You take the headphones off of your head and set them on the recording stand. You know you shouldn’t be messing around in here, but you can’t help it. You want to debut so bad it hurts. But you’re still a trainee.

You turn to leave, and see a somewhat tall, thin man there. Strange. You never heard the door open.

You bow, your cheeks flaming. “Joesonghamnida, sunbae.” Crap. He caught you.

He looks familiar, but you can’t think of his name. He must have been from one of SM’s older groups. You’re from the States. You didn’t really come into the Kpop scene until you were recruited about a year ago.

He smiles, and you relax. So he’s not going to get you in trouble. “Don’t worry. I like it in here, too. It holds good memories.”

You nod. “For me it’s my dreams. When I debut… it starts here.”

His dark eyes glance around the room. “Yeah. It does. So, do you want to be in a group, or go solo?”

You bite your lip, thinking. “I haven’t thought about it.”

He smiles again, a wide grin that automatically makes it look like he’s up to something. I recommend a group. That way you can have members to rely on, no matter what.”

You nod again, still feeling awkward. Why is this guy so familiar to you? It’s bothering you to no end. “Well, thank you for your advice, Sunbae,” you say, bowing again. “I’d better go.”

He shrugs, and you walk past him, to the door. After it closes behind you, you look back through the glass at him, one last time.

but he’s gone.

You walk down the hallways of the company, looking up at the manager’s collection of every promotional poster the company’s ever made. SHINee, f(x), Girls’ Generation, Zhang Liyin, EXO, and…

Suddenly you freeze, staring at the poster in front of you. It’s the man. From before. He’s grinning, along with a whole bunch of other guys. Okay, so apparently he’s from a group from SM. But why have you never seen them before?

You grab the arm of another trainee, walking by, and pull her towards you. You point at the face of the man you met earlier, asking, “do you know who this guy is?!”

She frowns. “That’s Heechul. From Super Junior.”

“Who?” you ask, giving her a weird look.

She stares at you like you’re nuts. “You don’t remember?!” she exclaims, “just a few years ago, they were the kings of Kpop, the male supergroup of SM.”

“But why have I never met them before?” you ask. “Did they go to another company or something?”

She continues staring at you incredulously. “Of course not. They died.

After much asking around at the company, you learn all of the details you can about what happened to Super Junior.

A little over a year before you arrived at SM, the group had gone to an event in the south end of Korea, and a flaw in the stage construction caused the stage to collapse around them in the middle of the performance, and the members had perished in the accident.

But not all of them. Not technically. Four members escaped their deaths. Two because they were only members of the Chinese subgroup, and two because they’d departed the group some time ago.

It took a lot of nudging to get that much information. No one ever wanted to talk about it. When you even mentioned it to any of your sunbaes, a lot of them would hold back tears and ask you to leave.

But that’s just the details. The most important thing was that you’d seen a ghost. You’d held an awkward conversation with a ghost. You’d even though a ghost was cute.

You couldn’t have been hallucinating. You didn’t even know the guy. Yet you’d seen him in perfect detail. His black hair, long enough to hang in his eyes. His dark eyes, filled with amusement. Even his milky white skin. Apparently that wasn’t a ghost thing. He really was that pale.

You’re a bit scared, not that you’d admit it. Any more than you’d admit that you saw him. When you’d come to SM to be an artist, you hadn’t exactly been expecting to see ghosts.

What if you saw him again? What if he held some kind of grudge against kids sneaking into the recording room?!

It didn’t seem that way, though. He didn’t seem like he wanted revenge or anything. He just seemed… amused. Like he knew something you didn’t.

Except for that one moment, when he’d said that the recording room held good memories for him. Right then, he’d almost looked sad. Like he was looking for something, and hadn’t found it yet. It isn’t quite enough information for you. Had anyone else seen this ghost? You haven’t heard any rumors of it, even through your year there, and you’d think that would be a constant factor of a haunted company. but there was none. Then again, there was always the no-one-wants-to-talk-about-it thing. Maybe those same people who’d seen the ghost were the same people who refused to say anything.

