Life's Radiance

Seohyun was born very much earlier than expected. She was a premature baby in a critical condition. The doctor already told her mother that the baby might not be able to make it this week. Her parents cried a lot after hearing the news, but they didn't give up hope. Seohyun's mother prayed harder than usual. Seohyun's father, who didn't have a religion, started to pray. Their prayers were answered after the baby survived for a whole month with the doctor saying that Seohyun's condition was getting stable.

Her parents were very strict and protective especially when with things that are connected to Seohyun's health such as food, environment and etc. because Seohyun was a sickly child. Not a year passed that she wasn't hospitalized and sometimes it happens twice in a year. Seohyun was very much known to a lot of doctors and nurses in the hospital because of her frequent ER visits or hospitalizations.

As a child, Seohyun felt sad because she couldn't participate in activities that required a lot of energy such as sports. Eventually, she found joy in reading books and drawing but that made her a loner and it didn't change the fact that she envied the other children running around and playing a lot of games outside. She still wished that she could play with the other kids.

When Seohyun became a high school student, she finally made a friend for the first time. Her friend goes by the name of Yesung. He was weak and clumsy so he was the perfect target for bullying. Seohyun was very much weaker compared to Yesung physically but bullies wouldn't dare to hurt Seohyun because they were afraid she would probably end up in the hospital or in a worse case scenario, die right away. Seohyun became Yesung's shield. As long as they were together, Yesung wouldn't get bullied.

Seohyun's parents didn't approve of Yesung at first because of his clumsiness. They were afraid that he might accidentally hurt Seohyun which could lead to another hospitalization, but Seohyun cried a lot, refused to talk to them for days and made sure to run under the rain so her parents finally surrendered. On the other hand, Yesung vowed to be more careful around Seohyun.

Yesung wasn't into sports as well because of his clumsiness. He showed Seohyun about his love for music. He was good in playing the piano. He also had a really nice voice when he sings. He allowed Seohyun to read his composition which Seohyun thought were all very good. Seohyun eventually started to learn singing and playing the piano through Yesung.

It was also through Yesung that Seohyun gained more friends. "I may seem like a loner, but I do have friends outside our school." Yesung started to introduce his friends to Seohyun one by one.

Ryeowook was Yesung's childhood friend. They've been friends since kindergarten. Shindong, Eunhyuk and Donghae were the people Yesung became close with during his elementary years. Taeyeon was Yesung's cousin and neighbor. Sunny was Taeyeon's bestfriend but she also lives in Yesung's neighborhood so she became friends with them.

To be honest, Seohyun was felt annoyed at how everybody was trying to be extra careful around her and kept on asking her if she was alright but eventually, they got to know about Seohyun's capabilities and limitations so they started act more carefree around Seohyun now. They knew when to stop and how to watch out for signs of Seohyun's body becoming too stressed or strained.

Everybody convinced Seohyun into playing table tennis. Unlike most sports, it doesn't require much stamina from running all over the field. Seohyun thought that she will never be able to participate in any kind of sports. What made her happier was that her doctor allowed her to do this sport and her parents, who were strict and protective with her, actually allowed her to do this sport.

When Seohyun became hospitalized, she felt happy that she finally had visitors that are not her parents or the hospital staff. For the first time, the hospital room felt like a living room as everybody gathered on Seohyun's bed with bowls of junkfood and watched a movie on the T.V.

Eventually, Taeyeon got herself a boyfriend named Eeteuk who also started to hang out with them. Shindong admitted that he was involved in a 3-year online relationship and actually met the girl a few times before. Ryeowook was currently in love with a girl but hadn't confessed yet. Eunhyuk was surprisingly gay and got himself a boyfriend named Sungmin.

Donghae dates a different girl from time to time but wasn't involved in a relationship. When he brought a girl named Jessica to one of their hangouts, everybody instantly knew that Donghae was serious about this girl because Donghae never brought any of his previous girls to their hangout before. Sunny was a female version of Donghae. She liked to date around a lot too and hasn't found someone she wanted to be in a relationship yet.

"Looks like only the two of us doesn't have love lives." Yesung said as he walked Seohyun to her house. He always made sure that Seohyun would get home safely either from school or from their hangout.

"Do you really not have anybody you like?" Seohyun asked. "It'll just be between the two of us. You know I'm good at keeping secrets."

"There isn't really anybody but..." Yesung hesitated for a bit but decided to go for it. "Sometimes I feel my heart being tugged towards you."

"Now, that is definitely something the others don't need to know. They'll tease us to death if they find out." Seohyun nodded to herself. "As for me, there isn't really anybody that I like but I think I can easily like you back."

"Let's go on a date."

"You sure about that? I might be too sick to show up on our date."

"We'll date in the hospital then."

Seohyun laughed which eventually turned into coughing. She could feel Yesung's hand rubbing her back comfortingly. When she finally calmed down, she smiled and agreed to go on a date.

There aren't a lot of people who had the patience to take care of her. Most of them are even afraid that they might accidentally do something that would lead to Seohyun's death or that they might catch whatever sickness Seohyun was currently having, so she never thought that somebody would actually like her enough to go on a date.

But then again, Yesung was never afraid of her. Sometimes he would catch a flu or a cold or something along those lines from Seohyun but he never blamed her and never stopped being with her. "Thank you, Yesung." The words escaped from .

"For what?" Yesung asked curiously as he was surprised with Seohyun's sudden words of gratitude.

She didn't know how to describe it but then, she noticed how Yesung seems to be glowing because of the sun setting down behind him. "Thank you for the radiance you've brought into my life."

THE END

A/N: I want to thank you for taking the time to read this fic especially since it contains a rare pairing. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think of the fic. A simple "good luck" for the contest would make me happy too. ^_^