Jongdae was humming to the same song that he had sung to Xiumin happily. He was lazing on bed, a Braille written book was in his grasp. He’s just too absurd in reading or day-dreaming about yesterday event, until he didn’t notice that Yixing was standing beside him.

“Master Jongdae?” he called softly. Jongdae flinched, “Oh my, Xiumin!” he then shut his mouth and nervously chewing on his bottom lip. Yixing stifled a laugh. “Master, I thought that my name is Yixing? I can’t recall I change my name before?”

Jongdae hit his head with the book. “Um… I mean… it’s Yixing! Y-yes… urm… you know? Xiumin is a- a character!” he gulped nervously. “Y-yes! It’s one of the characters in this book.

He’s so bad in lying. Yixing playfully grin and reach out for the book. “Really Master? I can’t remember there’s any XIUMIN in Romeo and Juliet?”

Damn it! I’m so screwed!!! Jongdae awkwardly scratched his head, “Well, my bad then. I trailed it wrongly.” The butler softly smiles towards Jongdae. “OK, then. I’m here just to remember you about today’s class. I’ll come back in 30 minutes.” “Thank you, Yixing!”

“Pheuw… that’s pretty close!” suddenly the door was pushed again and Yixing yelled, “One more, Master. You’re blushing REAL HARD right now. Hahaha!” automatically said boy brought his hands up to his cheeks. “Curse you, Zhang Yixing!!!”

That evening, Xiumin arrived earlier than Jongdae. He was already inside the practice room. That’s when Sehun came in and said, “Master Xiumin, I’m sorry. But it looks like, class needs to be cancelled today,” Xiumin brows hooked up, “What’s wrong?”

“Master Luhan got few things to be done. So he calls it a day. Now excuse me, I’m going to call Master Jong-“ “SEHUN!” the tall male nodded, “Yes, Master Xiumin?”

Xiumin squirmed in his seat. “Um… can you just, let me and Jongdae stay here for a bit? Can you?” Sehun deeply frown, thinking hard about Xiumin’s wish. “Please, Sehun. Don’t worry, if we got caught by Luhan sonsaeng, I’ll take the full blame!” by now he straightens his palm. Just like reading a vow. The butler can’t say anything, “Well, if you’re THAT determined, what can I say. Enjoy your time!” with that he left.

The squishy guy was jumping around in happiness. “Finally!” At the same time, Jongdae arrived. Xiumin could clearly saw him through the window. He grinned and walks outside. Ready to launches his mission.

“Jongdae~” he cooed sweetly. Called guy, flinched. “Xiumin! Don’t just popped up around people and called them like that! You’re giving me heart attack!” Xiumin laughed, “Don’t worry you, princess. I’ll bring you to the hospital.” A slap found its way on his shoulder. “Ouch! Jongdae, that’s hurts!” Jongdae grins evilly, “Serves you right. Anyways Xiumin, shouldn’t you be inside the practice room with Luhan sonsaeng right now?”

“Luhan is not here. Sehun told me that he had something to attend too,”

“Then what are we doing here? I’ll ask Sehun to call my driver,” he stood up but Xiumin was faster to stop him. He fathoms his arms in front of Jongdae. “Xiumin… what’s wrong? Are you… blocking me, right now?”

The other one hesitated a bit. “I guess so. Can you stay here? Please? Until our class period ended,”

“You’re serious? What will Luhan sonsaeng says if he sees us here? Or what even Sehun will says?” the blind one snapped.

Xiumin pouted irritatedly, “I’ve asked for Sehun’s permission already. Please? Just for this evening!”

Jongdae sighed, “Alright…” he mumbled. “Oh yes!” Xiumin is literally jumping and pumping his fist in the mid air. “Thank you, Jongdae-ah~

Now, let’s put this bag down here first.” He helped Jongdae sliding off his bag pack and settled them on the wooden chair. “I actually have this place to show you. I’ll lead the way. Come!” Jongdae didn’t protest and tailed along. He can’t catch up with Xiumin’s long and confident strides. He was about to stumble for a few times. But the other guy doesn’t seem to notice that. He just kept ushering Jongdae to follow him. That really pisses Jongdae off.

“Xiumin! Where are we going actually?” I never thought that Luhan sonsaeng’s bungalow would be so big!

“Be patient, Jongdae. We’re almost there actually. Just I need to confirm something…” his voice trailed off as he neared his body and face towards the brick wall. From the other side of wall, he slightly peeked to the gate direction. “Jongdae, hurry! Hurry up!”

On the other side, Jongdae was totally lost! He had never reached this part of Luhan’s house and yet, Xiumin kept on telling him to hurry up and stuffs. He staggered and tried to balance himself by holding on to the wall on his left side. His breath his quit unstable from the constant staggering and worrying about being separated by Xiumin and got lost.

