A/N:

It's kinda long. Well, no, not really.

Peering out the window, Seunghyun watches the trees pitch violently against the winter winds. Summer had been unnaturally warm that year with temperatures just shy of unbearable. It was so hot that summer couldn't contain it and the heat spilled over into the next season. As a result, the leaves were scorched red and yellow and orange while the tree barks burned black in the heat. It wasn't until November that the temperature finally let up. Now, the cold winds howled down the streets to make up for being held at bay for so long.

Unfortunately for Dara, the sudden change in climate made her sick.

Fortunately for Dara, Seunghyun swears to take care of her until she gets better. He knows that when she wakes up, she'll thank him with a bright smile and say his name with that wonderful laugh in her voice. And when she does, he'll grin back and give her the biggest hug she's ever received.

"Seunghyun!"

He picked her voice out from the swelling hum of voices in the airport. Before he had the chance to look for her, she crashed into his side and encircled his waist with her arms. He looked down and blushed at the sight of her dazzling smile. His mind went blank momentarily before it rebooted and he quickly disentangled himself from her.

"Dara, please." he said half-jokingly. "This is a public area."

She laughed and his heart skipped a beat. "How was Germany?"

"It was good. Better than I thought it'd be."

"So you're definitely going back then?"

He nodded and pulled his suitcase along with him as they walked out the gates, stopping in front of a sleek black car. They both climbed in after placing the luggage in the trunk. Jiyong sat behind the wheel and Seunghyun was mildly surprised to see Bom in the front seat.

Bom smiled at him and asked, "How was your trip?"

"Good." Seunghyun responded. "It was good."

"I'm so happy you're back!" Dara exclaimed, hugging him tightly. "I missed you so much." Bom laughed at Dara's antics, eyes discreetly flickering to Jiyong who was busy adjusting the rear-view mirror.

"Er, yeah." Seunghyun chanced a peek at the driver's seat and caught the reflection of Jiyong's intense eyes boring into him in the rear-view mirror. The warning in those eyes was unmistakable. "I missed you too." he said, carefully placing an arm around Dara under the disapproving eyes of Jiyong.

Seunghyun throws another blanket over her body and tucks the corners in. "You have to stay warm, Dara." he says quietly, affectionately. "You can't get better if you don't."

He tucks her limp blonde hair behind her ears (careful or you might tug it like last time. She'll be mad if you do it again). He colors boyishly and softly whispers, "I'm going to kiss you now. I've always wanted to kiss you." His fingers gently trace her blue lips. "I just never told you because…well, I don't know why." Seunghyun laughs at himself. "But it doesn't matter, right? Now you know and I'm going to kiss you."

He looks around quickly, as if to make sure he's alone, before leaning down. Just before his lips touch hers, he adds, "And my kiss will be better than all the other kisses you've had."

"Um, maybe you should get going."

"M'kay." she agreed into his shoulder. Slowly, he detached himself from her and gave her hand one last squeeze before moving away. "Hey! Where's my goodbye kiss?"

"Er." Yunho glanced back at the house and shrugged helplessly, as if that was all there was to say. "You know."

"I can't believe you're still so worried after all this time." she said, slightly exasperated but her affection lingered in her tone. "He's completely fine with it. It's Bom you have to worry about."

"Are you sure?" he asked skeptically. "I get the feeling that he doesn't like me—"

She cut him off with a kiss, her lips melding softly with his.

"The only one you have to worry about liking you should me be," Dara assured, smiling against his lips, "no one else." Yunho hummed in agreement and drew her closer to him.

Seunghyun shut his with a heavy, aching heart. He couldn't bear to watch anymore.

Her lips are cold (because she's sick) and unmoving (because she's asleep and people don't respond to kisses in their sleep) and dry (because she hasn't had anything to drink in months), but Seunghyun still thinks that she's a great kisser. He peppers her lips with a few more kisses before pulling back with a smile on his face. Secretly, though he doesn't admit it to himself, because if he does he'll blurt it out to someone and they'll laugh at him for being a sissy, Seunghyun's hoping for that fairytale magic.

