Time passed slowly after that. Henry felt isolated and alone even though Zhou Mi and Sungmin came to visit him almost every day and his mother had talked to her boss so she could go home early for him.

It got more and more difficult to eat - or swallow at all. He quickly had to realize he wouldn't be able to eat anything but soup and maybe some ice cream or juice, everything with pieces in it hurt too much and he sometimes felt like it got stuck, unable to fully go down to his stomach, so he quickly stopped eating those things. Even his medication needed to be re-adjusted so he could take it.

Eventually, Henry stopped looking into mirrors. He didn't know how the others could deal watching him lose more and more weight. He hadn't weighed a lot when he and Zhou Mi had gone to Canada, but things were getting a lot worse during the weeks that followed.

He could only go to the river occasionally and even then Sungmin and Zhou Mi wouldn't allow him to stay for long, but it was a few days before Christmas that he realized the other two men didn't only accompany him - but they also held him up, helped him whenever he had difficulties, and made him take breaks even before he knew he was getting exhausted.

As all of those facts sank in more and more, he realized how little was left of him and how much he had to hold on to the last bit of consciousness, the will to live, the spark of happiness whenever he saw his friends while at the same time noticing the worry about him of everyone around him, his own body failing him, and that he had to completely depend on everyone around him.

The evening of the day he realized he wouldn't have been able to go out to the river anymore without Sungmin's and Zhou Mi's help was the hardest one, though, especially as he watched the seconds ticking by like sand in an hourglass counting off the remainder of his life. The day on which he had decided to give up came and passed as agonizingly slow as all of the others did, his only time in freedom being the many hours he slept.

And then somehow, Henry had already thought it wasn't possible anymore, it was Christmas day.

"Merry Christmas!"

Henry leaned against the wall in their hallway and watched as his mother waved their two guests into the house.

Zhou Mi and Henry bowed politely, but they were smiling. "Merry Christmas," they responded cheerfully, luring Kangin from the kitchen as well.

"Merry Christmas you two! I hope you got here safely?"

"Yes, we did," Sungmin replied with a happy smile while he and his best friend took off their shoes and their coats in the entrance area before entering the house properly and hugging the small family. "Thank you so much for letting us come over!"

"We can't have you celebrate Christmas on your own, can we?" Sooyoung replied with a smile that warmed Henry's heart because he could see it was an honest smile, one that even reached her eyes. Seeing this, he knew that moment alone had been worth hanging on and staying at least until Christmas.

"Let's go into the living room," Henry suggested with a soft smile and when the others nodded, he went ahead into the room he had mentioned.

"What would you like to drink?" Sooyoung asked and watched the two guests.

"Some water will be fine for me," Zhou Mi replied with a soft smile and Sungmin nodded in agreement.

"For me too, please."

Henry's mother nodded. "I'll be right back then," she said with a gentle smile and left the living room again.

Kangin sat down on the smaller sofa while the other three young men sat down on the bigger one. "It's such a shame that you don't usually celebrate Christmas with your family," he commented towards Sungmin and Zhou Mi with a sigh.

"Therefore we'll spend New Year's with our family. Not the international one, but the one from the lunar calender," Sungmin explained.

"That's true... Will you also see your family on New Year's, Zhou Mi?"

Henry looked up at his boyfriend at his father's question, but the other averted his eyes. "I'm not sure yet, to be honest. I might. Maybe I'll have to work, though."

"You have to work on olidays, too?"

ZHou Mi nodded. "Of course I do. It doesn't happen often that entertainers get holidays off, especially not in the beginning of their carrier. It's already a miracle that I don't live in SHINee's dorm. Usually managers live with their idols at first to make sure they'll follow the rules and get everywhere in time," he explained. "I have to make sure SHINee do well during their trainings and that they will be promoted as good as possible so they can become well known idols as they grow."

"Woah... that's quite a lot of responsibility!" Kangin resumed and Henry could tell his father was truly impressed. Then again neither of them knew a lot about the Korean idol system.

Sooyoung came back into the room and handed out their drinks - a glass of water for everyone, as Henry noticed. Zhou Mi and Sungmin thanked her and they all drank a bit, the youngest tried not to grimace at the uncomfortable feeling.

"What do you two usually do on Christmas?" the middle-aged woman asked.

Sungmin shrugged softly. "Others our age usually go on dates with their girlfriends or wifes" - he glanced at the two young men next to him - "or boyfriends, I guess. But since I am single, I'll usually go to karaoke with some friends. Some nights that can be really depressing, though, when everyone complains about being single while getting drunk..."

"I went with Sungmin during my frst year here, but since I started working for SME and was assigned as SHINee's manager, I usually spend Christmas with them - sometimes we have to work, sometimes we don't," ZHou Mi answered.

"You have to work on holidays?" Sooyoung asked in surprise and the Chinese man nodded, patinetly explaining South Korea's idol system once more. "Ah, that's tough! I'm glad you got the chance to at least spend this Christmas with us isntead."

"I'm not sure the boys will share your opinion, but I am ahppy about this, too, especially because it's a family holiday for you," Zhou Mi replied with a warm smile that made Henry's heart beat faster.

"You're part of our family now, Zhou Mi. No matter what happens," Kangin replied. Henry could see sadness but also sincerety in his father's eyes, but he was happy about those words.

"I can't believe it," Sungmin complained and it was easily audible that he tried to lift the mood again. "You get into one relationship and end up with two families declaring you as their son!"

Henry couldn't help but laugh at that comment. "Why don't you learn your lesson from that and get yourself a Canadian partner?" he joked.

"Sounds like a plan I could settle for," Sungmin replied contently and leaned back again.

"So RYeowook's parents also treated you like their son?" Sooyoung asked curiously and when Zhou Mi nodded, she turned to her husband, "Can you believe they haven't talked to each other in years and now it's like that time never happened?"

"I'm still more surprised about their years of silence than about this," Kangin replied with an amused smile.

"Ah, that's also true," Henry's mother agreed and turned to her son. "What do you think, honey, should we get the presents?"

Henry nodded. "Yes, let's do that," he agreed with a happy smile and got up again. He went into his room, feeling a little embarrassed when he was reminded again of how poorly he had packed the stuffed animals - he had actually just put them into bags and used colorful wrapping paper as decoration - but then he pushed that feeling aside since he still didn't know of a better way to wrap up stuffed animals.

When the young man re-entered the room, he saw the others had also gotten out their presents, only his mother hadn't returned yet. Henry sat back down on his spot and they all waited until Sooyoung, too came back into the living room, carrying her laptop and a bag with presents in her other hand. At the confused gaze she got from her son,she explained, "Ryeowook sent me a little something for you."

Henry nodded softly and they waited until the woman had sat down and organized herself, then Kangin and Sooyoung started handing out their presents. They had gotten sweets for Zhou Mi and Sungmin as well as a book about Canada for the Chinese man and small letters for both young men, making them smile even though Henry could also tell the words made his boyfriend sad. Henry himself didn't get anything from his parents - he had somehow managed to convince them