The Marriage Pact // Changlix

二十八

Felix tried his hardest to believe, he really did. But as the days passed and Changbin showed no signs of getting better, the hope in him began breaking off - little pieces at first, until the cracks grew and hope started falling off in large fractures.

He would sit by Changbin's side 24/7, only leaving when he needed to go to the toilet. Felix even managed to charm the nurses into letting him sleep near Changbin on the couch.

Visitors would come in to give well wishes for the sick male to get better soon, often gifting flowers. Once, Seungmin and Jisung had came, even bringing Minho along with the whole little 'camping' group that day.

Changbin had been pleased to know that his newly made friends cared enough to visit him and that day had been a happy one. Changbin didn't encounter any problems with his health that day and he was in a good mood. Things were finally looking up.

But one night, Felix was awoken by Changbin whispering his name. The boy said he was feeling warm and when Felix went to touch his forehead, he reeled it away like he had touched a hot kettle.

"You're burning up." Felix commented. Changbin huffed and shut his eyes. Quickly reaching into the bedside drawer where his medication was kept, Felix grabbed the bottle containing fever pills and popped out two. Swallowing them without water, Changbin assured Felix that he would be fine now and apologised for waking him up, forcing the younger to go back to sleep.

Changbin ignored Felix's unsureness about the whole situation and stubbornly refused for him to call the nurses and disturb them in the process. Felix kept going that it was their job to help and that he just wanted to be sure, but Changbin insisted that he could already feel the fever going down and so Felix let him be.

It was a few minutes later when Felix was jolted awake from his half dozing off by Changbin's cries.

"Felix, my chest... Hurts. Hard to... br-breathe." He said between pants.

And so Felix slammed the emergency button so fast, he swore that was the fastest his reflexes ever worked. Two nurses rushed in within seconds to attend to the wheezing boy grasping at his throat as Felix watched from the side, feeling as though he too couldn't breathe.

So badly did he want to clutch Changbin's hand or cradle his head in his arms and poof, everything would be alright with seconds. But that wasn't the case as one nurse shooed him out of the room as she called for more help.

Felix ended up pacing the empty hospital hallway, anxiously waiting for someone to exit Changbin's ward with a smile on their face, telling him that Changbin would be alright.

An hour passed and still no good news. Or maybe it had just been a few minutes. Felix couldn't make out time clearly anymore. Instead, more nurses and doctors had rushed in with tools and none of them had exited so far.

When heard his name being called, he was surprised to see Hyunjin, Seungmin and Jisung standing behind him, looking like they just stumbled out of bed with unkempt hair and mismatched clothes. Maybe it's cause they did just wake up. Felix just noticed there was a clock on the wall that read 2:31am.

"We came as fast as we could after getting your text." Hyunjin breathed out, his mental state as wild as his hair. Felix didn't remember texting anyone anything but it was probably the effect of being in this messed up state where he didn't know if he was going to loose the guy he loved the most.

The three of them just sat down beside Felix, not speaking and clearly in distress. They didn't need words to express how terrified they were. They didn't need to say anything to know that there was a high chance that Changbin wouldn't survive this ordeal.