The hospital was silent, as many people were experiencing different emotions. Some were happy, peacefully laying in recovery after a surgery, or after receiving some type of medicine to help whatever their condition was that ailed them. Others were solemn or sad, slowly withering away by the minute, and completely unable to prevent their life from fading slowly. But, everyone in the small hospital’s attention was suddenly diverted to a heavenly noise; two lovely voices, singing perfectly in sync with one another, and the love between the two singing was radiating with each word that was sung.

            In that particular room, where the beautiful voices were originating from, were two young men. One was very slim and short, sitting on the side of the bed as his higher pitched voice sang. The male singing with him, the one with the deep, husky voice, was much more built, but his skin was pale from his current condition. A beanie was on his head, covering up the baldness that his treatments had given him; this young man had cancer, and even though he most likely wasn’t going to live longer than a few more mere months, the cheerfulness shown in his facial features as well as his voice showed no suffering. His name was Yesung, and the young man beside him, was named Ryeowook. They were in love, that much everyone in the hospital knew, but their story was much different from anyone elses.

            Life is too short to wallow in self pity.

            Yesung was a very optimistic and outgoing young man, he always had been since birth. He had always been rather quiet, and even deemed strange because of his outlook on life, but he was all right with how people saw him. All of his life, Yesung had been taught to only see the good in people, and to never dwell on bad things. Hatred, jealousy, anger, depression…these were all things that Yesung never felt; sure, he had felt sadness before, but he always found ways to make it better in the end.

            Anyone that came across Yesung saw him as strange at first; after all, it wasn’t normal for someone to be so cheerful no matter what happened around him. But, if one actually got to know him, and tried to see the world through his eyes, they would absolutely adore him. He was someone that always brought happiness to others, and one thing he absolutely hated, was to see someone suffering. Even if someone was a stranger, he would do what he could to make them smile if he thought they didn’t do it enough. He really was a pure person, and that’s why no one saw his fate coming.

            He had felt sick for a while, but merely shrugged it off as he usually cared for himself last. But, when his mother had talked to him over the phone, worried about her son’s condition, he promised her he would get checked out by a doctor and let her know what happened afterward.

            Yesung had gone in, and underwent a few tests, explaining what symptoms he had, everything that was needed to be done that find out what was wrong. Then, as the doctor strolled back into the room, a grim expression on his face as he looked to the young man, Yesung frowned lightly; he wasn’t afraid of the diagnosis, he was concerned with why the doctor was upset.

            “Sir, I don’t know how to tell you this…” the doctor murmured sadly, looking through the papers briefly before looking at Yesung sympathetically, “but…you have cancer. It’s actually at a very serious stage…even with treatments, you will only have a maximum of two years to live.”

            Yesung just tilted his head at the doctor, before smiling lightly, “But that’s good, isn’t it?”

            The doctor looked at Yesung with wide, confused eyes, “What do you mean? Sir, you’re going to die in two years at the most…how is that good?”

            “I can do a lot in two years,” Yesung said with a genuine smile, “And not a lot of people get as long as that to live, right? Some people only get days, some even only minutes. I should be thankful.”

            Unsure of what to say, the doctor just looked at Yesung oddly before smiling sadly. It really was a shame, that someone so pure had come down with this serious of an illness, but the doctor couldn’t help but admire Yesung for his outlook on his own situation, when most would be terrified of a limitation on their life.

            Life isn’t about how long you live.

            Yesung had been strolling down the street, smiling lightly to himself as he merely looked around the darkened street. It was nighttime, a few days after his diagnosis, and his body had hurt somewhat from just laying down in bed, so he had decided to take a walk that night to distract himself. Most of the streets were void of other people, only a few passersby were out and about, so most of the environment was silent.

