[Completed] [Rewritten]
It was uncharacteristic of Jin, but nowadays, he found himself to be more tired after practice. He was known as one of the most athletic members of the group and now, he felt himself struggling to do a few push-ups. He got ou...
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Once back at home, Jin could relax. For the first few days, he just laid on his bed and slept. Even with all the improvement, he was tired. The others were careful not to expose him to any germs. Any other infection and he would land himself back in the hospital.
The food was much better here. Yoongi and Taehyung did their roles well. Sometimes they cooked things that were more on the disgusting side than the tasty side, but it was a huge improvement for whatever the hospital mess had been.
When he did start to get more active, he took it slowly. He didn't try and make himself go to the studio right away. It was important to just take some time to himself. He did sit down and work on some things he needed to get done, but that was only on his laptop and didn't require too much moving around.
Every second week, he had to go into the clinic so they could get more bloodwork done. It was annoying and difficult to deal with, but he knew it was a must.
Sooner or later, he would have to face his old struggle.
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Jin eyed his doctor carefully who was poring over more of his reports. It seemed worrisome.
"We'll need to get you restarted on chemo again soon, if that's alright?"
He had missed everything in the past few weeks. And he probably still wasn't strong enough to take on more chemotherapy. What if more complications happened? What if the lingering pain got worse?
"Is it safe?" he asked.
"We can look into different options if you want. Maybe the way that we were doing it initially wasn't the best option for you."
"Oh."
"I'm sure that something will work. Unless, of course, you want to follow a different path for treatment," she said.
Jin nodded. "I'll think about it."
"Good, thank you."
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With all the mayhem of the past few weeks, it had taken a while for Jin to notice what had happened to his hair. He nearly cried when he saw himself in the mirror again. The bald patches were so much more prominent. In the past, he could cover them up with the hair that he did have. But now everything was starting to fall out.
It was horrible. He really did look sick now. He really did look like the stereotypical cancer patient who everyone felt bad for.
He would've shaved the rest of it off if he had the guts to do so. Then maybe it would look a bit neater. But he didn't want to deal with it and he didn't want to ask the others either. Every time he needed to ask for help from the others, it was a blow to his pride.
After all, for the past few months, they had done a lot. Maybe he wouldn't have bothered to do that much if the roles were reversed.
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Nobody really said anything, but he could see the worry in people's eyes when they saw him again. All the weight that he had lost stood out like a sore thumb. And his thinning hair, sorry, balding hair. And his exhaustion. Everything was so obvious. It was awful to deal with.
Still, he carried on with his doctor, talking about all the treatment options that were available. He was still trying his best. Even if was still sick, he was giving it his all. Everyone does. Even if things are out of their control, everyone does their best.
That's when he heard about tablets. They came in regular medicine bottles, but they were designed to fight cancer cells. The side effects could be better or worse - there was no guarantee - but at least there wouldn't be lengthy hospital stays every time.
The regular screening and testing would continue the same.
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"You've made up your mind?" Hoseok asked.
Jin nodded. "Yeah, I'll give it a shot."
"It'll be okay, I think this will be fine," he said.
Jungkook and Jimin were silent. Jungkook's mind was blank. He wanted to say something supportive to help Jin out through his struggle, but all his big words had gone right out with the window. He worried about what kind of side effects Jin would experience. It was always a source of worry.
"I hope it's not too bad," Jin said softly after a while.
