Tao sits on the floor by his hotel room’s TV, clad in his pajamas just about ready to retire for the night. He’s clearly trying to figure out how to set the player on, holding a disk at hand with the label “Hospital Clips” written in front in permanent black marker.

Apparently, he’s managed to get all those old video tapes converted into this single disc. It’s a less stressful way of going through all of them than renting a retro player, he thinks.

He yawns as he fiddles more with the TV buttons, half convinced that tomorrow would be a better day to keep this up. Though as if to disagree, something flashes on the screen just then and finally a clip starts playing. As the face of a very young looking version of himself appears the first few seconds of the grainy film, he decides that sleep will have to wait.

“Tao!”

The camera focuses on a young Tao, hair flying in all directions as he seems to have been woken up from his sleep. The bed he lies on is white, so are the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the table, the curtains- the entire room is enveloped in white, save for the red roses that are neatly placed in a white vase by the bedside table. Young Tao rubs his eyes sleepily before smiling and waving to the camera.

“Goodmorning” There’s a laugh that emits from behind the camera and it’s a bit high pitched and squeaky. In a word it sounds like pre-puberty. The owner of the said voice waves his hand towards the half-asleep boy who returns the gesture. “Did you sleep well?”

Young Tao nods, all smiles and bony cheeks. “How about you, Kyungsoo?”

“M’okay. I had to wake up early to see you.” The boy, who we can now identify as young Kyungsoo, speaks, walking closer to the other’s bed, the camera eventually being placed down carefully on the far edge where it sits still and gets a clear view of both kids.

The video goes on like this, it’s as simple as two children conversing. On some clips they’re playing a game, on others they’re silently working on homework.  In contrast to how Seungsoo always describes him as a boy, young Kyungsoo looks very much happy throughout these entire footages.

Although both are showing quite the optimistic personalities, the difference between Tao and Kyungsoo is still evident, Tao being the more outspoken and energetic one while Kyungsoo is the shy boy who often prefers to be behind the lens.

He would only start recording once he’s inside the hospital room, leaving for school every morning and coming back in the afternoon carrying a heap of notes and a couple of snacks (that Tao shouldn’t be eating but does so anyway).  The videos show a very monotonous pattern. It’s come, chat, leave, and repeat for every clip, with Tao’s health being the only noticeable change as the days progress. If on day 5 he still manages to get out of his bed and show off some of the wushu moves he vaguely recalls, on day 52 he’s completely bed ridden, the oxygen mask over his face hiding a bit of the weak smile he tries to pull off when Kyungsoo reads him a novel.

The recordings stop shortly after, the last few clips being mostly of Kyungsoo talking alone, a weak looking Hwang Zitao asleep in his bed, unresponsive.

Tao watches it all with a heavy heart, and when the last clip nears to an end, with the scene of a Young Kyungsoo holding out a cake and singing Happy birthday to a young Tao who is fast asleep looking extra thin and pale, he feels his eyes begin to water as tears prickle down his cheeks. Kyungsoo’s last words are etched into his mind even after the video has long stopped playing, leaving the entire room silent save for his own sniffles.

“I wish Tao stays alive. He’s my only friend and I really love him. Please don’t take him away from me.”  A younger version of the baker whispers as he blows out the candles and shuts the video camera off for the last time.

Present Tao sits in his hotel room with the back of his hand pressed against his mouth in an attempt to stop the silent whimpers that come with the stream of tears that are pouring down his cheeks. He wonders where all the good days have gone and why on earth had he been running away from them all these years.

The atmosphere in the car is as tense as it can get.

Sehun is behind the wheel, having sped past every stoplight he could the first second he felt his phone vibrate with Kyungsoo’s name flashing across the screen. He hadn’t even bothered to read the message (which had nothing more than the word ‘done’, really) till he was halfway out of the city already, retracing the familiar dirt roads that lead to the crumbling building he could see in a distance across the empty field.

He rushed out, barely noticing the patch of dandelions he steps on, the ones that weren’t there before, running inside the building only to find Kyungsoo seated with his back against a wall, Krystal seated all the way on the other side. Obviously the deed had been done, and Sehun released a long sigh of relief that nearly came out as a whimper. His bestfriend was still alive. Good god.

No words were exchanged the moment he took a few swift strides towards the baker and promptly embraced him. Kyungsoo hugged him back with as much strength as he could muster, grateful for the other’s presence. Their little bubble of privacy was popped however, when someone’s footsteps began echoing through the empty area, causing the youngest to pull back and direct a glare towards the source. Krystal was unaffected, walking past them towards the car and taking her place in the backseat.

