Agape | TAEKOOK (REWRITING)

𝟐𝟗 : 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 (rewriting)

mor·tal·i·ty
/môrˈtalədē/
the number of deaths in a given area or period, or from a particular cause

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Taehyung glanced up at Yoongi—his new surgical assistant after Jungkook's accident. The surgery was practically completed, Taehyung had done everything he needed to and they just needed to stitch up the patient.

"I've got it from here, Kim," Yoongi said, glancing up at Taehyung and then down at the patient, starting to repair his sternum. Taehyung didn't move yet and Yoongi glanced back up at him, stopping with what he was doing.

"Go, Taehyung. He needs you more than this patient does right now," Yoongi said, genuine concern in his voice. He looked up at Taehyung and motioned towards the door of the operating room, telling him that he had everything under control.

Taehyung nodded and bowed slightly, walking quickly out of the operating room. He changed out of his operating room scrubs quickly and headed briskly down the hall to Jungkook's room. He checked in with the receptionist at the ICU and quickly rushed into Jungkook's room.

"Hey, Jungkookie," Taehyung said, walking in slowly into the room. Jungkook didn't move, didn't speak, didn't blink. Taehyung kept the tears at bay and pulled up a chair to sit next to Jungkook.

"Hey baby, it's... it's really me," Taehyung said, sitting down next to Jungkook. "I'm going to hold your hand, okay?" He said, reaching down for Jungkook's hand and holding onto it gently. Jungkook didn't move or react in any way.

Taehyung tried breathing in to calm himself down. He breathed in time with Jungkook's ventilator, hearing the machine breathing for Jungkook. He bit his lip, not wanting to let his emotions get the best of him and end up affecting Jungkook.

Jungkook didn't look peaceful. But he didn't look like he was in pain either. He looked exhausted, though he was practically asleep. He had dark bags under his eyes and his skin was sickly pale. The wires from the day before were still wrapped around him, piercing through his skin and forming small bruises. All of his little cuts—Taehyung assumed they were caused by glass in the car accident—were bandaged up as well.

Taehyung felt his heart ache at the sight in front of him. It had barely even been a few days since the accident, but Jungkook hadn't shown any signs of improvement. He had been laying here in the old hospital bed for the past three days, not moving, not blinking, not breathing on his own.

Taehyung looked fondly down at Jungkook, feeling bad for himself but feeling bad for Jungkook, more importantly. Jungkook had never done anything bad in his life, as far as Taehyung knew. Jungkook was so innocent, so pure. So fragile that when the world tried to reach out and touch him, he broke.

Taehyung let out a shaky sigh and wiped away a tear from his eye, still not letting go of Jungkook's hand. He didn't want to start crying again—he'd been doing that way too much in the past few days—and squeezed Jungkook's hand softly instead.

Jungkook's heart rate—which was steadily beating for the past three days at the same, tedious pace—suddenly picked up a few beats. Taehyung jumped in his seat, afraid that Jungkook would suddenly go into cardiac arrest or something terrifying like that. But he relaxed in his seat and smiled a bit when he realized what was going on.

Jungkook was flustered.

"Aww, baby, I didn't scare you, did I?" Taehyung asked, rubbing Jungkook's hand softly. Jungkook's heart rate began to slow down but the boy didn't move in the slightest. Taehyung sighed and picked Jungkook's hand up gently and bringing it to his lips, pressing a long kiss to his hand. He held Jungkook's small hand in his two hands again and pressed another kiss to Jungkook's hand.

"I love you, Jungkookie," Taehyung said, squeezing Jungkook's hand softly again. The boy's heart rate picked up a little, but not as much as before and slowed down quickly. Taehyung smiled sadly and decided to rub Jungkook's hand softly.

"I hope you're not feeling scared, Jungkook," Taehyung said lowly, afraid his baby might be experiencing more pain on top of what he'd already been through. Taehyung tried not to start crying again and held Jungkook's hand a little tighter, not wanting to let go and go back to work.

"I'll have to tell Jin that you got all embarrassed when I squeezed your hand. I'm sure he'd be happy to hear," Taehyung said. Keeping up a conversation with Jungkook had never been so difficult. "I hope you weren't scared by me," Taehyung added, unable to shake the feeling of guilt pooling in his stomach.

He shook the rest of his negative feelings and horrific thoughts off and continued to sit with Jungkook. He didn't mind the silence—the loud machines breathing for Jungkook and basically watching his every move were loud enough to fill that silence—and being with Jungkook was more important than anything else to him.

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