N.B: this chappie is a flashback. In case if you don't understand.

****

Taehyung coughed as he opened his eyes.

Searing pain spread out in his body, he groaned in agony at the splitting headache that seemed to be developing as he adjusted to his surroundings.

He noticed that he was in a hospital.

The last thing he remembered was coughing out blood and then he passed out.

What had happened after that? He had no idea.

He pulled the IV out from his wrist, with wobbly feet, he got up from the bed, having no idea where he was going.

He just felt like he needed to get out of this room.

As he opened the door to the hospital room, there stood his father, with bloodshot eyes, staring at him.

Mr Kim sniffed as he looked at his son, "Taehyung, I was just coming in to check on you. You shouldn't be up." Mr Kim mumbled as he guided Taehyung to the hospital bed.

"I-I don't want to be here." the younger boy croaked out.

"but son-"

"I don't want to be here!" Taehyung yelled, groaning, "please appa." he pleaded.

"why son? You- you were-"

"hospitals remind me of eomma. I don't want to be here. Please."

"I'll get a doctor." Mr Kim said as he took a deep breath, walking out of the hospital room.

Tears fell from Taehyung's eyes as he covered his face with his palms.

The door opened, Taehyung's father stepping in and closing the door behind him.

He walked towards his son, placing the poor boy's head on his shoulder.

"Tae?"

"appa?" Taehyung answered as he wiped his eyes.

"ho-how long? How long has this been going on? How long has this been happening to you? How long has these signs been showing?" Mr Kim spoke, a huge lump in his throat.

"I don't... I don't know." Taehyung hiccuped, "for a while? I've been hav-having headaches f-for some years now. Th-they hurt so m-much. I t-took aspirin all th-the time. N-nothing worked. I tr-tried getting used to it. It worked at first and th-then it got worse. I st-started having nose bleeds and s-sometimes I passed out. I... I cou-couldn't walk sometimes. Sometimes I wal-ked away from my f-friends," he hiccupped, snot running down his nose, "they thought I was mad a-at them! I- ouch. I could never be. Even when I t-tried, I could never."

"w-why didn't you tell me Tae?" Mr Kim asked as he ran his fingers through Taehyung's hair.

"I d-didn't want to stress you out appa. You had to work. You had to take care of the house, bills, you dealt with mom's passing all alone. I couldn't do anything to help you. You had to take care of me all alone. This could've been a burde-"

"no Tae. You're my son. I had to take care of you and seeing you in the hospital right now was not what was in the plan. It wasn't what your mother and I wanted for you Taehyung." Mr Kim said as fresh batch of tears fell from his eyes.

"I'm sorry appa." Taehyung mumbled.

"you don't have to apologize Taehyung. It'll be fine soon."

"w-what did the doctor say was wrong with me?" Taehyung asked as he looked at his father with pleading eyes.

"huh?" muttered Mr Kim as he bit his tongue.

"what's wrong with me appa? Please tell me. Please." he whispered.

"he said you have n- fuck! I can't say it."

"appa, you're cussing." Taehyung whispered as he laughed sniffling.

"my baby. This, all of this wasn't supposed to happen to you. If I could take your pain away, I swear to God, I would. I would Taehyung."

"appa, what's wrong? Don't I have some cold?"

"n-no Taehyung. No my son. Why did it have to be you?! Why?" Mr Kim cried, pain and sadness, blooming in him.

"am... Am I dying? Am I dying like eomma?" asked Taehyung as he wiped his eyes.

Mr Kim looked down at his son. It didn't have to be this way. He didn't even know where to start talking to him. Taehyung was almost eighteen, but it was still his son. His son he watched grow up, his son he took care of since his wife left them.

Taehyung was not supposed to suffer from this, this evil sickness that he didn't know where it came from.

"Taehyung, listen to me. We c-can get chemotherapy f-for you. We can beat this-"

"I have cancer? Like eomma?"

"I-"

"do I have cancer like eomma?"

Mr Kim bit his lip as he said something he never thought he'd ever say.

"yes Taehyung. You have cancer."

That pierced a knife into the two people's hearts.

He had cancer?

That's why he had been coughing out all that blood?

And blood kept pouring from his nose?

And all those headache?

And blurry sight?

And wobbly feet?

Cancer?

Why couldn't it be anything else?

Like maybe malaria!

Or-

Or-

Wait.

He was dying.

What kind of cancer was he suffering from?

"appa," he started, "what kind of cancer do I have? Is it like eomma's?"

"n-no Tae. You have n-niphoria."

"wow." was all that slipped through Taehyung's dry, cracked lips.

He sighed as he wiped his eyes.

If he mother couldn't fight, he was going to fight.

He was going to fight this disease, no matter how difficult it was.

He couldn't leave his father alone in this cruel world.

The world had taken his mother, it won't take him too.

"I promise appa. I promise to fight. Until my last strength, I promise to fight."

***

"I wanna go home appa. I can't say here. It's a hospital!" yelled Taehyung as he craddled his forehead, furrowing his eyebrows in pain.

