Sunggyu was kind of sad to figure out that he was going to die. He knew that he was sick and he knew that he wanted to do so much more with his life, but that wasn't really what made him sad. He wasn't sad because he wouldn't get the chance to pay back his parents for everything they've done; it wasn't because he'd never get to tell his first love that he didn't really mean to put all of that gum in her hair (he doesn't even like girls now, but he still feels guilty everytime he sees someone chew gum); he wasn't even sad because he'd never be able to say propose to his boyfriend, Sungyeol.

            He was actually upset because he didn't like the way people acted towards him when they found out. He had always been connected to the hospital since he was young: his mother was a doctor, his father had died in a surgery-gone-wrong, and until a few weeks ago he was working on getting his residency at the same hospital his mom used to work at. When people found out that their loved one was going to die, it was absolutely terrible and heart-wrecking to watch. People walked slower, they looked more boring, faceless, and no jokes or good news ever came out of their solemn mouths. He's heard countless phone calls with smiles and congratulations that the dying patients would never get to hear, because apparently, when someone was dying, those that were living were only supposed to be sad around the already sad patient, and visitors of the dying couldn't be living a good life.

            Sunggyu didn't really like to think about death, but being surrounded by it all his life, he kind of got used to the idea. So when it was his turn to die, all he could think about was how terrible it would be if he had died surrounded in all of that sadness, and of course, the people who visited him never came in with a smile, and their visits almost always ended in tears- all except one person. There was one person who didn't do any of these things that Sunggyu detested. Sungyeol was the one who didn't act like the world was ending and he didn't pretend that Sunggyu was going to live through a miracle. He just accepted it and knowing Sunggyu as well as he does, he made sure to continue his life as if he had planned to be in love with someone who practically lived in a hospital bed.

            Sunggyu didn’t know whether to thank that person or pity him—maybe both. Whenever someone walked into the room, it was difficult to tell which one of the two was the one that was supposed to die in a few months. They couldn't tell whether it was the man with the caramel-colored hair who always smiled brighter than the sun but always held back his tears, or whether it was the man with the auburn-colored hair who had this laugh that could fill up an entire room with happiness, but had these scary, empty eyes whenever his eyes looked at anyone that wasn't the man with the caramel hair.

            The first month, Sungyeol visited as often as he could, but when he learned that Sunggyu didn't have that much time left, he was able to get a leave from work. Sungyeol smiled whenever he visited Sunggyu, and he was the only one who could tell him “I love you,” without tearing up. When he started to practically live in the hospital, he slept in Sunggyu's bed, wrapping the other in his arms until they two fell asleep. Sunggyu felt so lucky because his disease wasn't contagious and he could snuggle up against Sungyeol's chest and wrap his getting-weaker-by-the-day legs around the others. Sungyeol wasn’t afraid to take Sunggyu out on his wheelchair outside to the bright sun and refreshing air, and he wasn’t afraid to buy Sunggyu his favorite foods. He didn’t refuse anything Sunggyu requested, and he even ended up creating a huge event for their anniversary (Sunggyu didn't care for calendars anymore, but Sungyeol secretly had been counting the days). Sungyeol made Sunggyu happy during his last days, and when Sunggyu had died, Sunggyu died with both of their smiles and first tears.

            Because Sungyeol didn’t believe that Sunggyu could ever die. Because he knew that he and Sunggyu would meet again.