| Antidote | Poison 2nd Book |

𝔽𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕝 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣

[continuation of the last chapter]

[A/N: This chapter will be longer than usual since it is the final one.]

Through the devastating silence that hung heavily in the room, a loud, deep gasp broke through. The monotoned sound of the EKG had started beeping once again in a steadying rhythm.

It felt as if every nerve and hair on his body had been shocked by a surge of electricity, Hongjoong swore that his own heart had come to a complete stop in his chest.

He thought that maybe he was just falling into one of his episodes, thinking that he was imagining the whole thing. He just shut his eyes, shaking his head as he gripped the door handle. When he ripped the door open, a hoarse voice spoke up that made him stop in his tracks.

"H... Hong...joong..."

He wasn't imagining it. There was no way that he had imagined it when he heard it clear as day.

He slowly turned his head with tears still streaming down his cheeks, his eyes still closed as he was scared to look upon the male in the hospital bed.

After gaining enough confidence to open his eyes, a sense of validation washed over him. He could see that Seonghwa's chest was rising and falling very slowly, and the EKG was in fact reading a heartbeat, but Seonghwa was seemed to be still unconscious.

"Oh my god..." Hongjoong almost dropped to his knees as he scrambled over toward the bed. He placed both of his hands on the sides of Seonghwa's cheeks, his tears of pain quickly turning to tears of relief.

"I was right... I knew you were going to pull through. I'm so sorry, Hwa, I'm so sorry I did that to you." Hongjoong couldn't do anything but sob, pressing his forehead against the cool skin of Seonghwa's forehead.

Yohan had come into the room after hearing a bit of commotion coming from the room. He was confused with what he had walked into.

"Hongjoong? What's going on?"

Hongjoong pulled himself away so he could turn around and face Yohan. "I... I didn't want him to suffer so I took the mask off of his face... He stopped breathing and his pulse was gone but... When I went to leave the room, he just... Oh my god, he's..." Hongjoong dropped his head covering his face with both hands as he just fell to his knees.

Yohan diverted his gaze from Hongjoong and saw the mask lying beside Seonghwa's head, then noticed that he was actually breathing on his own and his heartbeat was rather steady. It was then that the feeling of relief hit him too, he had to catch himself on the doorway in order to keep himself from fainting.

"I... I'll go get the doctor..." Pushing off of the door frame, Yohan nearly stumbled as he rushed out of the room.

Once Hongjoong had calmed down enough, he was finally able to pull himself back to his feet. He felt lightheaded and his knees were weak, but he needed to get closer to his husband. Hongjoong had climbed into the hospital bed, squeezing his small frame into the narrow space on the side and lowering his face into Seonghwa's chest. He grabbed Seonghwa's hand in his, just sobbing into the fabric of his hospital gown.

While Seonghwa wasn't awake, the fact that he was able to breathe on his own at that point, meant that he was using every fragment of his energy left and fighting to get better.

To Hongjoong's relief, Seonghwa was going to survive... 

______

A couple of days later, Seonghwa had finally awoken and didn't recall anything after he was shot multiple times. It was a miracle he even survived despite two bullets piercing vital organs and dying twice, but there was no sign of infection since he had the emergency surgery, so his chances of a complete recovery were high.