"OK son, please calm down."

"I- I can't appa. I can't."

"fine. OK. I'll talk to the doctor alright?"

Taehyung hummed faintly as he turned away from his father, looking out of the hospital room window.

Jaehyun sighed as he stepped out of the room.

He still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that his only child had cancer.

Cancer.

Cancer, Taehyung's mother died from just a different type.

So why did Taehyung have to get the deadliest one of them? Why did he have to get niphoria?

When his wife was sick and he searched about different kinds of  cancer, he learnt about niphoria.

Back then, he had hoped he would never see anyone with such a disease because he would feel bad.

Now of all people, it had to be his son!

The only one he had. He had no one except Taehyung. His little boy was going through what he did not know about.

Who would've thought that Taehyung was going to have cancer?

A fresh batch of tears fell from Taehyung's eyes as he looked out of the window.

Why didn't he even search for all these things on the web when he started seeing all these signs and symptoms of fucking cancer?!

He had cancer!

He was dying!

But he was going to be fine.

Chemotherapy would help.

What was even the success rate of chemotherapy helping him?

What if chemotherapy didn't help him?

What if the actually died?

What would he do without his father?

How would his father be if he died?

How worried would his father be now?

All he knew was this cancer was not going to stop him from doing anything.

His friends.

How would they take the news?

They would be so worried.

None of them had to know.

None.

The doctor walked into Taehyung's room, a sad smile on his face.

"I heard you wanted to go home?"

"yes. Doctor. I hate hospitals. I- I wonder how you guys manage to stay in this place everyday."

"I save lives like yours Kim Taehyung. I'm used to it. So, you know you don't have to go home. We need to take some tests and keep an eye on you."

"but I can go home right? I can come from home to take the tests?"

"yes."

"then it's settled." Taehyung clapped as he walked into the barhroom to change out of the hospital garments.

Some minutes later, he emerged from the bathroom, hospital garments in hand as he dropped it on the bedside table, a small comforting smile on his face.

"let's go appa."

"t-the doctor wanted to see you before we left."

"really? OK." Taehyung said as they headed for the door.

Inside the doctor's office:

"Taehyung, have you ever heard of your type of cancer?"

"no. Honestly, I have no idea on anything about cancer. Ever since my mother died from cancer, I decided to disassociate myself from cancer. Now it decided to come find me." Taehyung said as he sent the doctor a sad smile.

"so you've never heard about niphoria?"

"no I haven't."

The doctor nodded, looking down at her clipboard.

"so... Um, you know you have to undergo chemotherapy right?"

"I do know that. I've promised myself to fight this in every way I can. Please don't tell me to stay here in the hospital. I can come from home everyday but I don't want to stay here."

"Taehyung, you do realise that this would be very risky right? We need to keep an eye on you. You're... You're already at the final stage of niphoria." muttered the doctor with a sigh.

"at the final stage? Is it that bad? There's nothing you can do?" Taehyung asked as his eyes became teary, him reaching up hastily and wiping his eyes.

"we can try chemotherapy."

"what's the success rate?"

"it's a thirty–seventy."

"that low?"

"I'm sorry. If we had found out a bit earlier, the success rate would have been higher."

Taehyung nodded, fiddling with his fingers.

"you'll experience pain, soreness. You'll still have the nose bleeds and you'll start coughing blood out frequently. Have these medicines," the doctor said as she got some pill containers from the drawers in the table, "they should help with the pain. They'll also prepare you for chemotherapy."

Taehyung nodded as he took the medicine into his hands.

"you'll also have some red blotches on your skin. Have you ever seen a hickey?" the doctor asked, her face questioning.

"yes I have." Taehyung said as he blushed.

"you'll have blotches on your skin. They'll look like hickies, but they're not. Try to avoid cuts and sharp objects. Your skin would be getting a bit weak so it could easily be cut and if it does cut, it'll be difficult to stop the bleeding. I gave you a bottle of pills there in case if anything happens.

If you start feeling weak or dizzy, call someone close to you. Try to reduce the way you move around. If it's a lot, lessen it. You'll need your energy. You might begin to feel tired easily. In case if you need anything or if you feel weird, come straight here to the hospital. Is that alright?"

"yeah. Can I go now?" Taehyung asked as he got up from the seat.

"yes. Oh and your father said you take a lot of pain killers, try stopping that yeah. Don't take them at all no matter how harsh your headaches get."

"w- th-thanks doc. I'll get going." muttered Taehyung with a sigh as he stepped out of the doctor's office, to his father.

_________

Hi!

So...

I know it's been so long since I updated this work.

Sorry. I was stuck on this chappie for a while.

It would have been obvious since it took me this long to update.

I didn't even put the amount of emotions I was supposed to put.

Smh.

This is a mess.

But sorry for the late update.

The second part will be up soon.

Sorry again.

Thank you very much for 5k+ reads!

I appreciate it so much!

Bye.

'peace out💟