High Maintenance 👑 h.zt

25

~Tao~

Days he'd been laying in a hospital bed, shirtless and smelling nothing but that sickening hospital smell. Days he'd been hooked up to wires and a heart monitor. They'd said they wanted to monitor how he was doing. He'd cracked a rib--or should he say, the boss and Lu Han had cracked his rib. Not a hairline crack, but a crack big enough to get a artery caught in it. If anyone pressed, he'd cough blood.

He wished he could relax, but all he could think about was the threats, the job he had to do--Min-hee.

He got a billion messages from Haneul that he wasn't going to answer, mainly because Chanyeol had taken his phone from him, saying he should rest, but also because he just didn't know what to say to her. She was mad again, she said she was going to dump him at least three million times. What was he supposed to say to that?

And then Baekhyun, Kris and Sehun, they kept leaving messages, asking where he was, he wished he could tell them. But Chanyeol said not to sent anything. Tao had never seen Chanyeol so serious, so scared in the eyes. Tao had never imagine that Chanyeol had stuff he was afraid of, it never occurred to him that he could be running from something too, Tao had thought of Chanyeol eternally as a Happy Virus.

The way he'd just flat out denied him calling Min-hee, Tao didn't know what to think about what went on behind that infectious smile.

Tao fiddled ran a hand through his hair, looking over at Yi Xing who was just silently monitoring him and writing down a few things. He wanted out of here already, he'd done enough sleeping and laying around. If he couldn't tell Min-hee where he was, he wanted to tell her in person.

He was scared out of his thoughts when he heard screaming outside the door. Loud, painful screaming. Tao sat raised an eyebrow, trying to discern what it was they were saying.

"Take it out! Just pull it out, make it stop!"

Tao recognized that voice. It sounded like...Baekhyun. What could Baekhyun be doing at a hospital? Why would...

Tao started to get up, but Yi Xing reached over and gently pushed him back.

Yi Xing smiled, his eyes looking over his frames. "I'm sure everything's alright, you need rest."

"I know him, I'm almost sure, just let me see!" Tao yelled. He'd been keeping a lot of pent up frustration to himself, he was ready to blow at anything, it just so happened to be this. "He's my friend, you can't just--.

"Huang Zitao," Yi Xing started, closing his eyes and sighing. "I'll check for you, alright? Maybe you can visit later, but right now I'm running a test or two, you have to stay put."

Tao threw his head back, groaning and staring at the ceiling again. Yi Xing muttered an apology, then went out the door, leaving Tao by himself for a minute. A minute to just stare at the ceiling, thinking about what could make Baekhyun scream like that.

Was he hurt then? This was a hospital. But Baekhyun didn't like fights. As much as he knew how to handle himself, he wouldn't get himself hurt.

Did he get in a car crash? Did he piss some guy off and get his ass kicked? But what was that about pulling something out? Taking something out?

"Byun Baekhyun." Yi Xing said, coming back into the room, scaring Tao. "That's his name, he's got a knife in his leg."

Tao heard the heart monitor slow down in the background, then speed up as he took in what he had just said. "A-A knife?" Tao sat up, stuttering at first, not knowing how to take that other then being because of who Tao had gotten involved with. "What the hell do you mean?!"