Save Me

Chapter 16: Miracles Can Happen

"Alright, Kookie. You ready for this next exercise?" I ask, wiping my own sweat from my forehead. He's managed to make some serious progress since he agreed to let me help him gain his muscle back and give life a try again.

"I don't know how much more my arms can take, but I'm up for anything." He answers with a small smile as he takes a drink of water. I smile at the boy, nodding my head. At this point, we've upped his workout hours in the evening to two hours. I can't add more hours in the morning since Tae and I are already up by five in the morning to get started.

As I go through the exercises with him, I know that I've been rebuilding some lost muscles myself. Though, my body screams at every movement every single day at this point since I don't have any time to take off for it. I ignore it each time though. Seeing these boys finally start to come back to life, even if we still have quite a ways to go, is extremely rewarding.

"Alright. Last exercise, yeah? See which one of us can get more pull ups in? Loser makes dessert for everyone tonight?" I challenge with a smile. His eyes widen.

"You're on!" He grins at the challenge. I can't help but return his grin, unbelievably happy to see him so lively again. Just a few weeks ago, his response would've been something along the lines of 'No fair, you'll win!'

Hearing him up so that he can grab the bar, I move over to the spot next to him on the long bar after moving his wheelchair out of the way just in case anything happens. Looking over at me, he grins and gives me a nod before we start.

Just as I begin to worry that I may actually lose this challenge, I see Jungkook slip from the bar out of the corner of my eyes. My eyes widen as I release the bar myself to help him. However, as my gaze fully falls on him, my eyes widen even further if possible. As he slowly lifts his head to look up at me, his expression matches my own.

"Jungkookie,... did you just..." I'm in too much amazement to be able to fully ask the question. His on one knee and one foot, leaning daringly forward with one arm bent between his chest and thigh while the other has its hand sprawled on the mat below him. However, it's blatantly obvious that majority of his weight is on the side of his body where his foot is a little bit behind his knee as his leg supports the weight.

Looking up at me, I can see the tears swell up in his eyes as a shaky smile makes its way into his lips. Swallowing hard, he focuses his attention on himself with determination in his eyes. I simply stand by, watching as he uses his arms to push himself up, using the support beam of the pull up bar to pull himself to his feet. Letting go of the beam once he manages to straighten his legs out to stand completely, he's on his feet for maybe thirty seconds before they gives out.

I act quickly, grabbing ahold of him to keep him from crumbling completely to the floor. Together we move him into a sitting position as he looks up at me with tears already streaming down his cheeks.

"They said I'd never be able to... That they'd never..." He fumbles to find words as he looks up at me in pure happiness and amazement. Chuckling in excitement, he pulls me into a tight hug as he begins crying harder.

"They work. They actually work. The doctors were wrong." He sobs happily as he buries his face into the crook of my neck. I can't help the thankful grin that spreads across my face as my own tears fall out of happiness for this sweet boy. After he finally calms down a bit, he pulls away with his giant grin still spread on his face.

"I think you win, Jungkookie. I think I make dessert for everyone tonight." I tell him as our tears keep flowing steadily. Hearing the door open to our side, both our heads snap up to the door to figure out what's going on. Seeing Hoseok stood in the doorway, I realize it must be time for me to be switching over to work with him. However, his eyes widen as a panicked look crosses his face when he sees us.