Jisung heard dull noises. Was it someone talking? A song? Something else? He couldn't tell at first but slowly the sound got clearer and louder. It felt like swimming up in a pool until finally breaking through the surface.
He opened his eyes instantly being blinded by the sudden lightness of the lamp above him. Everything was white... making Jisung wonder where he was. But he wasn't able to get a clear thought inside of his mind.
"Oh! Ohhhhh Jisung!"
"Calm down. He'll get a headache from your screaming."
Jisung wanted to turn his hear but there was something preventing him from doing so.
"Oh wait I'll help you." Jisung finally recognized the loud voice as Felix before the upper part of the bed he was lying on moved up until he was sitting and finally he was able to see the people in his room.
Jisung was pretty sure he was in a hospital... but why?
And why were Felix, Seungmin and Changbin here?
"Are you in pain?" Seungmin asked him while placing flowers on a small desk next to his bed.
Jisung thought for a second. He did feel his side, his neck and other parts of his body hurt but it wasn't too bad so he did his best to shake his head slightly. However that definitely hurt.
"We probably shouldn't ask him too much and start by explaining." Changbin smiled not wanting Jisung to move his head too much.
Seungmin and Felix had decided to visit Jisung directly after they came back from their class trip and ran into Changbin on the way. Everyone of them was already informed about Jisung's condition and the reason why he had these injuries in the first place.
However Jisung was still left dumbfounded. He couldn't remember what had happened or why he couldn't move his leg.
Waiting for anyone to explain he looked at all of them.
"So uhm, your right leg is broken, a bone in your right hand is fractured and 2 of your rips did break." Felix started. "Gladly they didn't puncture your lungs but it might be a bit hard to breath sometimes. You also had inner bleedings and your neck needs to be stabilized for a few days. It's been two days since you were here and you probably have to stay for another week until they'll let you go home." he sadly smiled and scratched his neck slightly.
"You know..." Seungmin continued.
"You can always talk to us when you're feeling bad, okay? We might not know each other well but you're not alone Jisung." he quietly added with a bright smile. Jisung really appreciated what he said but it seemed somehow weird to him. Why would they suddenly be so nice to him, say things like these... the fact alone that they visited him in hospital was something that Jisung had never experienced before.
'Why?' He formed with his mouth and noticed that it came out as a whisper. Very quiet... and probably no one of the people in here really heard him but there surely was a sound. It was only then that he remembered that he couldn't talk... what was that right now?
"Why? What do you mean?" Seungmin was confused about the other's question when he got an idea.
"You mean why you are here? I heard the doctor saying you might not remember what happened before the accident..." he wondered and looked up for a second before giving both Felix and Changbin a weird stare.
"I'm... not sure if we're the right people to tell you this though..." he slowly added making Jisung even more curious.
Was it that serious?
"Who else will, idiot?" Felix bumped his friend's shoulder before taking a deep breath.
"Jisung... you... jumped down from the roof 2 days ago. You were lucky you fell into some bushes in the rose garden. It weren't rose bushes though... gladly." It was like Felix tried to calm himself down with his words because it was obviously not something that he was fond about telling Jisung.
But the boy himself wasn't impressed much. It was the third time now, that he was in hospital because of attempted suicide although he had given up after the second time because Jisung had realized that it had just been plain stupid and he did never have the guts to do anything in the first place...
Intensively he tried to remember what happened that night until a small sequence replayed infront of his eyes. Right... he had accidently destroyed Minho's pocket watch and then... he had hit Jisung.
As he remembered what happened the thoughts of fear came back. Was Minho still angry at him? Would he hit him again when he'd come back?
"God Jisung! Why are you so chill about this!? You should give us the fault for not caring enough! I knew I should have tried harder." Felix interrupted his thoughts before they could escalate and face palmed himself.
Without knowing it, a smile formed on the injured boys face.
"You know what?" Felix continued with his loud voice.
"I'll start to make it up to you by telling you my deepest secret right here and now!"
Jisung wanted to tell the boy that he did nothing wrong in the first place and that it was in no way his fault but in that moment Felix had already made his decision.
"I... have a crush on Changbin since our childhood but I'm afraid to tell him but now he knows and I made a fool out of me."
The room went quiet for a few seconds. Nobody had expected Felix to say something like this. Well, Seungmin already knew it but he would have never guessed that Felix ever decided to confess his feelings.
"Uhm..." Changbin cleared his throat still staring at Felix.
"Is that the reason you've been avoiding me after that accident?" he carefully asked not really knowing what to say. He had never thought of Felix that way but to say that his confession didn't touch Changbin's heart at least a bit would be a lie.
"Y- yeah..." Felix had his eyes fixed on the floor while playing with his fingers while both Seungmin and Jisung watched the situation like some movie that just took an unexpected plottwist.
In the next moment Changbin grabbed Felix's hand, pulled him closer and placed a small peck in his cheek.
"If you're that cute it'll be difficult not to fall for you in the future." he chuckled while ruffling the younger's hair.
Felix stared at him with big puppy eyes as his face took the color of a strawberry.
'Did he just... give me a kiss?! And he didn't reject me!!!'
Felix couldn't believe what just happened making his mind messed up so he couldn't bring out a single word.
