Black Rose ~ A Taemin Fic Pt. 2

Chapter 16

     I jolt, black surrounding me. I first move my fingers, then my arm. My head turns to the side of a warm pillow. Beneath the blanket, I search for something, anything. It's when I feel a warm hand that I then feel safe. The scene of smokey cedar returns. It's so familiar, so welcoming. I move closer to it, bathe in it.

    But there's no body to touch. I feel around frantically, hoping to find Taemin. My breathing goes ragged and the next thing I know, I jolt awake, sitting up in the enormous bed that I'm so accustomed to.

    "Fuck," I whisper, looking to my right at the empty side that usually has an indent if Taemin woke up before me. But no, the side remains untouched and cold.

     Movement to my left startles me further. "God, damn it, Baekhyun," I sigh, clutching my chest as he raises his head from his cradled hands. His face is puffy, and his hair is unkept. When his eyes fall into focus, realization dawns over him.

     "Yuki, you're awake." He rushes to my side, going on his knees and attempting to reach out to me. I shrug away, though, taken back by everything. He reads the confusion immediately. "You...you passed out last night. We sent you to a family doctor to avoid the press, but there was a drug found in you." He stops. "Yuki, how long have you been taking Xanax?"

     My eyes form into orbs. "What? I don't." He shows no reaction at first, but his eyes fall to my bare arms unhidden from the tank top I wear. I roll my eyes. "I swear. I have no need for that stuff."

     "But it was found in your bloodstream, and you looked...unhealthy."

      The word strikes a chord in me, one that hasn't been plucked since meeting Taemin. Since finding out what 'health' really meant to someone in the same industry as me. 'Health' to SM is the perfect weight, shape, skin complexion, and durability. 'Health' to Taemin meant eating enjoyable food, working out minimally, fasting less, and making room for sugar in order to keep the mind at bay.

      I don't have to feel myself to know that I have been eating less for the past few weeks.

      "Did you stop to think that it could've been my drink that was spiked?" I turn a glare at him, crossing my arms as his expression falls. "Or did you immediately assume I was trying to cause a scene–"

     "Yuki, you know that wasn't my intention."

     "No? But it was your first thought, huh? 'Poor Yuki gets pulled from the spotlight of her absent husband and needs to fall in the arms of a savior and scandal.' You're fucking insane." I throw off the covers, surprised to find silkie shorts instead of my usual underwear. "Who dressed me?"

      He sighs, rising as well. With hands at his hips (his arms flexing muscle through his black t-shirt as he does so), he begins to explain in a soft voice, "The nurse did. I–I had to stay to make sure you were alright. And I didn't think any of those things, by the way."

    I scoff, crawling out of bed to open Taemin's closet. It sparks a reminder. "Does he–"

    "Yes, but he knows your okay. His only message from him to you was to rest well, eat the food he ordered downstairs, and to please call him tonight."

    8 days until he comes back; It's all happening finally. 'So why do I feel so sad?' I reach for a deep, grey button-up crafted with silk and lace cut-outs on the back. Slipping it on (fully aware of Baekhyun still standing behind me) I engulf myself in his scent, even grabbing his cologne bottle to intensify it even more.

    He clears his throat. "I know it's none of my business–"

    "Then why ask?" I interrupt, my voice muffled in the fabric I suffocate myself with, inhaling and exhaling deeply to return myself to my serenity.