The noise of the club was deafening. A whole throng of hearts beat to the music, moved by vibrations, alive only for that moment--he among them; the deadest of them all. Yet his heart pounded in his chest, his lungs filled with air, his face alive with color. Baekhyun’s corpse had found a shred of a life. He felt that little slip of paper with her name on it like a hundred pound weight in his pocket. Jin Miyoung.

He tumbled out of the club, bracing himself on a wall. He wasn’t sure how many drinks he had, but it no longer felt good. He turned and retched onto the street. A sour taste resided on his tongue. He shook his head to clear the layer of dust that blurred his mind and searched for his car. It was a good thing he had bought one so expensive--it always stood out, even to a drunk. Words dribbled from his lips as he swung about, catching bike railings and telephone booths to make his way to the vehicle. He jerked open the glove box and pulled out a tube of medicine, pills for sobering up. With one of these, he’d be fine in no time. Baekhyun pushed the key into the ignition and pulled the car out of the parking lot.

“Where did you go today that made you so late?” Suho glanced at Miyoung then put his eyes back on the road, “Did you meet with someone?”

“It’s a long story,” Miyoung sighed and looked out the window.

“I like stories,” Suho smiled.

Miyoung turned to face him and put her hands on her lap, “I was delivering those files to the owner of that club, and some guy stopped me inside!”

“Why?” Suho furrowed his eyebrows. Miyoung knew how much of a worrywart he was even over the smallest things. If Byun Baekhyun had done anything to her Suho would never forgive himself for not being there. He was that kind of person.

“It’s nothing,” Miyoung assured him and he loosened up, “he just hit on me.”

"Hit on you?" his eyes widened, then he laughed, "Well aren't you popular."

“I turned him down, obviously,” She grinned, "I'm taken."

"Oh no," he feigned shock, "You are? I guess I'll have to steal you away from your boyfriend."

"Stop that you're giving me goosebumps!"

"OK, okay. Then what?"

“I cut myself on these dumb heels,” Miyoung groaned and glared at her feet, “that guy had some bandages in his car so he patched me up.”

“Seems like a big flirt to me,” Suho grumbled.

“Don’t be such a jealous Jarry,” Miyoung scolded, “He refused to give me my shoes back unless I had coffee with him, so I got dragged into a coffee shop.”

“You hate coffee.”

“I had orange juice.”

“And then what?”

“I left,” Miyoung shrugged, “end of story.”

“Looks like you went on a real adventure today,” Suho smiled, pleased with her answer. He looked up and saw the turn off that would lead to their apartment. His heart thrummed in his ears. In the bag at his feet, hidden away in a tiny black box, was a glimmering diamond ring. It was simple, less than worthy of someone like Miyoung, but he worked day and night for months to buy it. He glanced at the angel in the seat beside him. He loved her tangle of black hair, smooth white skin, round eyes, and her gentle heart. He loved that she loved Aquariums and fairy tales, that she believed in love at first sight, that she had a cat named Nurungi when she was seven. There was no way around it. Kim Joonmyeon loved everything about Miyoung, from the tips of her toes to the last hair on her head, all of it.

“Oppa,” Miyoung almost whispered, “I love you.”

Suho nodded.

Miyoung leaned in ever so slightly, “I said I love you.”

“Mhmm.”

“I love you! I love you I love you I love you!” Miyoung yelled in his ear.

“Okay, okay, we’re gonna get in an accident! I love you t--

Baekhyun didn’t see the car.

He didn’t see it with his blurry eyes and wandering mind. It appeared out of no where, generated from an empty black road. Then suddenly the headlights hit his eyes like lightning. One bright, undeniable flash of light, like God had cut open the sky and made an entryway to heaven. He swerved in an effort to avoid it, the whole world moving in slow motion, a beam of light and a screech of tires. 

The car shook like an earthquake, or the bouncy rollercoasters of Baekhyun's childhood. His ragdoll head slammed against the wheel, the window beside him shattered all at once like a scene from a movie, glass flying at him and burying itself in his skin. He felt pain, only pain, then nothing at all. Then the darkness came. 