You just can’t know. You aren’t sure why this bothers you so much, but it does. One of the major things you learn from horror movies is to not go poking around in the supernatural things that start occurring, but you can’t help it. You need to find out why you saw Heechul’s ghost.

It bothers you all day. Even after a grueling six hours in dance practice, it never leaves your head. You saw a ghost. You saw a ghost. this isn’t a horror movie. It’s real life.

As soon as it’s over, you head straight to the only person who just might give you answers- solo artist Henry Lau.

He hadn’t always been a solo artist. He was one of the two subgroup members that was able to escape the accident.

Henry had been a very supportive sunbae for you, being a westerner and all. It had never really occurred to you that he used to be a member of a (quite large) group. Until now.

You walk into his practice room, and he looks up from the piano and smiles, tiredly. “Do you need something?”

“How close were you to your Super Junior Hyungs?” you ask him after a great deal of hesitation.

He smiles sadly, pulling his hands away from the piano keys. “Very.”

He doesn’t appear to be ready to cry, so you continue. “Do you ever still… see them? Or feel like they’re still here?”

He raises an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Before you know it, you’re telling him about seeing Heechul in the practice room, and how he’d just disappeared, and then when you’d discovered from his poster that you couldn’t have seen him, because he was dead. Then you explain your information search, and how that finally lead you to Henry.

He listens to it all, fairly quietly. When you’re finally finished, he whispers, just softly enough that you can barely catch it, “so you’ve seen them, too.”

Your mouth drops open. “So… he really is a ghost?! I’m not crazy?!”

He sticks his hands in his pockets and shakes his head. “If you are, then Zhou Mi and I are, too. We’ve both seen them. Talked to them, too.”

“But what do they want?” you ask eagerly. “There has to be a reason they stay here.”

Henry shrugs. “From what they’ve told me, they can’t leave just yet. I don’t know the exact details, since they’ve never been able to stay for long, but I know they’re all stuck in the SM building for some reason. It is a little weird, though, that you’d see Heechul.”

You shake your head. “I don’t know. I’m confused about it all.”

He looks back down at the piano keys, and for the first time you realize how different he is from the way he’d looked on the promotion posters. He’s thinner, his once-round cheeks now seeming gaunt and shadowed, and where he once had been bright and full of energy, no he just seems sad. Broken. Enough so that you have to fight the urge to hug him.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you any more,” he apologizes, still not looking at you. “That’s all I know.

~

You close the door behind yourself, exhaling. You’re not crazy.

“So you figured it out, huh?”

You jump, turning to look next to you. Leaning against the wall next to the door with his arms cross, is Heechul.

You jerk away from him, eyes wide. “Figured out what?”

“That I’m dead, stupid.”

You gulp, looking at him carefully. He doesn’t look dead. Unless abnormally large eyes is a characteristic of ghosts.

“But why me? Why can I see you?” you ask, still staring at him.

He shrugs. “Because you’re pretty. It gets a bit lonely with only a bunch of guys to talk to, so we could use a girl in our lives. Or deaths, actually.”

You can’t help but blush at his nonchalant declaration of your prettiness. “Then why do you stay here? Wouldn’t it be easier to just… leave?”

“No,” replies a voice from further down the hallway. You turn to look, and see one of the other guys from the poster. He wasn’t Chinese, so it was safe to say he was another ghost. “We can’t. Much as we’d like to, we can’t. Not until we’re together.”

“Until you’re together?” you ask, staring at the newcomer confusedly.

Heechul rolls his eyes. “Teukie-hyung is being dramatic. Two members weren’t in the group when the rest of us died. We always regretted being separated from them. We were always one team.”