True love's first kiss will wake her up. Happily ever after. All that jazz.

"He's the one, for sure." Dara said confidently, so confidently that the words sharpened themselves on what should have been his non-existent heart.

"How would you know?" Seunghyun asked thinly.

"From his kiss," she replied, "the first time he kissed me, it felt like I suddenly woke up and everything was brighter somehow. Newer." Her eyes acquired a shine that Seunghyun had never seen before.

"I love him." she admitted so softly, so sincerely, that he had to look away. His fists clenched against his thighs.

"What if someone else made you feel that way? Then what?" he asked when he was able to look at her again.

She smiled at him. Her face was so unbearably gentle that he should've known better than to hope. "Don't you know? You only get one true love in life, Seunghyun."

He's very disappointed when Dara keeps sleeping.

"Dumb stories." he mutters sulkily.

Then he remembers that Dara should be getting as much rest as she can and wonders why he wants her to wake up so badly. His stomach twists, and for a moment, Seunghyun thinks he's coming down with the same thing Dara contracted. After all, he's been around her for months. Surely he would've caught something for always being in that room. A nagging little voice in the back of his head tells him that's impossible because you can't catch – (don't think about it, stop, stop, stop).

Seunghyun decides firmly that his stomach is acting up because he's hungry. "I'll be right back, just getting something to eat. I'm not leaving you." he promises.

She looked up at him with panic stricken eyes, her face crumpled in tears. "I don't know where he is, Seunghyun." she cried into her hands. "I can't find him anywhere. Where did he go? Where did he go?"

He gathered her into his arms and wiped her tears away, inwardly marveling at how soft her skin was. Did she always smell this nice? Seunghyun couldn't resist gently kissing the top of her head when she curled up against his chest. He wondered if she could feel his heart racing beneath her hand.

"It's alright, Dara. I'm here for you." he said soothingly, running his hands through her silk-spun hair.

Hidden a few feet away was a motionless body with a syringe sticking out of its neck.

He closes the door behind him and takes a deep breath of fresh air. Making his way down the hall, he passes by open doors that revealed empty, dust-covered rooms. There was a time when those rooms were filled with more than just cobwebs and abandoned things. Glancing into one room, he can still see Bom brushing her long hair in front of the mirror and smiling at him when she caught his reflection there. The next room was where Chaerin used to do push-ups with one arm behind her back to the latest rap-metal band.

But the memories fade as quickly as they had appeared and Seunghyun keeps walking.

He clears the staircase and turns around a corner, noting a dent in the wall he's been meaning to get fixed. He makes a mental note to call the plasters in the morning as he steps into the kitchen.

"Where have you been?"

Dara paused at the threshold of the kitchen, her good mood slipping away when she noticed the room occupied by angry people. "Um, I was out with Yunho."

"We've been trying to reach you for hours." Chaerin informed her with disappointment in her eyes.

"It was our anniversary." Dara said as she moved past her and around the counter where the boys were watching the scene unfold. She opened the fridge and put her half-eaten cake inside.

"You've been flaking on your duties lately. What's going on, Dara?" Bom demanded.

"Nothing!" Dara whirled around. "I just wanted to spend time with my boyfriend, okay? Can't I do that in peace without getting the third degree from everyone?"

"Don't tell me you're in love with him." Chaerin said distastefully.

Dara jutted her chin out defiantly. "So what if I am?"

Bom looked sharply over at Seunghyun. "Did you know about this?"

Seunghyun opened his mouth to respond, but Dara cut him off. "Leave Seunghyun out of this. It's got nothing to do with him!"

Something akin to understanding flickered across Bom's face, but it wasn't enough to curb the angry words that rushed out of . As the fight grew worse, Seunghyun stuck his head in the fridge under the pretense of getting something to eat in order to escape the other men's piercing stares.

