He stared out the window, his mind heavy. Every single passing day became more dull.

Every passing day was another day without her in his life.

"Yixing," Mi-Young cooed. "Yi~xiiiing."

Oh, how he would do anything to just even hear her voice again, but in the real. She was haunting his dreams & taunting him by lovingly calling him like a trill.

He felt a headache coming on. Lay raised his hand to go to the restroom, & the teacher let him go. Your eyes followed his movements as he left the room. You were really worried about him. And you, being his best friend and all, also knew that he wasn't going to the restroom. Raising your hand to go to the "restroom" also, you left the class.

You sneaked into the dark auditorium room & sat down in a seat near the exit. Knowing what was about to come next, you relaxed as lights dimmed down on the large stage. Lay was in the center, alone, playing the piano.

He played slowly.
He played beautifully.
He played masterfully.
But he played painfully.

"I'm eternally lost, lost and all alone. But it's your love that leads me on," he sang full of sad feeling. It was only the end of the first chorus, but he stopped playing. Lay ran his fingers through his already tousled hair and sighed. Slamming his fingers down on the piano keys, he screamed in frustration and left the auditorium.

It was like this every week for about 2 months now. Lay would come here, and you'd follow. He would play and sing some of his song on the piano, then leave. Usually, you'd went straight back to class (and wouldn't find him there), but today you decided to follow him to where he was going.

Lay was in the courtyard, sitting on a bench alone. He stared into the sky as bittersweet memories ripped his mind apart.

~

Lay & Mi-Young holding hands while she laid her head on his soldier.
Lay playing the piano as Mi-Young closed her eyes and sang along.
Mi-Young cheering Lay on during dance practices.
Mi-Young's smile.
Mi-Young's soft embrace.
Mi-Young's fragile natural beauty.
 

Simply all of her, his beloved Mi-Young, the happiness of Zhang Yixing's life.

Then another memory. Mi-Young's accident.

Lay was just flipping through the channels when all of a sudden he heard something shocking on the news. "There's been a tragic accident on the new extreme roller coaster ride at the local amusement park. Midway upside-down in the air, the car stopped and Park Mi-Young was the victim. Having a petite figure, she had unfortunately slipped out of the car and hurt her head more severely than her body. Her family, who she came with to enjoy her time at the park today, has sued the business running & supporting the attraction for a large sum. Miss Mi-Young is now currently being hospitalized in an area near Gangnam," the newswoman spoke. Lay, not thinking twice, ran to see Mi-Young.

~

He burst through the emergency waiting room doors. "Where is she?" he said weakly. Lay saw Mi-Young's father and repeated his question. Mr. Park escorted him to his daughter's room. She laid on the bed, crippled, but still beautiful in the eyes of Lay. "I'll leave you two alone for a moment," Mr. Park said. He left and closed the door behind him.

Lay knelt beside his girlfriend. "Hey," he said softly. "How are you?" Mi-Young smiled. She didn't respond. Mi-Young moved her fingers over to a pencil and paper on her bed. She messily wrote down a message for Lay:

We can't continue to love each other this way anymore.

~

Lay didn't notice that you were holding his hand and that he was crying until you had softly whispered, "I'm here, Xing-Xing."

He turned his head to look directly at you. You stared into his eyes. Lay, the sweet & innocent Chinese "unicorn", was hurt. He could heal everyone with his presence and personality alone, but right now, he couldn't help himself. Lay opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Still holding his hand, you say, "Mi-Young thought that this was the best for the both of you. It may not be easiest way, but that's why people like your friends are here. She thought that she would hold you back."

Lay took his hand back from you. "What are you saying, _____? Just because she's ..." he started. "WAKE UP, ZHANG YIXING!" you yelled, jumping up from the bench, interrupting him. "MI-YOUNG IS PARALYZED FOR THE REST OF HER LIFE. SHE KNEW THE BEST WAY TO LOVE YOU FROM THEN ON WAS TO LET YOU GO," you continued yelling. Caught up in the heat of the moment, you slap him. For the first time in months, he seemed to snap out of his daze. Lay touched the now tender red spot on his cheek.

You looked down at your feet. "If you really love her," you said quietly. "You'd respect her decision and let her go, too."

Starting to cry a little bit, Lay stepped towards you from the bench and hugged you tightly as you cried into his chest. You felt like a hypocrite and confused. Were you saying these things just because you were trying to comfort your best friend? Were you saying these things to help Lay move on? Or were you saying these things for a selfish reason; because you were in love with your best friend, and hoped that one day you'd be the one who Lay would say "I love you" to everyday. That's right - you had a crush on Zhang Yixing. It pained you inside that he was this lost and heartbroken, especially over a girl, and was madly in love with a girl that wasn't you. But you weren't that selfish, so you had never confessed to Lay.

Lay rested his chin on your head. "You know, _____, for a girl, you slap like, really hard, you know that right?" he chuckled. You pulled away from his hug and laughed. He laughed with you. Lay's dimple, which had disappeared ever since Mi-Young's accident, was visible now. You poked it and giggled.

"_____, will you forgive me? I'm sorry for not being myself and being so hung up over Mi-Young. You're right. Maybe one day, she'll find another man whom she will think can be more patient and worthy of her, the same going for me." Lay apologized. You rolled your eyes. "It took you awhile to get that through your skull. Yeah, I forgive you, you stupid Chinese unicorn," you said, smirking. He laughed.

"Also, I'm sorry for making you cry," Lay said. You blushed. "I did NOT cry. I don't EVER cry. Crying is for sissies, like you, I guess," you teased. "Watch your words, ma'am," he warned playfully. "Or what?" you questioned.

"Or this," he replied, wiggling his eyebrows. Then, surprising you, Lay kissed you on the forehead and ran off.

You stood there, recovering from shock as you reached to touch your forehead. Did he just ...

Lay turned around. "Hey, we gotta get back to class! Slow poke," he said, grinning. You chased after him, smiling like an idiot.

Mi-Young may have left me, but please, _____, don't leave me either. Don't go.

[ A/N : Done w/ my first official one-shot ~ It was kinda weird, mianhae eh ol el . Maybe it was b/c I had literally typed this all up on my phone >.< But I feel bad though, Lay is one of my top biases & is my EXO-M bias , but I wrote a sad fanfic about him , haha . I might do a sequel , IDK . ]