Sehun looked to his hyung for an explanation but all he saw were weary eyes and pale lips. He decided not to drain any more life out of him, he helped him up and held his hand all the way back to the waiting car.

And now we look to the three who sit quietly in their places, one whose brows are furrowed in worry, another who looks out the window looking like death, and the last who dolls herself up in the back. Krystal sheds half of the layers of clothing she was forced to wear, leaving on what she deems a decent enough combination before fixing her hair as though she were merely waking up from slumber.

Sehun wants to ask what happened, he wants to know what had brought about this strangely…normal behavior. Certainly no one takes in the news of being resurrected as calmly as this. Right? 

But again, the youngest knows when his mouth best be kept shut. All in due time he believes. He wouldn’t really like to hear about the story from Kyungsoo when Krystal’s presence might be a big influencing factor on how the smaller would narrate it. Asking of it when they’re alone would be the ideal way to do it, Kyungsoo would tell the truth. Ever since he’s told Sehun about his secret, and everything else there was to know about him, the boy’s never uttered a single lie.  

 So now the atmosphere in the car is as tense as it can get, and none of them do anything to ease it.

For a second, Kyungsoo thought he was going to die.

A sensation had coursed through him the moment his hands came in contact with Krystal’s. His breath hitched and his chest tightened at the strange feeling, one closely akin to the impact of a punch. He swore that the tips of his fingers went cold, a chilling effect rendering all his thoughts empty and his muscles frozen. It the air out of him and had it gone on for a second longer he probably would have knocked out cold.

But then again, it didn’t, and that’s all there was of it.

It took a second and no more for his senses to come back in full function. Right on time to pick up the quiet sound of clothes rustling and a soft, croaked out, Ow, my head.

Kyungsoo’s gaze refocuses on the woman in front of him who now sits up with a palm against her forehead. Instinctively he re-equips his gloves.

Krystal is obviously in a daze, her eyes squinting at the brightness of her surroundings, taking everything in slowly as she skims her gaze around. Eventually it lands on Kyungsoo, and the said boy merely remains still, frightened of what outburst may come to be.

They stare at each other, Kyungsoo’s eyes wide and fearful while Krystal’s are full of questions. “…Kyungsoo?” she whispers unsure, and the later responds with a jolt, her voice a foreign sound after the hour and forty-five minutes he’s spent in solitude.

Just when the red-head opens to re-utter the question, Kyungsoo nods his head and Krystal’s expression turns even blanker than it already was. The baker looks just as confused, not really sure of what to say or do at this point in the supposed ‘plan’. For a control freak, it seems that he’s forgotten to think this part though.

A short while goes by with more mumbled questions and a few failed attempts to stand, Krystal’s energy yet to be recovered. She mostly just scrunches her face up in thought, the flashes of memory not really piecing together yet. She looks at Kyungsoo a few times and the poor boy could only swallow and repeatedly tell her that she’s okay and that he’d explain later.

Explain what? She would counter, although she doesn’t really wait for an answer and instead just takes one look at herself from head to toe muttering a soft ‘oh good lord what is all this I’m wearing?’.

She begins taking off the layers one by one, the winter coat, the sweater, the mittens, the scarf- one by one until all that’s left is the grey shirt she wears underneath. It’s still not the ideal day of the season to go about in a single-layer of clothing but the cold stings against her skin and for some reason it feels good, it makes her feel very much…alive, so to say.

But strangely as Kyungsoo watches more and more layers come off her, his heart doubles in speed. Holding his hands close to himself he subconsciously stands up and takes a step back, knowing all too well that once she sets eyes on the strange scar running down her arm, all that’s left of what was once a long bloody gash across her perfect porcelain skin, the trigger will be pulled, and the right memory will come to the front of her mind like a gear clicking in place. She’ll probably figure everything out from there.

Kyungsoo takes another step back, watching everything he’s just predicted come true. Krystal stares at him with wide eyes that are no longer curious, no longer lost, but are very very much in shock.

“Oh my god” She begins, voice barely audible “you…oh my god. Just like that body…you…did you?”

Krystal frantically checks her wrist once more, scratching and rubbing a thumb over her scar repeatedly as though it would come peeling off again any second, revealing the line of red she remembers drawing down with a razor. It doesn’t however, and the more she realizes this the more she begins to show signs of panic, her soft gasps turning into desperate whimpers.

