It had been two months and Jonghyun were finally allowed to go outside after having been at home for almost three weeks. His body hadn’t had any problems adjusting to the new bone marrow at all and the doctors had told him that he would be able to go back to school after the summer holidays.

His parents had also been more accepting than any of them had hoped for. Even though they didn’t like Minki at first they had let him stay in their house when Jonghyun had told them what his parents had said. They both found it terrifying that Minki had been disowned like that and they now wanted to prove that they were better human beings than Minki’s parents had been. Jonghyun’s mother even came to admit that her son had excellent taste in boys as well after having had Minki living with them for a couple of days.

Now they were walking along the beach in the sunset, softly holding hands. They were alone in the dim light, so none of them felt exposed by showing off their relationship like that. The water was glowing in the last shards of daylight and everything was covered in a magnificent pinkish hue as they stopped to watch the sun sink all the way into the ocean. Lazy waves slowly swept around their bare feet, then gliding back into the sea again in the same steady rhythm, leaving shells and stones behind in the wet sand.

Jonghyun noticed that Minki’s eyes were veiled by tears and he pulled him close, looking concerned at him.

“Is something wrong?”
“No…” Minki shook his head without taking his eyes off the sun. When it was completely drowned in the secret depths of the vast ocean he finally turned his head to look at Jonghyun. “It’s just so beautiful”. A single tear made its way down his face and Jonghyun wiped it away with a tender smile.

“Nowhere near as beautiful as you are…” He leaned in and embraced Minki’s lips. The younger one smiled and cuddled his nose in Jonghyun’s spring jacket afterwards.

“Such a cheesy line… But I liked the way you said it”.

Jonghyun laughed and hugged Minki tighter. He shoved his nose and lips into Minki’s hair and they stood together in silence for a while. The only sound was the quietly on-going murmur of the sea and from time to time a gull screamed somewhere far away. The sky was golden now and soft clouds on the horizon looked as if they were made from ivory cotton, before the twilight finally prevailed and turned everything dark.

“I love you hyung”.

Minki’s trembling words made Jonghyun look up.

“You say that an awful lot lately”.

“That’s because I want to make sure that you know…”

With affectionate movements Jonghyun started to Minki’s hair with a smile at the corners of his lips.

“I know”.

They returned to an empty house two hours later. Jonghyun’s parents were out to dinner at a friend’s house, but Jonghyun had insisted that he and Minki could take some time off together instead of going with them.

It was all dark and they decided to sleep in Jonghyun’s bed; normally Minki slept in the guest room to not make himself unpopular with Mr and Mrs Kim, but every time they were out he sneaked into their son’s room to sleep with him instead.

Right now he looked tired, almost exhausted and Jonghyun couldn’t take his eyes off him. He looked like an angel with his white hair spread across the pillows. Even though, his eyes still looked serious as he stared back into Jonghyun’s dark irises that peaked out from beneath his messy bangs.

“Hyung, there’s something I have to tell you”.

His voice was low and Jonghyun could see his little Adam’s apple do a somersault in his throat.

“Then tell me”. He moved closer to Minki and took his hand, scared to see how pale he was. Maybe he had been all along, he just hadn’t seen it in the coloured sunlight.

“It’s not easy though” he breathed, biting his lips desperately. He took a deep breath and forced himself to keep calm, not letting his body twinge even a single time. “But hyung… This is our last night together”.

The brunette’s eyes widened immediately and he tightened his grip around Minki’s fingers.

“What do you mean?” His slightly parted lip and those hurt eyes… The younger boy fought not to cry by the sight of them.

“I’m dying… And there’s nothing I can do, so please don’t suggest it…” His breathing became panting as he had to stay calm, not cry, not writhe, not show it on the face. “But I don’t have long now, that’s why I wanted to spend the last day with you…”

Jonghyun was sobbing as he looked at his brave little cherub lying there in front of him, desperately trying not to show neither fear nor pain.

