Nox
The sound of something dropping to the ground and frustrated sighs and groans cause me to instantly rise up from the soft surface I've been lying on. At first my vision is blurry, the intense luminosity of the sunlight that pokes through the half open curtains makes my eyes tear up and I let out a yawn. Running my fingers through my hair, I wipe my mouth from any excess drool as I hear familiar voices talking. An ocean scent mixed with hints of spice and wood and lime that comes from a forest green varsity jacket that's covering my body, overwhelms my sense of smell. I recognize it immediately and I smile to myself because it belongs to Jimin.
"Look, she woke up." Someone says and I turn around only to see my brother sitting on a chair next to Yoongi's hospital bed, while Yoongi himself is awake with a small grin lingering on his face. One of his eyes is bruised while bandages cover the scrapes that stained his cheekbones. His hair is unruly and slightly greasy, like he woke up from a huge slumber. An IV is attached to his hand, while his other arm is secured in a black cast. He's laying on his bed, the pillows stacked up in a way that they feel comfortable to lay on in a 'sitting' position. A small chess board with the pieces scattered all over the place, is placed on a small table right between Axel and Yoongi and a Rubik's cube is sitting on top of a book. Two duffel bags are on the floor and one of them belongs to me.
"About time," Yoongi flashes me a gentle smile that makes me feel warm and giddy inside, but at the same time the tiniest cut near the corner of his mouth makes me want to cry.
"Morning sunshine." He beams and it takes me a few seconds to process the situation when I abruptly jerk upwards and wrap my arms around his fragile body when he groans and his free hand tries to push me away a little. "Y-you're hurting me, I can't-"
"Shit, I'm sorry." I apologize in an instant and he grabs my hand.
"It's okay Nox," he says, his voice faint.
"How are you feeling?" I ask him.
"Well, it hurts like a bitch when I breathe and the nurse told me that I'm going to have to get respiratory therapy, but at least I'm not bored and alone in here. Can you believe that I've got to stay cooped up in this place for six months?" He says grumpily.
"Have you seen his stitches Noxie?" Axel intervenes with excitement. "He's got like six! And now he has titanium binding his ribs together."
"Oooh, how manly." I remark, trying to remain cheerful. "They don't 'bind' his ribs Axel, they're meant to stabilize them."
"Okay, that."
"Yeah, I'm like fucking Robocop." Yoongi snorts.
"By the way, how did you even get here?" I ask Axel and he shrugs.
"Jimin brought me." My brother replies swiftly. "We also brought you and Yoongi some stuff from home. He's a nice guy." He adds gesturing at the duffel bags on the floor.
"Really?" I pipe. He must have woken up at dawn to run all over the place like this.
"Yeah, he dropped by the apartment at like five am. Said he needed the spare for Yoongi's place and asked me to pack a bag for you." Axel tells me. "What a coincidence though, he mentioned something about his ex-getting in an accident."
"Shit," Yoongi rasps. "Is Evelyn okay?"
"Who's that?"
I ball my fists. Why is everyone so concerned about Evelyn?
"That's Jimin's ex."
"Wait a minute, is she the one you told me you tried to stop in the middle of the street?" Axel's eyes widen.
"She's fine." I answer him firmly.
"Is she here?" Yoongi inquires.
"How should I know? I just woke up!" I snap and his face falls.
"Jesus, eat a Snickers Godzilla." Axel mutters and I roll my eyes.
"You do realize that you're in here because of her right?"
"She wasn't in her right mind." Is all that he says.
"Yeah, I know everything Yoongi, but that doesn't change the fact that you broke your fucking rib cage because of her."
"Nox..."
"You always do this Yoongi." I say, tears welling in my eyes. "You always meddle with people's lives in order to fix whatever is wrong with them only to end up paying the price in the end. She was none of your business."
"Then what about when I meddled with your life?" He says lowly. "Should I have stayed out of it?"
I pace towards my duffel bag on the floor and grip it tightly out of frustration. I am not going to have this conversation with him right now and I don't want to say things to him that I don't mean. It's not the right time and he's still weak. "Whatever, I'm gonna go change."
I shut the door behind me when I enter the bathroom and I take out the clothes Axel brought me. Thank God, he didn't forget to pack me underwear and socks. I take off yesterday's clothes and replace them with the light blue shirt and white tank top my brother brought me. I shuck on my soft jeans then proceed to wash my face and put on my moisturizing cream. That little punk knows what products I use in the morning. I quickly brush my teeth and exit the bathroom when Axel throws me my wallet.
"I'm hungry can you go get me food?" Axel asks with a smirk and I cross my arms.
"I stayed here overnight; can't you be a little considerate?"
He pokes his tongue at me like a five-year old. "Your boyfriend came by at five am, while you were snoring on the bed next to Yoongi."
"He's right, you do snore." Yoongi snickers. "If it weren't for the beastly deep water sounds you make when you sleep, I would have never woken up! Even the nurses were surprised I woke up this early!"
"Shut up! Jimin isn't my boyfriend!" I exclaim, but that only makes him laugh like the annoying little shit he is. "Ugh, what do you want to eat little monster?"
"I want a breakfast burrito." Axel muses. "And a cappuccino."
"I'm craving for some chick fil a... don't you have school or something?" I question. "I'll take you."
"Car's still in service."
"You guys are cruel." Yoongi groans and I glance at the empty bowl of whatever soup he had for breakfast. "I'd kill for a burrito."