Seunghyun tosses the half-eaten apple in the trash as he makes his way back to the room, oblivious to the cloud of fruit flies that rises from the bin. He quickly goes to check up on his patient. Careful hands anxiously ghost over her face and body, as if to make sure that she was still whole. Smiling in relief, he drops a kiss on her forehead, thrilled at how easy it is to kiss her now. "Told you I'd be back."

Glancing at the clock, he announces, "Time for your shot."

He opens a nearby cabinet and pulls out the usual batch of liquids needed for her daily injection. "I know you don't like needles, but this is the fastest way to get it in your system." Adding one last thing to the concoction (you're running low on formaldehyde, remember to restock on your next trip to Germany), he gives it a quick stir before filling the syringe. "But you know I'd never hurt you, right?"

He glances up and catches his reflection on the mirror in front of him. Surprised, he stares at his sunken features and at the large, mottled bruise covering the left side of his face. He lifts his hand to touch it.

"You in here, Seunghyun?" Seungri's voice rang out on the other side of the door.

Caught off guard, Seunghyun hardly had time to gather his wits before the door slammed open. Seungri took one step inside and immediately covered his nose with sleeves, making a gagging noise. " man, it stinks in here!"

Seunghyun hissed at him to be quiet and quickly glanced over at his patient. Miraculously, Dara didn't stir from her rest despite the racket. Sighing in relief, he whispered that he'd be right back, absentmindedly running his hand through her hair. He stood up, taking several locks of dull blonde hair with him, and pushed his brother out into the hallway so that Dara wasn't disturbed.

"Why are you here?" Seunghyun asked impatiently.

"I came to see how you're doing. Jiyong's orders." Seungri answered with a scrunched up face. "When's the last time you showered?"

"Figures you only show up when it's an assignment." Seunghyun snorts.

"I said Jiyong's orders. The company's got nothing to do with it."

His eyes narrowed into slits. "It's the same thing. Jiyong's the company's lapdog."

"I'd like to see you say that to his face."

"Maybe if he showed his face around here, you will." Seunghyun leveled his eyes with Seungri’s. "I'll ask one more time. Why are you here?"

"I came to snap you out of it." Seungri replied bluntly. "Get your stuff. You're moving back to the apartment. We even got someone to clean up your room and–"

"No." Seunghyun interrupted. "I have to stay and take care of Dara. She's still not better."

Seungri's face twisted into a grim expression. "You've taken care of her already."

"Not completely, I–"

"I’m not gonna keep entertaining these games, bro." Seungri scowled impatiently "You're coming and that's final." He hauled Seunghyun away by the arm and made it to the stairs before Seunghyun broke his hold.

"I said I’m not going!" Seunghyun hissed.

"So you're gonna spend the rest of your life in that room with a goddamn cor–"

"I told you to stop saying that!" Seunghyun found himself shouting with his hands shaking at his sides. "It’s not funny!"

"Oh yes it is," Seungri sneered, "I always thought you were hung up on her, but I never thought you'd go this far. It's a ing riot."

"You're disgusting." Seunghyun snarled, clenching his hands.

"Oh really?" Seungri goaded. "That's funny since out of the two of us, I ain't the one who smells like deat–"

Seunghyun's fist smashed into Seungri's jaw, sending him careening down the stairs. "Shut up!"

Seungri slowly straightened up and wiped the blood from his lips. Something inside of Seunghyun recognized his brother's dangerous stance and tensed up. Panic weighed him down. Everything in him was telling him to run, but Seunghyun couldn't leave Dara alone with his psychopathic brother. Seungri might end up killing her and that was not going to happen.

"I'm gonna make you regret that." Seungri promised darkly, his murderous eyes locked onto Seunghyun’s wild eyes.