“Let me explain-“ Kyungsoo tries, but the red-head shoots daggers at him with her sharp gaze and suddenly she’s standing up, staggering a bit on her feet once she tries to regain her balance but she does it none the less, hands clenched into fists, lips pursed in a thin line. She’s not happy.

“Why am I here.” Krystal begins, voice shaky and low, sounding both afraid and threatening at the same time.

“Please listen to me,” Kyungsoo has his hands held out in front of him, a signal for her not to come any closer. But despite this, she looks more than ready to charge at him. “Jongin is worried about you, he wouldn’t tell me but I can see it I can-“

“Don’t give me that bull!” The shout echoes louder than necessary across the empty and crumbling walls of the building. The baker flinches at the sudden outburst, no longer sure who it is he stands before. The once graceful ballerina adorned in her stage smiles and perfect manners now lost underneath this frazzled woman whose emotions are a whirling tornado inside of her. “Don’t you ing tell me who he’s worried about because ever since you came it’s always always been you!”

“No it’s not like that!” Kyungsoo argues, voice raising. “You don’t understand you’re his bestfriend Krys-“

“And that’s all I’ve ever been! But I don’t. Want. His friendship. I’ve had to live with it for a amount of years. Do you even understand what you took away from me?! I’ve only ever had eyes for him, I’ve only ever had eyes for him, I’ve only ever had eyes for him!!” tears are now flowing freely down her cheeks, sobs puncturing her sentences with hiccups and breaths of air.  Her gaze falls onto her arm once more, where the pinkish patch of skin displays and it’s what makes her anger rile up, fists clenching so tightly they turn red.

“I remember…” she says in a menacingly low timbre “…I remember watching everything out my window. After we talked…after Jongin and I…after that stupid night I just…sat there. Watched everything day in day out, and I remember thinking…this is life without him. Just. Nothing. Every person passing by outside, every cloud up the sky every hair on my skin…” she shakes her head solemnly “they meant nothing.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes begin to water, the raw emotions painted onto her words stabbing him straight to the heart, an overwhelming feeling of guilt, pity, and admiration for a love so strong mix together and confuse him.

“I drew a bath.” Krystal begins after a short pause wherein tears would trickle down her cheeks and drip onto the floor. “I don’t remember what I was thinking but- but I remember I felt so- so immensely sad. Heart wrenchingly miserable.” She lifts her arm and presses a finger to the very beginning of her scar, dragging it all the way down to where it ends “right here…right here I dragged a- a-“

She swallows, unable to finish, merely turning back to the baker boy who is now biting his lip in a fruitless attempt to hold back whimpers. “Why are you so hard on yourself?” He half-sobs half-whispers, barely able to finish with the last few words coming out as nothing more than a croak.

“Kyungsoo I don’t want to live, I don’t want to feel this it hurts, it hurts so much” Krystal walks forward and Kyungsoo’s panic reaches an entire new level once he realizes how deadly close they are.

“W-wait no don’t, you can’t come near me-“

“This works like that thing in the body farm right?”

“Krystal Please don’t do this you’re too close-“ His heart beats fast against his chest, more so once he feels cold cement hit his back lightly. Dead end.

“Why did you even bring me back! How could you live with yourself ing with other people’s lives like that!!”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widen, words caught in his throat as he stares back at the red head, her last sentence looped in his head. Although it didn’t quite sound the same, it came in a different voice, uttered by a different pair of lips with the same expression plastered on a different face. It takes him a while to realize that its his mother’s.

He’s jostled out of his own thoughts when a hand quickly (and rather harshly) grabs him by the shoulder. Kyungsoo instinctively evades, twisting out of the grip and sprinting towards another direction only to find Krystal quickly sprint after him. A small chase ensues, one with the baker shouting endless pleads of please don’t-s and with the ballerina simply trying to get a single touch of his skin. Kyungsoo does all he can to shield himself, the two of them looking much like children bickering. Although both of them know that’s far from the case.  

It comes to an unfortunate end when Kyungsoo trips on his own steps, falling flat against the floor with only his palms to cushion his fall. He winces at the pain but barely has enough time to get back up before Krystal is flipping his body around and sitting on his stomach, pressing him down with her weight.

He looks up at her from behind his arms and realizes…something’s not quite right. It’s her eyes, he thinks, they’re different, the way they’re wild and intense and … just a tad bit insane. She’s not stopping at anything he decides. She’s gone. Krystal’s gone.

