Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
"Can they turn that damn clock off? Why is it so loud?"
"It's not loud." Miss Sullivan tells her son. "It's just quiet in here."
"I was hoping you'd take the hint and leave."
"Why? Because I'm trying to get what's best for you done?"
"I'm not taking her off of my healthcare proxy." Jahlil states.
"Why?!" His mother raises her voice suddenly. "That girl hasn't done a damn thing for you. She's done nothing but stress you out and take your son. I'm telling you, Jahlil. She was going to let you die in here. She did not care. Had I not said anything to them nurses, she'd have let you die!"
He scoffs in amusement. "No, she wouldn't have."
"I'm telling you-."
Knocks on the door interrupt their conversation.
"Yes?" His mother calls.
"It's the nurse. I'm here for the vitals check."
"You can come in."
The nurse opens the door and Miss Sullivan recognizes her to be one of the nurses that have helped her son before. She's been in a few for his vitals checks since Jahlil has been in the recovery room.
When Nurse Beth isn't working, Nurse Kyra works with Jahlil. They're the nurses assigned to his recovery room.
"You don't know anything about her." Jahlil replies to his mother. "She would have never let me die. You're being dramatic."
"Good morning." Kyra greets as she walks into the room.
"And you do?" His mother questions, offended by her son's words. "You know her? You didn't think she'd ever leave you. You thought she'd be with you forever and she's not. She took your son and she left you high and dry. I've been here this entire time. Even before she was here and this is how you treat me for her?"
"You're being dramatic. None of that shit even matters." Jahlil tells her. "We know she works here. I can get my son back."
Kyra gets the blood pressure monitor ready as she prepares to start the vitals check.
"I can't leave, though. So you gonna have to go down to the court house for me and get the papers. I'll fill them out, you get them back there and we can have her served."
"You need to file for full custody. She don't need to have that baby at all." Miss Sullivan voices her opinion. "You can tell the courts that, you know that right? You can say she's mentally unwell. She's not fit to take care of that baby like that."
"They not gonna let me just take him from her. They always give more favor to the mothers. I don't want to take him from her. But she not just gonna shut me out their life like that's not my child. I gave her that baby. That's my first son."
"They'll let you take him if you tell them she got postpartum depression." Miss Sullivan says. "If you tell them that she isn't taking any medicine or nothing, and you fear for your child's safety, they'll give you that baby. I'll tell you that. She wanna play and take him, we can be dirty and get him back. Something gotta be wrong with her for her to do that in the first place. Taking a lil boy away from his father. The hell is wrong with her?"
Kyra listens to the conversation while she holds the compression sleeve up. Jahlil slips his arm into it and she fits the sleeve snug on his arm. She pushes the button on the machine as she stands by the bed.
"I ain't tryna do all that." Jahlil shakes his head. "I'm just not bout to let her get away with taking him from me. And she moved all the way the fuck out here. That's why we couldn't find her ass."
"You know what?" His mother says as she crosses her arms. "I don't know what she must've told these people either. 'Cause when we had that last meeting, I asked that doctor, the head doctor, I think, about getting her off the paperwork and he told me it was a 'personal matter'. But just a couple days before that, they was tryna help me with it."
Kyra's eyebrows twitch as she listens to what's being said. She glances over at the clipboard on the desk.
Primary Surgeon........ Dr. Yoongi Min
Overseeing Director..... Dr. Jacob Hyde
Recovery Care Nurse(s)..... Beth Studor, Kyra Gainey
Physical Recovery Therapist..... Lionel David
Under Yoongi and Hyde's name is a copy of their signature, signing off on the recovery plan.
"You said the surgeon sent you to the legal team." Jahlil says.
"Because they did. So I could get her off. Now all of a sudden, they can't help me with it. Harper works right in here. I literally saw her!"
"Harper?" Kyra repeats, the name catching her attention.
"Yeah." Miss Sullivan as they both look at her.
"You know her?" Jahlil asks.
"I don't know her. I just know of her. She works at the desk."
"Downstairs, right?" Miss Sullivan asks.
Kyra slowly shakes her head as her eyebrows furrow.
"No, she works up here. She just hasn't.. been. Y'all know her?" She asks, suddenly putting two and two together.
"Yeah." Jahlil answers. "That's my baby mom."
Kyra's eyes widen in surprise.
Oh my god. That's his son.
She knew that he wasn't Yoongi's. She just knew. Harper also denied it that day at the cafe but she couldn't be too sure knowing how Yoongi likes to hide things.
"She took my son and dipped when she was like seven months. Bitch got mad 'cause I told her I ain't want to be with her no more."
"You said she works up here?" Miss Sullivan questions, confused. "I ain't seen her up here since that night I called her out. She ain't even work up here that day." She turns to her son. "She must be tryna avoid her consequences."
