HEE:LIFT | TXT & Enhypen

~ seventy-eight ~

TW: references kidnapping, eating disorders, depression, suicidal thoughts, and death

~~~~~

Hospital (Round Two) || 2/4

3:14 p.m.

"Hey, Taehyun. We brought you some food." Heeseung quietly entered the dark room, pursing his lips at the sight of an empty bed.

Taehyun sat alone, crisscrossed on the floor, shuffling through a deck of cards over and over again. He made no acknowledgment of the eleven boys gathering around him.

Heeseung took a deep breath, putting on an encouraging smile. "Doing magic?"

He set down a tray of food next to the younger boy.

"I'm not hungry."

"Can you please eat something, though?" Yeonjun crouched, gently brushing Taehyun's bangs out of his eyes. "We're worried about you."

"Who's with Beomgyu?" Taehyun muttered.

"No one. He's getting another MRI right now. Taehyun, they're doing everything they can to take care of Beomgyu. But you... You have to take care of yourself, okay?"

Sunghoon nodded in agreement. "You want to be strong and full of energy when Beomgyu hyung wakes up. All that starts with food, so come on, take a few bites. I'll eat with you."

"I can't," Taehyun whispered, weakly staring off into space. "He's all I have."

"Taehyun, we have to have a talk." Soobin took a deep breath, his eyes glazed with tears. "You can't stay like this. God forbid, if Beomgyu doesn't wake up, you have to get better. He wouldn't want you to throw your life away for him."

"I don't care what he wants." Taehyun set down the deck of cards, blankly gazing at the wall in front of him. "If he's dead, then I might as well be too."

Soobin tilted his head back, blinking painfully. "Taehyun. Please. I can't lose both of you."

The room fell silent.

Yeonjun was the first to begin crying. He bowed his head, hiding his face in his hands. Kai sank to the ground and wrapped his arms around the older boy as Sunoo quietly sniffled, clinging to Heeseung's arm. All of the boys huddled together in one large, misshapen blob.

They stayed like that for a while until finally, Taehyun murmured in a meek voice, "Sunghoon. Split the soup with me."

Heeseung quickly started to usher the other boys into the hallway as Sunghoon took a seat on the floor, sliding the food tray between him and Taehyun.

"We love you, Taehyun." Soobin leaned down, brushing aside the younger boy's bangs to kiss his forehead. "Always remember that."

He helped Yeonjun up and they left the room.

"Sunghoon," Heeseung lightly called. "You need me to stay?"

"No, it's okay. I'm good."

Although it looked like Sunghoon was more so choking on food as opposed to eating it, everything that went down stayed down, and Heeseung supposed that was good enough for him. He closed the door, leaving the two boys to eat together in silence.

***

5:36 p.m.

"So, tell us again what happened?" The police captain pulled up a chair, facing Daniel and Heeseung, who sat side-by-side on the couch in Daniel's hospital room.

He glanced back at the young soldier standing behind him. "And don't mind my assistant. He's just here to take notes."

"I know you." Daniel tilted his head, gazing at the soldier. "You're Dobby-ssi, right? We've seen you around."