Six of a Kind

팔: The Accident

The mail hadn't even hit the floor before Taehyung pounced on it, snatching all of the envelopes into his hands. Daddy got lots of mail, mainly from work, and lots from the hospital, too, since the sextuplets had lots of appointments.

None of the kids could really read yet, but Namjoon had taught them how to write their own names, and their numbers up to 10. Taehyung flipped through the envelopes, yelling nonsense and pointing his fingers at the words, pretending he could read. Hoseok looked at him in awe, believing him.

Taehyung stopped at the last envelope, however. He stabbed his fingers at the other words, which was in fact their address, but then he recognised some of the characters. It was his name. It was a letter for him.

"Daddy, I gotted a lettaw," he yelled, even though Namjoon was right behind him, trying to prise the letters out of his fist. Taehyung hung grimly on, until Namjoon hooked his finger into his fist, and freed the letters. "Dis one mine!"

Namjoon looked at the envelope. It was addressed to himself, and stated to be a letter about Kim Taehyung. That was where Taehyung had recognised his name.

Namjoon didn't want to break his heart, however, so he scooped Taehyung onto his knee, and gave him the letter. "Okay, Taehyungie, you can open it gently, okay?"

Taehyung ripped the letter in half.

"It's not fair, I want a lettaw!" Hoseok whined, and then Yoongi started to whine the same thing, too. Seokjin didn't understand their words yet, neither did Jimin, but if their brothers were whining,then they probably should, too. The only one who didn't join in was Jungkook, who pulled the hood up on his stolen hoodie and retreated to his corner.

"Boys, you'll get your own letters in your own time," Namjoon shouted over the noise, trying to soothe them, but they continued to whine. He pulled away the two halves of the letter, and let Taehyung continue to play with the envelope.

It was another hospital letter. This time, as Namjoon held the two pieces together, he realised there was a date. And a time. And a surgery room.

It was the appointment for the surgery on Taehyung's leg. He had already had the appointment with the therapist and a doctor who specialised in bones, where they poked and measured his legs and took some scans. Taehyung was as good as gold the whole time, but afterwards, he threw a massive tantrum. He was overtired and overstimulated. He didn't want doctors looking at his leg anymore, and he even kicked at Namjoon when he tried to look. The surgery was for after Christmas, two months away still.

However, he was not going to pull another stint like he did to Seokjin. He was going to be firm with Taehyung that he was going to have surgery to fix his leg, whether he liked it or not. The others were already whinging, so he decided to just do it now.

"Taehyungie, you know your poorly leg?"

"Is dat my lettaw, daddy?"

"I want a lettaw, it's not fair!" Hoseok hollered, slapping at the sofa. "Not fair, not fair!"

"Honey, the doctors want to make it all better for you."

Taehyung shook his head, his attention still on the envelope. "No fanks."

"I'm afraid it's not a choice."

Taehyung turned around and glared, though he only looked funny. Namjoon didn't have the heart to laugh. Poor Taehyung clearly meant it. "Don't want to."

"Honey, it wouldn't hurt ..."

"No! Don't want to!"

Namjoon gave up. He would have to drag Taehyung to the surgery, whether he liked it or not. The limp was getting much worse, and now he was starting to feel more pain, too. He looked at the boy's grumpy face as he ripped up the envelope, and scattered them on the carpet. The others cried at him, pulling at his jeans, begging for letters.

"All right!" Namjoon yelled, startling them all. They looked up at him with wide, teary eyes. They didn't like it when they got shouted at, especially by daddy. "I'll make sure the postman brings you some letters, okay, if you'll just be quiet good boys for a few more minutes!"

There was some grumbling, but the boys settled back down to their tasks. Namjoon looked at Jungkook wearily, then hugged the boy from behind. Jungkook complained at first, but then leaned back into his dad, and accepted the cuddle.

Namjoon kissed his hood. "You're a good boy, Jungkookie."

"Playing," he responded, so Namjoon got up and left him alone.

He went into the kitchen, and got out his stationary kit. He pulled out six envelopes, and six pieces of paper. He wrote, 'I love you very much, from daddy' on every single sheet, then put them into the envelopes, and wrote all of their names in big print. He sealed them, then sauntered over to the door.

"Where going?" Yoongi asked immediately. Seokjin looked at Yoongi, then at daddy. The boys always clamoured around him if he went anywhere near the door, though Namjoon would never leave them alone, of course. However, Seokjin could now hear that clamouring, and decided it was time to join in.

"Wuh gung?" he copied in a thick, deaf undertone.

"I'm not going anywhere. I just need to see if the postman left anything in the garden."

Hoseok seemed to have forgotten all about the letter thing already, and barged his way through the door as soon as Namjoon opened it. They had a gated garden that they played in all the time, so Namjoon didn't object as the others followed him out. He quickly shoved the letters into a hedge, so they couldn't see that Namjoon had them.

It didn't matter. They weren't interested anymore. It was very cold out, since it was November, so the boys ran around, whilst Jimin hung onto Namjoon's leg, and pulled himself up. He let go, and toddled into the grass, before falling back down. He resolutely pulled himself back up, a determined look on his face, and toddled a few more steps.

Hoseok looked at the gate. It was slightly ajar. The gate was always closed, and it wasn't fair, because Hoseok liked going to the park, and looking at the doggies and the squirrels and the pond. Daddy always said no, and he couldn't figure out how to open the gate on his own.

He wanted to go to the park. Now. He looked over at daddy, but he was too busy praising Jimin, helping him waddle on his little feet. Why shouldn't he go to the park? He knows how to get there even on his own, and there's lots of other kids there. It's not fair that they're always in the house.

He swung the gate open, and stepped out onto the pavement. He suddenly felt shy, and turned back, but no one had noticed he wasn't in the garden anymore. Hoseok grinned to himself. What a big boy he would be, going to the park on his own! His brothers would be so jealous, especially Taehyung.

He took a big step out into the road.

Namjoon only heard the squeal of the breaks, and a loud bang as Hoseok walked between two parked cars, into the path of a moving one. There was no way the driver would have been able to see him. There was no chance he could have stopped.

The garden felt frozen. The sextuplets didn't move. Namjoon didn't move. Hoseok was still on the ground. He didn't bounce back up. He didn't even try to sit up. There was no movement, no sound. Hoseok wasn't crying.

Namjoon ran towards him with a loud sob, falling heavily onto his knees. Hoseok's eyes were half shut, and he didn't respond to Namjoon being there.

Namjoon kept sobbing over his son, in deep panic. The driver stood next to him, gabbling away about not having seen him, but he wasn't listening. With a shaking hand, he stroked Hoseok's hair, slowly brushing his fringe away from his paling face.

"H-Hoseokie, it's daddy. Can you hear me, honey? Please? Hoseokie?"

The toddler remained unmoving. The car's grille was broken from the impact. There was no blood, no twisted limbs, but Hoseok wasn't breathing. He was unresponsive.

"HOSEOK!"