The Hidden Treasure

~36~

Taehyung sat on the edge of his hospital bed waiting for the all clear so he could leave. He adjusted his shirt and pulled his jacket sleeves down a little more, but they were just a bit short. He sighed and ran a hand down the opposite sleeve. His mind became preoccupied with a crazy assortment of thoughts all vying for his complete attention but not receiving more than a fleeting moment of it.

His phone buzzed beside him and he ignored it. He wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone right now. He stood up and shifted his shoulders to try and make the jacket more comfortable. He happened to look down at his persistently buzzing phone and saw a name he had been wanting to see but hadn't had the courage to make contact with.

Video chat request from Megan.

Accept or decline?

A small smile slid across his pale lips and he picked up the phone just as it stopped buzzing. "Oh?" he murmured, clearly disappointed that he had taken too long to accept the call. However, to his delight the phone began buzzing once again. She was nothing if not tenacious. He giggled softly and accepted the call.

The black screen slowly loaded her face and he smiled as his eyes fell on her image.

"Taehyung! Were you ignoring my call?"

Her finger was pointing at the screen and her face was adorably stern looking. He grinned and nodded. "I thought you were my manager or someone else I had no desire to talk to right now. I'm sorry." He flashed a little aegyo just for good measure and watched as she melted like butter in his hand.

"Rude. You don't get off that easy!"

"But you wouldn't hate on a patient would you?" He pouted slightly and felt a small sense of victory as he saw her struggle to keep the frown on her face.

"Are you really still in the hospital? I thought you would get to go home fairly early."

He felt bad because now she really was concerned. "PD-nim made me stay an extra day just to make sure everything was good. Now I just have this beautiful line of stitches on my head," he said, leaning his head down so she could get a good look, "and some bruises which I won't show you because," he said as his voice trailed into a whisper. He looked around suspiciously and then back to the screen, "Because it would be indecent to show you." He smirked as her face shaded and she rolled her eyes.

"Again, rude. I'm sorry you're still there. I wish I could be there to help you through all this." Her face became genuinely concerned. Taehyung sat back down on the tightly made bed and pulled his legs up to a criss-cross position.

"I wish you were too. But I'm afraid things aren't too fun right now. You wouldn't have a good time with me or any of us right now."

Megan watched his face grow dark and her heart constricted at the sight of it. A sad Taehyung was more heart breaking than anything. "Do you want to talk about it?" She knew something was bothering him other than his inconvenience of being left in the hospital a day more than he wanted.

His face grew sad for a split second and then he pasted a wide smile on. "Nope! I'm good. Sorry for making you worry, Megan."

"Hey, what are friends for? Right? I'm just sorry I can't do more for you."

Taehyung tried to ignore the bitter stinging occurring in his heart when she had said the word "friends." Was this what everyone meant by being "friend-zoned?"

"You've encouraged my ears by just calling me right now." He smiled what he hoped was a happy looking smile.

"How's everyone else doing?"