“One big family,” the one Heechul had called “Teukie-hyung” replied. He must’ve been Leeteuk. The leader. You’d learned his name when you were trying to learn about the group. “We wanted to stand on stage together, just one last time. And to tell Kibum and Hankyung that we never meant them to get hurt. That we’re sorry for the way things turned out.”

“There’s just one small thing,” explains Heechul, “we don’t know where they are.”

~

So somehow you ended up involved with a whole bunch of ghosts who can’t leave the company, and for some reason they’ve decided to talk to you.

You’re the last person to finish stretching after dance practice, so everyone’s already gone by the time you’re doing your leg stretches. You look up when you switch legs, only to find a couple of guys sitting on the floor only a few meters away from you. One of them is mirroring your stretches, grinning at you, while the other is making weird faces in the mirror.

You jump, and glare at them. “You’re ghosts, too, aren’t you?!”

The one making faces in the mirror turns around and nudges his friend. “Ya, Donghae, look, it’s Heechul-hyung’s girlfriend.”

Donghae grins at you, and you blush a deep red. “I am not his girlfriend! Why do you guys keep following me?! What could I possibly do to help you?!”

Donghae’s friend frowns. “He didn’t tell you?”

“Of course not, Hyukjae. He just wants to mess with her.”

“Stop talking to each other about me when I’m right here!” you whine.

They laugh, then shrug. “Sorry,” Hyukjae apologizes. “We need your help.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re the first person who’s seen us who doesn’t know who we are.”

“And how does that help you at all?” you ask.

“We can’t leave until we can see Kibum and Hankyung again. They won’t listen to anyone from the company. We’ve tried that already. We need someone with an objective opinion. Someone who doesn’t know us or them.”

“So you want me to help you find two people who don’t even belong to the company anymore,” you summarize, unable to help your condescending tone.

Donghae and Hyukjae look at each other, then back at you. “Well… yeah.”

“But Kibum still belongs to the company,” Donghae clarifies, “he just… doesn’t really come here much.”

You glare at them, your hands on your hips. “You know what?! NO. I’m not helping you. Find someone else to do your dirty work. Everyone will think I’m talking to myself, and I can’t waste my trainee time helping ghosts!” You stomp out of the room, only to run right into Heechul, standing outside the door.

You really do run into him. The whole thing about walking right through ghosts must be a complete joke, because he feels pretty darn solid.

He has huge eyes, like a doll. And they’re looking right at you. “Please,” he pleads, the glitter of amusement gone from his gaze. “I need to see my friends. I have to. We were supposed to be a family.”

He grabs your arm, pulling your hand up and cradling it in his palms, as if he were to kiss it. You shiver. His hands are freezing. “Please?” he asks again. He kisses your hand and you shiver again, but for a completely different reason.

You can’t believe you’re being charmed by a ghost. He’s totally winning you over.

“I guess you’re all going to haunt me until I agree, anyway, aren’t you?” you concede, your voice shaking.

He shrugs, letting your hand go and grinning. “Probably.”

And with that, the prince charming is gone. Well, “princess charming” would have been more accurate. He was just so pretty.

~

You check to make sure no one’s in the hallway before you start talking. “So.. Heechul. Lee Heechul? Park Heechul?”

“Kim Heechul.”

“Ah.” You’re back to the awkwardness. “So why are you solid? Aren’t ghosts supposed to be, you know… air?”

He chuckles. “A few years being dead, and you learn to control yourself. At first, we couldn’t even pick things up.”

“And now?”

He reaches over and plucks your phone right out of your hand, with absolutely no problem.

“Ya! Give it back!” you cry, trying to grab it away from him. But he turns away, and instead of pushing him, your hands pass right through.

You yank your hands back, staring at him in amazement. “You… you really are a ghost.”

He chuckles, then sets your phone on the top of your head. “Don’t tell me that. I’m pretty well aware of it already.”

One of the secretary staff members comes careening around the hallway corner, muttering something about being late.

