Alleyways | Stray Kids

- 10 -

"Are you the parent of Lee Minho?" A doctor walked in front of a sobbing woman. She had been waiting in the waiting room for hours for some sort of update on her son. 

"Yes! Is he okay?" She asked immediately. 

The doctor gave no signs of Minho being okay instead he uttered a single phrase, "Follow me." 

The mother followed the doctor throughout the winding halls of the hospital until they got to the elevator. They stepped in and the doctor spoke again. 

"I'm sorry for such a long wait for any sort of update with your son but we had to work fast to make sure there was no swelling to his brain, his blood levels were okay and many other manors of test." 

"As long as he's okay," She managed to muster up a smile. 

The elevator stopped and the two stepped onto the ICU floor, they walked until they were in front of a door. The doctor spoke again. 

"Ms. Lee," They breathed deeply, "Your son is in a comatose state it may be days or weeks until he wakes." 

____

"Hwang Hyunjin, you wanna talk about last night?" His more relaxed father spoke. Thankfully for Hyunjin, the stricter of the two dads was at work. 

The two sat in the living room. Hyunjin laid on the couch while his father sat on one of the armchairs.

"I got into a small confrontation with Changbin and Felix," Hyunjin mumbled. 

"Small? Your lip is busted," His dad spoke, "But...that really seems to be the only thing wrong." 

"Yeah, cause I know how to fight," Hyunjin reminded, "I didn't get into fights in middle school for nothing." 

"I thought you mellowed out mister don't talk to me," His father rolled his eyes. 

Hyunjin sighed, "I just don't like...people I guess? I don't know." 

"It's okay, we all go through it," His dad reassured. 

"No, it's like I can't be around strangers or large crowds of people without completely shutting down and panicking. I can't even order food anymore!" Hyunjin exclaimed. 

"How long has this been going on?" 

"A while, I was just scared to tell you," Hyunjin shrugged, "I mean that's dumb, not being able to interact with people without having a breakdown." 

"It's not dumb, Hyunjin and you didn't have to be scared to tell me. Look, to me, it seems like you have social anxiety but I don't know the extent. So look, I'll make you some appointments and we can figure this out together okay?" 

"Thanks, Dad," Hyunjin smiled.

"Now I have a date with the rest of this Queer Eye season so if you'll excuse me," His father laughed and went upstairs. 

Hyunjin stayed downstairs, the boy was too lazy to go to his room. Within minutes, he has almost lulled away to sleep. Almost. The doorbell rung prompting a groan from Hyunjin and a loud yell of, "Who is it?" 

"It's Jisung!" 

Hyunjin opened the door, "What do you want?" 

"I got kicked out of the house for a bit so I was wondering I could stay here just until it blows over?" Jisung asked. Hyunjin noticed the boy was holding not one but two happy meals. 

"Yeah sure," Hyunjin said, letting the male in. 

"So why did you get kicked out?" Hyunjin asked, "And why come all the way here? That's a long way."