Seunghyun winces as his fingers pressed down on his injury, jolting him out of his recollections. Agitated, he runs a hand through his hair. "Look at me," he half-laughs at himself, "I'm so caught up in caring for you that I forgot to take care of myself."

He turns to look at the silent figure on the bed, trying to find some solace in her. "But you know I always put you first, right?" he asks imploringly, his dark eyes unnaturally bright. "I'm looking out for your best interest. That's why with Yunho, well, he was no good for you. Not like I am."

"Here, drink up." Seunghyun said, handing Dara a mug of hot chocolate. She took it numbly but made no move to drink it. "C'mon, Dara." he coaxed. "Chaerin and Bom's finished their share already. You love hot chocolate, remember?"

Mechanically, she takes a deep gulp, barely tasting the sweet liquid, and then goes back to clutching the mug in her hands. "I don't understand." she whispered to herself. "People don't just disappear like that."

Bom placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We'll find him." she reassured. "The police are doing everything they can to find–"

Jiyong spared a glance at Seunghyun as they left and said, "Take care of Dara."

"I've always taken care of you." Seunghyun is by her side now, crouching down so that his elbows are resting on the edge of the bed. "You know why, right?" he asks with a hint of panic in his voice. "You've gotta know."

He grabs her arm and drops it quickly, shocked at how cold she is (you're not being careful, remember she's so very, very breakable).

"I met this guy during my trip abroad, did I tell you?" he asked conversationally as he held Dara by her neck in the air, cutting off her air supply. She let out a pained rasp and clawed at his hand, desperately trying to break his hold.

"He explained how the body reacts to certain compounds and stuff. Chemist, you see." Seunghyun continued, tightening his grip.

Dara tried kicking his shins, but pain crackled through her veins instead of energy and her body jerked uncontrollably.

"You should stop doing that," he advised, slamming her into the wall. “It’ll change nothing.”

His eyes were bright when they met hers, wild with a peculiar kind of excitement. "It was so nice of Yunho to volunteer for the experiment."

Dara stopped struggling, her eyes wide with shock. Her fingers dug into his wrist. "Seunghyun, where is he?"

"He had a bad reaction to it." he shrugged. "Apparently, the stuff works like a fast-acting poison. That loser stopped breathing before I even finished jotting down that discovery. Go figure."

"Why are you doing this?" she croaked weakly. She didn't understand how he had just her so quickly and so viciously. It didn't make any sense.

"It's because I like you." he whispers desperately (stay calm, stop talking, just stop right there). "I've always liked you. But I couldn't tell you because the company wouldn't have liked it, and then, then Yunho stole you from me." Before he knows it, he's reaching for her hands and the words he doesn't remember are spilling out of his mouth. "I had to get you back. Then the orders came and I couldn't say no–"

Jiyong pulled into the driveway. Dara and Bom went into their wing of the house while Seunghyun lifted his luggage out of the trunk. He avoided his brother's gaze as he rummaged through it.

"Seunghyun." Jiyong said sharply. "I hope you're not thinking about turnin-"

"Three doses of premium cantharidin, coming right up." Seunghyun cut in, pulling out a compact steel case. He held it out to Jiyong and said firmly, though his insides were shaking with nerves, "No, I'm not."

He felt Jiyong measuring him silently, and nearly sighed in relief when he took the box. "Good."

"and you didn't have to say no–"

"Seunghyun, it's me. Don't you care about me?"

Dara couldn't control her tremors when he started laughing. It made for a terrifying soundtrack as the dark blur came closer and closer.

"Of course I care." he smile sharply. "Do you care about me?"

"If you care then why are you doing this? You're my friend."

"and–"

He manages to pull her hands from under the blanket into his own, grasping them tightly. The blanket falls off to the side, revealing (don't look, don't look, DON'T LOOK) a large discoloration on her caved-in chest through her tattered shirt. Startled, he dropped her hands. Her arms flopped heavily onto the bed like dead weights.

