you're different • chanbaek

Pt. 16

Chanyeol was immediately greeted by the strong smell of bleach and anti septic cleaning products; a typical smell of a hospital room.

"Chanyeol," Baekhyun's mother smiled, "Come in, come in." She motioned to bring one of the spare chairs over.

Chanyeol made his way over with the chair and sat it down, just so he was across from the two, not feeling as though he was close enough relationship wise to sit directly beside them.

He finally brought his attention to the male in the hospital bed. He was asleep, the surgical bandages wrapped around his head causing his hair to stick out over it.

"Is he okay?" Chanyeol spoke up, his eyes looking back to the older woman.

"Yeah, he's fine, he just got out a couple minutes ago," Baekhyun's mother replied, "It went well from what I've heard so far from the doctor. He's just really tired and dopey."

"Oh." Chanyeol replied, turning his attention back to Baekhyun.

His mother leaned in, stroking Baekhyun's hair, causing him to stir and open his eyes.

He immediately perked up at the sight of Chanyeol and Kyungsoo, "Hi guys." He smiled, his eyes heavy and voice thick with sleep.

"Hey." Kyungsoo replied and Chanyeol just smiled softly.

Baekhyun was about to speak up but the nurse walked in. "Hi there, here is the snack you wanted, just call on me if you need anything else." She smiled before leaving the room again.

Baekhyun furrowed his brows not catching what the nurse said. Everything was too slow and he was too tired to focus on people's lips, so he turned to his mother but she too busy digging in her handbag and pulled out her phone, placing the packet of crackers on the bed.

"I'm sorry, I promised I'd make it to work just before the dinner shifts started." She excused herself, taking the phone call outside, not looking pleased.

Baekhyun frowned, picking up the snack that was abandoned on the bed. He was thankful his mother was with him through it all, even managing to get nearly the whole day of work for him. She could never get a shift off of work.

He decided not to sulk on it because he did know beforehand that she wouldn't be here the whole day. He looked up seeing that Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were talking away with each other, he wanted to join in but it felt like the room was spinning half of the time and it was too much of an effort. He decided the best thing to do was just eat, he hadn't eaten anything all day.

He opened the packet of crackers, the packet suddenly bursting and crackers spilling everywhere. "Oh no." He mumbled, looking back up guilty to see Chanyeol and Kyungsoo looking back at him and the mess he made.

"Okay, I've got to go." Baekhyun's mum stepped back in the room and tutted, "Baekhyun, you've just made a mess." She sighed, getting her purse.

I'll come back as soon as my shift is over. She signed before bending down to give her son a kiss on the forehead. "I'm so proud of you." She smiled, waving goodbye as she left the room.

Kyungsoo started to clear up the fallen crackers off the bed as Chanyeol wheeled over the table to place them on. "There." Kyungsoo smiled once it was cleared up.

"Sorry." Baekhyun said, lowering his head as he munched on a cracker.

Kyungsoo just laughed, Chanyeol chuckled too. Baekhyun looked up a small smile creeping on his face at the two laughing.

"What's so funny?" He asked, finding himself laughing too.

"Just you." Kyungsoo rolled his eyes.

Baekhyun huffed and continued to eat, watching as Chanyeol turned on the TV with the remote. He sank back down into the pillow, it wasn't the comfiest but it will just have to do. He watched as Kyungsoo and Chanyeol began to converse again.

He finished off a few more crackers, finding it a struggle to stay awake and eat. He sighed deeply and leaned even further back, eventually drifting back to sleep.

...

"Where are my arm bands?" Baekhyun asked, rummaging around in the packed bag for the beach, becoming more impatient when he couldn't find them.

"I think your mum packed them, Baek." His dad sighed as they continued to drive down the country road.

"No! I saw you holding them at one point." Baekhyun protested, losing his patience by the second, how was he supposed to play in the sea without his arm bands?

His mother sighed and turned around fishing through the bag but Baekhyun quickly snatched it away.

"No! I want dad, dad will know where they are!" He smiled, he always missed his dad when he'd go off on business trips, not understanding why he couldn't spend time with him like other kids did with their dads at his age.

His dad let out a deep sigh and turned around, the gasp coming from his wife at what he was doing.

He tried to grab the bag but it was too far out of his reach, he quickly unbuckled his belt and reached out for it.

"This is irresponsible and dangerous— Look out!" Baekhyun's mother began to scream as she tried to swerve the car away but it was too late.

Baekhyun squeezed his eyes shut, it was like a rollercoaster, a horrible, painful rollercoaster. He wanted it to stop as he screamed out, feeling his head bang against something hard and then everything fell still.

He looked up, his mother was there in her seat but he couldn't find his dad, he couldn't hear the screams he could see coming from his mother's mouth.

His head was throbbing and he desperately tried to look for his dad, but he wasn't in the car anymore, everything was dizzy and he just wanted to go home now, he didn't want to go to the beach anymore.

Soon enough his eyelids were growing heavy and everything went black.

...

Baekhyun immediately sat up, his breaths heavy and heart racing from that familiar dream.

It was dark now in the room, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo long gone and the throbbing in his head was worse, probably because the pain killers were starting to wear off.

He looked to his right noticing his mother sleeping in the visiting chair beside him. He let out a small sigh, trying to calm himself down from that awful dream from that awful day.

But the guilty pulling sensation wouldn't go away in his gut, he wanted nothing more to just get out of this room. He felt fine now, he was no longer tired and the surgery was over with. He wanted to go home.

He pulled away the covers and stood up but he was still hooked up to whatever was making him so loopy from before. He took out the needle, his arm stinging for a split second but it wasn't as worse as his headache.

He quietly slipped into the bathroom, turning his head back to see his mother still fast asleep. His eyes fell on his abandoned clothes still folded from before he changed into the hospital gown.

He looked in the mirror, gently touching his bandage wrapped around his head, he huffed watching his breath move some of the hair up from his face.

Once changed into his normal clothes he walked out the bathroom and headed straight for the door, it was just for a little walk outside after all, what harm could that do?