Man - y.kh

twenty-five.

Minhyuk kept looking in the backseat, I assume to check on Jooheon. "Men in this town don't need to be fathers. They don't need to be around children."

I rolled my eyes, just really wanting to be away from him at this point. "So when are you getting your vasectomy?" He needed to keep quiet while we drove to the hospital. I wasn't feeling too docile anymore. The more and more I replayed the entire situation in my head, the more and more I got angry. He almost exactly like Abraham. The only difference? I could break Minhyuk down mentally. I could easily hurt him with only my words. There was no way I could stop Abe. Minhyuk was weak in more than one aspect.

I got him to be quiet for the rest of the ride. When we got to the hospital, I was greeted by Changkyun. "Hey," he mumbled, noticing how close to tears I was. "Hey... Calm down. What's wrong?" He pulled me to seats nearby.

I hadn't told him anything. I just needed him here. "So," I croaked, my voice cracking. The tears began to fall. "Hyungwon's sister died. And it was due to complications from an attack a while ago. She was out on the streets and two guys didn't like the fact that she was trans. So they... They did something unspeakable to her. And beat her. And left her for dead in a fucking dumpster. And there was a coma for her, a lot of infections. She chose to end her life because of how much pain she was in." Changkyun reached up and wiped my tears away. "And Hyungwon signed her papers with her. And he felt guilty for her death."

Changkyun furrowed his eyebrows. "How so?" He asked.

"She was prostituting to get me some cheap T. It was probably illegal too. And he asked her to do it for me. Because she did it for herself and she turned out okay." Changkyun nodded following along. "Plus he signed her papers. Jooheon... He slit his arms. And then I remembered that when we found her in the dumpster, Hyungwon almost killed himself. When I walked in on him today, he was crying, holding the gun at his chest. Minhyuk came and a few moments later, he shot himself in the head instead. But he shot off center. That's why he's here." I bit my lip. "And then, something else happened on the way here." I looked down at my lap, feeling Minhyuk's hands on my thighs. Anxiety clawed its way up my throat.

Changkyun kneeled in front of me, holding my hands. I began to cry again. "Hey, it's okay. You can tell me anything. I'm here." I shook my head. I knew Minhyuk would hear me. He wasn't far away. "Why not?" He asked.

I sighed, wiping my tears away. "I don't need you blowing up like you used to. I don't know if you do anymore." Whenever someone disrespected me, whether it was calling me by my dead name or it was groping me, he'd get into a blowout fight over it. Suspended with the other person suffering at home with bruised or broken bones.

"Is it someone around us?" I nodded slowly, my eyes shifting toward the check in. "I won't do anything but you gotta tell me. If I have to ask him, I make no promises."

I gripped his hands anxiously before releasing quickly. "Okay... He hates me. He hates me, he's transphobic only toward me, he victim blames me. He's so rash with Jooheon. He-" Changkyun cut me off.

"He was sexually exploiting Hyungwon when they were younger and now he thinks he can still put hands on people? Yeah, I fucking know." Changkyun was getting angry. "What did he fucking do to you?"

Just as I was trying to calm him down, Minhyuk walked over to us. "He's in the ICU, he's probably gonna be in a coma. He can probably hear us. You wanna go see him?" Changkyun looked up at him, anger fuming. "What are you looking at?" Minhyuk asked.

I grabbed at Changkyun's arm as he tried to stand up. "Let's go see him." I looked around the waiting room for Jooheon. "Where's Jooheon and Luna?" I asked. I quieted down to hear for Luna. Just my luck, there was barking off into the distance. "Jooheon?" I called. I reached into my back pocket. My eyes widened when I didn't feel the exacto knife. "Oh, shit!" I began running toward the bathrooms. Minhyuk and Changkyun followed after me.

"What's happening?" Minhyuk asked, trying to keep up.

Panic set in for me. "Your brother's self harming and I know he's not going to stop himself." I came to a dead end, turning around immediately to rush back to the waiting room. "Jooheon! This isn't cool, where are you?!" I was running out of breath looking for this damn kid.

"Where would he be?" Changkyun said, taking a break.

I shook my head, not knowing. Then I heard barking above us. It slowly descended below us. "The fucking elevators!" Minhyuk led us back to the elevators. He beat on the buttons, trying to get the elevator back up.

As soon as the door opened, we were faced with Jooheon and Luna. She was laying in his lap as he cried. "Kid, why?" I asked, sitting next to him. He was going to need a trip to the ER for some sutures.

"I-I'm sorry..." He whined.

I shook my head. "Why? We'll just get you help." I wiped his tears.

"No!" He cried. "What about you? I didn't get you help! I left you." My jaw dropped slightly.

I pulled him closer to me. "Hey," I whispered softly. "You don't feel bad for that. Okay? You don't feel bad for that. Even though you knew what was happening, you are not to blame." I helped him up, grabbing tissues from right outside the elevator. "Kyunnie, can you take him to the ER? He needs sutures. Those are way too deep." He nodded, leading Jooheon away.

Minhyuk scoffed. "Why not me, his actual brother?"

I shot him a cutting glare. "Because, he ran off and did this because of you! Do you know what he was talking about?" Minhyuk froze, letting me know he had no answer. "He felt guilty for standing outside the car and not doing anything to help me against you! You made him stand outside the car, and he felt bad that he didn't get enough courage to tell you to stop. So you don't get to take him because you caused it." I took a deep breath, rubbing my face. "Why in the fuck are you such a dick? I don't really give two shits about what your father did but tell me anyway." I really didn't care. I wasn't going to have much sympathy for him, honestly.

"He taught me to 'be a man', take what I want, give nothing in return. Did you want the dirty details?" He quipped sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. "No, but I want you to stop acting as if what you're doing is okay. The transphobia, the victim blaming. I'm aware Hyungwon now tells you everything, but that gives you no fucking right to treat me the way you do. I'm fucking sick of it. I've done nothing to you. And I'm so sorry for taking away your precious boy toy, maybe your mom will adopt another one you choose to exploit." I let it all out. If he was going to attack me in the way he does verbally, two could play that ballsy game. "And why does Changkyun hate you so much? Don't tell me you used him too."

Minhyuk scoffed. "Room 6," he headed toward the ICU.

I sighed softly. "I'm sorry for snapping so much. But I'm really fed up with your bipolar ass attitude toward me. I already hate myself, I hate what I did to him. I don't need your extra disapproval." I walked ahead of him, getting to the ICU quickly.

The inane beeping of the monitor caused my breath to hitch. I stopped walking, my feet failing to move forward. "Come on," Minhyuk whispered taking my hand. "I know I'm a dick... But especially right now, you don't need that. It's okay."

We walked into Hyungwon's room and I felt a weight on my shoulders immediately. "Oh my God, Hyungwon..." He looked horrible. His eyes were half shut, his mouth slightly opened due to the breathing tube in his throat and pale, because of the blood loss. I took it upon myself to cuddle up to him, pulling a chair to his bedside and laying ny head on his chest. Whenever I wanted a nightmare to end, I'd get close to him like this. And at this point, I'm begging for the end to be near.