Take on Me

43

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Sleeping At Last ↲

I've waited a hundred years
But I'd wait a million more for you
Nothing prepared me for
What the privilege of being yours would do

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Warm.

Dark.

Quiet.

This was a great place to be.

Where was he again?

Taehyung opened his eyes, looking up at the tiled ceiling. Fuck, he felt nauseous. Why did he feel so fucking nauseous? He squeezed his eyes shut, inhaling deeply through his nose and exhaling out of his mouth. That helped a little, so he repeated the process over and over.

After the urge to barf all over himself subsided, he opened his eyes again and surveyed his compact room. There wasn't much to it besides his small bed, a chair nestled in the corner, and the medical equipment hooked up to him. An open door let in indistinguishable conversations between passerby, their voices slightly muted as they walked by his room.

"Hi, there! Look who's awake." A peppy nurse stuck her head into his room, grabbing a chart outside his door before entering. "How are you feeling?"

It took a moment for Taehyung to register the nurse's question, but he smiled once his groggy mind finally understood. "Good. I think?"

The nurse chuckled, jotting down some notes in her medical chart. She moved to fiddle with some of Taehyung's tubes and wires, humming to herself in the process.

Taehyung never had surgery before, let alone visited anyone in a hospital, so this was all new and fascinating to him. In his state of curiosity, he twisted to see what she was doing, though quickly came to regret that decision. An excruciating pain erupted all over his side, a hot slicing feeling that almost caused him to pass out.

"Ow," he gasped, his hand instinctively coming to clutch his abdomen. That was the wrong thing to do as well. "Ah, fuck."

He took deep and controlled breaths, attempting to focus on that rather than the pain. But that just seemed to make everything hurt more.

"We can give you more pain meds, hold on," the nurse said to him, doing something to one of his fluid bags. "There. It should take effect in just a few minutes."

"Thank you," Taehyung sighed in relief, eager for anything to help numb the burning throbs in his side. "What time is it?"

The nurse checked her watch, one of those fancy smart ones everyone had nowadays. Taehyung preferred the old fashioned kind, the ones with worn leather bands and analog faces. He'd have to invest in one whenever he saved up enough money.

"It's just after three thirty," she said, smiling up at him reassuringly. "Your surgery went well. Took a little longer than we initially planned, but all four of you are doing great."

That was good news and helped to dull the pain in his stomach. That or the medication was starting to kick in.

Prior to the surgery, when Taehyung suspected he would be the most nervous, he had been surprisingly calm. He had a feeling, right in the pit of his stomach, that everything was going to go smoothly. And based on what the nurse said, it did.

But then, after a few moments of thinking over all the nurse told him, it hit him. The time.

Three thirty?