"Zhong Jianyu, here to visit Zhong Yue correct?" The receptionist asked, looking up at Chenle's father.

"Uh, yes. We scheduled for the time of 3:00pm."

"Alrighty then, she should be in her room by now. You may go on ahead sir." With that, Chenle and his father took off in the direction of her room.

The young male followed behind his father, eyes curiously scanning over the place as if it were some museum. There were both women and men roaming the halls, chatting comfortably with one another.

And to think these were ex-convicts.

He then focused back onto where they were going. It was a few more minutes of walking before his father stopped at a room with the numbers 1122 engraved into it.

Jianyu looked at his son, silently giving him some encouragement as he can practically feel the boy's nervousness. "It'll be okay, son. She'll be so happy to see you."

Even though he was slightly shaking, and his mind would blank out every once and a while, he nodded confidently. Just behind this door is his mother. His mother who he hasn't seen since his last year of middle school.

He couldn't wait to see that comforting smile of her's again, or wait to feel her warm hugs again.

His father finally knocked on the door, waiting for some kind of permission to enter, but nothing sounded. So, he knocked again, a bit louder this time.

Furrowing his brows, he looked at Chenle, "Maybe she took a restroom break?"

"Maybe. Should we wait for her inside then?" Chenle suggested, as his father nodded in agreement.

Grabbing onto the cold metal handle, he twisted the nob and opened the door.

And what a sight it was.

"M-Mom?!" His eyes widened, tears already making its way to his eyes.

Breathe. Chenle couldn't breathe properly, his small frame was now shaking violently as he tried to hold onto the doorframe to maintain some kind of balance.

Zhong Yue, was laying on her bed, still and cold. An arm outstretched over the side of the bed, making the large needle mark on her forearm in full view for her son and husband to see. Her other arm rested on top of her stomach, a syringe barely fitted in her grasp.

Jianyu let out a strangled sob and ran off to find any kind of help that he can get, leaving his son to suffer the horrid sight of his mother.

Gaining some strength, he stumbled over to his mother's bedside table to see whitish power in a small bag then pieces of foil laid on the table's surface. He looked back to his mother.

Her face was pale as a corpse's, it was like she had the life sucked out of her.

Chenle didn't know what to do, or what to think. So many emotions were running through his body at the same time like some tropical hurricane. His chest tightened as the hot tears finally started to trail down his face.

"Mom...what happened?" He spoke out softly, his voice cracking.

Kneeling down by her bedside, he took ahold of his mother's outstretched hand. They were cold, so cold. It was like he was touching pure ice.

His eyes landed on the needle mark, which looked more like a bullet wound of sorts. Dried blood laid around it streaking in patterns like the roots of a plant, making Chenle want to literally vomit.

Why would his mother do this? From what he heard, she was doing fine, amazing even. Knowing his mother, she would never do such thing. So why? Why would she do it?

Chenle's mind was overrun with a thousand answerless questions that would drive the teenager insane.

"Chenle." His father's voice broke him out of his horrid thoughts, as he looked back to see shocked employees at the doorway.

"Young man, please step away from the patient, now. We need immediate medical attention stat, call the ambulance." One of the workers said, while the other on started to dial 119.

Before he stood up, he dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out the pink colored candy and gingerly placed it in his mother's empty hand. He closer he hand with his own then shakily brought it up to his lips, placing a soft kiss on her fingers before standing back for the workers to take her away.

His heart ached severely, tears still flowing down his cheeks. Chenle's hands were clenched into tight fists.

He felt his father turned him around and engulfed him in a warmth filled embrace. An embrace in hopes to get rid of the coldness creeping up in his son's heart. The man had tears falling down his face as well. He would have never expected this to be the sight to see when he opened that door. Matter of fact, if he knew, he would've never opened that door for his son to see his mother in such state.

He knew it would be too much to handle. Too much to take in at once.

"It's okay Chenle, everything's going to be alright. She's going to be taken to the hospital for treatment, then she'll be back to normal."

But they both knew that wasn't the case at all. It was far from that actually.

🐬

"Yo, isn't Chenle supposed to be here by now?" Asked Donghyuck, lazing on the couch while he scrolled through his twitter feed.

"Yeah, he's like an hour off schedule." Mark pointed out.

Jisung simply shrugged his shoulders. He himself was starting to get a bit anxious. He had texted Chenle a couple times already asking if he was doing anything to play along with their plan, but then went the elder male didn't respond, he started asking where he was and such.

At this point, he threw the plan out of the window. He was straight up worried now. His knee bounced up and down as he stared at the phone in his hand, waiting to see at least a 'read' under the texts he delivered.

"Hey, maybe they caught up in rush hour?" Jeno suggested, trying to lighten the mood as he could see how nervous the youngest was getting.

"Rush hour was like three hours ago Jeno." Renjun deadpanned.

"Then where could Chenle and his dad be then?" Jaemin questioned.

His answer was quickly answered, seeing Jisung's phone start to vibrate. Jisung picked up immediately, "Mr. Zhong! Where--"

"Come to the hospital now. My boy isn't in the best condition at the moment and I think he needs you by his side right this instance."

🐥

ummmm, number three is in significance y'all.

double update because my friend doesn't want to do her work, so give the thanks to her :)

younghooo