Miss Sullivan turns back to Kyra. Conflicted, she's realizing that she may have said more than she should to patients. But on the other hand, 'technically', this is Harper's 'family'.
"You know what days she's supposed to be up here?" Miss Sullivan asks.
Kyra shakes her head. "I'm not supposed to give that information out. But I will say... that I've never seen her up here during the day. And I know she's never here on Wednesdays."
Jahlil's eyes subtly narrow at the woman, looking at her skeptically.
Kyra finishes up his vitals and leaves the room without another word.
Jahlil waits until the door clicks to look at his mother. She raises her eyebrows at him.
"I can go down to the courthouse first thing tomorrow morning and bring them papers back."
"Yeah..." Jahlil looks at the copy of his surgery form.
Harper's signature and the date that she signed state back at him in black in.
"Go ahead and do that."
######
The sound of a clock ticking can be heard in the lounge as Yoongi walks into the room.
He sits at the table toward the back as he always does and opens up his bag of food. The smell of steak and eggs hits his nose and his mouth waters.
Taking out his phone, he calls Harper.
"Hello?" She answers, setting her phone on the counter.
"I haven't even taken a bite yet. I'm scared to eat this."
Harper laughs. "Why? I didn't poison it or anything."
"No, I'm sure you didn't. But it smells really good. I'm gonna get sleepy after." He grabs the steak knife and picks up his fork.
Harper had asked Taehyung to pick up the food on his way home from work and take it back to Yoongi for his late lunch. He said 'of course' and Harper made him and Hailey a plate as well.
Taehyung told Yoongi when he dropped the food off that he almost pulled over to eat it. It made it worse because Hailey started to eat hers in the car.
"Yeah, Onyx tried to bite my hand off because I couldn't give him a piece. I had to chew up a small piece before giving it to him and he was so impatient about it. He's going to have such a good appetite. I can't wait until he's able to eat more foods."
"Speaking of that, he didn't eat too many things today, did he?"
"No." Harper replies. "Just a little oatmeal, a little bit of applesauce and that one tiny piece of steak."
"So is he good to try some baby foods tonight?"
"If he's up for it, yeah." Harper agrees. "He's already getting tired. I'm just trying to keep him up until you're on your way home so he can sleep through the night."
"If he doesn't, that's fine. I'll just put on some ocean noises and walk around with him. He'll knock back out."
"I still cannot believe that works for you."
"If you're stressing about getting him to go back to sleep, he can feel that. That's what Delilah said."
"Oh! I forgot to tell you." Harper says suddenly.
"What?"
"Delilah is going to come out with Hailey and I for like a girls' day tomorrow."
The smile on Harper's face is so endearing that he feels his heart skip in his chest. It's been doing a lot of that lately.
"Really? That sounds fun."
"Mhm. Your mom called me yesterday after you put us all in that group chat. She asked if I was doing anything tomorrow because her and your father will get here early in the morning. So she wanted us to go do something together. But I told her about the outing with the girls, so she asked if she could come with and I told her yeah."
Harper explains the situation and Yoongi's smile grows the longer she talks. He's never heard her speak this much and this fast about a single topic they've ever covered.
Genuinely, he can tell how excited that she is about being able to have such an outing.
"We're going to get our hair and nails done for your celebratory dinner."
"It's at 6. Are you sure that you'll all be done in time?" Yoongi raises a brow as he puts a piece of steak into his mouth.
"Yeah. Your mom gets here at around seven, she said. And our appointments are at 9. Well, mine is. Your mom isn't getting her hair done. Hailey is getting a silk press and Delilah is getting her lace touched up. So that'll take up like a third of the time, maybe. But then we're going to lunch and then to get our nails done. In that exact order because I don't want to eat after I just got my nails done. I like to wait a little while."
Yoongi continues to eat as he listens to her talk about how her day out will go. He enjoys hearing her so happy about everything. This is a side that he hadn't really seen before. It's a side that he wants to see a lot more of.
"What'd you do with Onyx today?" Yoongi asks. "Did Jewel nap with him again?"
"He did." Harper affirms. "I tried to put him in his crib in his room to see how he'd like that. Just as a test and he kicked, screamed and cried. I tried to wait it out to see if he'd calm down but he didn't. So I put him in his baby pillow and let him sleep there."
"Is there another bassinet we can get for him?" Yoongi asks. "Like age appropriate?"
He knows that Onyx is almost two full pounds over the weight limit for the other one. And though that might not seem like a big deal, he's also rolling over, pulling himself up and all the things that qualify him to not be in that bassinet anymore.
"No. He shouldn't be in one at all."
"I know. But he likes it so much."
"I don't know what else to do. I don't want to force him to sleep somewhere that he doesn't want to sleep. But I also want to try to start getting him in his crib. His nursery is so cute and we did it up just the way he'd like it, too."
