Limbo

I'm Not Getting in the Addison Lee

"I'll grab the discharge papers." The nurse said, nodding at Chan as she left the small curtained emergency room. 

"Thanks." Chan sighed, running a hand through his hair. He felt exhausted, sleep tugging at his eyelids to the point that if he wasn't standing up or moving, he was nodding off. He'd been up since 5am... yesterday. It was nearly 6am now. And even then he'd only slept for about 3 hours the night before. 

But he couldn't care less how bad he felt. Minho was miserable. He tried not to show it now that he was a bit more conscious, but it was nearly impossible to miss the way his breaths stuttered if he tried breathing too deeply, or the way he winced whenever the nurse came in and turned the light on, or the way that any noise louder than a hum would make him shrink in on himself - which in turn made his ribs shoot pain through him. 

Needless to say, they kept him high on pain drugs, and monitored closely. 

But there was nothing that specified his need to stay in the hospital. It was loud, he was constantly interrupted from sleep, and there was no way he'd get any better lying in that bed in a hospital gown. So, the nurse and doctors, after a long discussion with Chan, decided to discharge him. 

But just as the nurse drew the curtain shut, Chan's phone started vibrating. Fishing it out of his pocket he held it up and stared blankly at the caller ID. Daehyuk - their primary manager. Chan lifted the phone to his ear slowly, glancing back at Minho who was in the process of breathing through rib-pain after having moved too quickly to adjust. 

He walked out into the hallway after whispering, "I'll be right back, Lino." To which the younger replied with a pained groan. 

Once out of earshot of Minho he clicked the green phone icon and immediately said, "Hello, Daehyuk hyung, you're up early today." 

"I wonder why that is." The manager's raspy voice answered. He clearly had just woken up - he probably was still in bed. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I just woke up and saw I didn't have a notification from Seojun that Minho made it home safe, so I checked his location and you and Minho are both at the hospital." 

"Yeah. He didn't make it home safe..." Chan said, rubbing the back of his neck. He stepped out of the way of a nurse pushing a hospital bed with an old man crying on it. Chan's heart cracked... was that what Minho looked like when he got rolled in? All alone, crying, vulnerable, confused...

"What happened?" Daehyuk asked quickly, the tiredness in his voice vanishing entirely.

"He..." Chan choked, unable to make the words form in his mouth. He'd been watching Minho in pain for the past several hours but saying it aloud - admitting it - made it too real.

Fortunately, after having worked together so long, Daehyuk could pick up on the cue. "Where's Seojun? He didn't contact me that something happened. I can't get a hold of him either." 

"Seojun didn't..." Chan blinked rapidly, looking up to the beige ceiling and florescent lights to try to get the tears to go away. It was getting harder and harder to keep it all together now that Minho was determined to be "safe". Emotions were flooding in faster than he wanted them to, and bottling everything up - his original and only plan - was failing. "Hyung, he didn't make it." 

There was a beat of silence in which the only sound was Chan's shuddering exhale. After that moment of silence for the loss, Daehyuk spoke softer, "Chan, do you need me to come to the hospital?  I can be there in about twenty minutes." 

"I can handle it. I'm the oldest, I'm the leader, I'm f..." 

"Chan, I can hear it in your voice, you're not fine. Do you need me to come?"