Chapter Twenty-Eight.

                                    

                                          
Jeongguk
                          
When Jeongguk sprinted into the hospital, he knew two things. 
                          
The first was that Taehyung was here somewhere, and Jeongguk wanted nothing more than to find him and tell him he loved him. He also wanted to apologize for everything he did before he left for Tokyo, as the guilt weighed heavy on his shoulders.
                          
The second thing was that he was going to find whoever hurt Taehyung. He wasn't sure what was going to happen after that, but he would figure it out when he got there.
                          
However, anger was clouded by sadness, urgency, and adrenaline, so Jeongguk focused on finding Taehyung at the moment. 
                          
After finding his way on to the second floor, Jeongguk realized he had no idea where to go. He then pulled his phone out of his pocket, dialing Jimin. 
                          
As Jeongguk put the phone to his ear, he heard a phone ringing from behind him. He turned around to see a very drained Jimin.
                          
"Jimin, thank God," Jeongguk rushed. "Where is he?" 
                          
"Follow me," Jimin responded, his voice hollow. 
                          
The pair walked down the hallway, and Jeongguk almost had to stop himself from running. Jimin was going painfully slow, and Jeongguk began to wonder if something much more serious was wrong. 
                          
Eventually, the signs all began to indicate that they were heading towards the ICU, and Jeongguk felt his heart sink lower and lower in his chest. Something was very, very wrong.
                          
The pair turned one more corner, and Jeongguk saw the scene that Jimin had left behind earlier. Taehyung's mother was still sobbing loudly, and there were now Psychology Ward doctors around her, attempting to take her under their care. Taehyung's father hadn't moved. 
                          
Once they reached the room, Jeongguk looked inside and felt an insurmountable wave of emotions take over his psyche. The boy who laid in the bed in front of him looked nothing like the Taehyung that Jeongguk had come to love so fiercely, yet he knew it was.
                          
"Is he... is he asleep?" Jeongguk asked quietly. 
                          
Jimin gazed at him bleakly. "He's in a coma."
                          
Everything seemed to go dark. Jeongguk wanted to scream, cry, and throw up, yet he knew that none of those were viable options now. Taehyung's parents did not know they had a gay son - especially one with a tattooed boyfriend. If Jeongguk showed any more emotion than a friend would, they would immediately become suspicious, so Jeongguk forced himself to repress his emotions. He couldn't out Taehyung to his parents, especially when he was in a state like this.
                          
Instead, Jeongguk lifted his hand, extending his fingers across the smooth glass of the window. He knew he couldn't get any closer to Taehyung than this, so he would take what he could get. He then rested his forehead on the window, closing his eyes and forcing himself to take deep breaths to control his emotions. 
                          
"He still loves you, you know," Jimin murmured, placing a gentle hand on Jeongguk's shoulder. "You shouldn't feel guilty for the way things happened before you left." 
                          
Jeongguk lifted his head, locking eyes with Jimin for a second. Somehow, Jimin had known exactly what to say to him. At this moment, when everything seemed so dark and hopeless, Jimin had brought him the smallest bit of comfort that he didn't think he would get.
                          
In a surge of emotions, Jeongguk wrapped his arms around Jimin and pulled him into a tight hug. It took Jimin no time at all to hug him back.
                          
-
                          
Later that day, Jeongguk was sat on a chair outside Taehyung's room, a few feet away from Taehyung's father. A bit earlier, some nurses came by and offered them the room next door, but they had all wanted to stay near Taehyung in case he awoke, so they settled for chairs.
                          
However, after the exhaustion settled in, Taehyung's mother and Jimin had retreated to the hospital room to nap on the cots that had been set up for them. After all, the four of them had barely slept at all the last 36 hours. 
                          
Jeongguk was currently sitting in his chair, head rested against the glass of the window and hand cupping his face, trying not to doze off. He didn't want to miss anything, even if it was simply Taehyung's finger twitching. He had almost successfully fallen asleep when a new voice cut through the air like a sharp blade.
                          
"How do you know my son?"
                          
Jeongguk blinked hard before turning his gaze upwards, looking into the eyes of Taehyung's father. He knew he couldn't give the real answer, so he made something up. "We met at University about six months ago." 
                          
His father frowned. "That's about the time Taehyung stopped calling us every week." He then paused, and Jeongguk could almost see the gears in his head turning. "What did you do to him?"
                          
Jeongguk certainly didn't have the mental capacity to handle this conversation right now. He had noticed Taehyung's father shooting him judgmental glares occasionally, and his eyes silently scrutinized Jeongguk's tattoos every time he looked at him.
                          
"Sir, I promise I did nothing to your son," Jeongguk said, bowing. "He and I just study together for school." 
                          
"I can't believe my son would befriend someone like you," his father murmured. "We raised him well for 18 years just for him to become friends with tattooed, pierced individuals." He tutted and turned his eyes towards his comatose son. "I never should have let him travel to Seoul. I knew it was a bad idea."
                          
Jeongguk clenched his fist, yet he kept it at his side. He knew people didn't like his choices, yet he never understood why they chose to express that to his face. 
                          
After a moment of turning it over in his mind, Jeongguk decided not to say anything. There was simply no way he was going to change Taehyung's fathers mind, and he definitely wasn't going to try it now when he was so emotional. Instead, he clenched his jaw and returned to staring at the window.
                          
"I guess I should've seen it coming after his freshman year," Taehyung's father said after a moment more. "Trauma does stupid things to people." 
                          
Jungkook slowly turned his gaze back to him. "And what happened his freshman year?"
                          
"Well, if you asked me, I'd say he killed someone," Taehyung's father replied sourly. "The police said it wasn't his fault, but the boy was being an idiot. Nothing good ever comes from being that drunk."
                          
He was about to say more when the monitors in Taehyung's room started beeping loudly. Jeongguk stood up quickly, knocking his chair over backwards with his movement. A doctor and a few nurses came running down the hallway, one of them rolling a crash cart. 
                          
Jeongguk watched in horror as they all entered the room, the doctor immediately starting chest compressions on Taehyung. One of the nurses prepared the defibrillator. 
                          
"Oh my God, what's happening?" Jimin asked. Jeongguk figured the beeping had awoken him, but he couldn't pull his eyes away from Taehyung. He could only stand there, body frozen, staring at his boyfriend who was no longer breathing. 
                          
The nurses and doctor went back and forth for what felt like forever. They continued chest compressions, used the defibrillator a few times, and injected him with epinephrine.
                          
Still, nothing. 
                          
The world seemed to go white and hazy, and Jeongguk's limbs felt like pudding, as if he would collapse the second anyone touched him. 
                          
And still, after all they had done, the heart monitor beeped in one continuous, monotonous tone.