            Then, Yesung stopped in his tracks as he had come to an alleyway, furrowing his eyebrows, he tuned his ears on a sound emitting from the dark alley; faintly, he could hear the sound that he disliked the most, and that sound was crying. Turning on his heel abruptly, Yesung squinted his eyes as he looked down the dark alleyway, and scowled lightly when he couldn’t see what was there. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Yesung then strode down into the alley, looking around for the source of the crying, determined to make whomever it was stop.

            As he went further into the alley, he heard the sounds getting louder, until finally, his eyes spotted a young man, slumped against the wall of the alley. The young man’s slim form was shaking as sobs emitting from his mouth, and Yesung’s eyes widened immediately; there was something specific about this boy’s sobs, something horribly heartbreaking, and it made Yesung’s heart hurt the more he heard the other sob.

            So, he let his instincts take over as he immediately strode up to the boy. Sitting down beside the other as soon as he reached him, Yesung promptly wrapped his arms around the smaller boy’s shaking form and gave him a hug. He didn’t care that this was a stranger, he didn’t like how broken and depressing the other’s sobs sounded, and at this point he would do anything to make it stop.

            The young man didn’t seem to care that a stranger was hugging him either, as Yesung’s arms seemed to offer him the comfort that he desperately needed at the moment. So, the young man buried his head into Yesung’s chest, sobbing his heart out as he clung to the latters shirt.

            “Hey now, it’s okay,” Yesung murmured softly, trying to do anything to stop the other from sobbing, “You shouldn’t cry. Things will be okay.”

            The smaller male kept sobbing loudly, before he managed to choke out, “No, things won’t be. It’s never going to be okay.”

            Yesung couldn’t help but chuckle, “Don’t say that, things are always okay in the end,” he then paused and looked down at the other worriedly, noticing the other’s skin felt cold, “You should go home, you’re going to get sick staying out here.”

            “I-I can’t,” the other sobbed, “I don’t have a home anymore…I ran away…”

            Looking down at the other with wide eyes, Yesung bit his lip before sighing, “You need to go inside somewhere…do you have a friend to stay with?”

            “N-no,” the other sobbed out once more while shaking his head against Yesung’s chest, “I-I don’t have anybody…”

            A small smile pulled at Yesung’s lips as he looked down at the other, “Don’t say that. You can stay with me if you want, then.”

            The younger male pulled away abruptly, looking at Yesung with furrowed eyebrows, “W-what?”

            Grinning down at the other, Yesung just said happily, “Yeah, it’ll be fun. Come on,” he then grabbed the other’s hand and promptly pulling him to his feet, before dragging him out of the alley, “Let’s go, you need to be inside or else you’ll get sick.”

            Life is about how you value others.

            When Yesung had dragged the smaller male back to his apartment, the other male seemed extremely timid and unsure of Yesung’s kindness; after all, it wasn’t every day that a stranger just offered someone a place to stay free of charge. But, Yesung didn’t mind the other’s strange, wary stares as they entered his apartment; what he did mind, however, were the obvious bruises and various scratches and scrapes on the other’s skin.

            “What happened?” Yesung asked with wide eyes, stepping closer and examining the other’s face.

            The other male jumped slightly at Yesung’s sudden closeness, staring at him with slight fear, “U-um…nothing…”

            “Liar,” Yesung said immediately, before sighing and grabbing the other’s wrist carefully and dragging him towards the bathroom, “We need to get you cleaned up.”

            “W-wait!” the other said, trying to stand his ground, though it proved futile as Yesung was stronger than he was, “I-I don’t even know you.”

            Yesung stopped abruptly before smiling sheepishly at the other, “Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name’s Kim Jongwoon, but most call me Yesung. Who are you?”

            “R-Ryeowook. Kim Ryeowook,” the other stammered, still looking at Yesung with slight fear, “Why are you just…helping me like this?”

            Shrugging slightly, Yesung just smiled before continuing to drag Ryeowook to the bathroom, “I like helping people who need it. And, you said you had nowhere to go, so I’m giving you somewhere to be.”