With that, I leave the hospital and quickly grab some breakfast for myself, Axel and Jimin if he happens to come by. I send him a quick text and he replies saying that he's coming to the hospital to see Yoongi after he runs an errand. After finishing up breakfast upstairs in the ICU, I take a cab with my brother and drop him off at the apartment while I walk to the car service center to retrieve my car.
With my remaining battery life, I check my messages only to see a message from Taehyung asking if I'm available on the weekend, but I don't answer it. Instead, I head back to the apartment and take a quick shower and cancel my massage appointments for the weekend then call the patisserie, asking if I could get a few days off. Much to my luck my boss cooperates with me, so now I have more time in my hands to take care of Yoongi. I've been told by the nurses that they've contacted his mother and she's taking a flight here, but I know that Yoongi would rather have me around given their tricky relationship.
It's the least I could do, since I still owe him for what happened three years ago.
When I return to the ICU, I open the door only to find Jimin sitting on the chair where Axel was sitting when he was here. Yoongi's mother is also here and she's rearranging some of the hospital food the nurses brought in earlier while talking to the guys about the accident.
"So, what you're saying is that your ex-girlfriend tried to commit suicide and Yoongi happened to be in the area?" Mrs. Min asks in order to confirm what she's learned so far. Jimin flinches a little at the mentioning of the suicide and nods lightly.
"Yes, mom a truck hit us. We're both alive and in one piece; sort off. End of story." Yoongi concludes for his mother. "Can we please stop talking about this now?"
"Yoongi, shut your mouth for one second." His mom snaps. "Jimin is your girlfriend staying at the hospital too? I would like to see her."
"I took her back to her apartment."
"Good luck with that, she didn't even come to see if I was alright." Yoongi snorts. "What makes you think she'll want to see you?"
"That's why I want to see that woman Yoongi! I want to give her a piece of my mind!" Mrs. Min slams her hand on the mattress. "You have no idea how worried your father and I were. And the fact that we couldn't come here right away when you were being operated just shatters my heart! That woman will listen to what I have to say or so help me."
"Hey Nox. Didn't notice you there." Says Yoongi when he sees me.
"Hi Yoongs. Jimin." I greet. "Hello, Mrs. Min. Remember me?"
"It would be hard to forget you." Mrs. Min crosses her arms and looks at me disapprovingly. "After what you put Yoongi and Hayden through I would nev-"
"Mom," Yoongi says firmly. "Enough."
"You went to see her yesterday, didn't you?" I ask him. "The accident happened in Azure Street and that place is near the corner."
"I visit her on Thursdays." Yoongi says murkily while Jimin stares at all of us blankly. I would be looking stupid too if no one included me in the conversation.
"I thought you're not allowed to see Hayden. Her family gave you a restraining order." Mrs. Min tells him. "Don't tell me you created fake paperwork so that you could go see her." The vein on her forehead is ready to pop from anxiety.
"I'm her only friend Mom." Yoongi says in a whisper. "No, she's not my friend. She's more than that."
"I want you to stop visiting that girl Yoongi. She's put you through enough hell already. You started smoking and taking drugs because of her bad influence."
"What happened to her was my fault and you know it." He bites back, clutching at his clothing from the pain on his chest. "I started taking drugs because of what happened to my brother or did you forget he existed just because his body is buried six feet underground?"
No, what happened to Hayden was all my fault.
Please...
Stop blaming yourself.
For things you can't control.
And for the mistakes that I made.
I don't dare to say a thing.
Not one word comes out.
"Yoongi, calm down." Jimin tries to keep him under control. He shouldn't be fighting his mother right now.
"Stay the fuck out of this Jimin! This doesn't concern you." Yoongi growls and Jimin grits his teeth. "And you," he turns to Mrs. Min "you out of all people have no right to tell me I can't see her when you don't even visit your son's grave. You stopped caring the minute shit hit the fan and I blame both you and Dad fuck-" He coughs out, but that only pains him even more. The slightest movement or abrupt jerk can cause him immense pain.
"Enough! You can hardly breathe!" Jimin exclaims and just like that he turns quiet. His voice is sharp like a knife, strict and absolute. I've never heard him yell before and so hasn't Yoongi. Even Mrs. Min seems appalled by Jimin's tone. "Stop acting irrationally. Can't you see that stress jeopardizes his health?"
"Call the nurse! He can't breathe!" Yoongi's mother cries and I quickly press the nurse call button beside the bed.
The nurse comes in a moment later and helps Yoongi wear his oxygen mask. He looks so drained that he can barely move and we're all losing our shit here when we see how lifeless he looks on the hospital bed. His chest is heaving up and down, taking slow deep breaths, but even with the help of the mask the pain he's feeling is excruciating for him.
It should have been me.
things are getting interesting...
hope you're enjoying the plot so far.. I know that a lot of yall probably expect the same heat like in EC, but in this book this isn't the case. and jimin is probably the only healthy character I've made which is laughable bc i created him on a whim.
also I just want to say I'm sorry for my inconsistent updates, I was pmsing and I was having an overall shitty week and well tomorrow ill get the second dose of the vaccine which means I'll be probably bedridden for a day or two. I'm still on a break bc I'm facing a creative burnout so plz wait for me:)
anyways! stay healthy and get vaccinated! if you don't wanna get vaccinated follow all the necessary precautions.
love ya lots🖤