Harper isn't upset by the fact that Onyx is not sleep in the crib. It was expected that there would be some adjustment. But she is a little disappointed. Not in her son at all.
Just because she wants him to give it a chance and like it. She put a lot of effort into picking out the perfect things and Yoongi even found them on Amazon while they were in store to look at the reviews. They thought of placement, longevity, quality, all of those things.
They really just him to be comfortable in there and love it.
"Don't be sad about it, honey." Yoongi says, seeing the look of mild dejection on her face.
"We just have to keep trying at it. Maybe get him familiar in the room before we just stick him in there. That could also be the issue. It's not what he's used to. His surroundings are different."
"Oh, right." Harper sighs and rubs her forehead. "I didn't even think about that. That was so stupid of me."
"It wasn't." Yoongi deads her negative self talk. "You were probably overstimulated yourself trying to figure out what was going on with him. You did everything and thought of everything that you could at the moment. It's okay."
"I know that it's all trial and error but that's been apart of his whole thing. Familiarity. I just think I should have thought of that first."
"Don't beat yourself up about it. If it makes you feel any better, I accidentally gave him a size one nipple last night and he started screaming at me until I realized what was wrong. Took me like eight minutes."
Harper laughs and covers her mouth. "Why didn't you tell me that yesterday when I came home?"
"Because I was embarrassed. What do you mean? You keep all of the nipples in labeled containers. How did I still grab the wrong one?"
"You did work an extra hour yesterday. You cut back on your coffee. It was like 11 o'clock at night... You were probably tired." Harper reassures him.
"I think I'm just gonna sleep in on my next day off. I want to spend time with my parents, but I'm so tired." Yoongi yawns as he's speaking.
"You've been training for the director position. Of course you're sleepy. When you get on your set schedule and get used to those hours, I think you'll be less tired. Right now is just an in-between period. Those always suck."
"I can't wait for that." Yoongi expresses.
He finishes up his eggs and drinks some of his sweet tea to wash it down.
"I got my schedule for next month this morning. Did you get yours?"
"I got mine yesterday. It's the same. Wednesdays off but now Sundays instead of the varying other day."
Yoongi smiles as he looks down at his plate. He cuts into the remainder of his steak with a grin on his face.
"What are you so smiley for?"
"Nothing." He shakes his head.
He and Dr. Mitchell had a conversation a few days ago. It was a very casual conversation, coworker to coworker. Yoongi expressed his concerns about having free time to spend with his family.
She knows that he had limited leeway to travel out of town to see his parents and thought that was what he was referring to.
Until Harper texted him a video of Onyx curled up with Jewel on the couch. Dr. Mitchell caught sight of Harper's son but she looked away, it not being her business.
The six month old was patting the cat's back as he sucked on his pacifier. He was blinking slow, tired as ever but fighting his sleep. Yoongi had smiled at it and hearted it before looking back to Dr. Mitchell for their conversation.
The glow in his eyes was one that she hadn't seen on him... well, ever.
So now, Harper's days off coincide with Yoongi's.
"Do you need anything for tomorrow?" Yoongi asks Harper. "My father will have Onyx while I'm at work and you're out with the girls. I'll be home about 4:30 and then I'll start getting ready for the dinner."
"No. I'll be good." Harper says. "Your mother and I are riding in my car. Then we'll meet Delilah and Hailey at the salon in the morning."
"My dad's gonna have Onyx in my apartment while we're out. That's where he'd feel more comfortable. They're sleeping in mine anyway so I think he just feels that it's more appropriate. I'll grab his stuff and take it over when I get home."
"Okay. And you're sleeping over mine while they're here, right?" Harper asks. "The whole week?"
There's a sparkling gleam in her eye and palpable joy in her smile. Harper can't wait to wake up to him in the morning. She likes sleeping next to him at night.
It's so terrifying for her, mentally, to think about. In truth, she's scared of what could come of this. If she's left alone long enough with her thoughts, she'd become entirely skeptical of everything involving Yoongi.
His kindness, his understanding, his emotional availability, his empathy, his emotional intelligence. All of it.
Harper would try to find holes in every single thing that he does or has already done.
A part of her is just waiting....
Waiting for anything to go wrong. Waiting for anything to happen and prove that she can't be happy. Prove that she wants a life that she simply cannot have.
She's waiting for the universe to remind her that none of that is meant for her.
But for now, for the time being, Harper will enjoy every waking moment.
"Yes. The whole week." Yoongi confirms.
One whole week of sleeping and waking up together. One entire week of sleeping half-clothed next to his girlfriend who also sleeps half-clothed.
He's not plotting for anything but anything could happen. It's not something that only he has thought about. He doesn't care when it happens. Though he does get a little more than excited at the thought.
And he has found himself getting lost in thought about it seeing the way that she wakes up every morning.
His daydreams have become night dreams twice now. Never full scenes. Hell, as he'd call it. Just peek-a-boo views. An imaginary preview of what could be.