            As Yesung entered the bathroom, he promptly sat Ryeowook down on the toilet seat and started rummaging around for his first aid kit, Ryeowook looked at him with wide eyes, unsure of what to make of the other as he asked quietly, “But…you don’t know me…and I don’t know you…”

            “If you want to know more about me then just ask,” Yesung said with a light laugh as he pulled out his first aid kit, before smiling genuinely at the other, “But, as for you, I don’t need to know anything unless you want to tell me. All I know about you is that your eyes don’t shine, and that needs to change.”

            Furrowing his eyebrows, Ryeowook asked quietly, “What do you mean by ‘my eyes don’t shine’?”

            “When people are happy and have hope, their eyes shine,” Yesung said with a smile, opening the first aid kit and taking out the antiseptic, “Your eyes don’t shine, so that means you’re not happy and you don’t have any hope. I want to change that.”

            Ryeowook didn’t know what to say, but he looked up at Yesung with slight admiration. The older male merely smiled back before he started cleaning up Ryeowook’s marred face, and Ryeowook couldn’t help but feel…content. He didn’t even know anything but this other male’s name, but he knew that Yesung was different somehow; even though Yesung was somewhat odd, Ryeowook couldn’t help but want to learn more about him. He felt that, for once, he was being taken care of, and it felt really nice, to say the least.

            “So, um…where should I sleep?” Ryeowook asked timidly, pulling on the loose shirt that Yesung had given him to sleep in as he stared at the ground nervously.

            Yesung looked at the other and smiled, “Well, you can sleep in my bed, and I can take the couch.”

            “Ah, no!” Ryeowook immediately objected, “I can’t kick you out of your own bed…you took me in, I can’t take your bed too…I’ll sleep on the couch.”

            “You’re hurt though,” Yesung said with a smile, “Please take the bed, I insist. I would suggest we share, but you seem to be awkward about that type of thing.”

            Ryeowook immediately blushed lightly, “How are you so easy going about that kind of thing? Isn’t sharing a bed with someone you don’t even know a little weird?”

            “No,” Yesung said with a shrug, grabbing a blanket and a pillow to prepare for his night on the couch, “Sharing with someone who needs comfort isn’t weird at all.”

            “Why do you care so much about other people…” Ryeowook murmured in question, looking at Yesung with curious eyes, “You sound like you’ve taken in strangers before.”

            “Because I have,” Yesung said with a small laugh, “I take in anyone who needs it. Well, anyone and anything really, since I also have a habit in taking in animals…my landlord doesn’t appreciate that very much though, so I haven’t done that for a while.”

            “You’re strange,” Ryeowook whispered, looking at Yesung oddly, “Very, very strange.”

            “So I’ve been told,” Yesung said with a grin before striding towards the doorway, “I’m going to sleep now. Do you have a certain time you need to be up? You still look young…do you have school or something?”

            “I-I’ve got classes in the morning at 9 am,” Ryeowook murmured, looking to the ground timidly, “Why do you ask?”

            “So I know when to wake you up,” Yesung said, acting as if it were obvious, before he grinned and said before stepping out of the bedroom, “I’ll wake you up at about 7:45 so you can get ready. Goodnight~”

            As Yesung stepped out of the room and out of sight, Ryeowook sighed shakily, still trying to take this all in. In the span of a mere hour, he had been taken in by a complete stranger, and given a new home. The male that had taken him in was very strange, but seemed to be completely pure of heart, which was refreshing but unsettling. Ryeowook had never been around someone like this, and it made him nervous experiencing it for the first time. Everyone he had trusted before in his life had ended up hurting him, physically or emotionally, and it was only instinct to believe that this male would hurt him too at some point.

            He sighed shakily as he slowly made his way to the bed, feeling guilt wash over him for making the abnormally kind male that had taken him in sleep on the couch. But, at the same time, he was so overwhelmed with these new experiences, that all he wanted to do was curl up in a bed and think things over.

