KANG SIAN
"Sian."
I open my eyes to those of an equally haunted one. Jungkook is a wreck— his face is pale and ashen, his usually straight hair all messy. There's a dark look in his eyes— and it worries me.
I sit up on the hospital bed, wondering why I hadn't been discharged yet.
"I'm sorry." He says, eyes avoiding mine. "I heard hyung went back unconscious— and he has a problem with his heart? I didn't really understand."
"Is it time?" A sudden voice perks up from behind the doorway, and I stiffen in surprise as Jimin's head pokes in through the door.
He looks around.
"Okay, not time." He concludes before disappearing back out the door. "Forget I was here!"
"I-I'm so sorry." Jungkook says quickly, glaring at the direction of the closed door. "He's really just clueless all the time."
My eyes feel bleary when I blink them, wondering how in the world I was supposed to tell Jungkook the fact that Taehyung was going to die in less than a week when I still couldn't accept it myself.
"It's not you fault." I say softly, crossing my legs on the bed as I shake my head. "He was.... already going to be like that."
Jungkook's head shoots up.
"What?"
"He was already sick." I can hear my voice get smaller as the boy's eyes grow wider. "I don't know why, and I don't know how to make it right. But he's going to die in a week."
It somehow feels better when I share it with him, even though Jungkook's face freezes when I do.
"He..... will die? But how does that make any sense?"
That's what I'm wondering myself.
"Patient 503?" A sudden voice of the nurse echoes at my doorway, and I turn my tired eyes to a woman who holds a clipboard. "Are you ready to be discharged? Patient 504 is waiting for you."
"What?"
I nearly fall off my bed as I rush to grab my jacket, almost forgetting to put my shoes on and almost leaving the room in hospital slippers.
"He's awake? Ready to be discharged?" I ask, can't helping the hope that fills my voice. "Doesn't he need to stay here longer?"
"There's nothing we can do for him here." She says, and I purse my lips together as she holds up the clipboard. "Are you ready to go?"
Even though I kind of want to just lie back down and never get up, Jungkook's steady stare makes me nod and force my feet into my shoes. It wasn't any use if I couldn't put a straight face here— what would I do when I saw him?
"Sian-ah!"
I barely gulp down a lump in my throat as Taehyung wraps an arm around my shoulders, his warmth still there even though I wasn't really sure about mine.
This boy will die in a week.
Shaking the thoughts off as best as I can, I kiss his cheek and try not to notice how noticeably pale he'd gotten. But instead I smile, and he scrunches his face up as he laughs.
