional.

"Lix!" he exclaimed as he saw the bright boy coming in with a precious smile. Changbin hadn't seen sunshine for days. He hadn't been allowed to have visitors until all the paperwork was done and it had taken a long while.

"Changbin-hyung, how's it been?" Felix asked as he put a box he was holding onto the table. "I brought something for you. I missed making brownies for you but at least they let me give it now. I missed you so much..."

Changbin melted with temporary happiness as he gazed at Lixxie, "I really missed you too...I was wondering if you would even come visit...I'm sorry for everything." He hung his head and whispered, "I really didn't know that I'm such a person...I'm so ashamed Lix."

Felix didn't say anything but he came over to behind Changbin and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, tightly hugging him. "It was unexpected. How would you know how to react?" Felix spoke softly in his ear, "and hyung, you protected me. What would have happened if you did something different? Worst things probably would happen."

Changbin sighed. "My hands are dirty now. Even worse I didn't know that he was Jeongin's friend. Now that I have plenty of time to think, I realise that he wasn't even attacking. I was so rash...now look where I am, and-" he paused, "-and my poor mother..."

"Don't worry Binnie-hyung...we all understand. And your eomma by the way, she is not ashamed of you either. She is even proud to have a big son like you who knows how to protect not only himself, but also others. See? If you step back and look at it, you only see that your heart cares for others. Hyung...you have the strongest heart I know. Don't focus on where you are right now. You are an amazing person. Come on, you know that! Am I right?" Felix stepped back to the table and unboxed the gift, cutting a piece of brownie for Binnie. As he brought the dessert to Changbin's mouth, hyung began to break down in tears. "L-lixxie, why are you l-like this? I know I'm your friend but even so I did s-something so terrible...you use your time to come visit me and give me good things when I did bad things a-and,...Lix w-why?" his whole body shook as he cried uncontrollably.

Felix took out a few tissues and gently wiped Changbin's eyes with them. He spoke softly like the angel he was, "Hyung, because..."

"...Because I really love you."