Jongin, I’m sorry. I broke your bestfriend. I broke her, and I tried to fix her, but she’s gone.

“WAIT! WAIT I’LL MAKE A DEAL!”

Krystal is minutes away from ripping off the garments covering the boy’s arm and his pleads don’t seem to slow her down the least bit. “The- only- the only deal I’ll take- is- hey let go of me!! I said let go!!”

She screams, the loudest she’s probably ever screamed in her life, Kyungsoo’s grip on her wrists predictably not going to hold long with how much she frets. He doesn’t miss the way she shouts Jongin’s name out in between her struggled attempts to break free, he tries not to mind, he tries to gather the courage he needs to utter his next words.

“Krystal- please- listen to me-!“

“NO! LET GO!”

“YOU CAN HAVE JONGIN!!!”

A sudden pause. Almost too sudden.

“You can have jongin…” the boy repeats out of breath, catching the other’s full attention.

“Don’t lie”

“I’m not lying.”

“Well you ing have to be lying, he wouldn’t trade you for anyone!”

“I haven’t told him!”

Silence.

“I haven’t…I haven’t told him. He doesn’t know a-about what i-I can do…”

“C l e a r l y” Krystal hisses, the vivid memory of jongin denouncing their friendship after having accused her of lying still leaving a pang to her heart.

Yet another tension filled pause fills the atmosphere. Both parties watch each other warily as huffs of breath escape their lips. Krystal’s crazed eyes are trained on Kyungsoo’s imploring ones, the latter merely waiting for any sign to lay out his intended plan. The sign eventually comes in the form of Krystal snatching her wrists back from Kyungsoo’s loosened grip and standing up, allowing the smaller boy to exhale a breath of relief before doing the same. Krystal quickly holds a hand forward, centimeters away from the other’s face causing him to jolt in surprise and shield himself out of habit. But the red-head doesn’t move.

“I-I’m going to tell him. I’m going to tell him about my…my...” He swallows “Everything about it.”

Krystal quirks an eyebrow, intrigued. “How is that beneficial to me? How am I not better off dead?”

Kyungsoo furrows his brows at that, gaze dropping to the ground “There are no guarantees he’d stay. No one who hears about me ever does.”

“Liar. I bet your two little friends from the bakery-“

“Do you know how long it took for Luhan and Sehun to convince themselves I’m not a danger to be around?”

“Jongin is in love with you.” The red head repeats, although with much less conviction. Admittedly, she’s slowly being swayed, the creases on her forehead and the frown on her lips noticeably fading. Is it really possible? To go back to how things were?

“I can…I can never say he completely does… -there’s…there’s just one more….vital side of me he needs to see.”

“And if he still accepts you?”

Kyungsoo bites his lip, the tear stains on his cheeks have dried off yet his hands can’t seem to stop trembling. Krystal makes sure to keep her hand outstretched threateningly close against the only exposed patch of skin on the boy’s body, his face. She waits, thinking the offered agreement through in her head.

Say Jongin were to find the idea of Kyungsoo’s powers absurd, repulsive, just plain unacceptable, would it make things easier for the said boy to fade out from the picture?

“I’ll tell him.” Kyungsoo begins again after spending a hefty amount of time collecting his thoughts. “Everything. Even the things you don’t know. Give it 2 days to sink in and everything will depend on his acceptance. Positive means he stays with me. Negative means…means I’ll let him go. I won’t…I won’t interfere. He’s yours to console.”

“And what about me? What’s to be of my life? The one you already interfered with.”

The boy shakes his head, fresh tears tracing down over the dried streaks “Positive or negative be the outcome, we’ll have to live with the fact that you’re alive. If I have to keep my distance from you I will. Just- you can’t die. Jongin needs you, Krystal…he loves you. Don’t die.”

“You’re keeping me alive?” Krystal all but whispers, Kyungsoo nods in response, wiping his cheeks and doing his best to appear determined.

“Whatever it takes…so…

Do we have a deal?”

It’s 30 minutes past the bakery’s closing time and Jongin is still waiting outside the train station propped against his (or his sister’s…but temporarily his) black audi, worriedly glancing at the giant clock on display. He’s dressed nicely this evening in a slick black button up with the last two buttons undone, tucked into a pair of black denim jeans that have just enough rips on the knee area to look boarder line casual instead of plain formal. His hair is styled up in a way that looks natural on him, perfectly showing off his sharp features from his chiseled jaw to his defined cheek bones.  The only thing that seems to be off is the obvious crease on his forehead, slowly growing deeper each minute that ticks by with no Kyungsoo in sight.