            As he climbed into the bed and buried himself beneath the warm covers, a small smile turned up at his lips as he felt an unfamiliar warmth spread in his chest; he had forgotten what it felt like to sleep in a bed, or any comfortable surface for that matter. Ever since he had left his abusive stepfather’s home, he had lived on the streets as college had taken all of his spare cash. He had spent almost six months sleeping on wet concrete in alleyways, and sometimes benches at parks if he was lucky.

            So, even though he was invited to stay with some stranger that could potentially hurt him, Ryeowook momentarily didn’t care. His eyes slowly fluttered shut as his exhausted body started to give in to sleep, and for once in a long while, he slept with a small smile on his face.

            As Ryeowook slept soundly, Yesung was laying out on the rather comfortable couch in his living room, staring up at the ceiling with a smile on his face. He was always happy to help someone who needed it, but that wasn’t the only reason he was smiling. His smile stayed on his lips as he thought of Ryeowook’s eyes, lacking in the shine of happiness; he was determined to make that shine come back, no matter what. He had a little under two years to do it, and Yesung made a promise to himself that he would bring that shine back.

            As the weeks drew on, Ryeowook actually became intensely attached to Yesung, as well as dependent on the older for strength. They did almost everything together, often cooking together happily, or merely talking about their lives beforehand. Ryeowook had opened up about his past; about how his real father had departed from his mother after his birth, and his mother married another man only for her to die shortly after. He told Yesung about how his stepfather had become abusive, and he ran away from home to escape it. He had used all of his extra money to pay for college, leaving him entirely homeless and struggling to even find food to eat. All through high school and even now in his first year of college, he was picked on for his quiet behavior and short stature. He had opened up about everything to Yesung, which only made the older yearn to make everything better for the younger before his deadline.

They spent more and more time together as they grew to care more about one another, and then, Ryeowook had found out about Yesung’s diagnosis of cancer. At first, he cried for the older man; it wasn’t fair, in his opinion, how someone so pure hearted and kind could be given such a horrible disease to suffer through. However, as soon as Yesung had found Ryeowook crying in the bedroom, he had become concerned and wondered what was wrong.

            “It’s not fair,” Ryeowook had sobbed out while Yesung held him comfortingly, “You shouldn’t have to die. You’re so kind and loving, you of all people deserve to live forever, not die so early.”

            “Wookie,” Yesung had said with a smile, pulling away from the hug briefly, “It’s okay. I’d rather it be me, then a young child who hasn’t even begun to live. And it’s not scary at all, I’m happy that I have this time to live, rather than die in a mere few days. Life’s too short anyway, and death can’t be avoided; all that matters is how you spend your life before the time comes.”

            “How can you be so accepting of this?” Ryeowook sobbed out, looking up at Yesung with tear filled eyes, “You’re such a perfect person…how can you just accept this? No one else can do that.”

            “It’s just how I am, Wook,” Yesung said with a grin, before he started wiping away the other’s tears with his fingers gently, “I have to make you happy before I go though, I already promised myself that. You told me a bit about your past, about your abuse and bullying, and I want to make that better.”

            “I-if you go, that’ll make me sad too, though,” Ryeowook whimpered, biting his lip as he clenched his eyes shut, “If you go…I’ll be all by myself again, and I can’t live like that…”

            “Don’t say that,” Yesung said in a gentle tone, wiping away more of the other’s tears, “Before I go, I’ll make sure you’re strong on your own, and I’ll get you back up on your feet. You’ll be okay, Wookie, I promise.”

            Ryeowook continued to sniffle and cry slightly, before he timidly lifted his gaze to Yesung’s smiling face. He knew the other was suffering inside, and it scared him to picture the other so weak. He had been with Yesung for a little over a month now, and the mere thought of the other just disappearing terrified him. At this point, he couldn’t imagine a world without Yesung’s bright smile or kind behavior; the world without that seemed so dark, bleak…even unforgiving.

