GET FREE [jaeyong]

[4]

[FOUR]

"Can you help me remember how to smile? Make it somehow all seem worthwhile. How the hell did I get so jaded? Life's mysteries seem so faded."

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"EVERYTHING seems on track, Mr. Taeyong," a peculiar, dorky nurse that Taeyong had just met today named Baekhyun had stated, the small male smiling gracefully at him. He had raspberry colored hair, a youthful glow to his smile and skin, and a charismatic aura; he was also the only nurse that wore the scrubs with little childish clouds and sunshine on the fabric, all having smiling faces, of course. Baekhyun was a little off the rocker, but he didn't carry any weird or creepy vibes with him. At the very least the kids loved him.

He became Taeyong's new room nurse; the one that would come in every hour to check his vitals. He wasn't sure how much he liked it, though. The older male always seemed up for a conversation with him, and Taeyong wasn't ever ready for that. "Except for the new medical tape on your arm. Why did you need that?" the older had added.

Taeyong attempted at ignoring the question, trying to focus his attention on the coloring book the doctor so thoughtfully gave him. He had to use crayons to color though, based on his situation and why he was here. They didn't trust him with any form of a pencil — and obviously, for good reason. But Taeyong, during his experience with these crayons, he had grown to hate them. The weird melted plastic smell, the waxy, uneven way it'd color (always leaving tiny little dots of white on the page), and the fact that the colors refused to blend together evenly. It frustrated him so much.

Suddenly Taeyong had an intuition that something was near him, and he looked up to see Baekhyun arched over his shoulder and looking at the bird with all sorts of patterns on its wings that Taeyong was shading in. It made Taeyong jump and his heart monitor start squealing dramatically. Baekhyun backed up, muttering a sheepish, but insincere apology, as he looked like he was about to laugh.

"Hey, you're really good at coloring. That's probably the best I've seen — at least with crayons," he complimented, and Taeyong muttered out an embarrassed thank you. "Would you mind teaching me sometime?" Baekhyun suddenly asked, tilting his head.

He caught Taeyong off guard, so the patient had said "okay" without even understanding the situation.

"Awesome! I'll be back in an hour. Don't get too bored without me," Baekhyun had chirped playfully, writing something off on his clipboard before exiting the room.

Johnny bursted into a fit of laughter the moment he'd left.

"What — what did I just agree to?" Taeyong asked in a monotonous voice, as if he really didn't want to know.

Johnny smirked, resting his elbow on his desk and resting his chin in the palm of his hand. "Lessons with Baekhyun. To color with crayons, you know, because that's important to learn in life."

Taeyong's jaw dropped.

A light chuckle left Johnny's lips again. The man evened out the edges of his stack of papers on the table, eyeing Taeyong. "Just because Baekhyun brought it up, why did you need new medical tape? I mean, that stuff is pretty strong," he spoke, busying himself with cleaning the desk.

Taeyong's mind scrambled for an answer, a lie to tell, until he said, "I got bored and was picking at the edges of it and didn't realize that I was tearing it off."

Johnny nodded, humming along. "That sounds pretty convincing."

Taeyong's eyebrows furrowed in worry. What did he mean by 'convincing'? Before he could be sent off in a panic, Johnny asked, "Do you want me to order you up some breakfast? It'd probably be a good idea since you got the nurses all worried about your blood sugar being fasted." Johnny added the last part, as to persuade Taeyong to eat something. "You can't heal properly without energy, y'know."