“Jongdae, come on!” Xiumin whined. “W-wait up!” He hissed back in annoyance. “Aish! You’re just too slow. Come!” Xiumin heaved his hand slowly. Jongdae shot his face up. Looks like the same sparks of electric had jolted back through his skin and spine. Suddenly, his face felt hot and his heart rate was definitely not normal.

Xiumin was not that different either. He didn’t know what courage he had till he could brought himself to hold Jongdae’s hand. “H-here, I’ll lead the way…” They moved few steps further and stops. “Are we there, yet?”

“Yes. Sit down. There’s a wooden bench here,” Jongdae sat on obediently. There was a long comfortable silence engulfed the pairs. But none of them seems to be affected. The rustling wind, birds chirping at each other and the cold late evening autumn breeze had distracted them.

“Xiumin…” the blind one whispered. “What is it?”

“Where are we?”

“Hm…” the other one paused, “What will you think if I tell you, we’re in heaven?”

Silence… the breeze swirled much stronger than before. Pushing down few strands of Jongdae’s fringes and covered his forehead. Xiumin can’t stop his hands from pushing those strands of hairs away. Revealing pair of breath-taking, rich brown eyes. “Beautiful…” he subconsciously murmured.

“Excuse me? Did you say something?” Xiumin stammered, “N-no. Nothing! I said that you’re um… eyes! Y-yes, your eyes.”

Jongdae scrunched his brows together, “What’s wrong with my eyes?” The other guy hesitated a bit. But said it nonetheless, “They’re beautiful!”

He laughed. Jongdae laughed his whole heart out. “Xiumin, even though they were beautiful, they were… useless, you know? Sometimes I wished what you said earlier was true.” Xiumin was caught red-handed. “What did I said?”

“About we’re being in heaven. How I wish, Xiumin. I wish…”

Xiumin bit his lips. “But, may I know why?”

“Why what?”

“Why you would want to be in heaven?”

The blind smiled. This time, Xiumin noticed that his smile didn’t reach up till his eyes. It’s just the same smile that, he, himself had been displaying; the sad smile.  “You know, I’m not a blind person back then?” Xiumin shook his head and Jongdae took the silence as a cue to continue.

16 YEARS BACK THEN

“Jongdae~!!! Come here honey!” the 7 year-old Kim Jongdae flew down from the stairs and ran straight into his mother’s embrace. “Tonight is your school play, right?” He nodded ecstatically, eyes shone in excitement. “And remember when we said that we had a conference tonight and can’t go with you?” he also nod, but much slower this time. Jongdae had totally forgotten about that. He’s too engrossed in hoping for that his parents would see him acting. It’s a musical, and he knew how much his mother loves him voice.

Every Christmas Eve, they both would spend hours in front of the big antique piano to sing thousands of carols songs that they knew. Sometimes, his father would join too. Just to sing some deep notes together.

“Jongdae, we’re both deeply sorry that we couldn’t make it. We promise to celebrate this, when we get back, ok son?” his father butted in.

Jongdae plastered a fake smile. “Sure. I’ll wait for both of you.” Mrs. Kim can’t help but to choke back her glad tears. “I’m so happy that our son is so, grown up now. We want you to know that we were both so blessed to have you as our son.”

Then, Yixing came, “Master, the car’s here.” Mr. Kim nodded, “Thanks Yixing.” He turned back to Jongdae and kissed his forehead, “Be a good boy and never fail to make me proud, son!” Mrs. Kim too kissed her son’s cheeks and forehead. “See you soon, Jongdae.”

Being a clueless boy he is, Jongdae can’t fight back those weird tingling feeling, deep inside his heart. “What is this heavy feeling, after all?” he mumbled as he watched the black porche’ disappeared from his sight.

That night, after Jongdae’s play finished. Yixing went to pick him up. It was down pouring heavily that night. Everything was pretty blurry and the road was slippery. “Yixing… have mom and dad arrived yet?”

Yixing shook his head slowly. “Sorry, Young Master. Still no contact from them. I guess they would finish pretty late tonight.” As Yixing was about to turn the steering towards the left, a bright headlights came from the very same lane. The lights shot up straight through the windshield startling Yixing who can’t control the car anymore.

Loud screech could be heard as the car halted and collided with a big tree. Yixing was saved from the impact, thanks to the air bag. “M-master Jongdae…” he turned. He was greeted by the sight of, bloodied Jongdae. “Y-young master, wake up! Master!” he shook the limp body. No response. Panic rose in his heart. He shoved out his phone and contacted the 911.

The very next morning, the whole hospital was up roared by the news of; Pair of Multimillionaire Died in an Accident. Also, their only son lost his eye sight in a different accident.

That was no other than, Kim Jongdae.