Harper is no innocent either.
Their minds can only imagine what they've never seen. They can only imagine what they've never experienced. Their dreams conjure up what they can and only that, never giving them anything more than glimpses played like a record that skips all the good parts of your favorite songs.
"I saw my doctor the other day." Yoongi tells her.
They both know what he's talking about. He doesn't need to elaborate. Harper saw her doctor two days ago. She could have used the results from her last gyno appointment but felt like she should get new ones since he went and got them as well.
"You got your results yet?"
"Yeah. I got all of them this morning. You got yours?"
"Yeah. I'm good. But let's talk about this later. I just realized where you are." Harper says, scrunching her nose.
"Nobody else is in here but you're right. I forgot for a second, too."
"How's work today?" She asks him, changing the subject. "You been busy?"
"Training, had a meeting, the usual."
"No surgery today?" Harper asks, feigning shock.
"Nope. My next one isn't until day after tomorrow. I have a meeting after this and then I go home."
"Oohhh. Is it a big meeting? Like will it be long?"
"Mmm, not really. It's not even really a meeting. More like a briefing. It's just for like.... Well, after tomorrow, he won't be in this building anymore. He's moved tomorrow morning. I'll be here to oversee that and then everything will be done with me from there."
"So I'll be able to work back up on the third floor without a problem then."
"Yep. Don't worry, baby. I told you I got it."
Yoongi knows that she's been stressed in regards to that situation. Harper has expressed her concern to him. What she doesn't say, she gets lost in thought about.
"Okay." Harper yawns and covers her mouth. "Ou. Excuse me. Alright, Imma try to get a nap in so I'm not falling asleep at the desk at work later."
"Alright. I'll see you later."
"See you later, baby." Harper mumbles as she pulls the covers up on her body.
Yoongi cheeks hurt from how hard he smiles at her term of endearment. He doesn't want to even hang up but he wants her to get her sleep.
That, and people are walking into the lounge room talking. He doesn't want that to keep her up.
He ends the call and finishes his food up before tossing the plate into the garbage. He wraps the utensils in the plastic bag and Carrie's them to his office. He puts them in the drawer and locks it before walking back out to the bathroom.
Yoongi thoroughly brushes his teeth before was being his hands at the sink. He fixes his hair in the mirror and walks back out of the restroom.
He grabs his things from his office and walks to the conference room where the meeting will be taking place.
Stepping inside, he surveys the people at the round table. There's Hyde, Miss Sullivan, Jahlil in a wheelchair and Nurse Beth.
"Right on time. Good afternoon, Dr. Min. Well, evening now, I suppose." Hyde looks at his watch.
"Good evening." Yoongi addresses him back. "Nurse Beth, Miss Sullivan, Mr. Collins, good evening."
He only glances at Jahlil, not really wanting to look at him at all. The only reason he cares so much about attending this meeting is to ensure that Jahlil gets off this damn floor and out of this damn building.
Once his physical therapy sessions are finished, he hopes that he and Harper never have to see this man again.
"Alright, so basically we're here to address the transition that's taking place in the morning. Usually we'd do this in the morning but things were running a little behind schedule earlier so we're having this meeting right now. My apologies for that."
"It's okay." Jahlil assures. "Things happen. We understand that."
"Thank you. I'm actually just here for attendance though. Dr. Min is going to be running this meeting today."
Yoongi sits up in his chair and looks to everyone at the table.
"As you both know, tomorrow is your transfer day. We should be able to get you over to the physical recovery center by 9:30 at the latest. A.M, not P.M. With that transition, you'll be receiving a copy of your physical therapy plan when you meet your P.T.. You'll also be getting a copy of the referral that I sent over to them in regards to your treatment for their center."
"So it isn't a transfer then. It's a discharge. Since he's being removed from the hospital's care?" Miss Sullivan asks.
"It's a discharge because he's being taken out of the hospital's care. It's still considered a transfer though, because the physical recovery building is still one of our hospital's medical centers. It's not like he's being sent from here to Mary's. We would call that a discharge and then readmission. We're not doing that. He's still being treated by a St. Juniper's medical team."
"So he's not a hospital patient but one for the medical center. Got it." Miss Sullivan says I'm understanding.
Yoongi side eyes Hyde, confused as to why that was so difficult for her to understand. He thought that he put it in pretty plain terms the first time.
He's also confused as to why Jahlil's mother keeps answering for him although he's the one being directly spoken to.
"...right. So he'll be transferred over there. His treatment will be six to eight weeks, definitely looking at the max rather than the minimum on this one just to make sure that he's at his max recovery." Yoongi starts speaking to Jahlil again.
"Your physical therapist will keep in contact with a nurse here about your progress and if any concerns arise, then they'll report to your primary surgeon for any tweaks to the treatment plan and things like that."