“What are you saying Minki? How can you be dying? You’re all fresh and…”
“No I’m not. You know I’m not hyung, I can see that you know.”
“I thought they were just regular headaches…”

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry” he cried, no longer able to hold it back. He clung to Jonghyun and the older boy placed his arms around the blonde at once. “It’s the Helix blood… It’s not just regular bodies that get infected by it, its original bodies get sick as well…”

Devastated Minki tried to stop his tears from running long enough for him to say all that he wanted, but the knowledge that Jonghyun would disappear along with everything else he had known in maybe only a few minutes made it impossible to stop weeping.

“Aron told me… that the real reason Helixes are so few is because most of us die at birth because the blood infects the embryo and kills it right away. Only a few humans survive long enough to actually be born and grow up…”
“What, he… he knew all along?”
“It’s not his fault Jonghyun, I knew it myself as well…” He kissed Jonghyun at the neck with gracious touches from his lips, struggling to ignore the pain that had spread to the rest of his body. “If a Helix survives for this long it means it got lucky. The blood destroys the body slowly and entirely… It has been killing me all my life…”

His hands were clenched on the back of Jonghyun’s loose shirt and the thought of letting go was so frightfully horrifying it made him quiver even worse. How easy it would be to just close his eyes now and give in already, but he knew there was still something more he had to do.

“Hyung… Take off the ring”.

Jonghyun’s heart skipped several beats as he pulled away just enough to look at Minki’s heartbroken face.

“You don’t mean that…” he cried, his whole body shivering in despair.

“I do though… I can’t die knowing you’re still bound to me for eternity… You have to love again, you have to move on”.

“Don’t say that!” He shook his head and his eyes were almost impossible to keep open any longer from the steady flow of tears. “I promised I wouldn’t take it off, not ever!”

“Please, I give you permission. You’re free to take it off, you can’t… you can’t have me lingering around in your future life like that… Don’t make this harder than it already is…”

His voice grew faint and it was clear he had Death breathing down his neck.

“Minki…” Somehow Jonghyun managed to look determined at him. “I have never loved anyone as I love you and I never will. Even if I did come to find another he or she would never be able to replace you… You’re the only one for me. I will wear this ring to my grave and that’s a promise.”
“H-Hyung…”
“There’s nothing you can say to make me change my mind Minkiah…” He took Minki’s shaking little hand and held it tight in his own so that the rings were touching. “Forever”.

The blonde’s eyes were shut tight from the pressure of his tears.

“And ever” he whispered, persistently clinging to the last bits of his voice. “Thank you…”

He pressed his lips against Jonghyun’s that yielded willingly, though shaking from crying, and he could feel a splint of heat spread in his body, making the pain bearable. For a long time he kept kissing Jonghyun, his Jonghyun, until he finally had to stop and meet his eyes to see them for real just once more.
“I love you Minki. I love you more than anything else, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you all the time…”
“It’s okay. I knew you wanted to say it”. He forced out a smile and rested his forehead on Jonghyun’s chest. “It’s happening now… Please sing for me, so I won’t feel afraid”.

Every part of him hurt and he closed his eyes in pain, wanting it to end. Jonghyun buried his lips in Minki’s hair one last time, fervently whispering “I love you”, before pulling him as close as he could and started to sing. His voice was low and nowhere near as good as he wanted it to be at that one moment, but he kept singing the soothing lullaby he knew  his mother had once sung to him to make his nightmares go away as a child, every verse, every last line, until Minki had stopped quivering in his arms.

He turned silent and carefully he pulled away, just enough to get a look at Minki’s angelic face.

His eyes were closed, all signs of former pain had left his flawless skin. Tears were still hanging from his long beautiful eyelashes, but his cheeks had turned cold and there wasn’t any colour left in them. Yet the two perfectly shaped arches that were his lips still had their delicate shade of pink to them and they were slightly curled in a peaceful smile.