Take on Me

42

¤ All the King's Horses
Karmina ↲

I knock the ice from my bones
Try not to feel the cold
Caught in the thought of that time
When everything was fine, everything was mine
Everything was fine, everything was mine

▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎

There was a flurry of movement as the Jeons made their way to Juyeon's room. Doctors walking purposefully, families going to visit loved ones, patients being rolled on gurneys. And through it all, Jungkook passed by in a daze.

He had no thoughts left. All that remained in Jungkook's head was a blurred awareness. He was seeing but not processing, hearing but not listening. All his energy faded away and he felt like a shell of a human.

Maybe he was overreacting. Sure, that was completely possible. But he couldn't explain the heavy dread pooling in his stomach, the sixth sense signaling how wrong this situation seemed to him.

This wasn't Taehyung.

Jungkook didn't know what else to do at this point. He searched the university and the apartment, searched on the internet to see if there were any bad accidents in the area. But there was nothing.

He even considered the possibility of Taehyung's parents being involved. The elder told him how livid his father was, and since the man was known to be abusive, could that be a possibility? Literally anything could've happened and he'd have no idea. Taehyung might be locked up somewhere right now, calling out for his help.

He wanted to contact the police, though his parents encouraged him to wait a little longer. They explained the harsh reality of reporting a missing person when that individual was over the age of eighteen - unless there was proof that this was an involuntary disappearance, the police couldn't do much right away. They'd just file paperwork. He agreed to give it to the end of the day. Then, no matter what anyone said, he was going to call.

This was the love of his life. He was going to do whatever he could to find Taehyung and bring him home.

They must have gotten to Juyeon's room because his parents suddenly stopped walking. Jiho and Jaewoo were speaking with a woman in scrubs, and based on the nature of the conversation, it sounded like she was a member of the transplant team.

A little belatedly, Jungkook figured it'd be important to hear what she was saying.

" . . . the coordination of the transplants added some additional time to the procedure, though everything went well. The donor kidney was healthy and Juyeon did great during surgery. We'll want to keep her here for a couple of nights for observation, then she'll be free to go home. I'll have my team schedule follow up visits so we can make sure everything is working as expected. Then, we'll go from there. Do you have any outstanding questions at this time?"

Jungkook's parents asked a multitude of questions, inquiring about medication dosages and postoperative care. Most of the information was similar to when Juyeon had her first transplant, but Jiho and Jaewoo wanted to make sure they knew all the fine details.

Before the doctor left them to see Juyeon, Jiho said she had one last question, but wasn't sure if the doctor could answer for legal reasons. "Did the donor's surgery go okay? We . . . We were never given any information about him or her . . . I'd love to thank them, if possible."

The doctor smiled warmly, understanding on her face. "Yes, the donor's surgery went very well. She's recovering now with her family. Those are her parents there . . . I'll see if they'd be willing to meet you."