A Heart To Heal (BL)

CH 2.2 - Disregard (PU)

*cough* *cough*

"Master, you sound really sick. Do you want me to come over so I can take care of you?".

"No, there's no *cough* need, my baby".

Jaehwan frowned on the other side of the phone. He used to think that Shujin avoiding him was impossible but he might be wrong. "Are you sure, Master? I can drive over if you give me four hours. I can look after you,". Jaehwan rested his chin on the cushion he was hugging, sighing.

"There's no need, my angel. I'll *cough* handle it alone,". Jaehwan hung up on him and pushed his face into the cushion, feeling as if he wanted to scream in frustration. He felt tears etch down his cheeks and he sniffled to himself.

Shujin had not been calling him for weeks now. In fact, Jaehwan was the one who constantly tried to get a hold of him when it used to be the other way around. Jaehwan felt his chest region throb painfully and hunched over, squeezing the cushion.

'It triggered..'

He got up and hobbled over to the medicine cabinet before opening a bottle of his pills. He got a glass of water and he took one solemnly. His chest continued throbbing and the pain wouldn't cease until the medicine kicked in. He really felt like he was on the edge of his nerves. All he wanted to do was see his Master, to have one of their lengthy Monday night video calls again.

Scrolling up his HATO chatlog, Jaehwan could see all of their older messages. Even though Shujin was strict and controlling with him, at least he cared enough to know if Jaehwan was safe or not. Seeing how quickly Shujin changed made him feel miserable and he knew he didn't change because of work. He switched off his phone and sighed, drowning from the stabbing pain in his chest as he crumpled onto the sofa.

Just at that moment, Aki had returned home with Asuna. She was allowed to sleepover because they were supposed to take her to Shiuma Park tomorrow. Asuna took off her shoes and she wanted to run up to Jaehwan to hug him but she was surprised to see him face down on the sofa, clutching at his chest hard. "Jaehwan-Oniichan are you okay?!"She gasped.

Hearing how panicked she sounded, Aki hurriedly took off his shoes before he ran to Jaehwan. He could see how much pain Jaehwan was in and knelt by his side. "Jae, are you okay? Is your heart hurting you again?". Jaehwan turned to look at Aki's face miserably and nodded. Aki turned to look at the kitchen counter and noticed that Jaehwan's bottle of medicine was there. "Did you already take one?".

Feeling the pain eat him up, Jaehwan nodded and shifted to his side. Aki bit his lip and looked at Asuna. "Suna-chan, go wash up and change into your pyjamas first. I'll handle Jaehwan-Oniichan. Okay?". The little girl nodded and darted up the stairs with her small bag of luggage and Aki stooped to carry Jaehwan to their bedroom so that he could rest.

Recently, Jaehwan's health had been a topic of concern for Aki. He seemed to be taking his pills more often than usual. (Jaehwan has to take two pills for his heart regularly, one to "lessen" the pain for whenever it comes the next time and one for "almost immediate pain relief". The one Aki's referring to is the second pill). "Jae, do you think you're healthy enough to go to the park tomorrow? If you can't, we can just stay home with Asuna,"He whispered, holding Jaehwan's weak body close to him.

Despite the fact that he was visibly in excruciating pain, Jaehwan tried to be as responsive as possible. "I-I'm fine. We..promised her,"He whimpered, skinny arms around Aki's neck as he was being carried up the stairs. "Yeah, we did. But your health comes first. If you're not fit to go, then we should postpone it to the end of the year holidays,".

Even though he felt like the room was spinning, Jaehwan was adamant. "No. She waited so long for this and even got good grades for this. She doesn't deserve to be punished for something I can't control,". Aki laid him down on the bed and tucked him in. He could see how pale and drained of colour Jaehwan had become and his eyes were watery. "If the light is hurting your eyes, I can turn on the bedside lamp instead,".