30 minutes later...

'JUNGKOOK'S P.O.V'

The time telling me to put an end to this moment with her, my mood drastically changes, but I must respect the doctors here. "Well," I clear my throat and force a smile. "I have to go," I cannot hold back from stroking her hand, feeling some ache inside at the sight of her in this hospital bed, without anyone to talk to. "Take care and call a nurse if you're not feeling good. Text me and call me as well, I'll be there to answer you and talk. Okay?"

"Okay," she obviously struggles to hide her disappointment, so I keep her hand in mine while standing up, and I gaze at her. "Don't be worried or anything. I'll come back tomorrow in the morning."

"No need to, Mister Jeon. Don't be tired, please," she gives me invalid excuses, and I smile but let go of her. "You won't change my mind," I manage to make her giggle in a cute manner, but since I don’t want to be disrespectful towards the hard workers here, I bend forth, run my finger through her hair, and press a kiss on her forehead. "Have a good night, sweetheart. See you tomorrow."

"See you, Mister Jeon. Have a good night as well and be careful on the road," she makes my heart melt without even knowing, and I compel myself to leave. I smile at her one last time, and I grab my phone and keys to step towards the door. I open it, turn around, not handling this type of situation, I wave at her and sends her a flying kiss, before eventually going out.

I hope it won't be too difficult for her.

•••

6:40 pm.

I enter the house without being too loud, and as expected, no scent of food fills my nose to make me feel warm at home. I close the door behind me and take my shoes off, but Hajoon runs down the stairs. "How is she doing?"

"She's fine," I answer him and put my keys down, but once I see the person I despise, I ask him to go back into his bedroom and wait for me to call him for dinner. He does not complain, he does as told, and I walk in the kitchen, where she is.

"Where were you?" she dares to ask me. "I was with y/n, but Hajoon already told you so don't pretend to know. What did you tell her this morning?"

"This morning? When you were sleeping on the bed because you got drunk again?" she does not turn around to face me but keeps on washing her cup. "I asked you a question."

"I told her to behave more properly in my house, nothing else. Why? Did she come up to you and whine?" she does not even feel any empathy for this young girl who never did anything wrong, making me loath her even more. "I do not want you to talk to her that way again. Got it? I'm the one who hired her, I'm the one paying the bills, so you do not have a word to say about her and her behavior in this house when she respects me more than you do and tries her best."

My words echo through the room without even getting to her. She sneers. "You, men, do not even see when a girl is just trying to get attention, or maybe you do," she turns around, looking at me with disdain. "And that's why you defend her so much. She's your little pet, she's young, she does whatever you tell her to do like your puppy and acts so innocent too. That's what you like, don't you? Did she suck your dick that you like her so much?"

I cannot believe what I'm hearing from her. She's not the same person anymore. "Do you even know what it is to have a normal discussion like an adult? Being disgusting and immature is the only thing you're able to do?"

"Fuck you, all right?" she says, staring into my eyes and not even glancing away. "Just go and care about that bitch only since she's the only thing you care about. That fucking little bitch who could be your daughter."

I do not even try anymore, I give up on this. She will not change anymore, she will not be the same woman I met anymore. I totally lost her.

I clench my jaw and leave to head upstairs. I make my way to Hyejoon's bedroom where only I will find a way to calm myself. I quietly step inside and move closer to his crib, and I bend over it. I put my eyes on his cute face, his small body peacefully sleeping and dreaming, and I control myself to not break down in front of my baby.

I swallow the knot in my throat and reach out for his hand, doing it delicately, I brush one finger past his tiny one, and I smile. Sometimes I regret being a doctor and working so hard, I wish I could be home, hold him in my arms for so much time, take care of him, and never be worried about anything.

No matter how delighting it feels to look at my son, I do not want to disturb his sleep and wake him up, so I straighten my back and leave the room to go and see my older one.

I knock on his door first, and once he let me in, I enter the room. He's not doing anything but lying on his bed. "Do you want to go out to eat today?"

"Yeah, but what about Hyejoon?" he thinks about him, but I already know what I am going to do. "Don't worry, I'll take him with us, so we can leave at seven when I wake him up. Okay?"

"Okay," he nods but does not seem very happy. I know why, but I still want to talk with him. I close the door behind me to make sure we will not be bothered, and I sit down on his gaming chair. "What's wrong?"