            So, Ryeowook found himself wanting to help the other male too, and he wanted to make the other happy inside and out, no matter what. He wanted to show Yesung the same love that Ryeowook felt inside from the other’s caring actions and words, purely because he was thankful, and he never had felt this much love and care from anyone else before. So, Ryeowook then made a quick decision, and he abruptly wrapped his arms around Yesung’s neck, before he leaned upward, acting solely on instinct; then, he promptly pressed his lips softly against Yesung’s, showing the other what happiness he could.

            Yesung tensed up slightly, not expecting this kind of touch from the smaller, as Ryeowook was usually very timid and shy when it came to physical contact. But, in mere moments, he gently kissed back, unable to deny the sudden warmth it sent through his body. The kiss was gentle, nothing mere then a mere touch of the lips, but it gave the both of them the sense of security and love they both wanted.

            When they slowly parted, Yesung blinked a couple of times before smiling lightly, “What was that for?”

            “You need to be happy too,” Ryeowook said softly, hugging the other gently as he rested his head against the other’s shoulder, “You do so much for me and everyone else, you need to be happy too…since you won’t be here for long.”

            As he finished that last sentence, Ryeowook’s eyes filled with tears of sadness, unable to deny the ache in his heart when he thought of a world without Yesung. Yesung just chuckled lightly at the other’s words, hugging the smaller back tightly, “Wook, I am happy though. I’m happiest when taking care of other people, and now that you’re here to help me, I’m even happier.”

            “W-what?” Ryeowook asked quietly, a blush forming on his cheeks as he pulled away slightly and looked at the older quizzically, “What do you mean?”

            “I suppose this is selfish to say, but it should still be said,” Yesung murmured before sighing and looking right into Ryeowook’s eyes, “I like you, quite a bit actually. I like how you’re so seemingly fragile, but so strong on the inside, and I like how sweet and shy you are. I just like you, hope you don’t mind.”

            Ryewook blinked a couple of times before blushing madly and looking down, unable to hide the smile slowly spreading on his face, “Of course I don’t mind…I kind of, sort of like you too…”

            Yesung just chuckled, leaning forward and pecking the other’s nose, “I figured, since you just kissed me and all.”

            “Shush,” Ryeowook mumbled quietly, blushing even more as Yesung laughed.

            “Really though, Wook, you have to believe me when I say everything will be okay,” Yesung said with a bright smile at the other, “Don’t look at a deadline as a bad thing; as a matter of fact, never look at things like that as bad, ever. One should never be upset with how short life is, because no matter what, life isn’t long enough for anyone; but, as long as the time in between is happy, then you can go with no regrets.”

            “You’re so young though…” Ryeowook murmured sadly, “Too young to be worrying about death…”

            “I’m not worrying,” Yesung said with a smile, “I accept that I’ll die, we all do eventually. It just makes me cherish what I have now.”

            Ryeowook’s eyes filled with tears at the other’s words, “You’re so special, Yesung…why doesn’t the world have more people like you?”

            Yesung smiled lightly, turning and kissing the other’s forehead gently, “It’ll have you too, and that’ll be a start.”

            And life’s about how others value you.

            That’s how their story started. As they spent more and more time together, they had promptly began to fall in love with each other, even with Yesung growing weaker and weaker as his illness slowly took over as the months passed. Ryeowook had learned to not dread the date however; yes, he was going to be sad that Yesung was gone, and he still would cry about it now as the date grew closer, but Yesung’s never wavering smile made him smile back. He knew that Yesung was stronger than anyone else in this world, purely because he wanted to make people smile right until the very end. That little fact alone, made Ryeowook make a promise to himself; he swore to himself that even when Yesung was gone, he really wouldn’t be, as his memory would live on, no matter what.

