[Kris P.O.V]

I placed my hand onto the cold metal doorknob and turned it, but suddenly stopped.

Listen.

I let go of the doorknob and pressed my ear against the door, scavenging for any sounds coming from the room.

Pencils scraping on paper.

Sighing.

Sniffling.

More pencils on paper.

As usual.

I turned the doorknob once more and quietly opened the door, entering the room. It was dimly lit with a lightly glowing lamp, showing the small desk tucked away in the corner and the small bed, with a small figure sitting on it.

I don't know why Lay even has a desk anyway. He never uses it. He always does his work sitting cross-legged on his bed. It never changed.

Lay looked up at me, and I immediately noticed his teary eyes and wet cheeks.

"L-Lay, what's wrong?"

Immediately I dropped our schedule papers I had planned to bring to him and hurried over to his bed.

He was drawing again.

I knew the reason why he was crying, but I still couldn't help the panging in my chest that worried for him so much.

Instinctively, I reached out and wrapped my arms around Lay's waist, before pulling myself up to sit on his small bed; and he replied with wobbly lips and more tears falling from his eyes as he stared at me longingly.

I longed for him back.

"Lay, don't cry."

I pulled the smaller boy closer to me and pressed him against my chest, feeling a sinking feeling in my chest.

I hate to see this kill him inside.

He shook his head at me, and gently pulled away. I stared at him curiously, wondering why he had rejected my comfort.

But then he began to draw again.

Sigh.

I wish he'd stop drawing.

For the past week he had sat in his room and drawn. If we weren't practising or busy with schedule, he would just draw.

He'd skip meals.

He'd refuse to sleep.

He would just draw and draw and draw...

I looked up at the walls and at all the blu-tacked drawings that hung from them loosely.

Although I hated to see his life dedicated to making a bunch of stupid drawings, I couldn't help but admire his artistic talent.

He was a really good drawer.

And he dedicated all these drawings to me.

Just a week before the accident, Lay had confessed his love for me when we went were eating dinner alone. It had just come out of nowhere.

"Kris...I have to tell you something.."
"Yes?"
"I......Kris....
....I think I love you...."

It was the moment that completed our lives.

For a whole week it was just us. He was the only thing I could see. I was the only thing he could see. I couldn't stop my hand from crawling into his, and all I wanted was to capture his lips into mine. I couldn't leave his side, and he couldn't leave mine. Even in a week he already had what seemed like hundreds of bouquets of flowers littering his room that I had bought him.

We just wanted to be together.

But then, one cloudy, breezy, cold night...everything was ruined.
 

Our love was still fresh and tender. I still couldn't take my eyes off him.

Except for one stupid moment.

Xiu Min had found a cute flower on the ground in the dark, and he squealed in excitement, making everyone jump in surprise and turn around to him.

Well, except Lay.

He definately jumped. And his cellphone had flown out of his hand in surprise, and onto the road beside us.

And of course, his first instinct was to run after it.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Nobody had seen it coming. We were all focused on Xiu Min, and Lay was too focused on rescuing his phone, and the driver couldn't see in the darkness.

The sound of screeching tyres, a loud but cut-off scream and a crunching bang had made everyone turn around.

Horrible.

It was horrible.

A large, black car. Skidded to the side.

With an unconscious, bleeding Lay on top of it.

That moment was the one moment I could truly feel my heart stop.

I was frozen.

Lay.

And then I ran.

I ran, tears forming in my eyes, trying to reach out and grab him.

I tried to scream his name.

It couldn't be true.

He wasn't dead, was he?

I couldn't tell.

I hadn't even reached halfway across the road when my knees buckled beneath me and I out into a dead faint.
 

What I remembered next was lying in a hospital bed in a double-bed room. It was silent. The whiteness of the walls were blinding. There was a dull aching in my head, but otherwise I felt fine. I tried to lift my head up and look around the room, but it just fell back again. I was too weak.

Lying there for a moment, I tried to remember what had happened.

How did I end up here?

Oh...yes.

It all came flooding back.

"Lay?" I croaked weakly.

There was no reply.

Where was he? 
Was he safe?
Was he alive?

"Lay??" I said, a bit louder and clearer this time.

Summoning all my strength, I managed to lift my head up and support myself on my elbows, looking around the room.