He remains silent for a few seconds as if he did not want to tell me right away, and I wait.

"I'm bored without her...she's alone in a hospital bed...that's not fair. I want to be with her," he lets it out, and his answer reminds me of the talk I had with her earlier. I do not know what went through my head, but I confessed a little too much over there. "She's fine. Think about that, it's the most important. She'll be back in three days," I try to find the right words that seem hard to look for at this right moment. "And...maybe if you want the wait to be shorter, you can think about a surprise that you could do for her. Something special that will make her feel even happier to be back."

"I'm not good at that..." he mumbles while facing the wall like a sad and upset kid. "Stop lying. Have you forgotten whose son you are? You know very well how to do that," I joke with him to attempt to help him smile or feel a little better, and I do not fail, he turns around. "I'm not you. You know how to make a woman happy and shy. I don't. I'm a small version of you who hasn't upgraded to that level yet."

"Hey, don't say that," I refuse to hear this. "She likes the way you make her laugh and smile, I told you about this already. You know how to make her laugh and smile, and how to make her feel good and comfortable around you as well, so you have almost every chance to make her happy. I'm pretty sure that no matter what it is, she'll be touched by your efforts. Trust me."

"Hm..." he gives me the sound that tells me I am right but that he does not want to admit it, and I smile. "Avoid baking a cake though, she has to be careful with what she eats for now because of the surgery," I offer him my advice, but he keeps his eyes on the ceiling. "What if I buy her a bouquet of roses?"

"Do you know the ones she likes the most?" I ask him, finding a way to help him. "I think she likes roses and peonies the most."

"Do you think she'll like light pink roses? Red roses will maybe be too much," I see it from my own experience and what I know about women. "She'll definitely like pink ones, I remember the other day, we were playing together, and she kept on talking about how pretty she found her new light pink hoodie, like, she could not stop talk about how happy she was that she bought it," he smiles while talking about it, and I cannot help but do so. She is precious. "Then put light pink roses to your list. Then what could you do?"

"Spoil her with attention once she's home? I'll cook something light for her," he plans with determination. I can see it in his eyes, the way he speaks, he caught feelings. I smile but let him plan everything in his head.

— Next day —

Wednesday, October 21st, 2020.

6 am.

I knock on the door of y/n's room, feeling a bit tired because of some lack of sleep but not caring about it. I open the sliding door after warning her about my presence, and I step inside and lay my eyes on her in a single second. "Good morning," I close the door behind me, feeling soft in front of her eating yogurt. "Good morning, Mister Jeon. How are you doing?" she asks the question first when I am the one supposed to do so given her state.

"I'm doing good, what about you?" I smile and sit down. "I am too," she puts her spoon and yogurt down as if she was too shy to eat in front of me. "How was last night?" I take my coat off to be more at ease, and I hang it on the back of my seat. "It was good. I slept well, and you? I hope you went to bed at an early hour."

"Well, depends on what 'earlier' means to you," I try to avoid answering, but a hidden pout forms on her face. "You need sleep, Mister Jeon...Did you go to bed when you sent me the text?"

I press my lips together to not lick the balm I applied, and I shake my head. "I sent you that text when I went out to get some fresh air."

"Tell me you did not fall asleep outside, please," she worries about me more than my own wife does, and I uncontrollably smile. "I didn't. I went in my bed afterwards."

"Hm," she still does not get reassured, so I change the subject. "Anyway, eat. Don't leave it there."

"I'll eat once you have to do, it's —"

"No," I do not let her have a choice. "This is important."

"But..." she obviously looks for an excuse that I will not take for sure. "I'm a bit lazy since I woke up..." her lame reply gets a burst of chortle to run out of me. "Is that the only pretext you found?"

"Yes..." her adorable quiet response makes me laugh, and I move closer to her I grab the yogurt and spoon. "Do you not eat because of some pain, or for another reason?" I ask before doing anything, and she gazes at me, then her look drops on my lips. "Maybe...because you're here."

I knew it.

I chuckle but dive the spoon in the milk. "Are you really going to do this?" she understands what I'm doing, and I nod, drift the spoon to her mouth, and feed her. "Come on. It's your fault."

She giggles and dares to not do as told. "Open," I touch her lips with it, grinning like an idiot at her cute behavior. The redness over her face brightens, but she takes it in her mouth. "Good," I let her swallow and repeat my action to make sure she is well fed.