She runs right through Heechul, and as she passes, he dissipates, like smoke. The last things you see are his eyes, looking down at you with amusement.

~

Every single day you see their ghosts. Sometimes they appear in the middle of a crowd, and you almost, for an instant, believe that they’re real. Sometimes they’re invisible, and the only reason you know they’re there is because you can see objects floating in the air, or something will suddenly fly out of your hands. Once or twice this happens when you’re in the middle of a group of friends, and they give you really strange looks when you snatch it back.

Eleven ghosts in all. Rude maknae Kyuhyun, cute boy Sungmin, strong man Kangin, silly Shindong, dorky leader Leeteuk, super religious Siwon (who wasn’t very happy about being a ghost), childish, insecure Donghae, crybaby Eunhyuk (or Hyukjae, as he’d been called earlier), mother-like Ryeowook, fail king Yesung, and, of course, Princess Charming Heechul.

Sometimes you forget that they’re ghosts. They’re not the kind of ghosts you see in horror movies. They’re cold to the touch, but they’re really warm, lovable guys. They still seem so full of life.

It’s late at night, but you have a trainee exhibition coming up soon, and have to keep practicing until you can get your routine down perfectly. Everyone else has gone home a while ago, but you’re still there, sweat making your clothes stick to your skin as you practice your dance, over and over again.

The music ends one more time, and you collapse to the ground, your chest heaving. Someone taps you on the shoulder, and you look up to see Heechul holding out a water bottle.

“Here. If you keep practicing while you’re dehydrated, you’ll get sick.”

Gratefully, you take the water bottle from him, gulping down the cool liquid.

“You here to laugh at me?” you ask, spinning the cap back onto the bottle.

He shakes his head. “No. I was just watching. You’re a pretty good dancer. Better than I am. Add that to your good looks, and you’d be good enough to date me. Were I still alive,” he adds bitterly.

“Then why don’t we?” you ask, surprised by the words coming out of your mouth. :It must get boring, stuck in this building all day. Why don’t you go somewhere with me?”

He smiles at you, that “I know something you don’t” smile that annoys you so much. “I knew it. You’re in love with me, aren’t you?”

You blush, avoiding his eyes. “I just wanted to be nice.”

“Well, as much as I know you’d love the idea of a date with me, I can’t. I can’t leave the building. That’s the thing with being ghosts. There’s limitations.”

You glare at him. Self-centered jerk. Sorry for asking, then! You stand up, ready to stomp away in anger.

“Hey wait!” he calls, rushing after you. “I’m sorry. Take a joke.”

“That’s all you are! Jokes!” you screech, not sure why you’re so angry. But you are. “Nothing you say is serious. You ask me for help, then don’t tell me what you want me to do. You just make jokes and laugh at me. You’re DEAD, Kim Heechul! Dead! And you can’t even leave. Don’t you think about it seriously at all?!”

He grabs your hand before you can run away. You try to pull away, but his grip is pretty strong.

“I’m sorry,” he sighs, and this time it seems genuine. His smile is gone, and he won’t meet your eyes. “I’ve always been that way. Even when I was alive. I wasn’t a good dancer or singer. A lot of people called me the weak link of Super Junior. The only thing I was good at was being funny and charming. It’s the face, you know. It’s not my fault. My parents made this face.”

You glare at him, and he lets go of your hand, instead reaching up and pushing his bangs out of his eyes, a motion that looks unbearably hot. “So I hide behind it. Hasn’t been much use, though. You know, when you’re dead. Nobody really reacts to the charm.” He looks back down at you, his mouth twitching into a half-smile. “Until I met you.”

He reaches toward you, and his fingers graze the skin of your cheek, sending little shocks of cold down your spine. “I really would like to date you,” he finishes, cupping your face in his hands, “but I can’t. Because I’m dead. If nothing else, I take that seriously.”

