Chapter 10: Gather
ﾟ･｡°*. ﾟ Taehyung's POV ﾟ･｡°*. ﾟ
Taehyung had over heard everything Jin had said before agreeing to the plan. He had his own thoughts before whether or not Jungkook was as sick as his mother made him think. He could see how sheltered Jungkook was and he was naive because of it. He was trusting and kind to everyone and never wanted to think badly of anyone, but that made it easy to manipulate. Taehyung wanted to protect him even if it meant it was against his own family.
He was nervous because he was not sure if he doctor would agree to his request. He took a deep breathe and asked the nurse if he could meet with the doctor in private.
He was shown into a separate waiting area and waited for the doctor to arrive. During this time he thought over how he would ask the doctor without overstepping. Soon the doctor joined him and he took in a deep breathe before telling the doctor everything.
"So, you think Mr. Jeon's mother has been misinformed about Jungkook's condition?" The doctor asked.
"Well, she is also a doctor. Would she not notice over time that the diagnosis could have been wrong?" Taehyung asked.
"As a doctor it can be hard to diagnose SCID, but if over time further testing isn't done…there is no way to be sure if the original diagnosis is correct. Has Mr. Jeon had further testing?" The doctor asks.
"As far as he has told me, his mother treats him and a nurse is there in case of emergencies and to give him his medication. He has been kept inside completely isolated since he was a baby." Taehyung answered.
"Medication? What medication exactly?" The doctor asked.
"Not sure, it's a pill he takes twice a day." Taehyung answered.
"Well, there is no treatment for SCID. The only medication that can be given is if the patient does contract an infection. Then antibiotics, antifungal, and or antiviral medications will be given. I would need to test this medication he has been taking to determine what exactly he has been taking. Can you bring it here?" the doctor asks.
"Yes its in his luggage, I can get it for you today. Bu the thing is, his mother is on her way here and has threatened to have us arrested if we are here or anywhere near Jungkook again. But we think something serious is going on and my friend is asking his father to start proceedings to take over guardianship of Jungkook until he is nineteen." Taehyung admitted.
The doctor seemed a little surprised.
"You suspect abuse of Mr. Jeon?" The doctor asked worried.
"We don't know for sure, not in a physical way. He has never said she has hit him or anything, but she may have been giving him drugs to make him believe he was sick. She has isolated him from the world, and controls his every move. We are the only ones he has contact with besides his teachers and nurse. We can tell something is not right and we want to prove it." Taehyung explained.
"In that case, we will do as you request. We will run blood tests and any other test while Jungkook is still asleep so he has no discomfort. We will see if he has SCID or not, and if any more information is needed then let me know. Also, if your friend can get temporary custody of Jungkook he can make sure Mrs. Jeon can't take Jungkook away until things are resolved." The doctor said.
Taehyung shook his head following all the doctor had said.
"I will put in a request for his medical records from his doctors and see what that can tell us as well. We will figure this out." The doctor said standing and patting Taehyung on the shoulder. Taehyung stood and bowed as the doctor left.
He let out a sigh of relief before rejoining the others.
"How did it go?" Jin asked.
"He is willing to help us. He says that you should request temporary guardianship of Jungkook now in case Mrs. Jeon tries to take him out of the hospital before the investigation is over. I also need to go get his medicine so they can test it." Taehyung said.
"Oh I have it! I grabbed it just in case they need to give him a dose while he was here!" Jimin said pulling a bottle out of his bag.
"Thank you Jimin!" Taehyung said rushing to give the medicine to the doctor.
"Ok so its only a two hours before Mrs. Jeon said she will arrive, we need to leave before she gets here but we will stay at the rental house until we can leave with Jungkook." Jin told the others, and they all agreed.
Jin told Jungkook's nurse everything as well, because they would need their help. He also didn't want Mrs. Jeon to suspect anything until official papers arrived.
" We will tell her that Mr. Jeon can't be moved at this time." The nurse said.
The others soon left along with Taehyung to the rental house to prepare everything for what was about to happen.
Mrs. Jeon arrived about an hour after the others had left and she was quick to demand to see her son.
"Yes Mrs. Jeon your son is currently in recovery from surgery, he will be moved to a room by the end of today." Jungkook's nurse replied.
"Surgery? Surgery from what?" Mrs. Jeon asked.
"Your son came in with a head injury that had caused bleeding of the brain. The surgery was a success and h should fully recover." The nurse answered as polite as she could.
"You operated on my son without my consent?" Mrs. Jeon asked clearly angry.
"It was not a surgery we could wait for approval on, he could have sustained permanent damage if we did not operate right away." The nurse replied apologetically.