"Wait-. I thought you were the primary surgeon." Jahlil asks. "You're Dr. Min, right. Your name's on all my paperwork."
"Correct, it is. However, as of next week, I'll be taking a new position so I won't be on your case anymore. But don't worry, the doctor taking over for me is one of the top in the hospital. He's very good at his job and I'd ask him to fill in for me any day." Yoongi says with a small, reassuring small.
"Alright so I'm going over there. I'm getting a physical therapist and a new surgeon. I'm getting a new nurse too?"
"No. So the nurses currently on your case will be your liaison nurses for here. So they're the set nurses that your P.T. will report any concerns too. Other than that, progress will just be logged into the system as usual."
"Alright. And who do I talk to about changing my healthcare proxy?" Jahlil asks.
"You have to fill out the new forms with and let your primary doctor know about the change. All of the proper people need to be informed and the proper steps need to be taken as well."
"I suggest doing that sooner rather than later given the circumstances of this incident." Hyde cuts in. "We don't want there to be something life threatening that happens again and this issue arises again. "
"Then your mother really will have to take the legal route and that could take weeks depending on the other cases that particular judge is dealing with." Yoongi adds.
If it really came down to it, Yoongi knows a guy in the law industry that could get Jahlil's case expedited. But he would only be doing it for Harper's sake.
"Alright. Thanks for the help with everything." Jahlil expresses his gratitude to Yoongi. "You really saved my life, man."
"You don't have to thank me. I just did my job as a surgeon." He forces the smallest of smiles onto his face.
The meeting concludes with a quick talk from Hyde before everyone is dismissed. Nurse Beth wheels Jahlil out as Yoongi holds the door for them.
"See you tomorrow, Dr. Min."
"See you tomorrow."
"You ready for your dinner tomorrow?" Hyde asks as they walk down the hall.
"I think I'm just now allowing myself to be excited about it. It hasn't really hit me yet, though."
"Understandable. It might take sitting behind that new office desk to really get it. It's been freshly painted, everything in there is brand new. It's a much bigger space for you to work with. And it's a little more secluded so you can work in peace when you need to. Nobody's going to come knocking on your door every ten minutes for anything."
"I can't wait. Maybe I'll be able to get good naps in on my breaks." Yoongi is genuinely happy about that.
"Oh, you will. I nap every other day in my office. It's what keeps me so chipper."
Yoongi laughs at his joke. Hyde? Chipper? Very hilarious.
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow, Dr. Min. Have a great night."
"You too. Thank you." Yoongi replies as he walks into his office.
He puts his things away and grabs his coat. He switches his shoes out, putting his boots on before he leaves the office. On his way to the elevator, he's putting his coat on.
He takes the lift down and to the parking garage. He starts the car as he's walking up to it and opens the back door to put his bag in. He spots one of Onyx's pacifiers in the back seat and picks it up.
"How the hell...?" He tries to think of when he lost this one but he keeps buying the same ones over and over, so he really doesn't know.
He puts it into his pocket and sits in the driver's seat. He looks at his phone to check the time before unlocking it. He goes to he and Harper's text thread to let her know that he's on his way.
As he texting her, he wonder which scrub set she's wearing today. She has a variety of colors and patterned ones.
On the drive home, Yoongi stops by the drugstore. He walks right to the back, to the third column over.
Yoongi walks down the aisle, scanning the shelves for condoms. He finds a large selection of them and feels a little overwhelmed at the sight.
It's been a while since he's done this. Maybe a couple years or so. Even then, he didn't really think about the specifics of the buy. He just wanted good quality protection.
Now, as he stares at the options, he has so many ways that he could narrow things down. Ultimately, he wants something that will prevent a pregnancy, won't break and fits him snug yet comfortably.
Magnums have always been his go-to. But even those have subcategories. Thin, bare skin, ecstasy, ribbed.
He feels so lost in an aisle he once would've spent five seconds or less in several years ago. Just grab and go. Now he's actually thinking while he's here. Not just for his pleasure but for his partner's as well.
What would feel best for her?
Yoongi's eyes dart to a purple box. It's made by the same brand as the one who makes Magnums. This one has 'her pleasure' on it. He grabs the box and reads the front of it.
'Enhanced stimulation for her with spermicidal lubricant'
He raises an eyebrow, impressed at the possible option. He turns the box over to read it. There's a labeled diagram of the condom and it's specifications.
'Silky smooth lubricant.'
'Ribs and contours.'
'Special reservoir tip to ensure safety.'
He keeps the box in his hand and grabs a box of Magum Bareskin condoms as well. He and Harper can have a private conversation about which one she'd prefer to use when they're in the comfort of one of their homes.
He isn't going to call her right now and ask.
Yoongi walks to the counter and stands in line as he waits to pay. He feels the people looking at him but he doesn't care. There's no shame in him purchasing protection for himself and his partner. He's not embarrassed by it.