Jongin tongues the inside of his cheek languidly, replaying the conversation they had in his head.

If you wouldn’t mind, tomorrow after work, I’d like to take you over to my place? We can meet in the train station.

He checks his phone for the nth time that night. It’s tomorrow and it’s after work, yet his inbox is still empty and his arms are still not wrapped around a small baker boy’s body.

His hand is already poised on the car’s door when he hears footsteps coming closer. Subconsciously he readies a smile, already feeling his heart pick up its pace as he turns around and-

“Krys?” His smile falters a bit.

“Hey…What are you doing out here?”

It takes a minute for the tanned boy to swallow the lump of disappointment down his throat before he snaps back to his senses and smiles genuinely at the woman in front “Should be asking you the same thing doll face...”

“Oh I just came out of the station, just…on my way back to the dorms I guess.” The red head shrugs nonchalantly, nodding her head towards the opposite direction. She looks a bit tired Jongin notes, but proper as ever, hair perfectly straightened with its color in bright contrast to the black coat thrown over her shoulders.

“I see…I- uhm well I mean we- the rest of the gang- we haven’t seen you around.”

“I haven’t been around. I just did a bit of shopping and aimless wandering. Just to clear off my head.”

“Oh that’s good then. I did some head clearing too. Visited the kids for a while.”

Krystal emits a brief chuckle “Oh the kids. I guess we both had a lot in mind then.”

“Yeah. I guess.”

The conversation ends awkwardly as their voices die down, replaced by the sound of cars beeping in the background and trains leaving the station. It’s even more awkward thinking about the fact that this is the first and only time after a while that they feel uneasy around each other. The once inseparable duo who share the same dream and passion of earning a doctorate degree and a full length dance performance are now nothing but acquaintances in a parking lot giving their casual greetings.

Jongin doesn’t want that, he terribly misses his bestfriend.

“Krys…listen…” the taller begins, rubbing the back of his neck like he always would when he’s nervous. A gesture Krystal’s memorized through the years. “About the other night...”

“It’s my fault.” Krystal’s hair falls over her eyes as she drops her gaze “I shouldn’t have said things. About myself…about Kyungsoo, you’re right I probably was just hallucinating.”  

There’s a spark of relief in Jongin’s expression once he waves a hand in the air dismissing the incident with a wrinkle of his nose and a faint smile. “It’s all in the past. Besides you reminded me of 3^h grade.”

“3^th grade?”

“Don’t remember? The cyborg?”

Krystal squints her eyes for half a second before she’s giggling to the back of her hand. “Ohmygod, was that when you came sneaking into my house in the middle of the night just to tell me that the boy who had a prosthetic leg in our class was a cyborg?”

“Hey,” Jongin chuckles “I was small and naïve, I had no ing clue wooden legs were a thing.”

The red-head continues laughing while Jongin wears a soft smile “So, are we good? Do I have my bestfriend back?” He asks, lowering his head slightly and raising his eyebrows to get a peek of her expression.

Krystal recovers from her fit of giggles and meets the latter’s gaze “We’re good. We’re very good.”

“Awesome.” And just like that the tanned boy is back to his playful grin, the one that Krystal has carved into her heart.

After a moment of just outright staring, Krystal reminds herself not to get too lost in the moment. She peers over his shoulder till her eyes land on the parked car right behind. Jongin traces her gaze. “Isn’t that your sister’s?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m supposed to return it today actually…but…” His happiness is short lived once he realizes that after all the chit chat that has ensued Kyungsoo is still a no show. Jongin furrows his brows at the sudden strange behavior, his previous expression completely wiped off and replaced with something akin to worry.

Krystal watches the way he checks his watch and phone rather calmly. Indifferent.

Jongin eases back into the conversation with a sigh “I was just about to round the bakery when you came.”

“Bakery?” Krystal blinks with mock curiosity, her wide eyes and pretty lips perfectly feigning obliviousness “Oh you mean Kyungsoo’s?”

The other gives a tight lipped smile and nods once. “I thought we were coming over to my noona’s place today but…looks like he’s not gonna show up anytime soon. I’m a bit worried, it’s not like him. He’d have at least left a text message. Unless…I didn’t say anything wrong did i?” Jongin rambles, the rest of his sentences mumbled loud enough for only himself to hear.  

Krystal watches the way he bites his lip in contemplation rather calmly. Apathetic.

