Jinki POV:

It was a blank, really. Bits and pieces, scattered in the expanse of my useless memory vault.

Stepping out of the airport in Canada, the freezing air that was not unlike Korea.

"Hello? Dad? Yeah.. I reached. You said a car would come right?"

Blank.

Me reaching the dorms.

"Hi, you must be Lee Jinki? From korea? Your dorm room is on level 2, the third room on the left. I'll be your guide for the next 1 month till you feel comfortable to communicate in English around here. This way please." the unfamiliar lady smiled, somewhat forced looking.

Blank.

Finally settling in.

"Oh thank god that lady finally left me alone...." I muttered to myself, alone in the room. I lay down this feeling of emptiness and longing. It wasn't homesickness... it was....

I was suddenly aware of something sharp and cold pressing into my palm as I concentrated on the small missing piece. I bit back a yelp, and removed the fork from my grip.

I shut my eyes again, trying.

I picked up a picture frame, looking at the beautiful face... It was perfection really, but the fights... the uncertainty... 

Blank. The picture in the frame was a blur of grey fuzz.

I'm walking around the campus.

The snow fell, thick clumps of the purest white. You would have loved it. 

Blank. Who?

I was late.

I ran, huffing as the cold breath spooled out of my mouth, turning into white smoke.

Blank. Why?

It was late evening, the sun was setting.

I jogged along, backpack bouncing on my bag as I moved swiftly to get back into the warm dorms. I ran past a park, children and their parents laughing.

Blank. Did I stop to watch? 

It hurt.

I ran across the road, in that split second, so many things happened. Screeching sounds of tires desperately gripping at the icy frozen ground.

Blank. What...?

I could have sworn I was flying.

The sensation of myself flying across the air. The sky so grey and thick in my spinning vision. Into the silence ripped a sound, making me cover my ears as I lay there. It is like the strafe of a bullet, nails on a chalkboard, promises being broken. A note I'd never heard in my whole study of music---this chord of pure pain--- and it takes a moment to realize it's coming from me.

And then...Blank.

Blank.

Blank.

Blank.

Blank.

Blank.

BLANK.

Someone shook me violently.

My eyes snapped open, arms coming up to defend and attack.

"Woah. Woah. Chill." Minho whispered.

"I'm.. sorry.. I was just...." I whispered, the energy draining out of me, as usual.

"Trying?" 

I nodded numbly, before he pulled me up to my feet, bending over infront of me.

I stood there, dumbfounded and without the ability to move.

"C'mon." he turned his head around, mouth pursed in impatience.

"Wha?" my mouth moved.

"I'll carry you. It's a hell lot easier than dragging you by my side like last time from the counselor's office."

"I... I can't... move..." I felt like I was locked down, frozen. 

A anchor tying me down, heavy sheets layered on to me.

Minho POV:

Sighing, but not holding a grudge, I slowly tugged his body onto my back, before picking up his bag and mine.

I walked slowly, listening to his soft breathing, noting the exhaustion that was traced through it. 

"Thank you for being here.." he breathed gently, sounding guilty for the thousandth time.

"Stop sounding so guilty, hyung... You were the one that pulled me out of my depression, without even sharing your pains with me in that hospital. This is something I want to do." I muttered, making sure to keep my steps even so as to prevent him from tumbling off my back. His grip was weak from his attempt, weaker than the usual sessions in the couselor's office. 

"Why did you even try it in a public place? With all the noise..." I turned my head slightly to see his face. He was resting his chin on my shoulder, eyes closed, lips parted to breath easily, though irregular.

"I saw the exchange to Canada program poster... the counselor told me to try when I had time after all.." he chuckled pathetically.

"I'm pretty sure he meant when it was quiet and at home." 

"Next time..." his voice mumbled, so soft I could barely hear even though he was by my ear.

His breathing soon evened out, and I knew he had fell asleep.

He always got tired. So tired. It was burden to his mind.

Heaving him higher up my back gently, connecting my fingers to create a support at the back of his thighs, handles of our bags chafing against my wrists, I looked at the steps up to the dorm building before the lift, and frowned.

"Don't strain your... hand..." his voice dropped on to the curve of my neck.

Flinching slightly at his suddenly awakened state, I shook my head.

"It won't, don't be silly hyung."

"The doctors said it could crack..."

"It's fine, hyung..." I took the first step.

His chest heaved with a kept back sigh, and I felt his arms tense as he tried to push himself against my back so that his weight wouldn't weigh down on my hand.

"So stubborn." I laughed, his ability to think of others even when he was the one in pain fairly ridiculous.

"You're the one being ridiculous, don't you think that I don't know what you are thinking." he murmured.