Yet the darkness didn’t last long enough.

Baekhyun’s eyes fluttered open. A jagged crack skittered across the length of his windshield, parting into a million smaller cracks like a river on a road map. Splintered bits were all that was left of the windows on the side. He blinked blood out of his eyes and tried to see farther, see what was on the other side, but smoke and steam rose from his car and blocked his vision. His drunkedness was long gone, replaced by a horrifying clarity. He wriggled in his seat, tugging at his tie and feeling hot blood drip onto his fingers from a cut in his neck. It was hot, so hot, was there a fire? He tried to move and screamed in pain. He looked down to see a jagged metal piece of the car crushing his leg. Blood stained the silver of his pants.

 Baekhyun’s hands shook as he unlocked his seat belt, gashes and cuts dappled his skin. STruggling with the door handle, he gave one last mighty push, and the hunk of metal fell away, dragging him to the ground with it. He released another blood curdling scream as his leg was torn from its confinements when dropped out of the car. Cold night air fell on him like a waterfall, cooling the sweat on his face and tingling the hot blood.

Then he heard it, a woman’s scream. Only then did the smoke clear, like a scene from a nightmare. A small red car turned half on its side, a diminutive fire raging under the hood. The windshield was completely gone, only jagged shards of glass lined the edges like the gaping mouth of a shark.

Baekhyun forced himself to stand, ignoring the sharp shoot of pain in his leg. The woman screamed again. Cringing, he limped on. The pain looped around his broken leg like a boa constrictor, crushing his bone bit by bit. When at last he reached the car he set his hand atop it to steady himself, and looked in. Through the passenger window he could see a girl with black hair and wide white eyes that shone like stars against the blood that drenched her face. Like a frightened bird she writhed inside, then noticed him. She hit the window with her hand, leaving a bloody palm print. He couldn't hear her over the hush of the steaming engine, but could see her mouthing the word 'help'. He tugged at the door, but it was stuck.

“I’ll get you out!” Baekhyun screamed and stumbled back towards his car, searching for a way. The bumper on his car was loose and stuck out at an unearthly angle, and when he pulled at it, it came off easily. He dragged the hunk of metal back to the other car and hooked the end on the girl’s door. He pushed his foot against the front of the car and pulled with all his strength. With a loud popping sound the door swung open just a few inches. He dropped the metal immediately and forced the door open all the way.

Once the door was open he could see everything clearly. The man on the other side was far more injured. Blood ran down his head, and a monstrous open gash ran down the left side of his face. Shards of glass clung to his chest, and a small fire had ignited in front of him, flames flickered out of the vents from the engine. Through torn pieces of the man’s long sleeved shirt Baekhyun could see wavy folds of soft pink burnt skin where the fire had touched him.

Baekhyun startled when the girl clutched his shirt and forced him to look at her. It was her, Miyoung. Her white skin was stained with dry blood, her pretty eyes wide with terror, but it was her.

“Save him,” she pleaded, hot tears turning red as they collected the blood on her cheeks.

Baekhyun glanced frantically to the man on the other side, whose eyes had begun to roll back into his head.

“I’ll go around to the other side!” he shouted, “Just wait," he yelled to the man, "I’ll get you!”

“No,” the man said, his voice cold as death itself, no more than a talking corpse, “no, get her.”

“What?” Baekhyun could barely hear him over the buzz of the cars' engines.

“Get her out first, whatever you do, get her out,” He begged. The man’s eyes met with Baekhyun’s for just a second and he knew. His once handsome face was now bloody and mangled, but his eyes shone bright with the life he clung to desperately. Though the man couldn't move, his eyes were glued to Baekhyun as he reached into the car for Miyoung.

“I’ll come back,” Baekhyun promised, “it’ll only be a minute. I’ll be right back. Wait here.”

He unhooked Miyoung’s seatbelt, and despite her screams of protests he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her out. She looked up at her savior’s face and it was engraved in her mind. Blood ran down the side of his face and matted in his hair, and a bloody cut ran across his right cheek. The last image she saw before the darkness.