Nobody should be.
He's also seen the numbers for STDs and STIs both in this county and the nearby ones. They're terrifying, to say the least. It's embarrassing to not protect yourself at this point.
That's what they need to be worried about. There are options for unplanned pregnancies. But contracting a disease or an infection is far more dangerous and risky, for him as a man.
The symptoms in men for a lot of STIs are nonexistent until it's too late.
He doesn't think this way to shame others for contracting infections or diseases. A lot of people have cheating partners. Some are sex workers. He doesn't judge. That's not his business. He just wishes that more people would protect themselves.
Yoongi gets to the front of the line and purchases both boxes of condoms. He thanks the cashier and walks back out to his car.
When he gets to his apartment, he unlocks the door and hears his mother's voice. His eyes widen, remembering that his parents are there. He looks down at the bag in his hand as he takes his shoes off.
His father looks at him, wondering why he's frozen all of a sudden.
Mr. Min glances down at the bag in his hand then looks to the hallway.
"Is that Yoongi? Is he home?" Mrs. Min asks, walking from the second bedroom.
Mr. Min stands quickly stands from the couch and in the way of her view.
"Yes. He's putting his coat and things up from work."
Yoongi takes the condom boxes out of the bag and stuffs them in his work bag. He zips it back up before putting the plastic bag in his coat pocket and hanging it up.
"Hey, Mom." He calls from behind his mother.
His father subtly released the tension in his body and moves aside. Yoongi hugs his mother then his father.
"How was work?" Mrs. Min asks.
"Good." He walks back to his room. "Just waiting to get this week over with for the most part."
He takes the condom boxes out and puts them in his nightstand. His heart is beating fast and he feels as if he successfully pulled off a heist.
Yoongi is a grown man and he knows that his mother is fully aware of that. He's her son and she knows that he's an adult. She raised him, she's watched him grow into the man that he is today.
But there's something about his mother knowing that he's sexually active that really just.... embarrasses him.
He's sure that she knows. He's 28 years old and has been in two actual relationships and a couple short lived ones.
In fact, when he got into his first 'fling', he was given 'the talk'. It wasn't awkward because of the nature of the conversation. Just awkward because she was about a year too late. He was 18 then but had experienced his fair share of sexual activity.
She realized that she wasn't telling him anything new and he'd never moved quicker out of that dining room.
Yoongi feels like it's a respect thing. He doesn't really know how to explain it. He just never wants to involve his parents in his sex life at all. Especially his mother.
He showers and puts his pajamas on before heading over to Harper's apartment. His parents see that he's tired and bid him good night. Harper greets him with a smile as always when she opens the door for him.
She hugs herself to him as he walks her backward into her apartment. He closes her door and kisses her in a returned greeting.
"How was work?"
"Great. I do have some questions for you, though."
Harper quirks a brow. "Oh?"
"Well, first off, here." Yoongi hands her the printed results from his test results.
"Oh, hold that thought. Let me go get mine."
She walks away from him and Yoongi notices that she's wearing her royal blue scrub set. The pants are the solid blue color and her top has varying shades of blue spray brush hearts. The top is stitched to be a little cinched at the waist, showing off her figure. Yoongi smiles at the sight.
Harper comes back with her test results as well and they exchange them. Yoongi reads the negative result for every test given. The both of them had blood work done and took urine tests for the full testing of everything.
All negative on both ends.
"I went to the drugstore after work." Yoongi informs as he puts his hand into his pockets.
He pulls out the condom boxes and Harper stares at them. She blinks at them and then looks up at him.
"Why'd you get two?"
"I thought I'd let you pick which ones we use. I didn't know which to get or that you prefer so I picked up both."
"Oh..." Harper stares at them. "I don't know which..." She sighs and looks from him to the boxes. "I've never.. had to pick."
"You've never bought condoms?" A curious question, a genuine one.
"No." Harper becomes a bit defensive. "I've only ever had sex with one person and he always brought the condoms. I know that as an adult, maybe I should have been being more cautious. I should have purchased some but I didn't think of that because he always had them and I was naive to everything and I'm sorry for that."
"Woah, wait. I wasn't judging you for anything, Harper. I didn't know. I was only asking."
Harper walks to the door and slips her shoes on.
Yoongi processes exactly what she just said and feels sick to his stomach.
Harper was a virgin when she met Jahlil. He was her first. He was the first one for so many of her experiences and ruined all of them for her. She blinks her tears back and scoffs at herself.
"You don't have to be ashamed of anything, Harper. None of that is your fault. You're not to blame for trusting somebody who wanted to earn your trust. It's not fair for you to blame yourself."
He wishes that he had an answer as to why all of this had to happen her. He wishes that he could provide one. He wishes that he could figure out all of the answers and give them to her. But he can't. He doesn't know.
