“I’m damn proud of you Minseok. I’m proud to have you as my boyfriend. You’re so kind and beautiful in your own little ways”

Those were the words that echoed and rippled endlessly, transcending through Minseok’s mind. A mind filled with equations, formulas, probabilities and damning solutions for the people who needs him, The People, The World and only to be shattered with the voice of the most important person in his life.

Minseok had been unconsciously biting his nails with the words Baekhyun sombered at him earlier as he rode a two-hour plane trip from Metro City's Mechatron Incorporated after receiving a call from his big time colleague, Dr. Kim Junmyeon, Director of the Artificial Technology of Human Response in Mechatron.

‘Baekhyun, I’m sorry’ was all he wanted to say again and again once he comes home into the arms of his lover. He knew the months of being apart and solely focusing in finding The Cure to Cancer would pay a price such as Baekhyun feeling neglect and that one day, he might fall out of love for him. Minseok knew the risk and took it with his free-will even if it means sacrificing his time to be with Baekhyun, because he knew, deep down, with just enough time, he can fulfil his dream. He could save millions of people – and maybe, himself.

Minseok, was a victim of Cancer and it terrified him every day.

There was a harrowing shock penetrating through his spine, an impact so great that Minseok had to take a sharp intake of air and tried his best in keeping the agonizing scream he wanted to let out.  He knew, the attack was starting up again.

Minseok quickly scrambled on his arms and searched for the suppressants he produced for himself to keep his Cancer from attacking him. He took out a white inhaler that carried thousands of nanobots with the temporary medicine infused in them. Minseok inhaled the spray of medicine and sunk into his seat in the plane, trying not to fidget and cry in pain, smacking a hand over his mouth to keep quiet as the nanobots tried fighting.

Unbearable was an understatement to the intense and gruelling pain he experiences every day. His Bone Cancer and tumor were growing worse every week that passes by that there were times he would scream into the heavens that God can claim him if he could.

But, Minseok knew that trying to call Death wouldn’t stop the pain he’s experiencing, no. He knew that the pain will only pass on, and the thought of it was worse than tolerating his sickness. Minseok cannot bear to die knowing Baekhyun in the end, will suffer and grieve tenfold.

He didn’t want to tell Baekhyun. He wanted to, but he lacked the courage to see the colors of his lover’s beautiful face to be drained, to see those puppy eyes grow sad if he ever discovered that he had Bone Cancer and that he was slowly dying. Slowly dying.

“I wish you could look at me Minseok and see…” Baekhyun whispered to him.

“I am, I am looking” Minseok closes his eyes and digs into his pockets. His fingers wrapped around a small velvet box, the only comfort he could cling to as the nanobots served as his painkiller. Minseok pulls out the small velvet box, wincing and grimacing in pain as he did so and pulled himself up to sit up straight as he opened it.

“I wish after this is all over…you can finally have some time with me”

A golden ring engraved with his unspoken promises to Baekhyun glistened in the sun’s afternoon light that broke into the plane’s windows. A ring, he meant to give when the time was right. A ring he wanted to slip into Baekhyun’s long, soft and delicate fingers as a promise, that he’ll dedicate his whole life looking at him and only him. An engagement and wedding ring, he wants to give to Byun Baekhyun and be selfish enough never to share him to the world.

“I love you Minseok”

Minseok’s grip on the velvet box tightened as his heart started pounding faster and faster in his chest and the pain in his spine were being overshadowed by the thought of Baekhyun’s smile and a future he could see right into the golden ring in his hands.

“Don’t worry puppy,” he breathes heavily, finally finding a sense of comfort from his back. “I’ll find a cure. I’ll get rid of this goddamn Bone Cancer and I’ll quit Mechatron, so I can make up for the days I’ve been missing where I’m supposed to be with you”

He closes the velvet box as the pilot announces a five minute ahead preparation for landing in the Capitol.

“No cancer’s going to take me away from you Baekhyun. I’m not going to die, not while I need to tell you, look at you straight in the eyes, how much I want to spend the rest of my life with you”

Minseok arrived at the Green Octagon, a well-known fifty-five floored hospital in the center of the Capitol and the first ever hospital sponsored by Mechatron who supplies newly fabricated medical-oriented Mechas and Nanotechnology every month.

Doctors, Nurses and even Mechas who roamed around the lobby all greeted Minseok warmly as he strode inside. The place was huge and welcoming, clean and most importantly, well-stocked in imported and rare medicines and finest medical machinery.

One of the doctors, a woman, went to greet Minseok as an to take him to Dr. Kim Junmyeon. He followed suit, making sure to tuck his unauthorized suppressants deep down in his bag.

“Is there somewhere you wanted to stop by first Dr. Kim before we meet with Dr. Kim Junmyeon?” the woman asks from over her shoulder.

Minseok nods. “Yes. Is there any way we can stop by room 2306 first?”