“Hey,” Baekhyun choked on the smoke as he dragged her away from the car and into the grass field across the road. Her body was limp and bruised, her eyes shut as if sleeping, “Wake up!” he demanded, his heart beating wildly. Was she dead? "Wake up!" he shouted again, this time tapping her face as he lay her in the grass. This time her eyelids quivered, and opened. Thank god, she was alive. He turned to look at the condition of the cars in the distance. Both glowing in unearthly firelight. The small fire that had started under the hood was now a blazing inferno that had begun climbing up the windshield, the jagged glass teeth.

"No," he shook his head, thinking of the man inside, "No, no, no!"

Baekhyun took off in a half sprint-half limp across the field to the car, leaving a path of blood from his leg in the grass. Reaching the car he grabbed it for stability, then gasped in agony at the hellish heat of the metal that burned his fingers. through the broken front windshield he could see the man in the driver's seat, his head rolled forward, shoulders slumped. Baekhyun had to work quickly. 

"I can pull you over the hood!" he called, but the man inside shook his head.

"No, there's too much fire, you can't."

He was right. The entire hood of the car was leaping with hungry flames. 

“Watch out!” Baekhyun called, the man snapped into life and ducked as Baekhyun swung his fist into the glass. He reached into the inside of the car and tugged at the door handle. 

“No use,” the man choked, shaking his head, “the door’s jammed.”

“I’ll find something else,” Baekhyun held an arm up to guard him from a bout of flames.

the man clutched Baekhyun's sleeve, "Is she safe?" his eyes were wild with fear, holding on only to hear Baekhyun’s reply.

Baekhyun didn’t answer, he shook the man off. Instead he searched desperately for a way to get the man out. He grabbed the bar he used earlier and smashed it into the door, then pulled, but the door refused to come loose.

“Is. She. Safe.” the man pleaded, his voice a deadly calm. Baekhyun bit his lip so hard he felt the salty tang of blood in his mouth. Tears of horror and burning rolled down his cheeks.

Slowly, he nodded, “She’s safe.”

The man leaned back in the seat and let out a ragged sigh, “Good. That's good.”

“Don’t just give up!” Baekhyun cried and grabbed the bar to try again. When it failed once again he suddenly remembered his cell phone in his pocket. He pulled it out and unlocked the screen. He was about to press in 119 into the tiny glowing numbers when he heard something hit the ground beside his feet.

It was a little black box with burnt felt edges.

“It’s for her,” the man’s hand shook, frozen where he had dropped the box, “I wanted to give it to her myself…tonight. I wanted to—“ He coughed and blood dripped down his chin. 

“My name is Kim Joonmyeon--Suho,” he muttered with a sudden chilling calm in his voice. “Can you give it to her for me?”

Baekhyun shook his head, "No. No, no," he shook it faster and faster, tears blurring his vision, "give it to her yourself," he plucked it off the ground and put it in Suho's hand. It rolled out with no effort, clattering to the ground. The man only smiled bittersweetly, clean white teeth showing through his bloody face. 

"You and I both know I can't do that now."

"Yes you can!" Baekhyun screamed, snatching his phone up and dialing 119, "some people will be here soon, they're coming--"

“Tell her I love her,” he smiled, realizing that now was the time he was told about since he was young. The time he had to choose his last words to the people he loved. He chose carefully, “and I’m sorry I couldn’t give her the ring myself.”

"No, you have to hang on, just hang on!" Baekhyun glanced at his phone, then back at the man. 

"I'm so sorry, Miyoung," Suho whispered, "tell her I said thank you. For everything."

"Why isn't someone answering?" Baekhyun screamed at the phone.

Suho's eyes rolled to the side, watching Baekhyun bloodied and beaten, shaking with his glowing cellphone in hand. 

"She's a good girl," he continued, his smile turning bittersweet and hopeless, "do me a favor, would you?"

Baekhyun froze at the look in Suho's eyes. He could see an entire lifetime shimmering there, countless moments of laughter and tears, countless dreams and opportunities. A low note was struck in Baekhyun's heart, and he knew he could not save Kim Joonmyeon.

"W-what is it?" he quivered.

