for him. ✔

chapter eight.

Baekhyun couldn't keep himself from sitting still as he stared out of the window, watching blurry night sceneries pass by as Chanyeol drove as fast as he could.

Kyungsoo wouldn't say anything to him. He wanted the situation to explain itself to him. He had only texted him the address of one of the resident hospitals and told him to hurry up... and Baekhyun was no idiot.

The thought of his sister on a white hospital bed inside a cold room, all alone as tubes and wires clung to her skin like leeches, drove Baekhyun to the edge of his insanity. Baekhee might not be the best sister, especially right after the death of their parents wherein she turned into a workaholic-slash-alcoholic, but she was still his sister - his fellow blood, flesh and bones. They only had each other despite the growing distance between them.

Baekhyun chuckled to himself, cursing as he felt tears drip from his eyes. What did his sister even do? Did her body finally gave in from consuming too much alcohol? Did the misery overwhelm her and she tried to end herself? Drunk driving? Some type of sickness she had hidden from him in an attempt to keep an "I'm fine" facade for his sake?

"Idiot," Baekhyun muttered. The word was simple, childish and was a very petty insult, but it dripped with the feelings that he was experiencing.

Baekhyun suddenly felt Chanyeol reach out to grab his hand, holding it in within his own. Baekhyun looked up, staring at Chanyeol's side profile. The taller spared him a sideward glance, but that was it.

It was enough to soothe Baekhyun. Even for just a minute.

✴

"Noona!" Baekhyun shouted as soon as they reached the hospital. The calm that he had experienced briefly in the car had disappeared, and he was now drowning in a huge surge of panic and worry.

Chanyeol knew that Baekhyun was a bit off of his head to be able to think rationally, so he took the initiative to ask for his sister's room number. After getting it from the front desk, Chanyeol grabbed Baekhyun's wrist and pulled him into the elevator.

"Baekhee, noona!" Baekhyun pitifully cried out as he began to bawl his eyes out. Chanyeol placed an arm over his shoukder and pulled him to his chest, shushing him into comfort as the smaller sobbed.

The elevator let out a ping, the sound pulling Baekhyun out of Chanyeol's grasp. He ran down the hallway, shouting his sister's name like a mad man.

"Baekhyun!" Chanyeol shouted after him. After a few more strides, he reached out and was able to take Baekhyun's wrist. He then dragged him towards the appropriate room that matched with the number given by the nurses at the front desk.

Baekhyun froze, staring up at the 114 plated number that seemed to taunt him. He suddenly didn't want to enter after his mad break down. He was afraid to see what had happened to his sister - afraid of what he might have to face.

"Baekhyun, why are you hesitating?" came Chanyeol's calm, deep voice that rattled the foundations of Baekhyun's rationality.

"I'm... I'm scared..." he muttered with a quivering voice.

"It's alright to feel worried, it's alright to feel this way," Chanyeol smiled weakly. "She's important to you, so it's normal for her to cause this ache in your heart."

"It's not that..." Baekhyun's lips quivered. "What if... what if she accuses me for being too reckless? I just left home all of a sudden without a letter or call... This may be why she got into an accident or something... What should I tell her?"

Chanyeol took him in his arms once more. He had done this multiple times already, but it seemed to comfort Baekhyun even for a while so he won't ever tire embracing him.

"You don't have to explain anything. You're overthinking too much. Just tell her you love her and you'll always be by her side."

Baekhyun let that sink in into his mind as he lay his head on the taller's chest.

"Okay," he finally uttered. "Okay. Thank you, Chanyeol..."

After regaining his strength, Baekhyun stepped out of Chanyeol's arms and faced the door eith newfound courage. With shaking hands, he reached out to the doorknob then unhesitatingly turns it open.

As he opened the door, the sight he had imagined entered his line of view - his sister lying on the bed, weak and vulnerable with all those tubes leeching onto her. Sitting in front if her was Kyungsoo, Sehun and Jongin, who seemed to be in a deep talk with the older woman.

"Noona!" Baekhyun shouted, running over to her sister. She seemed surprised at his sudden appearance, but nevertheless, accepted his hug.

"Baekhyun..." Tears formed in her eyes as she tightly hugged her brother. "I'm so sorry... I'm really sorry... I shouldn't be keeping secrets from you..."

Chanyeol met eyes with Kyungsoo, who gestured with his head telling him that they should leave the two siblings to talk. Nodding to that in agreement, the four silently bade them farewell and left.

"Noona... what happened to you?" Baekhyun sobbed as he released his grip of his sister and moved to cup her cheeks. "Why are here? What happened?"

"I'm so sorry Baekhyun..." she broke out into a fresh set of sobs as she ckung onto her brother for dear life. "I have wasted my life and sowed this great distance between the two of us... I'm such a horrible sister..."

"I'm sorry too for suddenly leaving like that," Baekhyun said. "I should have called or should have came back quickly. If I did, then I would have been the one who took care of you and not my friends."

"Please don't say sorry," Baekhee smiled softly. "It's my fault. They told me my heart is giving in... I don't have enough time."

Another wave of misery washed over Baekhyun as he sobbed, his chest constricting in pain as he watched the sadness in his sister's eyes. "Treatment can prolong my life, but I don't think it would be worth it. I'll only cause you more anguish, my beautiful brother. You deserve to be happy."

"No!" there was a sudden firmness in Baekhyun's voice as he clasped his siter's hand between his. "I'll do anything to save you. You can't expect it to be an easy defeat. I'll be your ally, we need to fight this."

Baekhee only nodded sadly, and even if Baekhyun refused to acknowledge or see it, he could see how his sister has finally accepted her fate.

"You don't have to do that, Baekhyun," she said softly, her eyes fluttering. "You don't have to."

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