“And that’s it. How everything start. How I need to change, from my normal life, to… this kind of state.” Xiumin sniffed. He can’t imagine how wrecked up would he be, if he’s in the same shoes as Jongdae. Losing two important people in a blink of eyes and announced to be blind all so suddenly. This was not a joke!

“I-I’m sorry… I didn’t meant to brought up your past.” He sniffed again. Jongdae cracked a small smile and brought his hands to cup Xiumin’s face. Xiumin was shocked but he loves it. Jongdae’s palm were soft and warm, he leaned in to the touch.

That’s why sometimes, I thought. Why do I still breathing? Wouldn’t it be better if I died on that night? He finished rest of the sentence in his mind.

Jongdae slowly, wiped the traces of tears away. He then guides his finger from Xiumin’s eyes, down to his nose bridge, to his cheeks until he reached the lips. Xiumin was smiling, and Jongdae traced the outer line of his lips. “You’re smiling?” he asked.

“Yes, I am.”

“I had always wanted to see your face. But it’s good too, knowing the fact that you’re smiling. And I could detect them by tracing your face.”

“But…” Xiumin cut him and direct Jongdae’s hand towards his chest. He placed them right on top his beating heart. “It would be good, if you could always rest your hands here. They brought magic as your face. They made my heart rate insane you know. From the first time I saw you, I thought I would got a heart-attack. And now, having your hands here, I doubt if I could breathe anymore.”

 “Wow, you’re not joking about this,” Jongdae interjected. Just in seconds, Xiumin could feel the beat was going faster and he knew what will happen next. THUMP! “Ungghhh!!!” he fought back a moan. The other guy noticed something was off, “Xiumin? You’re alright? Are you in pain or what?”

“N-nothing,” he pressed Jongdae’s palm deeper onto his chest. “Just please, stay. I don’t know when I could feel this kind of touches again. Stay for me, Jongdae. Just for a few more moments. I begged you…”

Jongdae hate what he was feeling right now. It’s feels like déjà vu. Reminiscence from the past was flashing in his mind. 

While clutching dearly onto Jongdae’s hand, Xiumin took out his medicine. Debating either he should eat it or just throw it away. Since Doctor Wu had said himself, that Xiumin’s lifeline is way too thin right now. He accidentally eavesdropped about what Suho and Doctor Wu had discussed few days ago.

“Xiumin, are you sure you’re alright? It doesn’t seem like your heart rate is going any slower.” Jongdae hardly tried to not show how scared he was right now.

Suddenly, “Young Master Xiumin, I’m sorry. But I guess your class should be finish by now. Shall we leave now, Master?”

Xiumin shot up from the wooden bench and covered Jongdae with his body. “W-what are you doing here, Tablo? My class should be ended in 1 hour!” Tablo snickered by Xiumin’s action. “I’m sorry Young Master, but I was structured to bring you back home, NOW…” he snarled darkly at the last remark.

Even Jongdae could sense the tense atmosphere they both having right now. He felt frayed. “Xiumin…” he called softly. “J-just go. We don’t want to create any commotion here, right?” Xiumin turned towards him and held his hand tightly.

“No. I’m not leaving. That guy right there doesn’t have any power to make me go with him. I have my own life and I’ll live it my way, as long as I can!”

Tablo shrugged, “If you said so. I’ll need to use the hard way.” He took few demanding steps towards Xiumin and harshly pulled him by his shoulder. The Young Master winged out his arms to protect Jongdae who had no idea what scene was playing right in front him.

“Let me go, Tablo! You’re going to regret this!” Tablo smirked, “It’s an order, Master. You need to leave, NOW!” with that, he tugged extra hard and Xiumin was yanked to the front. Knocking Jongdae along with him, the blind guy fell onto the grass.

“Xiumin?! Xiumin?!”

Xiumin wriggled his body from Tablo’s grasp. But to no avail, he’s way too weak. Plus, his chest was still aching. Jongdae on the other hand, spotted Xiumin’s medicine bottle. He held it tightly as if he’s clutching onto Xiumin’s.

 “Jongdae, wait for me will you? I’ll come back to… umff umff! ” Tablo covered his mouth. Jongdae reached out his arms around, “Xiumin? What happen? Xiumin…” but the only thing he heard was muffled voice and faint footsteps that soon had faded and a loud screech of tires.

He sat there on the ground, not moving. Everything was calm once again. He held his palm, Xiumin’s warmth and heart beat still lingered. Something dropped on his head. He faced the sky, and yet another drop fell onto his face. It’s raining. He thought.

The next thing that Jongdae knew was he’s sobbing in Yixing’s arm, inside his room and wet from head to toe.

It’s been two weeks. Two weeks that Jongdae had locked up himself in his room. Two weeks of playing the same song over and over again, till his fingers ached. Those two weeks, he bawls his eyes out, and lulled himself to sleep by chanting Xiumin’s name.