Three to four knocks was all it took before a tall, tanned young man opened the door. If it wasn’t Minseok, one might mistake this young man in front of him as an Orga – a human, but deep down under that beautiful tan skin, those blazing brown eyes, well-toned body, strong jawline and handsome face lay a meta-skeleton and internal wires crafted by scientists and engineers of Mechatron.

This Mecha, was Kim Jongin. It was one of the first Mechas he and Kim Junmyeon designed as a healthcare companion to a blind kid a few years back. Jongin was his prototype name and the surname was given after his creators. Everyone in Mechatron and Green Octagon found his name quite suitable and found this Mecha’s characteristic to be overwhelmingly close to a human being – one of Junmyeon’s pride no doubt.

Jongin blinked and smiled – too human-like that the average person will never believe he was a robot. “Good afternoon Dr. Minseok”

“Good afternoon Jongin” Minseok smiles warmly. “Is he awake?”

Jongin nods and opens the door letting Minseok in the small hospital room. The room was white, save from the floor tiles in mint green and the cerulean couches for guests to sit upon. There was a flat screen TV hanging by the wall just on the opposite side of a hospital bed where a young man sat, staring out into the horizon beyond the large window overlooking the Capitol.

The door closes behind them that had the patient’s head snap to Minseok and Jongin, his heart shaped lips pursed into a straight line, his wide eyes scanning the direction where the sound came from, waiting.

“Hello Kyungsoo” Minseok finally says and the blind patient’s lips curled into a wide smile.

“Hello Kim Minseok”

Minseok walks over to Kyungsoo’s hospital bed and sat on a chair Jongin, the patient’s healthcare companion, pulled out. Minseok leans close and smiles, “How are you?”

“I’m fine as always. Still can’t see” Kyungsoo jokes, his blank eyes still directed to the door.

“At least it doesn’t waver your sense of humor down” Minseok snorts.

Kyungsoo chuckles and finally directs his unseeing eyes to where he supposed Minseok was sitting at the moment. “You haven’t visited over a month. I was worried you’d forget about me”

“I will never forget about you Kyungsoo” Minseok frowns dejectedly as his heart stopped for a beat. “I’m sorry, I was busy for the past month”

“Boyfriend duties I hope?” Kyungsoo’s smile reached the tip of his ears that even without being able to see, knew exactly that Minseok was embarrassed and blushing a bright red.

Minseok bites his lip, unable to control his smile as he fondled over the velvet box in his pockets. “I wish it were indeed the case. I have so many plans in store for me and Baekhyun”

“Does it involve hot and passionate nights like you always tell me about?”

“What-“ Minseok’s face turned a very dark shade of red and was taken aback. “Wh-when did I even?- I h-how did you even-”

“I was bluffing Minseok!” Kyungsoo throws his head back and laughter exploded from him. “So you are thinking about-“

“Hey, watch it” Minseok points a finger at Kyungsoo and glares at Jongin who was merely blinking at them.

Kyungsoo says in between giggles, “Do I hear wedding bells dear Dr. Kim?”

Minseok straightens in his seat as the frown he held dug deeper and the words on his mouth feel rather silent. “You know I can’t do that…not yet”

“Why not? Don’t you love Baekhyun?” Kyungsoo was swaying side to side as if he was listening to a slow music in the wind – or he was expressing how happy he is that Minseok would make reconsider asking Baekhyun to marry him.

“I do” Minseok speaks up, his heart pounding fast in his chest, but – “But”

“But” Kyungsoo’s smile finally dropped and a frown shadowed over his once happy face, as complete mutual understanding haunted the both of them. “And there’s that but”

A dead silence so thick enveloped the room and if it wasn’t for Jongin’s watch that beeped as an afternoon schedule for him to fetch some water for Kyungsoo, none of them would’ve uttered a word.

“The Cure?” Kyungsoo finally dared to ask as Jongin hands him a glass of water to drink.

Minseok pulls his bag up and began digging for the suppressants he’s been hiding underneath. He pulls one out and gently slips it into Kyungsoo’s soft hands. Jongin a brow at Minseok, his AI cognitive response working perfectly.

“What’s this?” Kyungsoo’s brows furrowed, twisting and turning the object in his hands.

“A Suppressant. An Unauthorized suppressants” Minseok made sure to glance at Jongin who was watching his creator’s every move, a little unwary of the inhaler the scientist was giving Kyungsoo – probably because Jongin couldn’t identify the medicine he handed over and found it as a lethal weapon. With constant worry that the Mecha might throw him out, Minseok quickly adds, “It’s an inhaler containing medicinal nanobots I created myself”

“What does it do?”  Kyungsoo looks for the button not until he accidentally sprays some on himself and sneezes. Jongin immediately comes with a towel and wipes Kyungsoo’s nose clean.

“It’s a temporary Cancer killer for now – well, pain killer actually. Whenever I get attacks from that godforsaken tumor I have in my spine, I use this to kill off the cancer cells attacking a particular place in my bones” he grimaces at the recent memory of the attack he received from the plane. “You get an attack every now and then on your kidney, right?”

