So, I really love reading a good fanfiction and I had been having trouble trying to find one that I could really sink my teeth into. I love angst, but normally the angst I enjoy is thrilling, drama-filled angst. I typically stay away from gut-wrenching, heavy hearted angst because I am a closet crybaby and words are really the number one way to sneak into my heart--i.e: really sad angst completely destroys me. 

But this story that won first place in a oneshot contest called EXOplosion...I simply couldn't resist. Especially a story with the main as Kim Minseok, who was my first love in EXO M.

This story is called Fruit Drops and Pepero. This mini rant will have NO SPOILERS, so please feel free to read before or after reading the actual story (at your own risk~)

My first round of praise for this oneshot is the character development and creation. The story begins with two characters (one of which is an OC--hooray!) who have very distinguished personalities. They are very believable characters and very painfully real characters. Not only this, but as the story goes on, it becomes even more glaringly obvious how real these characters are, and, though they have very strong personalities, how life shaped them into who they were. And how they begin to shape who they are by being in contact with one another. Character development is one of my favorite parts of all stories, and this story, though less than 8k, does an amazing job at painting the picture of these two teenagers lives. In a mere 7,000 words, I fell in love with Minseok and Dahyun. 

Oh, the twists. I won't go into too much detail about this, as much as I'd love to go on and on about it, but I spent the whole story on the edge of my seat, waiting. And the lengths that Minseok goes to are beautiful and truly convey his devotion to Dahyun. Seeing his thoughts in contrast to his memories makes the story much richer--we get to see his feelings in the present and can clearly draw the lines of connection between those feelings and all of his wonderful memories with Dahyun as he hunts for her, with only her voicemail message to comfort him. And though I'm generally great at predicting endings, I seriously did not see coming what happened (or maybe it was because I was too engrossed in the story to try and guess the end. Either way, brava). And the ending really makes the whole story that much more heartbreaking. Everything that Minseok goes through and goes to lengths to do...it's honestly just beuaty in its truest form, this story is.

I mentioned it briefly in the previous paragraph, but this author...she is masterful with her words. The way she uses them and describes the situations in ways that are not just full of life and really drag you into the story, but in ways that utilize so many different grammar structures that keep the sentences themselves interesting and varying. It's a talent that takes unbelievable amounts of practice to master, and some never manage to do it. It's a skill that must be honed and jesus, she's just wonderful with her diction and vocabulary. 

I could sing a lot more praise about this 7k oneshot (seriously, I'm so amazed that she could do so much in such a small amount of words) but it would spoil a ton of the plot so I'll just keep it at this. The greatest part, honestly, was that I finished the oneshot and I hadn't cried. I was so proud of myself. But all it took was reading that last line one more time and the shock of the ending was gone--I burst into tears and felt Minseok's pain. Every last feeling he felt, I could feel it too. And maybe this is just because I have a history of clinical depression and suicidal thoughts, or maybe it's because I just really connected with this piece the way only other authors can, but this...this is probably the only piece I've ever read where I truly feel connected with the characters and invested in their happiness to the extent that I was while reading. The only other time I can remember feeling this way was when I was younger and I watched the Uchiha brothers fight to the death--I wanted both of them to win for all that they had gone through. And I was a wreck when Itachi died. That wrecked feeling--like why did it have to end that way--was revived in me by this story. So eternal gratitude to NeverlastingEverland for sharing this wonderful piece with the community on aff. And, if she reads this, I would just like to say to her to never stop writing because the talent that she has is beautiful and wonderful and doesn't deserve to go to waste <3

TL;DR : This oneshot is amazing and wrecked my whole life and I'm still crying thinking about this piece. God it totally deserved to win first place in EXOplosion and everybody should go read it--we have a fandom classic on our hands.