Sanctuary | Chanbaek (2)

Seventeen

Chanyeol twiddled his thumbs in the waiting room of the clinic. Somebody sat next to him, "You smell nice."

"Hey, thanks, nobody else has noticed my cologne today. Can I ask you something weird?"

"Sure."

"Is it true what they say about your other senses being stronger if you're blind?" Usually, people didn't notice that Chanyeol was blind because he had Baekhyun guiding him, not a stupid stick.

"I wouldn't know what it's like. I've always been blind."

"Oh. sorry."

"Eh, whatever. My name is Chanyeol, by the way."

"I'm Yixing. Do you want to be friends?"

Chanyeol laughed a little bit, "Okay, shake my hand," Chanyeol and Yixing shook hands, "I have one other friend. His name is Baekhyun, but he hasn't visited lately," He didn't want to tell people that Baekhyun was in the hospital, he didn't want sympathy. He was a little scared that Baekhyun might've woken up while he was gone, "I think his PTSD might be getting worse," What if Baekhyun was scared and alone right now? "Why are you here?"

"I have hemophilia."

"What about the guy next to you?" Chanyeol could sense another person.

"He's my friend, he's here to help me get the shots."

"My name is Suho," said the guy, "Do you want to listen to the book I'm going to read to Yixing?"

"I guess, but why can't Yixing read it? He can see, can't he?"

"If he's reading in his head he get's distracted and forgets what happened on the previous page."

"Ah, I get it. Read on, Suho," As soon as Suho started reading, Chanyeol recognized the book, Baekhyun read to him a lot. It's like how most couples watch a movie every night, Baekhyun read to Chanyeol every night. He thought if Suho read any more he might start crying again, but luckily Yixing's name was called. Chanyeol handed him his business card before he left. He tapped his foot nervously, that Snoop Dogg song from last night was stuck in his head. He ended up singing it out loud kind of unconsciously, "Uh oh there she go. That's that look all on her face. Shorty dancing like she knows. She's the baddest in the place."

"Park Chanyeol?'

"Oh, that's me."

The nurse led him into a room where he met a doctor, "So, how long have you been blind?"

"As long as I can remember."

"Can you see the brightness when I shine the light in your eyes?"

"Yes, sir," He continued to shine the light in Chanyeol's eyes and it kind of made his eyes sting, he squinted, "There's a possibility that you were able to see once."

"What?"

"We've had cases before where blind patients only had an extreme case of cataracts, where their cataracts became so dense that it caused the patient to lose sight."

"What are you saying?"

"Don't get your hopes up or anything, but if it is cataracts, you can get surgery to restore your vision."

Don't get your hopes up, Chanyeol repeated in his head.

"My suggestion is that you visit an optometrist because they will be able to know for sure."

"Okay," Chanyeol hopped off of the table, "Thank you, sir," He had to get back to the hospital as fast as he could in case Baekhyun woke up. He felt scared riding in a cab by himself, but he was happy to make it to the hospital. He really hated going places without Baekhyun with him. He wasn't good at navigating with the stupid stick and he wasn't great at reading Braille. He wasn't allowed to go back into Baekhyun's hospital room when he got back, "What's going on?"

"He was having complications," A nurse said, "He had to go into emergency surgery."

Chanyeol's voice came out as barely a whisper, "Surgery? Will he be okay?"

"I'm sorry, it's a fifty-fifty chance right now, it's hard to tell," Chanyeol slid down against the wall, he couldn't even hold back his tears, "We're rebuilding the wall of his lung. Our hope is that he comes out stronger than ever," Chanyeol could only nod.

Later, Luhan came down the hall to see Chanyeol crying into his knees, "What happened?" He asked carefully.

"He has to go through lung surgery again. I'm so scared for him, they said his chance of surviving is fifty-fifty."

"Baekhyun can survive anything, little brother. Believe in him," Luhan sat next to Chanyeol and patted his back.

"Thank you, Luhan. I really appreciate you being here right now."

"I always have to be here for my little brothers. How long has he been in surgery?"

"I don't even know, it's been hours, I think they should almost be done now."

Another hour passed before a nurse came out of the room, "The surgery is complete. He is doing well so far."

Chanyeol smiled, "Can we visit him?"

"Yes, but he's still unconscious."

Chanyeol held Baekhyun's hand as soon as he was in the room, "Baekhyun, you're gonna have another super cool scar now. I have some good news for you when you wake up, okay? So, please wake up soon, okay?"

"Wake up so we can go back to the arcade, Baekhyun, somebody beat your high score on PacMan."

Chanyeol stifled a laugh, "I thought for sure that would wake him up. This kid is crazy about his high scores."

"He will get his vengeance, I know it. The only other thing he loves in this world is video games."

"I still remember when he got his first gaming console for Christmas. He got it taken away a lot because his grades weren't good," Chanyeol smiled, "He'd stay up all night with or without it though. His grades were bad either way too."

Luhan smiled, "When he stayed at my house that one night we didn't sleep at all, we played video games all night."

"You're such a bad influence on him."

"It took his mind off of things."

"He plays video games when I make him mad. It's cute, all you can hear are those buttons tapping," Chanyeol sighed, "Please wake up soon."