"Y- you, I- I w-was..." he stuttered trying to not make a fool out of him even more but it was hopeless.
"Ya, Felix. Just enjoy the moment and don't mess it up." Seungmin then laughed at him making his best friend close his mouth and smile densely.
"We're here for Jisung after all." He added but the said boy couldn't have wished for anything better to cheer him up.
As it seemed like, he had to stay here for another few days and deal with doctors constantly asking for his condition so Jisung was already happy about any person that decided to waste their time by visiting him.
The next few days, Hyunjin and Chan visited a few times and Felix also came back spending 3 hours telling Jisung the story how he fell in love with Changbin and that they were going to go on a date this weekend. All of them were so nice to Jisung that it even scared him a little bit because he could never know when they'd suddenly change their thoughts.
And there was always this little dissapointment that Jisung refused to accept. He caught himself wishing for Minho to come... but he wasn't delusional...
The second day when Chan had come to visit Jisung told him that he made some kind of progress in speaking. Jisung had actually never tried to talk to himself when he was alone but it did work perfectly fine just as Chan had told him from the beginning. His inability to speak was because he felt pressured when being with strangers and since pretty much all of the people around him weren't exactly close to Jisung he had difficulties talking to everyone.
This whisper when Seungmin talked to him was the first sign for Chan to go a bit further with the therapy. He didn't want to start of by focusing on Jisung being mute but by helping him to get different thoughts inside his head and calm down in his new home after what he experienced. Chan also spent a lot of time talking about Jisung's attempted suicide and telling him about ways to concentrate once experiencing a flashback or halluzination. In all cases Jisung should force himself to stay somewhere where people were around him to help and not run away before a flashback hit him.
The said boy listened attentively and wrote down mental notes to not let something like this happen again.
After all these people told him he had friends that cared, Jisung's will to survive was there with him so he tried to remember everything Chan said in case he'd have a down phase again.
After that they started with voice training beginning by doing an easy introduction like 'Hello, I'm Han Jisung'
It didn't work the first day they practised and in the second day it came out very quiet at the beginning and Jisung stuttered a bit. But that it actually worked in a way was probably centered around the fact that Jisung felt really comfortable with Chan and also that this was the first time he actually attempted speaking after almost two weeks.
It made him feel like he actually made progress.
They repeated this a few times until Jisung was able to say this phrase without stuttering or whispering and before Chan left he gave Jisung some advice for practising with people around him.
What Jisung had to overcome wasn't the inability but the fact that he didn't want to speak and feared to speak with people.
...
Then finally after all the waiting and painful breathing Jisung was able to leave the hospital. Unfortunately Dahyun couldn't come to get him but he knew that it was because of her work so the boy didn't hold any grudge. Instead Hyunjin decided to help Jisung out and drive him to the Lee Mansion. It was honestly difficult for Jisung to move around in his condition. Due to his broken leg he couldn't walk but using crutches wasn't really possible because his left hand was still injured so he couldn't put pressure on it.
So in the end Jisung was sent back in a wheelchair that he had to use for 2 weeks until his hand was fine. All in all the boy had to be careful not to move a lot and take his antibiotics and painkillers regulary.
Of course, Hyunjin had to remind him of that every 5 minutes so Jisung wouldn't accidently forget. Actually, the whole car drive to the mansion Hyunjin kept reminding Jisung to be more careful.
"And stay away from Minho if you can." Hyunjin said and Jisung noticed his voice tensing slightly. Did he know what happened? Did Minho tell him that he hit Jisung?
In confusion Jisung tilted his head as to say 'why?'. He could've tried actually saying it but he was way to tired and the situation didn't seem right.
"Because I don't want you to get hurt..." Hyunjin caressed the back of Jisung's head for a second and smiled before keeping his eyes on the road in front of him again.
The younger's eyes trailed to the others profile with a slight blush on his face.
Hyunjin had always been the one protecting him when they were younger. No matter the outcome... and Jisung never knew how he could thank him for that nor did he know how he could make up for that accident in the ice rink. And now that they were grown up it was still the same and Jisung was secretly really grateful for that. Hyunjin behaved completely natural around him as if the ten years in which they didn't see each other didn't exist.
For Jisung it was still a little awkward being around him but yet he enjoyed his friend's company.
An old memory crossed Jisung's mind when he thought of their childhood.
Whenever they'd want to say that they were important to each other they'd ruffle each others hair.
Was that the reason Hyunjin had done that just now?
Carefully, Jisung streched out his hand and did the same gesture back, letting his hand brush through Hyunjin's soft long black hair for a second.
Immediately after that he regretted what he did and was about to apologize when Hyunjin was faster than him.
"You're still just as cute as I remember you..." he laughed warmly making Jisung awkwardly scratch his neck. Nobody had ever called him cute except for his adoptive sister-
The smile slowly faded from Jisung's face and he leaned back in his seat strongly trying to not remember what happend. Instead he imagined her face infront of him when she'd run around the house whith a face mask covering her rosy cheeks and forcing Jisung to put one on too. She had always been energetic and read Jisung's emotions like an open book.
But will Jisung ever get over their death? Will the wound ever close and leave behind a scar of good memories instead of trauma?
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I'm seriously questioning if the readers ship Minsung or Hyunsung more in this story lol.