Ego: Hit and Run (Taekook)

When You Thought You Were Dying, You Told Me You Loved Me

Taehyung hated hospitals.

He hated the way the color of the walls made his eyeballs hurt, the constantly hectic chaos of the halls, but most of all, he hated the smell of death.

"—her organs are no longer able to function on their own. Keeping the treatment going at this point may prolong her death and may also be very expensive— "

Taehyung interrupted the doctor. "She reeks of death, halmeoni! This damned place is taking the life out of her. We can't keep doing this to her... I don't even think it's her anymore. She's gone."

Silence engulfed the room. Taehyung inhaled deeply through his nose, deliberately trying to avoid the sound of his grandmother crying.

"What happens? How will she die, if we do what you're suggesting?" he continued, willing his own tears to remain unshed.

"When we remove life support, patients usually pass within hours or days. She should stop breathing and die soon after we take her off of the ventilator, though some do start breathing again on their own, which does not apply— "

"There's a chance she can wake up, and breathe on her own?" his grandmother broke out of her sorrow to ask.

"Although some, very few, patients do continue to breathe without the help of the ventilator, that possibility is not applicable, not in this case. You see, breathing is controlled by the medulla, the part of the brain that controls subconscious reactions we perform all of our lives. Breathing, heart beating, blood pressure and the like. Mrs.Kim's brain injury most heavily damaged her brain stem, which is where the medulla is located in the brain. So the chance that she will regain a significant amount of brain activity in that region is next to impossible," the doctor explained, reciting a well rehearsed script.

"But there is a chance, there is always a chance, right? A miracle, we have to hope for a miracle," his grandmother continued, convincing herself more than any of the other two in the room.

"Do it. Take her off of it. See what happens, pray, do whatever you want," Taehyung began, standing up to leave the room. "But I won't be around to see her die. Again."

And with that, Taehyung left the room, closing the damned door, locking it in his mind, and vowing to never breach its hinges ever again.

That smell; it was there in Hyewon's room, seeping into the cracks in the walls and hanging over the bed like an iron curtain. And now, Taehyung was in her place, teetering on the brink of that veil of death as he faded in and out of reality.

The first time he had regained consciousness, he heard a mix of familiar and unidentified voices on all sides.

"—quick! Bring him in! Get the table ready, nurse. Kim-ssi, we're going to have to move him. Now, Jeongguk-ah!"

Jeongguk-ah? He's here? Why the fuck is he here, he needs to leave. Tell him to leave!

"Sir, we really need to get going. Your father— "

Thank you. God bless you, whoever you are.

"I'm not leaving him! I'll handle my father, Kim, don't worry about it." Taehyung almost fainted at the realization that the same voice of his angel from earlier belonged to the stubborn boy who was holding him right now. The same boy who was supposed to be far, far away from this stench of death and in a strict isolation at the Jeon safe house. He was interrupted, however, by a violent stream of blood (judging from the metallic taste), gushing from his mouth as he struggled to inhale.

"Oh my god, Tae?! Jesus— " Jeongguk sounded in pain, as if he was the one vomiting up his own blood.

"Jeongguk! We need you to let go of him now! Get me an intubation kit— "