Kyungsoo nods almost too sullen at a memory. “Yeah, I get that a lot nowadays”

“You mentioned you’re going to have one of your tumor-infected kidney taken out right?” Minseok’s lips twitches, seeing the terrified expression flash in Kyungsoo’s eyes. “Well, with this suppressant, it’ll help you deal through the three weeks of waiting without having to experience any attacks all day long”

“Thank you for this Minseok, really, but…” Kyungsoo, although blind, downcasts his eyes to the inhaler in his hands. A silent agony inside him only Minseok could hear, only Minseok could understand.

“But” the scientist takes in a sharp intake of breath, afraid of what he was going to hear as Kyungsoo smiles sadly at his own hands.

“I doubt these suppressants will be enough to serve as a pain killer for me” Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and turns his head to look at Minseok through those blind eyes of his and gave him a heart breaking smile. “They’ve detected that the cancer cells jumped all over my body already and is spreading faster as we speak”

Minseok froze, his throat ran dry. He couldn’t move, couldn’t open his mouth and just remained staring into Kyungsoo’s unseeing eyes.

“I’m dying, Minseok” Kyungsoo’s voice was faint and felt so distant despite being inches away from each other.

I’m dying.

“I have less than months to live and even with these suppressants, I have a feeling it’ll just give me an extra month or two, but it won't suffice to keep me long enough to survive next spring” Kyungsoo clutches the cream sheets of his hospital bed and sighs heavily.

Jongin turned away, as if he could somewhat feel the discussion between the two despite lacking the ability to feel pain and suffering like the two Cancer patients in front of him were dealing with on the basis of their every pitiful day lives.

"You know that you have to tell Baekhyun one day," Kyungsoo says, more grim and fatalistic than ever. Minseok's throat got caught by a cat. He didn't know what to say.

"No" Minseok protests, almost seeing Baekhyun's scream of grief and mourn.

"I know you can feel it too Minseok, that you're going to end up having the same fate as I am" Kyungsoo searches for Minseok’s hands on the bed.

Minseok watched Kyungsoo’s hand look for his, as if he were to take his hand in his, it’ll be a seal of acceptance that the both of them, both suffering under the same sickness, will indeed die in less than a year.  

Minseok has been having endless nightmares of one day, he’ll find himself floating out of his body to stare at his own lifeless figure. He’s been experiencing excruciating pain that in the middle of the night, he found it hard to scream just so he wouldn’t wake Baekhyun up and worry about him – or find out he was slowly dying. Slowly dying.

That was why, Minseok stayed in the laboratory for four days - weeks and even months - so he could find a cure. So that Baekhyun wouldn't catch him crying in pain of the tumor aching in his bones. No, he wouldn't want Baekhyun to see him suffer. He wouldn't let Baekhyun suffer. 

“Minseok?” Kyungsoo was still searching for his hand.

He kept his eyes fixated on Kyungsoo’s hand and imagined it to be Baekhyun’s hand. What if one day, Baekhyun tries to feel for his hand only to wake up remembering Minseok’s already dead and they could never intertwine their fingers together like they used to?

What if one day it really does happen?

What if…

“I’m right here Kyungsoo” Minseok finally takes Kyungsoo’s hands and pressed his palms gently. He buries his forehead on their knuckles and murmurs, “I’ll find The Cure Kyungsoo, I swear I’ll find it and you’ll be able to stroll along the daisies again. I swear I’ll find it so I can ask Baekhyun's hand in-“

Jongin snaps his head as he hears Minseok breaking into short, soft sobs in Kyungsoo’s hands. The scientist’s shoulders bobbed up and down, relentlessly shuddering in each sadness that overcame him. Kyungsoo on the other hand, was staring blankly at nothing, quietly listening to Minseok’s silent cries of agony of the inevitable.

The sullen look from Kyungsoo disappears, replaced by waves of relief and smile, a small bright smile that shone brightly on his face. “Minseok”

“Yes?” the scientist’s response was barely a whisper.

“Don’t forget me when I die”

Minseok looks up to find Kyungsoo - although blind, staring through him – right at him with peaceful eyes. Eye of resignation, acceptance and a silent promise and in those eyes, Minseok swore he could see himself in them, the reflection of the same fear, same hardships and same welcoming for death.

Do Kyungsoo, one of the cancer patients' life hanging by a thread if Minseok gives up. If Minseok forgets his sole duty, his mere existence: to change the world, to give humans a second chance to live just as they had given Jongin the Mecha a life of his own, then all will be lost. 
 

“You won’t die” Minseok purses his lips into a straight line and squeezes Kyungsoo’s hands tighter as a new kind of determination fills him. “I promise”

AUTHOR'S NOTES: DOUBLE UPDATE?  Heck yeah! 

 I know it's going slow-paced, but please bear with me. I swear these will all mean something in the end. <3