The Hidden Treasure

~37~

Namjoon sat down in the van seat gently, holding his rib cage tightly.  The nurse offered him some more pain medication before he left, but he had some place to go before he went home.  The last thing he wanted to do right now was pass out and sleep his life away.  He had done enough of that. 

He looked around at the fans outside of the hospital holding up get well signs and basically just showing their support for the injured members.  He turned to look at the man next to him and he reached an arm out and patted the shoulder of his friend.  "Tae, are you okay?"  He noticed that Taehyung had reluctantly gotten into the van. 

He looked at the white knuckles of his younger friend gripping the seat arms.  He hadn't even put on his seatbelt yet. 

Taehyung turned his head to stare up at the floor he had left Jimin on.  His heart hurt for his friend and he determined to come back and help snap his friend back into reality and help him get his courage and will to succeed back. "Yeah.  I'm worried about him though," he mumbled, a deep frown etched into his handsome face.

Namjoon nodded slightly and removed his hand.  "Yeah.  He'll be okay.  We just need to be there to support him.  He's going to need a lot of that.  I'm sure you know that better than anyone.  You two are so close after all."  

Taehyung shook his head in the affirmative and looked down at his lap.  He seemed to be thinking for a while and then he put a smile on and looked up at his leader.  "But what about you, hyung?  Are you okay?  You look terrible."

"Hah....haaaah.  Very funny.  I know I look bad but I'm just glad to get out of that hospital. Put your seatbelt on, Taehyung-ah," he finished in a whisper. 

Taehyung's eyes grew wide and he quickly jerked the seatbelt over his body.  It took his shaking hands a moment to click the buckle but somehow he managed to do it. 

Namjoon noticed the eyes of their manager studying them from the rear view mirror.  Namjoon smiled and gave him a small wave to let him know they were ready. 

The van slowly pulled up to the exit of the hospital parking lot and stopped as it waited for an open spot to pull out into traffic. 

Namjoon felt a sick feeling in his stomach as the vibrations of the engine came through his seat.  He looked out the window and saw cars barreling down the road and it made him nervous.  He glanced over at Taehyung who now had his head on his knees and his back was heaving with the labored breaths he was struggling to pull in. 

"Tae Tae," whispered Namjoon, reaching out a hand to lay it on Taehyung's bent over back.  Sweat was already seeping through the boy's shirt.  

The van lurched forward and into traffic, the manager hitting the gas to get up to speed. 

Taehyung shot up and gasped, gripping the seat arms again. His eyes were wide with terror and his nostrils were flared as his body tried to suck in air from anywhere it could. 

"Manager hyung," said Namjoon quickly, "can we take the back way?  I think hitting these bumps at a fast speed is going to hurt me a lot," he said, only partially lying.  The speed helped it hurt less, but he could tell that Taehyung was having a hard time just being in the vehicle right now.  He wasn't doing so well himself but he had to stay strong for his friend. 

The manager's eyes scanned the passengers in the middle seats and then he nodded to Namjoon.  "Still going where we talked about earlier?"  He was trying to talk about anything other than the panic he could see the two men suffering from. 

"Y-yes," stuttered Namjoon as the manager turned a corner and pulled onto a slower street.  He heard Taehyung breathe a sigh of relief next to him.  "Hang in there, Tae Tae, we'll be there soon and you can get out of here. Okay? Just keep breathing.  In.  Out.  In.  Out."