The Aged | Gyuhao (Sequel to Youth)

- 28

| Chapter Twenty - Eight — Apologies & Goodbyes |
| suicide mentions |

Mingyu's in the middle of talking when Joshua's phone rings.

The older apologizes and hangs up without checking who the caller was, stuffing it back in his pocket.

It's merely a second later before it starts to ring again.

Joshua sighs, turning away to take the call. His brows furrow at the Caller ID, "Seungkwan-ah, I'm in the middle of—"

"Hyung! H-Hyung—" Seungkwan's crying. Hard. Joshua's immediately alert.

"Woah, woah— Hold on, calm down." Joshua's heart begins beating quicker. Seungkwan's never cried openly this way, "Talk slower. I can't understand you."

"What's up?" Seungcheol tilts his head, leaning towards Joshua in concern. Joshua shoos him away like a bug.

"I-I— J-Jeonghan h-hyung—" Seungkwan hiccups, "I-I need help! I don't k-know what to do! Help me—"

Joshua's stomach drops, "Hey, tell me what's wrong? What about Jeonghan?"

"He's— H-He looks dead, he's—" Seungkwan screams, Joshua can barely hear him. He does manage to catch subtle shuffling through the receiver.

If this were true, Joshua can only imagine Seungkwan's trying to wake him up.

"P-Pills— T-There's so many p-pills, hyung—"

Joshua clenches his jaw, "Shit," He's shaking. This couldn't be happening, "Goddamn it."

"What's wrong?" Mingyu pitches in.

Tears beam in Joshua's eyes, "Is he breathing?" He nibbles on his lip, hands trembling as he grips the phone with such force he's surprised it doesn't snap in 2, "Are you at his place? I'm on my way. Call an ambulance." He swallows, "It'll be okay, Kwan-ah. Just hold on." He hangs up the phone.

"What happened?" Hansol asks.

Joshua takes a deep breath, already running towards the door, "Jeonghan's sick. I gotta go." He stops at the door, "Sorry." And then he's out of sight, sprinting away.

Seungcheol's gaze lingers in the direction Joshua left, a soft sigh escaping his lips.

"I've never seen him run like that." Sunoo snorts, "Not even to you, hyung."

Hansol slaps the youngest, "You're so fucking insensitive."

Seungcheol shakes his head, "I'll keep an eye on him," He pats Mingyu's shoulder, "Fill us in later, will you?" And then he's gone.

Mingyu blinks, "Okay, then."

___________

Joshua pushes past the doors to the hospital, slapping a hand to the receptionist's desk, just about killing her with the sudden shock of doing so.

He apologizes briefly, "Yoon Jeonghan?"

"Are you family?"

Joshua hesitates, "I'm his fiancé."

The woman nods, looking at her computer for a moment, "He's down in Hall B. It's a sharp right around the corner, and—" Joshua's already sprinting in that direction. The receptionist smacks her lips, "Alrighty."

Seungkwan's crying harshly when Joshua rounds the corner, hands pressed against the glass of what Joshua can only assume is where Jeonghan's being kept.

"What's happening?" Joshua sprints over, breath heavy in worry.

"He tried to fucking kill himself!" Seungkwan screams, holding a hand to his chest as he chokes on a sob. He turns to Joshua, shaking, "I-It was the scariest thing I've ever seen, h-hyung—"

"Okay, okay—" Joshua takes Seungkwan's hand in hopeful comfort, glancing through the window.

Jeonghan was sprawled out on the hospital bed, multiple doctors around him as they tried to shock him back to life. And Seungkwan was right, this really was one of the most terrifying things Joshua had ever seen.

"Clear!" The doctor's voice was muffled as he rubbed the defibrillators together, pressing them against Jeonghan's pale chest. Joshua has to turn away in horror at the way Jeonghan's back arches from the force of the jolt, "Amp up to 400 watts!" Friction, "Clear!"

"F-Fuck," Joshua turns away, tears beaming in his eyes as he pulls Seungkwan into a hug, "He's okay. I-It's gonna be okay, I—"

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

Joshua wants to die.

He turns around sharply, watching the doctors and nurses scramble to do something. The line of Jeonghan's heartbeat turns scarily straight, similar to a dagger that's been shoved right through Joshua's chest.

No fucking way.

"800 watts!" The doctor shouts again, "Clear!"

A tear rolls past Joshua's eye. He pulls away from Seungkwan to press a hand against the glass, finally realizing that this was all his fault.

It was entirely his fault because he turned a blind eye to Jeonghan when the boy needed him most. He ignored him after singlehandedly ripping out his heart due to betrayal.

He left him alone.

"Clear!" The doctor sounds like he's given up. Joshua hates it.

Jeonghan's body jolts again. Joshua cringes.

"Oh my god," He whispers to himself, sliding his hand off the glass to slap over his mouth, his other one comes up to do the same, "Oh my god," He repeats, lower.

Joshua's heart cracks the longer the beeping goes on. It feels like he's the one dying.

But then—

Beep.... Beep.... Beep...

"Patient has a heartbeat!" A nurse shouts.

"Let's move him to the ER for stomach pumping!" The doctor says.

Joshua falls to his knees, thanking whoever runs the sky that they had enough decency to let Jeonghan live.