Seunghyun pressed his body against hers so that they were touching at every point from their ankles to their chests. He groaned and resisted the urge to kiss her, instead her hair longingly with his free hand. His body reacted to hers and he pressed her even harder against the wall. Even covered in sweat and blood and fear, she still smelled like home to him. Sighing regretfully, he pressed the hot poker into her chest. It sank beneath her skin and slipped between her organs.

Dara screamed, frantically trying to pull his arm away and pull it out of her. He frowned and flexed his fingers. The poker struck her lungs, tearing the lower lobes. She coughed up blood.

"But don't you see?" he murmured against her ear while curling his hand into a fist. "We could've been so much more."

"Please, please, please don't do this, don't do it, don't do it." she begged, incoherent with fear and pain. Her face was streaked with blood dripping from and her nearly-blind eyes, and there were dark blue bruises around her neck in the shape of his hand.

Seunghyun couldn't understand how she was still so beautiful to him.

"You don't have to do this, Seunghyun. Don't–"

"Yes, I do."

He squeezed his fist against her collarbone and ruined her chest cavity.

"That's not what happened. That's not what happened. I'd never do that to you!" Seunghyun grabs the blanket and throws it over her again to cover her from the neck down.

"No, no, no. no. no." he chants, digging his fingers into his hair. "I take care of you. I always take care of you."

But all he can hear is her heart not beating and all he can see is her chest not filling with air and her pale, pale, pale skin that used to have more color and the needle that –

Seunghyun wildly snatches it and crudely, violently, shoves it deep into her arm, injecting the liquid inside. "You see?" he shouts frantically. "I'm taking care of you. I'm still taking care of you!" He rips the needle out of her arm and flings it behind him.

Stumbling back against the wall, he stares at the bed in horror. His heart pounds unsteadily and it only makes him that much more aware of her absent heartbeat. He feels sick enough to throw up. The clinical part of his brain is telling him that he needs to breathe because he is going into shock. A list of things that he can do runs through his head but the thoughts and the logic are being warped into gibberish. He fists his hair into his hands and he thinks he's going crazy, so crazy, because Dara isn't okay and he's not helping because he ki—

(Look! She's got some color back! Go look. You didn't do anything wrong or bad to her. She's fine, she's fine, she's fine.)

Seunghyun's eyes lock on her face. He stares unblinkingly at her and he thinks he's seeing things because there is no way that she is less pale than she was before. He rubs his eyes clear before looking at her face again (look, color on her cheeks!) and slowly gets to his feet to walk to her bedside.

Sure enough, there is a hint of color creeping on her skin.

Seunghyun yawned as he sat through another long lecture. It turned out that science was just as boring in a foreign country as it was in Korea. His eyes lazily glanced up at the teacher who was rapidly going through the material with enthusiasm.

"Pay attention while I explain the process." the professor instructed. "You will be using embalming fluids in our lab tomorrow and you have to be careful to use the exact amounts I tell you. First take the formaldehyde and measure…"

Seunghyun sighed and laid his head on the desk, half-listening to the instructions and half-amusing himself with how terrified Dara would be if she had to do a lab on dead bodies.

It brought a smile to his face.

His mind blanks out, all thoughts of impossibilities are gone because Dara seems to be getting better and he is so happy that he grabs her arm–

–and pulls away because she is still ice cold and her flesh is so soft, too soft, that it retains a perfect imprint of his hand.

(She's getting better, but she's not completely there yet. You still have to take care of her. Don't just stand there. She's cold, she's cold, she's cold.)

A smile slowly stretches across his face.

"You'll be better in no time, Dara. You just have to stay warm." He digs another blanket out of the closet and tucks her in. Seunghyun sits down on the chair by the window and finally allows himself to relax.

"You'll be better in no time." he repeats.

Peering out the window, Seunghyun watches the trees pitch violently against the winter winds. Summer had been unnaturally warm that year…