"What did you dream of?" I find a topic to broach with her in order to get rid of the nervousness that I can evidently read through her body language. "I can't remember..." she looks up on the right. "You never remember your dreams," I remark with a smirk on my face to tease her, and she attempts to hide her shyness by nibbling on her inner lip. "Sometimes I do..."

"Hm, sometimes," I annoy her but playfully, and I give her one spoon. "What about you? What did you dream of?" she asks to know. "It was more a nightmare than a dream, to be honest. My boss was there, and he fired me. So, that was pretty terrible for me since I need all that money that I earn."

"Why did he?" some interest gains her, and I recall more of the details to describe it. "I think it was because of a rumor, like, one of my colleagues went to him and said some stuff about me that was a bit scandalous, I don't exactly know what it was."

"Oh, well. Then we know it won’t ever happen in real life since you're a perfect man," she never ceases sending me loads of compliments, and I beam. "I'm not perfect, we all have our flaws."

She gazes at me as if this was not true. "And what are yours?"

"Mine?" I raise my eyebrows, wondering what I could tell her. "Well..." I clear my throat. "I'm too sensitive. Too naive. I also let myself get overwhelmed a bit too easily which can lead to some fights...uhm..." I stir in the yogurt while thinking and hating the words I'm saying about myself. "I sometimes do not handle situations like a proper adult...and I could go on..."

"Well, no matter what they are, you're still an amazing person to me," she comforts me. That's like if she could discern all my emotions through me, my eyes, my voice. I do not even know what to say, she is a wonderful girl.

"You do know that, right?" she tilts her head to the side and triggers some weaknesses inside of me. "I do," a faint smile grows on my face. "Good, you must."

"Or else what?" I grin while keeping my stare on her, and she pretends to be fixing her blanket on her. "I will...remind you of it every day."

"Oh, what a threat. I better do it then," I give her the last spoon and throw the empty jar in the trash. "By the way, there's something I wanted to ask you," I get back on my chair properly, and I bring it closer to her to be able to rest my arms on the sheets. "Why didn't you text or call me yesterday?"

She swallows what is in her mouth. "I didn't want to bother you."

I instantly click my tongue. "What have I said about that already? You won't ever bother me, y/n. Receiving a call or text from you relieves me a lot."

"I know," she answers, even though she told me the opposite just a second ago. "You must," I react with humor to not be too serious and ruin the mood, and I manage to get a smile from her.

"I have something to ask you though..." she glances down at her hands and fiddles with her fingers. "Sure. Tell me."

"Uhm...Well...since I'm here, in the hospital...there is something a bit problematic..." she does not have the courage to use the right words, becoming very bashful about it. "I don't have...any...clean clothes...that I can wear..."

"Oh, I can bring you what you want tomorrow," I do not show any bother or anything, but she does not relax yet. "And...about the...You know...?"

I look into her eyes, figuring out as fast as I can what is wrong. This is quick for me to understand what she needs but cannot ask for. "Your underwear?" I pronounce the word that almost seems forbidden in her mouth, in this room, and she nods to me. "I don't know who to ask that to...so...since I cannot go out without any...I wanted to ask you if you wouldn't mind or feel uncomfortable to bring one to me..."

"I'll bring them to you, don't be shy about it. I understand. As long as you're okay with it, I'll do it. You'll just have to tell me where they are, and how many you need until after tomorrow," I do my best to not make a big deal out of something so simple, and she acquiesces. "Thank you. I was scared to ask you that since you're a man..."

"It's precisely the reason why you don't have to be shy or embarrassed about it. I'm a man, not a boy, but I do understand the fact that you're not totally comfortable about it though," I do see it from her point of view since she's a young girl. "But you can just send me a text once I'm back home. It will be around six p.m., and the visits are allowed until eight today, so I'll come back with them tonight. You'll just have to tell me what you need and where it is, okay?"

"Okay," she expresses some more easiness, and I breathe out with relief.

•••

1 am.

I stare at the pool from afar, holding my glass of wine on my thigh. I remain tucked in my blanket to stay warm, listening to the sound of the night, the calm, the serenity this brings. I close my eyes, but my thoughts creep up on me. This email, the answer I wish I could still be waiting for. Y/n, how she is doing right now.

Right at the moment that she entered my mind, I hear my phone ring next to me. I hurry to check who it is, even though I barely doubt, and once I see her name, I pick up the call.