Lost Boys {Book Two}

Wonderful Life

Donghyuck stood stiffly beside Jeno. Jeno smiled and greeted people as they passed, a totally Jeno thing to do that really, really annoyed Donghyuck.

It would be one thing if he recognized them, then of course he'd be doing the same but he decided he was irritated with the fact that Jeno had gotten to know so many people when he was separated from their group only a few weeks before. Jealousy? No. Not Donghyuck, never.

Okay, maybe.

He didn't know why, it wasn't like Jeno didn't have tons of friends back in highschool, and Donghyuck hadn't had an issue with that. Jeno was the guy who was friends with everyone, he fit into many different friend groups. Even the stoners, though Jeno was too much of a pussy to ever smoke weed (unlike quite a few others— cough, Mark, Lucas, Johnny, Jungwoo, cough), Jeno still sometimes wore baja hoodies and hung out with them at the skatepark, not that he could even skate.

Everyone loved Jeno. That's how it had always been.

Jeno was as close to an angel as a human could possibly get, and that's coming from someone who also knew Dong Sicheng—not as much of an angel as one would think, thought he was slick but Donghyuck noticed the purple bruises on his inner thighs—quite extensively.

There wasn't a person on Earth who would disagree that Jeno had that type of warmth, that comforting aura that made everyone around him feel so incredibly at ease without having to even say anything.

Even after Jaemin died, Jeno was totally at peace, oddly okay with it. Super weird but Donghyuck knew that everyone deals with their own stuff differently, go off or whatever.

He supposed he was jealous of how easily Jeno fit in. Everywhere he went, he seemed at ease. Donghyuck was never like that. He could play it off like he was totally fine, sure. He always could. But all the people that Jeno had met here ... well, it made Donghyuck wonder if Jeno even needed them anymore. He could run off and live anywhere. The rest of them couldn't do that. Jeno probably wouldn't ever do that, but there was still that fear.

"Hey," Donghyuck jumped. Jeno stared at him with furrowed brows. In front of them stood a tall man with wavy, shoulder length hair. He vaguely recognized him from the first time he'd been here. "You hear that?"

"No, sorry." Donghyuck mumbled sheepishly.

"Hwiyoung says Jisung is going to be okay," Jeno said. "He should be ready to go in a week or two."

"Oh," Donghyuck felt a wave of relief wash over him. "That's great. So what is it? Is it what Sicheng thought it was?"

"Yeah, what was it called?"

"Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis," Hwiyoung said. "It's when the body makes antibodies that attack the brain. It disrupts signalling and creates swelling, which can lead to hallucinations, paranoia, aggression, seizures, and movement disorders, which as we've seen, he's got all the symptoms."

"So he'll be okay in a couple weeks?"

"Not exactly," Hwiyoung said. "He can leave by then, but it takes about two years for a full recovery. He's receiving a plasma exchange as we speak, and he'll be put on steroids."

"So what do we do until then?"

Hwiyoung shifted his weight and glanced around the very cramped room. People were busy rushing around, visiting each other or doing jobs, nurses sprinted around people with surprising agility. "Well, you could either leave and come back in two weeks, or you could stay here in one of our spare rooms. There's only a few left, so I'd make a decision quick."

Jeno looked at Donghyuck expectantly.

"What are you looking at me for?"

"I'm letting you decide what to do."