"Yeah yeah..." I nonchalantly concurred, as we stepped into the lift.

"There's someone who was special to me, Minho. I remember a bit more now." 

I felt a smile grow on my face as I heard of the recent improvement.

"Really? You really need to go talk to the desperate guy! He might know!" I blurted out excitedly.

"I will..." I felt his lifted head bump against my shoulder before being lifted again, happening repeatedly.

"Sleep now, hyung." I whispered.

He was nodding off. 

I thanked myself for using a number lock as the door lock instead of a key, because I would have been able to even unlock the door holding hyung up.

I lay him down carefully on the bed, pulling the duvet over him and stood by the door. He unconsciously pulled the blanket over his head, hiding his whole body and my forehead knitted together. He still hadn't thrown that habit away.

I shut the door behind me, distracted.

Opening the drawer, I took out the medicine and bandages, getting down to what I had to do.

I sat down and tugged, hissing at the sudden, a should have expected, jolt of pain that came.

Thankfully, I was finished in no time.

Leaning back on the couch, I switched on the TV, turning the volume down so as to not disturb hyung.

I zoned out a little at the lengthy introduction, but snapped back to realitiy, as the words rang in the air.

"Rememberance of his past...."

I pressed on the remote control, looking for information. The programme was a guy talking about what he remembered left of his past.

I still remembered how I met him. 

"Hey kid, why the long face." a cheery voice that irked Minho to no end came from behind, and as he rolled over to tell the freaking bastard to leave him alone, to leave him in his freaking depressional state like what everyone else would and eventually did, he halted at the sight of him. 

The only couple of words that could describe his looks was just a....

Cruel contradiction, almost.

He was standing there, the sunlight streaming in from the window tracing through the ashy brown hair of the older, while it seemed to make his whole being shine. The pale skin seemed almost translucent, from being in the hospital for so long. But it suited him. Teeth were worrying the lips, as the person bit down on his lower lip, blood rushing up to colour the lips the most perfect red. He could have been an angel, except for the fact his shadow was lacking the usual wings that an angel mythically holds. But marks of pain lay all over his body.

A long stitch ran down the side of his face, pulling the corner of his right eye tightly to the side, the edges red and angry, pulsing almost. The stiches hiked up the corner of his lips, making his lips form a half smile. His chest was wrapped in layers of bandages, visibly tight and unforgiving. Both his arms were broken, the heavy casts pulling his shoulders down barely from their weight, while a patch of his hip's skin had obviously been carved out by something sharp and definitely metal, the scab healing in a haphazard pattern, disgusting brown and black and deadly obvious. The only thing that seemed to have been spared was his legs, but even that had a supporting brace around his ankle. 

With a jolt of shock, he realized a needle was taped down into the person's waist, a tube attached with a sickly looking viscous liquid that held a revolting puke yellow colour sliding down from a bag.

Yet the unexplainable smile was impossibly there on the other's face was nothing like he had ever seen, undescribable other than the fact that it made his heart feel like it was there again.

Like he could live without his architecture. 

Like he could live with just this angel with him.

If this angel was willing to be his friend of course.

"You find the tube interesting?" the person laughed, shaking his head. It was a medley of bells, the sound in itself carrying messages of trust, the promise of being there for you forever.

Minho nodded numbly. 

"Want to touch it? The liquid stays weirdly cold no matter what. Even in the sun. Totally radical." he shuffled over closer to Minho.

Minho reached out, arm stretching, before realizing this was the second time he'd looked at himself. It snapped back and slipped under the blanket, out of sight. He trembled, afraid of the person's reaction.

"Hey, don't be scared..and I don't find anything wrong with you, contrary to what you think. Let's be friends. I'm Jinki, you're Minho right? Nice to meet you. I'd shake hands.... but right now.. I believe we're a little lacking." the person cracked a joke, jerking his chin in the direction of his arms and then towards Minho.

But when he was expecting the same flame of fury to burst up, spitting and hissing, all that came was the small bout of laughter that bubbled up in his throat and slipped out. 

Surprised, Minho looked wide-eyed at the grinning Jinki-hyung, and suddenly everything seemed like...looked like...was...going to be okay.

Months later, Minho thought Jinki was infallible, until he found out he was insecure of how he looked. So insecure, that even in his sleep, he threw the duvet over himself to  in an attempt to block everyone's view of him.

That's when he realized it's not going to be just Jinki hyung looking after him, it's going to be the other way too.

Hyung's history was a mystery in itself. 

I was thankful for the curse that was layed on to me, for I'd met this amazing, kind, gentle, crazy, hilarious, indescribable person that has become my best friend.

The very curse that still haunts me....gave me the happiness I had now. 

I threw my head back and laughed.