“But I saw him just now.” She announces, shrugging.

The tanned boy stops, looking up to his bestfriend in slight confusion. “Where?” he asks, mind racing with thoughts, mostly of his own insecurities. Why didn’t he come? Did I say something wrong?

“Like you said, he was at the baker closing up. He didn’t seem much in a hurry.”

“Oh.” Oh no. Jongin thinks. “He must have…he must have forgotten.” His brows furrow even more, his expression crestfallen.

Krystal’s eyebrow twitches and her teeth grit just the slightest. Uninterested.

“Probably. He didn’t seem too in a hurry.”

Jongin takes a long hard glance at his phone, his grip unconsciously tightening and a frustrated breath he didn’t know he was holding escaped his lips. He looks up to the sky as he feels a slight sting on his chest, biting his lip, unsure of what to think of the situation. Should he call? Was he to remind Kyungsoo? He squints his eyes hard at the few stars above, the few that manage to twinkle despite the light glowing and eminating from the city streets. He somehow wishes that there exists a constellation out there that spelled out the answers to his questions. But wishful thinking aside, he knows that of course there are none. There are never much answers when it comes to things about Kyungsoo. 

“I should tell my sisters then.” The tanned boy comments while already typing in a text on his phone. It’s quite obvious that he’s trying hard to mask the disappointment in his voice, trying but failing terribly.

“Are you sure? They must have prepared a lot.”

“Kind of, but hey if it’s not the day it’s not the day.”

“I’m sorry Jongin.” The red-head reaches her hand out and lightly grazes her fingers over jongin’s, offering him a comforting smile. The latter returns it with a wrinkle of his nose and a shake of his head.

“Hey don’t worry. Things won’t always go as planned.”

As he lifts his hand to playfully mess the woman’s hair an idea crosses his mind. It has him deleting the text he so nearly sends to his oldest sister before stuffing his phone back into his pocket, an expectant look in his eyes as he tilts his head in contemplation.

“Say why don’t you come over?” he asks, taking Krystal by surprise.

“Me?”

“Yeah, it’s been a while since they’ve seen you and I’m sure bringing you over would brush away a bit of the disappointment they would feel if I came home alone.”

“I- I’m not sure- I mean is it okay? They’re not expecting me.”

“Of course it’s okay.” Jongin chuckles, he’s already reaching out to hold her hand, walking her to the passenger’s seat. “You’re acting as if you haven’t crashed into my home before. Besides my noonas love having you over, you’re like the third sister they wish I was.”

Krystal grins widely, her cheeks radiating with a blush at the comment that meant a lot to her. After all, it basically sounded like family approval. “Okay then.” She smiles shyly, ducking into the car and watching as Jongin quickly jogs to the driver’s seat and straps himself in. “Do I sleepover?”

“Hey why not.”

“And my clothes? I can borrow your sister’s right?”

Jongin smiles widely before throwing a wink in her direction. “As usual.”

The car pulls out of the parking lot a short moment later and soon enough they’re en route to the tanned boy’s humble home.

Meanwhile, in the Hongdae bakery, the light from a black audi shines through the store windows and quickly bathes the dim room in a flash of light. The car drives by and in no more than a second it’s gone, going unnoticed by the two boys who sit quietly inside the bakery, one with his head buried in his arms and the other with his forehead against the other’s temple, whispering words of comfort.  

It’s Kyungsoo and Sehun, the older of the two sobbing violently with his head down on the table as the youngest looks like he’s about to cry himself, trying to coax his bestfriend into at least telling him what had happened.

But the night goes by and all Sehun hears are the chocked sobs off from Kyungsoo’s lips. All Kyungsoo hears are the pleads of his maknae that he has no energy to respond to. All Jongin hears is the beautiful mingled laughs of his bestfriend and his sisters somewhere in the background, along with the slow beating of his heart that beats in sync with the one name he can’t seem to stop reciting in his head. Kyungsoo.

A/N: There's a lot of crying going on in this fic isn't there. Btw the events arent exactly arranged in order so- 

This is probably one of the worst Christmas gifts you've ever recieved HAHAHA Its getting harder and harder to squeeze out dem creative juices. When i reread it it all seemed a bit rushed pmsl i'm sorry for that. and of course here goes my staple apology: SORRY IF THIS .and i do appreciate every single person who subscribes, comments, or simply reads <3  

Anyway, it's been a while. Hello from the other side.

(But where is Luhan?)