Lay.

Sitting on the opposite bed. Staring at me with wide, pained eyes. Bandages looped around his forehead. Tears streaming down his face.

The face that had been plastered on his head since.

"Lay...oh, Lay..."

I tried to get off the bed, but I couldn't.

I was still to weak.

I looked back up at him, and he was shaking his head desperately.

"Lay...Lay...are you alright?? What happened?"

His lips trembling, Lay didn't respond, but just stared at me in despair.

"Lay??"

He wasn't speaking to me...

Suddenly, the door creaked open, and a nurse dressed in a bright white uniform entered.

"Mr. Wu Fan...you are conscious, shall I call the doctor...?"

"N-no, miss, I feel fine. What happened to Lay?"

Suddenly, the nurse stopped walking towards me.

"M-Mr Yi Xing..?"

"Yes. What happened?"

Looking nervous, the nurse looked down at her feet and cleared .

"Well...ehm...he was hit by a car and severely damaged his skull..."

She trailed off and began to chew her lip.

"And..?!"

"Well...his skull has been fratured and pierced a part of his brain...affecting...his...voice..."

Silence.

What?

"What do you mean?"

"W-well...his emergency operation has been performed, and he is safe from any further harm  now....but...I'm afraid his fractured skull has affected his brain too harshly. His voice is now...unable to be used. He cannot speak anymore."

I stared at the nurse, who shuffled nervously and drew small circles with her feet on the floor.

No way.
It couldn't be true.

I turned to face Lay, and sure enough, he was curled up on his bed, crying silently into his knees.

It was impossible.

"Lay, speak to me."

He didn't talk.

"Lay. Look up. Face me. Speak to me."

He managed to drag his face from his knees and look at me, but he still didn't respond.

"Lay, speak to me, I said speak to me! Say something! Tell me it's a lie! Tell me you're safe!"

"M-Mr Wu F-"

"Lay, speak to me! Say just one word! Tell me something, Lay, anything, just talk to me!!"

"Mr Wu Fan, I beg of you-"

"SPEAK TO ME, LAY!!! SAY SOMETHING!! TELL ME YOU LOVE ME, LAY!! CAN'T YOU SAY JUST THAT!?"

"Mr Wu Fan, please!"

I couldn't believe it. I wouldn't believe it.

I watched the tears drip from his eyes and could soon feel my own forming, and we stared at eachother with teary eyes.

It couldn't be true.

"Lay...please..."

He shook his head.

He really couldn't speak.

I would never hear his voice again.

He'd never speak again. He'd never laugh again. He'd never sing again.

I would never hear him say 'I love you' ever again.


That was the day our lives were ruined. The our hearts fell to pieces. The day all hope was lost.

I looked back down at Lay, and tears were still running down his face, yet he was still furiously drawing onto that paper.

I hated to see him hurting like this.

"Lay, why do you draw like this? Why won't you write words so we can communicate?"

It was true. Lay never wrote words to me. He would simply draw.

Scenarios of us.

Us holding hands.
Us laughing together.
Us feeding each other food at meal times.
Us locking lips before bed.

It killed me to think he didn't have the will to do any of these anymore, but he just drew it all.

"Can't you write anything to me? I miss talking with you."

Still, Lay ignored my words and continued to draw.

I sighed.

I missed his words.
I missed everything.

Just two weeks ago we were a happy, smiling couple without a care in the world.

Why did that have to be ruined?

I was so thankful Lay was a dancer. SM hadn't released news on Lay's accident and voice loss yet, but it was obvious what was going to happen anyway.

No more singing lines for Lay. Just dancing.

He was good at dancing.

But we were all going to miss his sweet voice.

"Lay, do you want me to sing for you?"

He didn't reply, and I felt my heart pang.

He always used to like hearing me sing. We would sing together.

"Lay...please look at me once more?"

But he refused to do so.

I felt so frustrated.

Why did he draw pictures of us all the time? Why couldn't he stop drawing us kissing and instead just kiss me?

I missed our moments of love. I missed everything.

I wished he'd stop drawing those stupid pictures.

"Lay, what are you drawing this time?"

I leaned over to peer at the paper, but he whipped it away from me protectively and began to draw facing away from me.

I sighed.

I thought lovers never hid anything from each other...