And then he disappears, vanishing into thin air, and the only thing you have to remind you that he was there at all is the water bottle in your hand and the lingering feeling of his cold fingers on the skin of your cheek.

~

After that, you’re determined to find out how you can help them. The pain you’d seen in Heechul’s eyes was unbearable. You research the group, then the two members that had been gone for several years, even before the accident.

You decide to find Kibum, first, since at least he was still working for SM. How hard could it be?

It turns out to be much harder than you’d thought. Kibum wasn’t the most popular actor in SM, so he was hard to track down. Eventually you had to turn to the management. You knew that they’d know, you just weren’t sure how to convince them to tell you.

You bite your nails as you walk down the hallway, towards his office. What are you going to say? How do you convince him that you need to talk to Kibum?

“Just do what I say,” Heechul commands, suddenly appearing next to you.

You jump, yelling, “stop that! Don’t appear out of nowhere! You’ll scare the crap out of me!” You ignore the irony in that you were scared by a ghost. You also ignore the weird look that a passing trainee is giving you.

“Sorry,” Heechul smirks, then shrugs and continues, “just pretend you don’t know I’m there, and say what I tell you to. Even though you can’t see me. I’m with you the whole time, okay?”

You nod, and he disappears. At first you’re afraid that he left you on your own, but a cold pressure on your hand tells you that he’s still there. You squeeze it and relax a little. You feel a lot better knowing that you’re not going in alone.

You knock on the door, then enter, and you feel Heechul’s hand slip out of your grasp.

He’s still there, you remind yourself. Even though you can’t see him.

“Can I help you?” the manager asks.

“Can you tell me where I can find Kim Kibum-sunbae?” you ask, as politely as possible.

“Of SHINee? You know that already.”

“No, not Key-sunbae,” you almost snap. “Kim Kibum. The actor. He used to be a member of Super Junior.

The manager winces at the mention of Super Junior, then replies, “I might be able to tell you. But I don’t think you need to worry yourself about him. Just focus on your training.”

“Just say that you wanted to get some acting tips from him,” you hear Heechul say, “stay casual. Like you’re just curious.”

You try to find Heechul in the room, based on the source of his voice. Then you see it- there- a book floating in the air. You try to hide your smile, and focus on the task at hand.

“I just wanted to ask his advice. I haven’t really decided what kind of artist at SM I wanted to be. An actress, a solo artist, or maybe a member of a group. I thought asking Kibum-sunbae about it would be a good idea, since he’s been all three.

You hear Heechul laugh, and you grimace. He laughs again, and behind the manager you see the book float back onto the bookcase. “No, no, that was good,” you hear Heechul say. “I was surprised.”

The manager follows your gaze and looks behind himself, then shakes his head and looks back at you. “Alright. If you’re really that curious, he’s participating in a drama soon. He’ll be coming back here to confirm it. If you’d be able to meet him then…”

You nod vigorously, then bow. “Thank you very much, sir!” You begin to leave, bowing again.

Back out in the hallway, Heechul reappears, grinning at you. “Was that so hard?”

“Why can’t you do it yourself?” you ask him.

He raises an eyebrow. “If I asked him to talk to Kibum, he’d have this place exorcised or something.”

“Oh. Right.”

Suddenly he pulls you into his arms, and you feel the cold around you. Not unpleasant- more like being in a pool of water on a summer’s day. “Thank you,” he whispers, smiling, “for helping us. Even though I’m a jerk.”

You want to cry. But you can’t let him see it. You wish you had more moments like these, but you don’t. And you can’t let him see you start to wish that he could stay with you forever. Because you’re supposed to be helping him pass on. But you have to admit, you’re starting to not want to anymore.

So you take advantage of that moment, staying in his arms as long as he’ll let you.

~

“Now what do I do about Hankyung?” you ask to the multitude of guys in the practice room. Or, you should say, the multitude of ghosts. It’s past midnight, and you can finally be together without passing people giving you weird looks. Henry and Zhou Mi are there, too.

