Sunrise [Yungi FF]

20. Ready or Not

"Are you sure you don't want to stay one more day?" Jongho asked, packing things into a bag as Yunho changed out of his hospital gown.

Yunho poked his head out from a white fleece sweater with a grunt. "I'm sure. I've been here for almost two weeks. I can't stay any longer or I will go bankrupt from paying all those hospital bills." Jongho was still shooting him a worried gaze, so Yunho moved his arms and head to make a point. "Look, I'm totally fine. Nothing hurts."

"But you're safer here."

Understanding the implications behind that statement, Yunho placed down the coat he was about to put on and faced his friend. "I get it," he began, his heart sitting heavily in his chest, his guts twisting uncomfortably in his stomach. "But I have to find out what's really going on. I told you, I'm ready now. To put it in your words, I'm going to look at the rest of the package."

Jongho's grip on the bag slackened. With eyes fixed on the zipper, he broached, "Can't you just end it here?" He paused, acutely aware of the thin ice he was walking on. "You've seen the news, right?"

"No," Yunho replied, throwing the coat over his shoulders even though he was heating up from the lie. He couldn't have not seen the news - he checked it every day, almost religiously, just to check one thing, even though he knew he wouldn't like what he saw. But he had to confirm it for himself to cut off all hope and cease his wishful thinking.

"The assaults stopped for a week after your car accident," Jongho said, voicing out what Yunho couldn't. "And now it's worse than before. It's not you, so it has to be him."

A group of nurses and doctors strolled past their hospital ward, their hurried footsteps bouncing off the plain white walls and traveling through the propped open door into Yunho's ears. His heart thudded lightly beneath his ribcage like the clogs hitting the hard tile floors as he took his bag from Jongho's hand and started towards the door, trying to keep a collected demeanor.

Jongho stared at the back of Yunho's shrinking figure and sighed. It was another short moment before he could put on a mask of feigned optimism and catch up with his friend. 

They walked to the elevators in silence, descended onto the ground floor in silence, and broke away from the gloomy aura of the building in silence. 

"Let's go eat dinner. I'm starving and I miss human food," Yunho said as they boarded a minibus that would take them back to the city center. Despite the joke about hospital meals, he didn't smile.

The cheery disguise was still on Jongho's face, but he didn't realize it was so fragile it would break as soon as he spoke. "Sure," he said, heart aching when he saw through Yunho's nonchalant expression as a weak attempt to ignore the elephant in the room and their unfinished conversation.

Jongho shifted in the narrow seat and angled his body just as the bus began moving. "I know you would never leave him alone. I know you want to find out the truth, talk through it, and reconcile. I know because you put people you care about before yourself. So can you do me a favor and end this for good?"

Yunho stared straight ahead, his facial muscles pulled taut from faking a neutral look.

Jongho bit his lip. The rest was hardest to say, but he didn't want to leave off sounding selfish, and he knew he would regret it if he didn't make himself clear enough, so he continued, "One car accident is enough, isn't it? Don't risk your life again by going back to him."

That dealt the final blow to Yunho's composure. He flinched. There was no way to escape on a moving vehicle, so he forced a reply. "The fact that I'm given another chance means I have to," he said, stopping there even though it wasn't a complete answer.