“Master Jongdae,” Yixing softly called. jongdae didn’t respond. He continued to stare at the wall while clutching on Xiumin’s medicine. “I got a call from Sir Luhan. He said that he wants you to attend his class today. Would you go or not?”

Jongdae shrugged, “Is there any point of going anymore?” he brought the medicine slowly to his chest. “He’s not there anymore…” and just like that, stream of fresh tears cascade down, again. Yixing just can’t bare the scene. He went beside Jongdae and pulled him into a hug.

“Master, you need to be strong. I’m sure he doesn’t want you to be sad like this. He’ll definitely hate it to see you crying and locking yourself like this,”

“You think so…” Yixing nodded reassuringly. “I’m sure master. Now boost your energy will you?” Jongdae shrugged, “Guess I can’t help it. Or you’re not going to stop pestering me.” The butler chuckled, “Very good then, Master. I’ll be back in an hour. Take your time.”

After the door was closed, Jongdae sighed deeply. “Do you… even remember about me?”

“Xiumin-sshi, are you sure about this? I know that leukemia is not going to infect that part of your body. But you’re really determined about this?”

                Xiumin nod. “I’m not joking this time, Doc. Just please, inform the receiver and just address me as some anonymous guy. Don’t ever tell them that it was me.”

                Doctor Wu smiled, “If you said so. But may I know the main reason about this?” Xiumin let his gaze fell onto his chest. “Its love…” he mumbled out. But it was loud enough for Doctor Wu to hear. The elder guy grinned.

Such a big sacrifice. For a big thing; Love.

“Luhan sonsaeng,” the teacher turned, “Yes, Jongdae?” Jongdae twirled his fingers nervously. “Sir, um… c-can I stay in here for a little longer? I’ll call Sehun once I finished. I promise!” Sensing the hope and desperation in his student’s voice Luhan nodded. “Sure. Take your time.” And he left.

The blind sat on the stool. The memory of him meeting Xiumin for the first time, flooded back. The feeling when he sense Xiumin’s scent and warmth for the very first time. And how Xiumin guided his fingers on the piano keys one-by-bone. He missed that.

His trail of fantasy was cut through when the door creaked open. He heard footsteps coming closer to him. The stranger sat beside him. Jongdae knew him! “Xiumin…” barely he whispers.

The other guy didn’t say anything. He started to glide his fingers. Jongdae closed his eyes and cracked a happy smile. Xiumin’s warmth is comforting him. He leaned closer. He hummed to the lyrics. Jongdae felt at ease. No, both of them. Both of them were at ease.

Especially for Xiumin. To be able to see Jongdae, although no words were exchanged between them, he was satisfied.  He stared at Jongdae lovingly, fingers still dancing around the keys. He tried to remember all Jongdae’s perfect features. He wants to plant them deep in his heart and mind.

His heart beats faster. The pounding pain was making their way. Xiumin felt his vision blurred. He can’t longer stay conscious. Suddenly, BAM! He collapses. Jongdae flinched. He reached out for Xiumin’s shoulder.

“Xiumin?! Xiumin?! Xiumin, what happen?!!” he sobbed. “No, Xiumin. Wake up! Wake up! You c-can’t leave me…” and more sobbing echoed.

“Master Xiumin?” Jongdae shot his head up. “Sehun? Is that you? Please, Sehun. Help Xiumin. I-  I don’t know what happen. H-he just suddenly collapses. H-help him…” Jongdae don’t care how pathetic he sounds right now. He just wants Xiumin to be saved.

“Master Jongdae, relaxed. I’ll help him. And I guess you should go home for now. I’ve called your driver he should be here soon.” Jongdae nodded slowly.

Jongdae could feel that Sehun was scooping up Xiumin’s body. Just by the thoughts of Sehun carrying Xiumin away, he can’t stop the tears. Luhan who had viewed all the scenes got into the room. He sat beside Jongdae. The crying guy doesn’t seem to notice his presence.

Luhan let his fingers moved by their own. He was resuming Jongdae’s unfinished piece. He felt himself melted into the feeling. The pain, the tears. He himself had gone through all of that. He felt bad for both Jongdae and Xiumin.

After few moments, Jongdae managed to control his sobs. Tears were still there. His heart softens when he heard the song. Although he knew that it wasn’t Xiumin sitting beside him. But he felt good, that he still got to be with Xiumin. Even for a brief seconds. He was healed…

A/N- damn! this thing is finally FINISHEDDD.. but it's kinda rushed.. well, i'm going to hostel soon. so i really need to post this thing. or, those feelings would just haunt my down! -_- *bricked* anyways... thank you thank you thank you.. to tohose who reads, subscribe, upvote etc... i love you guys freaking much!! -throws EXO for you!- LOL.  guys, i also want to know what you think about this... if there's any question, post it on the comment box. once i get back from hoste, i'm definetly goin to edit this shiet! OK? bye~!!! <3