            Soon though, when Yesung had grown too weak to do much on his own, he had to be moved to stay in the hospital. He had only four mere months left, but he still smiled brightly and tried to cheer up everyone in the hospital. Ryeowook stayed with him there, and the two would spend their days together while cherishing each other’s presences, living in the moment and not thinking of the future.

            Whenever people would see the young couple in the hospital, the couple would unknowingly give those people strength. Yesung’s bright outlook on his current illness, as well as Ryeowook unwavering love and care for the older was a pure inspiration. They were a breath of fresh air in this depressing atmosphere, and everyone in the hospital couldn’t help but look up to them for happiness.

            Even now, as the two sat on Yesung’s hospital bed, singing happily, their beautiful voices perfectly in sync, everyone in the hospital couldn’t help but smile. Two nurses stood outside Yesung’s room, smiling at the young couple with tears in their eyes. A young woman, holding her newborn child just below their room, smiled happily at her baby while the child giggled, the first noises it heard were the beautiful sounds of inspiration and strength from the room above. An old man in a wheel chair, recovering from a potentially deadly car accident, couldn’t help but smile despite his physical pain as he heard the two young men’s voices.

Even when Yesung would eventually die, everyone knew the young man was going to be an inspiration and a source of strength; because even now, when his body was weak and hurting, all he could do was smile at his young lover, and sing a song full of promise for everyone to hear.

            No matter your condition, whether you’re strong or you’re weak, sick or healthy, your life is a miracle. No matter how short it is, and no matter how unfair your hand has been dealt, you should know that every life is valued.

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A/N: I apologize for how many people seemed to have cried during these oneshots, but I felt these were important for everyone to read. I wanted to do something different from what other people write; something that’s actually real, that affects us all emotionally. It isn’t right how many people are depressed and feel unimportant because how their life is going, so I wanted to open some of your eyes to make you see that no one should give up. So, hopefully I succeeded ^^ I do hope all of my subscribers enjoyed these oneshots, and I hope none of you cried too much ._. I might do more of these, depending on how well they’re received, and if I get anymore inspiration. So if you like these, please let me know :3

@kpoplover_junebug: I’m glad you enjoyed them :D

@smileeffects: Thank you :D

@whiteheron: Thank you :3 I hope you liked the other two also :D I tried pretty hard with them, but I definitely think my favorite was EunHae’s.

@TyeDyeBoogers: I do seem to make you cry a lot ._. I apologize D: But I do hope you enjoyed them all :3

@sungheemin13elieve: I got rather emotional writing all of these too ._. hopefully you liked the other two also. I tried to make them somewhat of a variety >.>.

@charliebrownwolf: Thank you :3 and I agree, I kind of wanted to touch on more sensitive things that really do affect us all in real life. I think it’s sad that not enough people realize just how much they’re worth in life, so I tried to show that ^^

@heesara: Yeah I seem to make you cry a lot too ._. so I apologize D: but I do hope you really enjoyed them :D

@cynder8: Oh it’s not just EunHae XD I tend to write very depressing oneshots anyway ._. I let my inner emo kid run rampant when writing these things I think. I hope you enjoyed the last two though :3.

@Roses87: I apologize for making you cry D: but hopefully you enjoyed them all regardless of them being sad :3

@MyNameIsMyeolchi: Yay someone else knows the commercials XD they’re so…depressing, but inspiring >.>. I’m also really glad you liked the EunHae one though, I think that one was probably my favorite.

@ShineeJONGKEYftw: I’m glad you enjoyed those two :3 hopefully this one was good too. I do feel bad for making you cry though D:

@Saranghae15: I hope the YeWook one was okay :3 it’s not as sad as the other two, but it still had sad moments ._. Thank you though :3 I’m glad you liked those other two so much~

@NadieLee: I’m sorry you cried D: I do hope you did enjoy the oneshots though :3 since they were meant to also inspire. Hopefully you didn’t cry too much though ._.

Please remember to comment~ ^^