NeoNara || TXT || taebin || yeonkai

2015, DAY TWO
Sunday, August 16, 2015 10:29 AM

When Soobin dreams, he is in a long, winding flower garden. It's like a maze, and there are different colored flowers everywhere. He thinks he knows the names of them all, but in Korean, not English. There are blue ones and red roses and an entire collection of pink flowers with petals soft as snow. Soobin looks through the garden, feeling that he should be looking for something, but not sure exactly what he's looking for.

He gets the feeling that he shouldn't keep his father waiting.

His father is here. Soobin hasn't spoken with his father, in person, in years. The last time they had seen each other face to face had been...five? Six years ago now? It had been when Soobin had left Ansan for America, on a full scholarship. At the time, his father had been so proud of him. His older sister was married, his older brother was finishing his school, and now Soobin was traveling to America to do the same. When he returned, he would be a smarter, wiser Soobin, one who would then serve his country through military service and then begin the rest of his life.

No. That's not how my life has turned out. Soobin knows he will still have to return for his military service someday, but once that is done, he wants to return to Taehyun. Or Taehyun can go to Korea with him. It doesn't matter to Soobin. He just can't see a life without his boyfriend anymore. So what if they can't ever get married? In Korea, men get married to women, and that is that. Perhaps Taehyun can rent an apartment with him, and Soobin can work in the corporate world and Taehyun can stay home and make music for K-Pop companies.

But Soobin walks through the flower garden, until he reaches a clearing. Everything is decorated in white, with pink flowers. There is a crowd, seated there, and Soobin recognizes it as a Western wedding. The bride is waiting at the altar, and there's an older man standing there, by her. Soobin wonders if that's the groom. What a beautiful wedding, though! Her dress is long, skirting the grass, and there is music floating in from somewhere, and the sky is blue and --

Soobin walks down the aisle, unable to stop himself. When he gets to the altar, he sees that the man in the front is his father. He takes Soobin's hands and gives them to the lady in the white dress.

And Soobin wakes up so violently that he tumbles out of bed.

He lands on the carpeted hotel floor with a thump, looking at the ceiling. Oh. It was all a dream. And then, oh, I'm at the hotel with Taehyun's dad, he's still in the hospital. But at least Soobin is well rested this time, and he wakes himself up and looks around. Taehyun's dad must be awake, because he is nowhere to be seen. The bed on the other side is made, nice and neat.

He checks his phone. There are a bunch of text messages in a newly created group chat that he has missed. A lot of them are Kai, messaging about nothing, but there's also discussions about not waking Soobin up. Soobin sends a message. I'm awake. Taehyun called last night, he's okay but still there. I'll have more in a minute. And, of course, ten seconds later Soobin's phone dings nonstop with messages from worried friends.

Before long Roger Rhodes comes back into the room, with two plates full of hotel breakfast in his hands. "Oh, good, you're awake," he says in that curt voice that means I have an update and it's time for us to do something.

Soobin takes one of the plates. It has a little bit of everything on it: bacon, eggs, sausage, a bagel with butter and cream cheese packets. He goes for the bagel. "Did Taehyun's mom call you?"

"She did." Roger sits at the table and eats, and in between bites of food, he fills Soobin in. "They ran all sorts of tests last night while Terry was awake — sorry — and they couldn't find anything. Some ear doctor stopped by and they did a basic hearing test, but Terryyyyyyyy I mean Tae Hyun passed it. No noticeable hearing loss or damage that they can find. But that means they have to go to a specialist now." Roger looks at Soobin. "Soo Bean, have you ever seen this happen to my son before?"