Yoongi guides her into his arms. He wipes her cheeks, being careful to smudge her eyeliner. This is her first time wearing any makeup at all to work. Usually, it's just chapstick and go.
Harper hugs him, putting her head on his chest. She rests there for a minute, just listening to his heart beat and the calmness of his breathing.
Yoongi kisses her forehead and as Harper comes up from her sudden low, she's embarrassed of her sudden outburst.
"I'm sorry."
"You didn't do anything wrong."
Truthfully, neither of them did. He said something that he didn't know could be a trigger for her. And she just responded to it. It's nothing that either of them did wrong.
Yoongi now knows that things could be a lot deeper for Harper than she lets on. Everything involving all of this, the basis of their entire relationship, is seen as a risk for her.
She's taking the chance that she sees as one in a million and running with it anyway. Hurt, scorned, abused and manipulated, Harper is still standing with him.
His level of respect for her had already been high. It always has been. But this just amplifies it for him.
Harper doesn't know how much it means to him for her to be trusting him with herself. With her son.
With a gentle kiss to her lips, Yoongi calms her mind. His touch through this is reassuring for her. Like a salve the scratches she's inflicted on herself.
She wants to believe that this means he won't leave. She wants to believe that this means he won't hurt her. That he won't hurt them.
So she chooses to believe it.
Harper chooses to believe that Yoongi will keep his word. She can trust him. He's good to her. He's good for her.
Maybe it's okay to be dumb again. Just one more time.
"We can try both. We can use the regular Magnum first." She responds to his initial statement from the beginning of their conversation.
"I think you should get first pick." Yoongi replies.
"You have to wear it."
Yoongi opens his mouth to say something back but realizes that it wouldn't make any sense to say what he was going to.
Harper is going to feel great regardless. He's sure of that. Beyond certain, actually. He knows very well what he's capable of.
But it isn't just about that.
They've both expressed how much they want this to be special for the both of them. They don't treat sex like any old activity. It isn't a hobby or a routine for either of them. They've always thought that it should be special.
Their previous partners just may not have completely agreed with that sentiment.
Yoongi and Harper want this to be as close to the way that nature would have its way; minus the heightened risk of pregnancy. He wants to be as intimate as possible with her.
"Okay then." Yoongi concedes.
Harper pecks his lips before opening the closet up. He helps her put her coat on but grabs her by the waist as she opens the door. He kisses her again and she laughs as his hand smooths over her backside.
It's not intended to be a sexual gesture. Yoongi's just touchy.
She's noticed that about him. When they're in the comfort of their own space, he's always hugging her, kissing her, putting his head in her neck.
Yoongi sleeps right up on her when they share a bed. Always in a death grip like she'll run from him in his sleep.
"I'm gonna be late." Harper giggles as he kisses her repeatedly.
"No, you won't. You've got like twenty minutes."
"And the drive is fifteen."
He sighs dramatically.
"Fine. At least you're smiling again." He lets her go and she grins at him.
"I'm always smiling around you. You always make sure."
Yoongi feels the urge to pull her back into the apartment.
"Go to work before I change my mind and keep you hostage for the night."
"I'll be back soon." Harper waves to him. "I'll miss you." She says, matching his dramatics.
"See. This is why you should just stay home." He throws his arms out as she walks down the hall.
Harper laughs as she steps to the elevator. She pushes the button and waits.
"You'll be fine. You've got Jewel and Onyx..... and your phone. You'll survive."
"You're taunting me."
"I am." She nods in confirmation. "But I'll be back soon. I promise."
The elevator doors open and she steps inside. Yoongi puts his head against the doorway and is startled by the feeling of fur at his ankles.
"Jewel-. Not even gonna say it. You know what you're doing. Let's go." Yoongi picks the cat up and walks to the couch.
Onyx is asleep on the activity mat. He tired himself out with his rolling over and learning to crawl. Harper and Yoongi have spent a good amount of time on the floor with him the last couple of days so he's been getting a better grip on it.
Yoongi sits on the couch and Jewel jumps out of his arms. He lands right next to Onyx, startling the baby out of his sleep. He looks around and begins to cry as he rolls over. He sits up on his own and his lip quivers as his hot tears roll down his cheeks.
"Come on, Jewel. I know you didn't mean it but you know you gotta be careful around him." Yoongi picks Onyx up and holds him against his chest.
Onyx rubs his eye as he cries. His left hand clings to Yoongi's shirt.
"It's okay, it's okay. He didn't mean it. It just scared you. You're not hurt, I promise." He kisses the baby's head, rubbing his back to comfort him.
His cries turn into low hums then they drop off to intermittent whines until he stops.
Yoongi wipes his cheeks and Onyx looks him in the eyes. His lips are in a pout and he looks upset.
"What's wrong? You mad at me?"
"Mmm baba. Ba."
