Lovely - TAEGYU ✔️

twenty-four

Beomgyu slams the door to his parent's bedroom and clicks his tongue upon his mom's phone that's been constantly ringing.
Beomgyu hears the shower running, indicating his mom's in the bathroom. He walks over to the dressing table and annoyingly picks it up.

"Hello?" Beomgyu says into the call.
"M-Mrs Choi..."
Beomgyu's eyes widen as he hears choking sobs and faint coughs from the other side. He scrunches his eyebrows and looks back at the caller ID, to find Hyewon's name displayed on the screen.
"Hello?? Hello??? Mrs Choi??"

"Hey, hey, Hyewon-noona, it's Beomgyu, mom's in the shower." Beomgyu says in a worried tone.
"Beomgyu??? I-I, y-you need to-"
"H-Hey, noona..." Beomgyu starts to worry hearing the girl unable to form words, instead breaking down into horrid tears that can be heard.

"Take deep breaths, calm down. What's wrong??"
However, Beomgyu only hears shuffling from the other side of the phone call and soon falling silent. He checks to see if the call disconnected but it isn't.

"Hello? Hyewon-"
"TAEHYUN'S IN THE HOSPITAL!!" Hyewon shouts.
"PLEASE COME HERE!! I DON'T KNOW WHO ELSE TO CALL!!" Hyewon bursts out and Beomgyu's eyes widen in shock.
"T-Taehyun's what?"

On cue, Beomgyu's mom comes out from the shower in a bathrobe and sees Beomgyu holding her phone to his ear at the dressing.
"Sweetie? Did someone call me?" Beomgyu's mom asks.
"M-Mom, Taehyun's in the hospital." Beomgyu says.

His mom's eyes enlarge and it was the first time Beomgyu had seen his mom's face instantly drain pale, lips quivering with a frantic expression plastered on her face.
She takes a deep breath, calming her composure.

"Beomgyu, get the car ready. We're going to the hospital-"
"What's wrong with Taehyun??"

"Go!! I'll be dressed in a bit. Hurry!!" His mom lightly pushes Beomgyu out and the brunette rushes to do what he's told.
Beomgyu's not sure what he's to fear more; the fact that Taehyun's in the hospital or the fact that his mom raced down the streets beyond speed limit like there's no tomorrow.

The moment him and his mom reach the hospital, they instantly find Hyewon crying outside the ICU with Yena, Soobin and Yeonjun by her side, calming her down.
"Beomgyu?" Soobin calls out and approaches him.

"What happened to him?" Beomgyu asks and Soobin shakes his head.
"Hyewon's been breaking down and couldn't even talk to us. All we could do was calm her down."

Beomgyu peeks over his brother's shoulder and sees Yeonjun whispering over at Hyewon with a worried look. His eyes constantly dart over the ICU, to Hyewon to the wall clock.

He definitely knows something.
Beomgyu desperately needed to know. Questions are running in his head.

'What happened to you?'
'Why are you in the ICU?'

But before Beomgyu could ask the pinkette, he spots his dad walking out from the ICU and Hyewon rushes over to him, followed by his mom.
His dad smiles and gives a reassuring pat on her shoulder.

"He's stable. We've given antibiotics and injected a sleep inducer so he's fast asleep. You can go in if you want to." His dad informs.
Hyewon nods and immediately rushes in. Beomgyu follows behind only for his mom to grab him by the arm, restraining him from seeing the boy and Beomgyu fuels up by the action.

He shrugs his mom's grip from him.
"Let me go!! The fuck is happening here??-"
"Language, son." His dad cuts in.

"What's wrong with him?? I need to see him."
"You should know better that only family is allowed."
"Then? What's wrong with him?? Why is he in the ICU??" Beomgyu asks.
Soobin and Yena nods.

"We need to know too." Yena says with puppy eyes.
It suddenly falls silent as Beomgyu continues to stare at his dad, waiting for answers. He then sighs.
"He's got cancer." Beomgyu's dad blurts out.

Beomgyu's eyes widen, his face turns sour and he feels his heart plummet to the pits of his stomach.
"What??" Beomgyu steps closer to his dad.
"Friedreich's Ataxia. He inherited it from his dad that passed away a few years ago-"

"Why didn't you tell me about this?!?! Tell us?!?" Beomgyu furrows his eyebrows and lurches forward to grip his dad's collar.
"Beomgyu-" his mom tries pulling him away only to be shrugged away by her son.
His dad then pushes Beomgyu away, causing him to stumble a step or two back.

"And what are you so mad for, son??!" His dad raises his voice.
"Why do you suddenly care about the boy you've been bullying, tormenting for the past few years??-"
"HE'S MY SOULMATE!!" Beomgyu shouts and everyone falls silent, eyes wide from the sudden confession.

Even Yeonjun who's witnessing the family quarrel had his jaw dropped. He knew the possibility of them being soulmates. But he never expected Beomgyu to admit it.
Soobin and Yena too. They knew about the kiss and was shocked enough by it. But finding out who their little brother's soulmate is, was an entire different level of a surprise.

Beomgyu's eyes soften, calming himself from his temper and sighs.
However, he realizes that he shocked his family as he lets out soft sobs and the corners of his eyes prick with tears threatening to fall.
"Of course I care..." The brunette mumbles in a shaky voice.

Beomgyu rubs the tears before they could spill and then turns on his toes to leave but Soobin captures his arm, causing the brunette to look over his shoulder to find Soobin's eyes filled with concern.
"I'll come back tomorrow." Beomgyu says with a small smile before shrugging Soobin's grip away.

"How are you going to go back??" His mom asks.
"I'll grab a cab. See you guys home."
"Beommie..." Yena calls out but Beomgyu had already left.

His dad sighs. "Leave him be. If we knew Taehyun's his soulmate, then it was no use of hiding. He would've known it sooner or later."
"But he had to figure it out under these circumstances." Soobin snaps.

Yeonjun comes up to Soobin's side and slides his hand around the bluenette's waist, rubbing it with reassurance.
"He'll be okay." Yeonjun whispers.

"He just... he can't fall in love with him." Beomgyu's dad says.
"Or else he'll get hurt."

+×+

Beomgyu's beyond in rage.

The feverish heat from his core starts crawling up his skin, his eyes sting with tears and his clammy palms grip strongly on the can of spray paint to prevent it from slipping away.
Beomgyu's emotion muddle up, flickering from anger to sadness and back again.

He didn't go home. Instead, he went straight to the convenience store and bought a few cans, searched for an alley and is now spraying whatever the fuck he's spraying on the empty wall.
He takes a step back.

It looks distorted, twisted, horrible and messy. But it fully expressed how he feels right now. And when Beomgyu realized how horrible it looked like, he breaks down in tears and harshly and strongly tosses the can in his grip away from him, kicking the ones he placed on the ground.

He slumps against the wall as he pulls his legs to his chest to wrap his arms around it.
What started as soft sobs soon grew to become groans and cries of frustration as the brunette tangles his fingers in his hair, pulling them in exasperation.

"Fuck..." Beomgyu cusses under his breath.
"How did I not realize?" Beomgyu whispers to himself.

He should've realized from the beginning. How Taehyun often had a pale complexion, how he's anaemic, how he stumbled over because his muscle legs are weak. How he actually just lacks of energy.
Beomgyu sighs, rubbing his face with his palms.

"Why you?"