Suho half-smiled, the brilliant and sweet smile that Miyoung loved. That Miyoung would never see again. 

"Take care of her."

Suho leaned back in the seat, he in a deep breath and closed his eyes. It was so eerie, how calm it was at the end. He couldn't hear the roaring flames, or Baekhyun's screams. He couldn't feel the burning on his skin, or taste the blood on his tongue. Instead he felt the sun on his skin as it filtered through the trees, the way it shined on Miyoung's scraggly black hair that first day at the park.

"What's your name?" he asked in a distant memory.

He heard her voice echo in the back of his concious one last time. 

"I'm Miyoung. Jin Miyoung."

“Kim Joonmyeon!” Baekhyun screamed, dodging the flames that now trickled into the car, “Kim Joonmyeon!” the fire pushed him back, away from the car and the dying man. The box in his pocket contained the weight of one man’s entire world, and now it was Baekhyun’s weight to bare.

“I promise!” he screamed over the roar of the flames, “I’ll protect her!”

From that distance Baekhyun saw Suho in the car, not as a mangled dying man, but as a living person. Clean of blood, fresh and white like an angel. His head tilted back peacefully, eyes shut so that his long eyelashes brushed the top of his cheeks.  It was then that the fire found the gas tank, and with a sound that shook the world and made Baekhyun’s ears ring, the car exploded. The impact knocked Baekhyun to the ground, debris flying with him. The second he was able, he stood back up. All that was left was a blackened frame of the car engulfed in flames. There was no sign anyone was inside it, or had ever been.

Baekhyun released a scream, one that echoed in his heart and soul, and shook his world with devastation. He dropped to his knees and put his face in his hands. A man had died because of him.

"Hello?" a quiet robotic voice whispered in the darkness. Baekhyun looked up from his hands.

"Hello is someone there?" 

His phone glowed in the grass, a soundwave on the screen bouncing up and down. Shakily, he reached for it and rolled over into the grass onto his side, lifelessly watching the flames.

"Hello," he whispered.

"Hello this is the 119 operator what is your emergency?"

He remembered Miyoung, and could visualize her lying just a few feet futher above where he lay now, “I need help! I..I need help."

"Please calm down sir, where are you?"

Baekhyun turned his head about, but all he could see was an overpass and the grass field. "I don't know, a highway somewhere. I-I don't remember," his voice cracked and tears trickled down his cheeks and onto the grass,  "I don't know what to do, I need somebody to come right away!"

"Can you give me a visual of your surroundings?"

Tears poured from his eyes where they burned from the sting of the heat,"I need help! A girl just--"He thought only of Miyoung, nothing else. Not the explosion, not the fire, not the man who had died. He promised.

"Sir, please tell me where you are."

"I-I can't-..there's a sign...I think it says..um.."

The phone slipped from Baekhyun’s fingers.

"Sir?"

Along with his consciousness.

"Hello?"            

And there you have it. The chapter I have been waiting to write since I started this story.

(Please don't hate Baekhyun T-T)

This was really heartbreaking for me to write, because I absolutely love Suho's character.  I fell in love with him as I created him in the last chapter, and I cried as I killed him in this chapter. I love Suho because what my readers won't know until now is that he didn't just show up now. He was here all along. He was the reason Miyoung liked the song she and Baekhyun danced to at the party, and why she loved the coral red color so much. He was the voice that tortured her, calmed her, and visited her in her dreams. He was the man not even Kai knew about it, and not even you knew about. For me as an author, his presence has been constant.   Now I'm scared. Because he's really gone. I feel the same as Miyoung who lost him. He's been cut off now, and though he's been dead since the very first chapter, now I feel like he's really gone.

RIP my Suho (*runs away crying*)

P.S. I really love exo's Nature Republic photoshoot, especially for my chapters about Suho because the appearance is so angel-like, and the glowing, sunny background makes me think of heaven. It matches the concept really well.

   And lastly, I once again beg you please please please do not give away any spoilers in the comments, or mention Suho, but if you there's something you absolutely must say, you can send me a message and I'll probably reply. 

Thank you,

~Violet