When Tao was 8, his life became limited.

          The doctor looked down at the clipboard in his hand, up at the ceiling, anywhere but those pleading eyes. “I…I’m sorry…” His voice was quiet, and you could tell that he felt truly bad for the young boy he had just run the tests on. “Your son has been…diagnosed with a fatal disease. We’ve only seen similar things to it before, so we have no cure. The good news is that it spreads very slowly, so he will still have a while to live…

When Tao was 10, he began wushu lessons.

          She was worried that the people at school would find out about his sickness, and would make fun of him. It was purely for defense reasons. 

When Tao was 15, he entered high school.

          Luhan was Tao’s best friend. Well, more like his only friend. For reasons unknown to Tao, he was exceptionally clumsy, his only fluid movements being when he was practicing wushu. 

When Tao was 18, he met someone. 

          When the new student first walked in the door, he seemed to glow and sparkle with light, brightening the whole room. He was very tall, even taller than me, and he was incredibly, unbelievably handsome.

When Tao was 19, he lost someone very important. 

          The solemn music echoed through the nearly empty church, amplifying the lonely feeling that was dominating my body. I stared blankly at the coffin in front of me, not really believing anything that was happening right now. This was something that was never supposed to happen…

          I felt a warm hand on my shoulder, not needing to turn around to know who it was. Even though it hadn’t even been a year, I would know his touch anywhere. 

When Tao was 20, his life changed.

          “You know…”he began softly, “you could always come live with me…” He looked down at the table, drawing meaningless doodles on the surface with his finger as he waited for my response.

          “…Are you being serious right now?” I asked hesitantly.

          “Yes!” He said loudly. “I mean, if that’s okay with you of course.”

           I stayed silent, trying to process the offer in my head.

          “You know, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, it was just a suggestion-“

          “Of course I want to, stupid,” I cut him off with a tight hug, and he hugged me back with a sigh of relief.

          “You can come over whenever, since I live alone… you could even move in today…”

           I pulled back from the hug quickly. “Then let’s get packing.”

When Tao was 21...

          “Shh, Tao.” He pulled me into a tight hug, almost crushing me. “I can’t tell you everything’s going to be alright… but I can always tell you that I love you so, so so much and that whatever happens, we’ll get through it together, okay? You will never leave me, and I would never even dream of leaving you. We’re in this together.”