"Yeah, I know. You just ate though. I know Mommy feeds you before you before she leaves. You want to watch something soothing? You want to see waterfalls at night? We can watch that."
Yoongi grabs the remote and turns the TV on. He opens YouTube and finds a video 'baby waterfall sounds'. It plays on a dark screen and he turns the lights to the living room off.
Yoongi walks around with Onyx, holding him close as he coos. He's been doing that when he gets sleepy lately. Like he's humming himself to sleep or something.
Onyx starts to doze off as he's cradled. Yoongi kisses his temple and rubs his back, providing comfort for him to sleep.
Yoongi finds himself dozing off as Onyx does. He walks to the bedroom and stares at the bed. He sighs and pulls out his phone to call Taehyung.
His best friend answers the phone groggy and a little confused.
"Hello?"
"If I sleep with Onyx in the bed with no blankets one pillow, is that okay?"
"Hm?" Taehyung asks, still half asleep.
"I don't have anything to stop him from rolling off the bed though and he's been like flipping off stuff. Never mind. Answered my own question. Sorry for waking you up."
"Mm." Taehyung hums.
"Love you."
"Mhm."
Yoongi hangs up and looks down at Onyx. He walks into the nursery to find Jewel in the crib. The cat is alert as Yoongi walks into the room. He stands up with his paws on top of the crib. He starts meowing and the man nods.
"Yeah he's coming in here. You gotta help him sleep though. This is new for him so he's going to be a little scared for a while, okay?"
Yoongi puts Onyx down in the crib and Jewel immediately starts sniffing his face. Onyx scrunches his nose and rubs it as his face is tickled by whiskers.
"Don't wake him." Yoongi chuckles.
Jewel lays next to the baby, getting comfortable for the night. He puts his head on Onyx's tummy and blinks at Yoongi as if to say 'okay, you can go now'.
Yoongi turns on the night light and the humidifier on low. The air feels a little dry in the room due to the heat blowing from the vents. He sits in the rocking chair and looks around at the room.
He thinks that he and Harper did a pretty great job decorating it. Thanks to her, he can cross something he's always to do off of his list.
Decorate a nursery.
It isn't first on the life plan that he has drawn up in his head. But to be fair, he also thought he'd be married and living in his own house by now. Or at least that's what he wanted to be. Now that he thinks about it, he actually doesn't know how he would have made that work with school.
There was a lot going on and if he's being honest with himself, he was consumed by education and growth during that time. It would have been difficult to maintain a family through that.
So maybe he's grateful to Adaya for leaving him when she did. Had it not been then, it'd have been after they were married. Maybe after they'd had a kid. Once they got married, he wouldn't have cared about using protection. There would have been no 'scares' or unplanned anything. If wouldn't have mattered to him at that point.
But now, knowing how Adaya really felt and thought about the situation, she'd have tried to leave him and take their kid while he was in the middle of the school. That would have added stress to his already difficult life with school.
So yeah. He is grateful to her.
I met Harper in the long run.
Yoongi looks over at Onyx in the crib as he sleeps.
And I've still gotten everything I wanted anyway.
If he's being honest with himself, Yoongi feels very protective over Onyx. He's very attached to the infant. He doesn't really know how he would go say to say without seeing him at this point since he's become so integrated into his daily life.
He comes home from work, showers and immediately after, has Onyx. While he's at work, he thinks of Harper and Onyx. Every time that he calls Harper, he has to see Onyx too.
It feels weird if he doesn't.
Onyx's laugh is one of the loveliest sounds he's ever heard. It's so joyous.
That cry that Onyx let out when he got his shots is definitely 100% the worst sound that he's ever heard. He'd tell anybody that. That is not up for debate.
It hurt Yoongi's chest to hear it. All that he wanted to do was make him feel better, to soothe him. He wanted to hold Onyx and let him know that everything was going to be okay.
He didn't expect that he'd ever be so attached to a baby that he'd only met at three months old. He always assumed that it'd be from birth.
But that doesn't make Yoongi feel any less...
He doesn't know. He can't really explain it. It's sort of obnoxious. For a man whose educated enough to find words anything, he cannot verbalize his bond with Onyx.
It's just there.
He'd protect him from anything. He'd help him with anything. He wants to watch him grow. He wants to watch him learn. He wants to see Onyx do any and everything in this world.
Yoongi knows what he wants to say. But he isn't sure if he should. He doesn't know how Harper would feel about that and he doesn't want to make her uncomfortable. Though she trusts him with her son, there's still a boundary there. One that he feels a conversation for understanding should be had for.
Yoongi can only hope that she understands and is willing to allow him to have a permanent role in Onyx's life and development.
When the proper time comes, he'll bring it up. He can only be hopeful for the outcome.
A|N
#Tell me what you're thinking :)
#We hit 100k!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for enjoying Healing Harper! And thank you for supporting me. I love you always <3
-Moonie/Kae 🫶🏾