“What about shoving him in a bag and carrying him onto a boat to South Korea?” Kyuhyun suggests.

You all glare at him, and he puts his hands up, as if to fend off the lasers.

“That’s a terrible idea,” you state, no matter how obvious it is, “but at leasts it’s an idea. The hard part is that he’s in another country. I’d have to get to China, first. And even then, how am I supposed to find him? And talk to him?”

They all exchange glances, then shrug. Great, they don’t know, either.

“Well, getting to China isn’t so hard,” Zhou Mi pipes up, “Henry and I are going to and awards ceremony there. They’re asking the trainees to volunteer as travel hands.”

“They are?” Leeteuk questions, “I never heard that.”

“That’s because you were too busy haunting Girls’ Generation’s practice room!” Kangin snaps.

“I was not!”

“You guys, can we focus here?” you ask, exasperated. They snap back into the conversation, done bickering, at least for the moment. You sigh, closing your eyes. “Zhou Mi-sunbae. Henry-sunbae. Can I go with you to China?”

They shrug, then nod.

“Now I just have to know where Hankyung would be.”

“Huh? He’s going to be at the awards ceremony. With us,” Henry remarks immediately.

“WHAT?!” suddenly a water bottle gets throw at Henry, who ducks, and so the bottle instead goes right through the chest of a very surprised Ryeowook.

“Why didn’t you say that already?!” Heechul yells, jolting to his feet. His charm and humor are gone, replaced by a black rage that terrifies you. “That would have made everything easier! Why do we rely on you two?! We can’t leave this place. Don’t you realize that?! We can’t leave.”

He stomps right out of the room, not even bothering with the door, instead walking right through the wall. The lights flicker, then stay steady.

When he’s gone, the whole room is eerily quiet. You feel bad for Henry. True, he could have said that earlier, but you didn’t think he deserved that much of a reaction.

“It’s just… we were forbidden to talk to him there,” Henry mutters, looking at his feet, “so I didn’t think of it.”

Zhou Mi leans over and gives Henry a hug, while Leeteuk moves to sit next to you. “Sorry for that,” he says, “He usually isn’t like this. But when it comes to Hankyung… well, they were best friends. Heechul was very upset when Hankyung sued and left. He was pretty close to Kibum, too. He may not seem like it, but in reality… we all stay here because of Heechul. We don’t want to leave him as a ghost all by himself, but… he won’t leave until he knows that they don’t hate him.”

You stare at the spot in the wall that Heechul had disappeared through, then stand up. Seeing him so angry, you realize just how much pain he’s in. Poor Heechul, you think, Lost both of his best friends, and then his life.

Even though your heart hurts, you know what you have to do.

“then we have to go. As soon as possible.”

~

The awards have been brought out. The artists are coming backstage. After a cue from Henry, you take off, running after Hankyung. He hold two awards, and when you yell his name, he almost drops one.

Henry and Zhou Mi were forbidden to talk to him. You weren’t.

He turns around, then looks at you oddly. “You are from Korea?” he asks, with an accent that’s distinctly Chinese.

You nod. “I have to talk to you. About Super Junior.”

His friendly smile disappears. “I’m not a member of the group anymore.”

He begins to walk away, but you run after him, desperate. This is your only opportunity. If you miss it, you may never be able to help Heechul. He might be in pain forever., and you can’t even bear to think about it. “No, wait, please!” you cry, “please, don’t you feel anything? Wasn’t Heechul your best friend? Can you really just abandon him like this?!”

Hankyung looks down at you, his eyes even darker than Heechul’s. “I didn’t abandon him. He died.”

“If you could see him one last time, would you?” you ask, desperate. When he hesitates, you ask again. “Would you?!”

“You’re crazy,” he states, shaking his head.

No. You’re not letting him walk away. “Would you feel guilty if you know he was lost, because he couldn’t find you?”

