Chapter 23: Present. (1/1)

Luhan blinked open his eyes only to feel an unattainable feeling in his stomach. Everything still hurt, there was no surprise there, but somehow, he could feel the headache lessening. He fully opened his eyes, he was still tied to the ruthless chains, and because of the lack of light in the room, he couldn’t tell what time it was, or day. He blinked a couple of times to steady his breathing and winced when his bloodied hands hurt from all the straining of the chains. The otherwise chilled room suddenly felt warmer somehow, to luhan’s curiosity. He felt a presence in the ghostly room, he darted his eyes in the darkness and felt a figure shift in the dark corner of the room. He heard heavy breathing and soft footsteps towards him and soon he was met with a warm touch on his face. Sehun. “Does it hurt?” The somewhat familiar voice spoke and unconsciously, a shiver ran down luhan’s spine. Sehun’s touch was warm, maybe a bit too much for his liking. Luhan was not used to this kind of warmth, this kind of care. Soon in the darkness his eyes found sehun’s and he stared at them until he could feel tears running down his face for the nth time. Luhan hated how weak he has been in the past couple of months. With the revelation of his diseased state, and the fact that he was, possibly, on the verge of dying had luhan in tears every other day. Sure his body was hurting, but his heart even more so. Sehun stared at him worriedly and luhan stared back, defiantly. He knew sehun meant well, but luhan just couldn’t shake the thought away that sehun was the enemy now. And after the finality of that thought, luhan had decided not to cave in to his desires. Too bad he was failing already. “You’re sweating.” Sehun whispered, then took off a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed luhans forehead. Luhan saw the way his nose scrunched up when the handkerchief became all bloody, courtesy of luhan’s numerous bleeding bruises. Right. The sweating. Dr. Choi had warned him about it. It was a symptom apparently. The doctor said he will sweat excessively during the night and had warned him to take the precautions necessary. Luhan was still getting used to the fact that he had to take extra care of his body from now on. The thought was worrying him even more. Too bad the guy who tortured him two days ago didn’t really give a fuck about his body, or him, for that matter. “Luhan?” Sehuns voice brought him back to reality and he blinked at him questioningly. “Just…hold on okay?” He whispered and luhan, now beyond confused just stared at him wide eyed. Was sehun going to hit him again? Or worse, kill him? Luhan couldn’t fathom what was happening. Sehun’s face was unreadable when he suddenly reached up from luhan. But nonetheless, luhan shut his eyes for good measure. In a mere second, with a loud metal clicking sound, luhan was on the floor, his whole body going berserk with pain as he cried out in agony. He fell on the floor, his whole body burning with pain, yet his eyes still remained closed. “Shit.” Sehun cursed under his breath and soon, luhan was being lifted off the floor by a pair of arms he wanted to whack away but had no energy whatsoever to do so. He was quite alarmed now as he opened his eyes abruptly. His whole body ached but he had other problems to solve at hand, the biggest one being, sehun. “What are you doing?” Luhan half hissed, half whispered. He was surprised he could even talk at this point. He didn’t have a single ounce of food in his body lest for the soggy sandwich his torturer had fed, no shoved down his throat earlier. Sehun swiftly ignored his question and luhan wanted to punch him in the face for his bratty attitude. He grimaced as his hands found their way to sehun’s neck, holding him as if he was his lifeline. He definitely wasn’t. They were enemies now, luhan couldn’t forget that. Sehun held him carefully, trying hard not to hurt luhan's already bruised body. Too late for that, luhan thought as sehun fumbled with the door to get them out. Without a hinderence, they were out of that hellhole, walking around an unfamiliar hallway, up the stairs into what looked like a spacious living room. Luhan took in as much as his sleepy and tired eyes could take and sehun’s grip on him tightened slightly. Luhan, by this point had tears in his eyes from all the pain, and the sweating, might he add. Sehun was now taking them up another floor, and luhan wondered just where the fuck he was. Gone was the suffocating, dark basement, this looked like an actual house, furnished, cozy, warm and everything. “Sehun.” Luhan heard someone calling him and craned his neck painfully to see who it was. He didn’t realize thay had already travelled to a secluded room with a single window, a bed, a closet and a bathroom. Luhan took in his surroundings and his eyes finally landed upon the figure standing by the bed. The man was short, a bit shorter than luhan and the dim light in the room made his blond hair shine. He looked like a kid, lest the stethoscope around his neck. His eyes were almond shaped, and jaw was sharp, he took a step closer and luhan instinctively curled into sehun’s warm chest. “Put him on the bed. Be careful.” The doctor instructed and sehun obliged. The moment his back hit the soft mattress, instead of a contended sigh, luhan groaned in pain. “That bad huh? Fucking zelo.” The doctor said annoyingly as he opened his briefcase and pulled out a syringe. “Will he be okay?” Sehuns voice danced in the room and luhan looked at him, his figure all hunched over him, looking down at him in concern. Luhan wanted to remind him that that concerned look shouldn’t be there since they were enemies now but was too tired to voice it. “He’ll be fine. There isn’t any internal damage so far. I’ll do some blood tests for precaution.” A sharp prick to his right arm had luhan wincing but the pain left as soon as it came. And suddenly everything was swimming; the whole room was slipping in darkness, the figures dancing around shapelessly. Luhan tried to blink the fatigue away but failed. Sehun's face came in his vision and then left as abruptly as it came. He was suddenly feeling lighter than ever, his chest not tightening anymore. “Luhan?” Sehun’s voice was the last thing he heard before he slipped into darkness.       Luhan opened his eyes to find a face way too close for his liking. He cringed inwardly but it turned into a groan as the face smiled, showing perfect teeth. “You’re awake I see.” The doctor smiled. “You certainly made us wait.” He shuffled towards the bedside table and grabbed his stethoscope. He came back and held it over luhans chest and luhan, for the first time saw that he was wearing different clothes. He raised his bandaged hand, still wincing in pain as he clutched at the white cotton shirt. “Sehun was kind enough to lend it to you by the way.” The doctor smiled again and suddenly luhan wanted to rip the shirt off. Too bad it was warm and comfortable and all the other good things. “Sehun was here the whole time but I sent him to get some sleep. Staying awake constantly for days is not healthy.” The doctor said as he examined luhan’s bandage on his leg. “How long was I out?” He croaked out. His throat felt dry again but this time minseok was fast enough to hand him a glass of water, which luhan chugged down hungrily. “Three days.” Minseok said as he placed the glass back on the table. He came back and held luhan’s bandaged hand in his. He unwrapped the bandage skillfully and checked the purpled skin. “Looks like its healing. That’s good.” “I’m going to change your bandages now. This