I always questioned if the accident had hurt any other parts of his brain. He had lost his voice, for sure, but ever since then, he'd lost a lot of other things.

He'd lost his happiness.
He'd lost his optimism.
He'd lost his smile.

He'd lost all his emotions except one - sadness. The only emotion that remained and haunted his crumbling life.
It killed me to see his joy-filled eyes transform into broken faucets, dripping with tears that refused to stop.

For the millionth time, I asked myself,

Why did it have to be him?

"I love you, Lay."

I turned my head and kissed his neck gently, feeling it move as he breathed.

I wish he could speak to me.

I longed for his voice again.
I longed to hear him say 'I love you' back to me.
Would it ever happen? Would I ever hear him speak to me again?

I pulled back in surprise as Lay suddenly turns his head to face me.

We stared at each other.

He still couldn't stop crying.

And then, he held it up to me.

His drawing.

The hundred-and-somethingth drawing he'd ever done for me.

I expected to see my face on the picture. I expected to see his next to mine.

I expected entwined hands, heads on shoulders, joined lips - everything he had always drawn.

But it wasn't.

It was far from it.

My eyes widened, my breath sharpened, and I felt my heart freeze, before beginning to beat at full-speed. Pounding in my ears.

It wasn't a drawing at all.

It was three words.

Three beautiful, beautiful words.






I love you.






I stared, wide-eyed at the delicately written letters, running my eyes over them over and over, hardly able to believe what I was seeing.

I could hardly breathe.

And all of a sudden...tears. They filled my eyes and washed down my face like a waterfall.

"Lay...Lay..."

Tears rolling down our faces, I moved my hand from his waist to cup his soft cheeks, as he clutched the paper tightly.

For the first time since that accident, he had told me he loved me.

He said he loves me.

It was pure bliss.

"I love you, Lay."

And just like that, I leaned forward, and kissed him.

Centuries it felt like, the time we sat there, together, our lips connected, hearts beating against one another.

But when we did pull away, and we looked into eachothers eyes again, it was like clouds parting from the sun, like birds taking flight into a sapphire-blue sky.

It was beautiful.

He was so beautiful.

"Lay......Lay......you have no idea how much I love you.....it hurts me to see you cry. It kills me to see this killing you. I hate that this ever happened to you, I hate that your life was ruined from one stupid, stupid moment. I hate it. But no matter what happens, Lay, no matter what happens to you...you will always be the same Zhang Yi Xing in my eyes. You'll never change for me. I love you, I love you, I love you. And nothing, nothing will ever change that."

Tears still streaming down our faces, he stared up at me painfully.

'I love you', he mouthed.

I could hear him straining to get the words out. I could hear a few helpless squeaks and croaks come from his mouth.

'I love you, I love you, I love you.'

He was trying so hard.

I wish I could hear your voice, Lay...

I pressed my finger to his lips, stopping his painful efforts.

"You don't need to speak, Lay...."

He dropped the paper. He dropped the precious sheet of paper down, pushed it away, and flung his arms around me.

And even though we were both hurting...

It would be okay.

It didn't matter I couldn't hear him speak.

It didn't matter he wouldn't be able to sing.

I would always be there to support him.

And he'd always be there for me.

Our love was unbreakable, untouchable.

And all we needed was each other.

And with that....nothing would ever hurt us.

No matter what happened, we would always pull through it together.

I knew Lay was thinking the same thing.

I love you, Lay. And that's all we need....

______________________________________________
(A/N) I can never get the ending right!!! ToT
I should really get into a habit of re-reading and editing my stuff. Gosh I am lazy.
I should also update some of my other stuff....*blush* sowwy :(
I hope I didn't disappoint you with this meaningless and stupid story. I'm always scared of that 3
Big fat thank you to all my supporters!!
*hugs* *kisses*
I hope you enjoyed reading this :'3
If you'd like some happiness to cheer up your sad EXO feels, you can also feel free to check out my fliffy HunHan oneshot! ^^ Or you could check out my very new chaptered angst fic starring Luhan ^^

I have also entered this fic into a one-shot contest.
To judge-nim of the contest...thank you for reading ^^ I hope you enjoyed it and will grade me well!
Wish me luck in this contest, first one I ever entered...whew I'm excited!
-MintyPetals