"I will discuss that with your superiors later, now where is my son? Show me to his room!" Mrs. Jeon said firmly.
"yes of course madame, right this way please." The nurse said showing Mrs. Jeon to Jungkook's room.
When inside Mrs. Jeon examined Jungkook extremities to be sure he had no other injuries.
"Where is his chart?" She asked with authority.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Jeon but you can not see his chart, that is for the medical staffs use only." The nurse replied.
"I am a doctor and his mother and I want to know everything that was done to my son without my consent.
"Like I said, we are unable to comply with that request. If you have any questions the doctor will be by soon to answer them, excuse me." The nurse said giving a quick bow and walking out.
Mrs. Jeon was furious and she couldn't believe a nurse talked to her like that. She was pacing waiting for the doctor to arrive, and she didn't notice that Jungkook had slowly started waking up. Before he could speak up the doctor came in, so he decided to just pretend to still be asleep so he could hear what the doctor had to say.
"Finally! Are you Jungkook's doctor? I have been waiting for an hour!" Mrs. Jeon said annoyed.
"Yes Mrs. Jeon I am Jungkook's doctor. I hear you may have some questions for me about his condition." The doctor replied.
"Questions? You cut into his head without my consent! You performed brain surgery without consent!" Mrs. Jeon said with a very angry tone.
"That is unture Mrs. Jeon, although you were not here we did receive consent." The doctor replied.
"From who? I am his only family!" She said confused.
"We received permission from Kim Taehyung, his boyfriend." The doctor replied.
Mrs. Jeon nearly choked on nothing when the words reached her.
"B-boyfriend?! My son does not have a relationship with anyone, especially not some Kim Taehyung. I would have known and I do not know this person." She replied.
"I believe he said you all are neighbors." The doctor added.
Meanwhile Jungkook felt like he had stopped breathing when he heard Taehyung's name and the word boyfriend together. Had he missed something? When did Taehyung become his boyfriend? Before that sentence could sink in the doctor started asking his mom some unusual questions.
"Mrs. Jeon I have some questions about Jungkook's health. He seems to have a very weak immune system." The doctor began.
"Yes, he has been very sick since he was a baby." She replied a little uneasy.
"Yes I was told he has SCID?" The doctor said almost asking.
"Yes he was diagnosed as a baby." She replied carefully to keep her answers short.
"Ok well, I have been trying to contact Jungkook's primary doctor to double check his diagnosis and to check on any other tests they have run. And well this is a little unusual but it doesn't seem that Jungkook has a primary doctor." He said.
Jungkook didn't know what to think about that. He knew his mom and nurse did most of his tests but he had thought that there were other doctors involved at some point. His thoughts are interrupted again by the doctor speaking.
"In fact I was unable to find any previous medical history of Jungkook's past the age of 6 months. As his doctor it's important to have a full medical background otherwise he may be injured further without us knowing important health problems. Also if he does have SCID we need aggressively treat him but such treatment can not go ahead until his condition is confirmed. SO because we have not been able to obtain such records we have had to do our own testing here. We are currently waiting for the results." The doctor said.
The room fell silent. Jungkook so much wanted to open his eyes and see with his own eyes the interaction, but he knew his mom wouldn't want him to know everything and would send the doctor away. His mother still had not spoken, but there was no sign the doctor was going to leave without an explanation. So Mrs. Jeon took a deep breathe and tried to explain away all the accusations she sensed in the doctor's tone.
"Listen doctor, my son was a very sick baby. They didn't know why he was sick so often, but they suspected SCID and that was enough for me to take every precaution as his mother and as a doctor. Now if its all the same to you, as soon as he is able I would like to take him home where I can care for him myself." She said firmly.
"I am sorry Mrs. Jeon but that will not be possible." The doctor answered.
"Excuse me? You have not right to keep my son here if he is well enough to go home." Mrs. Jeon said angrily.
"Because there is the chance a more severe medical condition and further testing is needed, the patient has to remain here and be cleared fully. That is required by law, unless you plan on discharging him against his doctor's advice. In which I have to make a note of in my chart and can come in the future as negligence or endangering the welfare of a child." The doctor said boldly.
Mrs. Jeon was taken aback. She had not expected this at all and was not sure why this doctor was treating her like a criminal of some kind. She said nothing more and nodded to the doctor, who left shortly after. Jungkook's heart was picking up now and he was scared to look at his mother. What was going on? Why did it sound like the doctor was accusing her of something? He was scared to ask his mother about everything the doctor said, and decided to wait for the test results to come to any conclusions. I mean his mom wouldn't lie about something this serious would she?