He swallows, and you can see a wetness under his eyes. “I would if I could.”

You lock his gaze, praying that this works.

“You can.”

~

Everything’s ready. Hankyung came to Korea despite some serious visa battles, and Kibum is due to the company that day. Yet everything is really quiet in the recording room, where it all began. In only a few hours, it’ll all be over. It’s hard to imagine. There’s a knot in your stomach, and you can’t get it out.

You turn around, only to see a rose floating in mid-air. Even as you watch, a hand materializes around the stem, followed by the rest of Heechul. He smiles at you, and holds out the rose.

For once, his condescending demeanor is gone, and he just seems… happy.

You take the rose from him, then force a smile. “To what do I owe the honor?”

“Our first date,” he replies, then waves his hand at the recording room. “It’s not much, but I thought… if I can’t go outside, I can bring it to you.”

He pulls a rolled-up set of papers from his pocket and hands it to you. “I wrote this for you. Well, the lyrics, at least. I’m sorry I can’t sing it for you. You might get hypnotized by my y voice.”

You roll your eyes, then look at the music. “Thank you. Really, I… don’t know what to say.”

“Say you’ll watch a movie with me. That’s something people still do on dates, right?”

You force another smile, and nod. “Of course. I’d love to watch a movie with you, Heechul.” Especially when you see that somehow he’d managed to get a television in the recording room.

~

You cling to Heechul’s hand as you enter the small stage on the side of the building. It won’t be much longer, and you don’t want to let him go. But you have to.

The other members are already there, waiting. It’s weird, but they look a little less real than they used to. Like they’re fading away.

Even Heechul, you realize with a sharp pain in your chest. When you walk in, the light from the stage seems to go right through him.

He’s going to be gone soon.

The door behind you opens, and Henry enters. And he’s not alone. Hankyung and Kibum are with him, chatting like everything’s completely normal. Until they look up.

Kibum’s eyes turn huge. He rubs them, then looks again. His incredulous expression doesn’t go away.

Suddenly all of the members sweep away from you, surrounding Hankyung and Kibum so fast that you can feel the wind they make as they pass.

You stand there alone, forcing yourself, once again, to smile. They just look so happy. Like… a family. Even as confused as Hankyung and Kibum look, the fifteen of them were like one huge group of brothers. That didn’t include you.

You turn away when you see Heechul embrace Hankyung, like something he’d wanted to do for years. It’s a happy moment, but you can’t fight back the tears.

You feel a tap on your shoulder, and turn to see Heechul there. He smiles at you, even as you cry. He reaches out with his fingers and wipes the wetness off of your cheek, your tear glistening on the transparent skin of his fingertip.

“Please don’t cry,” he says, “his voice cracking, “If you cry, it’ll be hard for me to leave.”

You try even harder to choke them down, but the tears continue to flow from your eyes. Behind them, you can see as, one by one, the members close their eyes and slowly fade away, until they’re no longer there.

“Thank you,” he adds, wrapping his fingers around your hands. “For putting up with me.”

You attempt a snort through your tears. “Of course I did. I love you.”

He leans over and kisses you, his lips soft and cold against yours. The tears still flow down your cheeks, and you can’t stop. He pulls away, and you open your eyes.He’s the last one still there. And he’s so faint, you can just barely see him. “I love you, too. That’s the weird thing about dying. You can’t move on if you still feel regret, but if it’s love… you feel like you can wait. Of course, that’s granted Siwon’s right about the whole heaven thing. But I’m happy, at least, that I was able to meet you. I knew I had to leave, so I wanted to not love you. But I couldn’t. I’m sorry.”

Those are the last words you hear before he fades completely away, and you no longer feel the pressure of his hand against yours.

You drop to your knees, letting all of the tears out. You look at the four remaining members, then at the rose and the sheet music in your hands.

He’s gone. But he left parts of himself behind. His charm in the rose, his music in the song, and his heart with s.

And with you.