Take on Me

40

¤ The Promise
Tracy Chapman ↲

And say you'll hold
A place for me
In your heart

▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎

The following weeks were insane.

After receiving the news regarding Juyeon's transplant opportunity, Taehyung and the Jeon family sprung into action. There were tests, appointments, diet and lifestyle preparations, and consultations with a surgical transplant team at the hospital. And even though it was all exhausting, everyone was so excited and ready.

Jaewoo arrived home ahead of the surgery, using pretty much all of his saved vacation days so he could be with his family for a while. Taehyung got to know Jungkook's father a lot more over those days, quickly coming to respect him in a way he could never respect the man who gave him life. He had many long one-on-one talks with Jaewoo, talks about life and what it meant to be a good person. Those conversations always left him feeling reinvigorated, and while Taehyung didn't admit this out loud just yet, the older man had definitely become his role model.

Juyeon herself was experiencing many different emotions as they navigated the days before the surgery. Most of the time she felt optimistic, talking about all the things she couldn't wait to do again. Other times, however, she'd reveal her fears over the transplant. Above all else, she was worried her body would reject this kidney as well. When those concerns came up, everyone tried to reassure her to the best of their abilities.

But until that kidney was inside Juyeon, no one could say with exact certainty what the outcome would be.

Surprisingly - or not so surprisingly, depending on who in the Jeon family was asked - Jungkook was the most nervous out of them all. The younger tried not to discuss his concerns in front of Juyeon, but to Taehyung, he opened up more on his surgery-day fears. They were the same fears Jungkook had over Taehyung going under the knife; there were always risks associated with major surgeries like this.

Taehyung hated to see Jungkook worry. It was always difficult seeing someone you loved have anxiety over things outside of their control. So he vowed to do everything humanly possible to ease the younger's stress. He told funny stories, tried to give soothing massages, and even taught Jungkook how to draw. And, when they had small windows of alone time, they were even able to perform certain stress relieving oral activities. 

However much he tried to alleviate Jungkook's stress though, there was one thing Taehyung couldn't do. Taehyung couldn't be at Jungkook's side during Juyeon's surgery. And above all, that's the only place he wanted to be. But not everything could magically work out perfectly. If it did, Juyeon wouldn't be sick in the first place.

When they found out the date of the surgery, Taehyung told Jungkook that he had his final art presentation that day. He explained how it was with a series of his professors, where he'd introduce a collection he'd been preparing for weeks now. Jungkook was understandably disappointed, though he comforted Taehyung by acknowledging that these things happened sometimes.

That all just made Taehyung feel even more guilty.

But based on his schedule, Taehyung believed he should be with Jungkook by lunch time come the day of the surgery. It was all a little hard to plan out, but he was trying to work with the information he was given.

The weekend before Juyeon's surgery, Taehyung and Jungkook got together with all of their friends. It had been a while since they'd all been together and it was long overdue. Jin, Yoongi, and Hoseok had all heard about how Taehyung was cut off, so that wasn't exactly new news for them. Namjoon and Jimin were sympathetic when they found out, though quickly joined in on the celebrations once they learned the whole story.