Man - y.kh

seventy-eight.

A couple days later, I was back to my own bed rest. And Minhyuk learned to call our couch home. He was a level of depressed that no one had noticed before and we all felt for him. We were worried, to say the least. He didn't even talk to us. "Hyungwon," I sighed, scrolling through my phone. "We need to do something about Minhyuk."

He nodded, sitting next to me in bed. "I agree. I understand his hurt and his pain, but I see him starting to worry Benji and I don't want Benji to try to help, you know? Try to help him smile and he snaps at him instead of realizing what he's wanting to do for him." I nodded, completely understanding.

I guess I should start from the day I came home.

As I packed up to get ready to go home, Hyungwon left the room to go sign my discharge papers. When Minhyuk walked by, I called him to get him to come to me. "What's up, buddy?" I asked, throwing my charger in a bag.

Minhyuk looked at his phone. "Nothing much, I have to go sign Bora out." I raised my eyebrow, surprised they were letting her go so soon. "She has to be on bed rest until the end of her pregnancy, or until the doctor clears her for activity."

I nodded softly. "I'm sorry, Min. But at least everyone's okay?" Minhyuk nodded agreeing with me. "Well go sign her out, I'll call you later." He smiled, fist bumping me before he left.

We headed home maybe half an hour later, stopping to get food as well. "Why is Minhyuk's car here?" Hyungwon asked, pulling into the driveway. That wasn't good news to me, seeing Minhyuk here or what Hyungwon just told me. I felt like I was the only one who knew what this meant.

"He's sitting on the porch," I sighed. "Let me talk to him." I got out of the car, limping toward the porch. Hyungwon wanted to help me, but I told him not to. I looked in the passenger's seat of Minhyuk's car and saw a heavy dark spot on the seat. "Fuck," I mumbled. If anyone knew what that was, it was me.

I made my way to the porch, hitting the front step with my cane to get Minhyuk's attention. He didn't look up at me, but he cried with his head in his hands. "I-I shouldn't have taken her home." I felt my own heart shatter with him. He doesn't get this vulnerable around others, only me. But it was hard to see him like this regardless. I easily lowered myself to sit on the porch with him.

"Come on, bud." I wrapped my arms around him and he just disintegrated into heartbreak. "Shh, I got you."

Minhyuk's crying got louder, more erratic. That made Hyungwon get out of the car. "Kihyun," Minhyuk whimpered. "Do you know how much this hurts?" He asked.

That was honestly something I never thought about. "I'll be honest. I do know how much it physically hurts. I know what Bora physically is feeling. But I don't think I could ever know how either of you are emotionally feeling." Hyungwon furrowed his eyebrows as I wiped Minhyuk's tears away. "Every miscarriage I had, I was happy for it. I wouldn't have to explain it to my mother, or anyone else for that matter. But you were both fully invested, consenting adults and ready to become parents. I can imagine that Bora didn't want you around?" Minhyuk sniffled, nodding softly.

"She wanted me to call her sister and leave her alone," Minhyuk sighed. "She was embarrassed, hurt. I could almost read her mind. I think she felt that she failed as a mother, not being able to carry to term. But she won't talk to me, she won't even look at me. I can't assume that either." I nodded, holding his hands. He'd started digging into them. "When I helped her inside, we didn't notice the seat. The only thing we noticed was this." He leaned back, showing his blood stained white jeans. "And she looked at me and she started crying. When I went to hold her, she hit at me. And then she started screaming at me, telling me to leave her alone. I just let her use up all her anger on me. But I'm hurt too. I'm angry too."

Hyungwon had gone inside to get some water for him. When he came back, he sat on the other side of Minhyuk, putting an arm around him. Minhyuk shrugged away from him. "Hey!" Hyungwon snapped. "You need your brother too. Don't shut me out. You're gonna need our couch until you're ready to go back home." Minhyuk sniffled, caving in to cry in Hyungwon's arms.

It's been a few days now and Minhyuk pulls away from us the same way Bora pulled away from him. The last thing we needed from this situation was for him to upset Benji. As much as we cared for him, he couldn't snap at Benji, depressed or not. And the kid had a soul of pure helpfulness. Minhyuk wasn't open to that help at the moment.

"Can't you call Ms. Lee and have him go home for a while?" I asked.

Hyungwon nodded a bit. "Not a bad idea... she would know about this too." My jaw dropped for a second not expecting it. "Yeah, she was in a lot of pain one day while Minhyuk was at work and Jooheon was at school. We were home sick together and I thought she was dealing with the same stomach bug I was. I was like 16 or something, and she told me not to tell either of them. But now, Minhyuk really needs her insight too. I'll call her."

Benji knocked on the door in his adorable little pattern he always did. "Come in, baby." I sang softly.

"Can I climb in bed?" He asked softly. "Bad dream." I pat the middle of the bed, pulling the covers back.

Hyungwon got up and picked him up before leaving to take the call downstairs. "What was your dream about kiddo? Do you wanna tell me?"

Benji shrugged a bit. "All my teeth fell out, it was weird." I furrowed my eyebrows softly. I've heard that dream before. It was rumored to symbolize that someone was going to die.

"Open your mouth," I said. I counted all of his teeth. "Looks like they're all there, Bubba. Does that make you feel any better?" He nodded, snuggling into my arms. It didn't take long for him to fall back asleep.

Hyungwon came back upstairs shortly after, taking deep breaths. "Uhm... I-I have to go. I'm taking Minhyuk with me. Uhm... yeah I have to go."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What's going on?" I asked quietly. Hyungwon was rushing, barely listening to me. "Baby?" I asked again.

"My mom wasn't answering and Jooheon just tried to wake her up and she's not responding." My heart dropped, meeting my stomach with a strong hit. "Jooheon's alone, he's having a panic attack, I'm having a panic attack, Minhyuk's in the middle of a mid life crisis, usually Eommie calms us down when we're like this but she's not fucking answering!"

I shushed Hyungwon, waving him over to me. "Benji's sleeping, okay. But come here." He sat down next to me, letting me take his hand. "Your mom is fine. She works a lot, right?" He nodded softly. "Maybe she took some sleeping pills and it's just a little heavy on her body, difficult to wake her. Okay? Don't kill yourself trying to get there. I need you to promise me you'll stay as calm as possible. Okay?" Hyungwon nodded, squeezing my hand tightly. "Alright, let me know what's going on, I'll be up." Hyungwon kissed me on the forehead before leaving. Could we go maybe a few days without a fucking crisis?