I Told You, I'm A Monster

Chapter Fifteen.

"Hoseok, good morning. Can I talk to you for a moment?" Dr. Lee enters Hoseok's room gently.

"Good morning." Hoseok is sitting cross-legged on his bed, but when the doctor enters, he draws his knees up to his chest and wraps his arms around them. He doesn't like the look on Dr. Lee's face. "Is there something wrong?"

Dr. Lee sighs. "I just had a talk with Jimin, and he told me that he had one of the knives in case your tendency to physically beat yourself somehow turned to a need to beat him up."

Hoseok is about to speak, but he closes his mouth again and thinks for a minute. He couldn't remember Jimin ever saying anything like that, but he does remember the fear in the younger's eyes while watching him inflict such pain upon himself. Slowly, he nods and relays this information to the doctor, who nods in return. "Did he say anything else?" Hoseok asks hesitantly. He's not totally sure he really wants to know, but knowing would be better than not knowing.

The doctor has a moment of hesitation himself before speaking again. "He said that you stole the second knife for yourself and hid it on his side of your room to avert suspicion from you."

"I see." Hoseok's brows knit together as he contemplates what the doctor just told him. "So you're saying Jimin wasn't entirely at fault, and he wanted to defend himself against me, should he need to."

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. I'm not going to put you in solitary confinement, Hoseok, but this matter is going to be taken very seriously. This means that until further notice, you can not have a roommate, and you can not be allowed to interact with Jimin at all."

"But Dr. Lee, I love Jimin dearly!" Hoseok feels tears springing to his eyes and blinks rapidly to keep them at bay. "Having him be in solitary confinement has been hard enough, but now I can't see him at all?"

"I'm sorry, Hoseok, but until we can perform an updated psychological evaluation as well as a few other tests on both of you, this is the way it has to be."

"Okay." Hoseok's head droops to rest on his knees. His voice is muffled as he says "I understand." Dr. Lee pats Hoseok lightly on the shoulder and then turns to leave the room, leaving the patient alone with his thoughts.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Namjoon is getting dressed when he hears a groaning and a gurgling coming from somewhere above him, so he looks up just in time to see the ceiling tiles bow and bend before giving completely, and he jumps back to avoid the mess of water, plaster, metal, and God only knows what else that comes splashing onto his floor. "What the fuck?!" He exclaims as he looks up at the new gaping hole in the ceiling. The door flies open to reveal a nurse who was nearby and heard what happened.

"Oh my God." She and Namjoon exchange a bewildered look, and the door quickly closes and locks again. A few moments later, the nurse comes back with Dr. Lee and a janitor in tow.

"Oh my." Dr. Lee's eyes nearly pop out of his head, and the sight is almost comical because of how big his glasses make his eyes look. After a moment, his posture straightens as he collects himself and his thoughts. "Minah-ah, please go to see if there are any rooms available for Namjoon to stay in." She nods and runs off again, and to the janitor, he says "Please escort Namjoon safely over here and then clean up what you can of this mess." When he has Namjoon's arm in his grip, he steers him to his office. "What happened?"

"I have no idea, honestly. I was putting my shirt on and heard this weird noise, so I looked up and watched the ceiling collapse. I narrowly missed having a huge-ass piece of plaster fall on my head."

"You didn't do anything to make it do that?" Dr. Lee asks with a raised eyebrow. "I can check the cameras to see if you're lying."

"I'm not lying. I have no fucking idea what happened." Now that the shock of nearly getting seriously injured or possibly killed has worn off, Namjoon is back to his surly, snappy self.