The festival was amazing. There were lights and music everywhere, games here and there, and food...

"Let's go!... the night is young!"- he grabbed her hand and made her enter the fair. She wasn't reluctant at all, actually she wanted him to guide her, to pull her around, she wanted to be with him.

He rocked the fair games, in an hour he had won so many stuffed animals that Hanna had no more space in her arms to hold them. Being with Hakyeon was so comfortable. There was no awkwardness, even when she had mention her heatlh problem, he seemed carefree and understanding of the situation. She felt he was forcing himself to put the matter aside, and God knows she was thankfull for his effort. At least for now. It was the first time in those months she forgot all the problems and was able to remember how it was before she met Taekwoon.

Hakyeon was so... easygoing and cheerful, like a little kid. He pointed everywhere with an amazed expression in his face. He was definetly enjoying life. Even when they have just met, she felt a connection way deeper than any she had with anyone. She was able to open herself fully and have genuin fun.

She wasn't a shy girl. But she had trouble opening up to people. Maybe she was just too old school and people found hard to emphatize with her. At least that was what HongBin said. But once she met someone she liked, they had trouble shutting her up. Hakyeon was tthe same, it was just that he had a sassy nature, so he wasn't afraid of ridicule. He over ruled her, he talked enough for her to remain silent. He was just too funny, too interesting. She wanted more and more. Hanna had never felt something like that. That kind of attraction to someone...

But she wasn't the only one. The feeling was mutual. Hakyeon had seen something in her eyes when he saw her in the elevator three days ago. It was true, he was outgoing and had no fear to speak to people he didn't know. But opening his mouth to speak to her had costed him more than usual. She had something... special.

"We need to ride the roller coaster..."- it was the first time she suggested something to do. He looked up and felt like dying form just seeing the people upside down.

"Wait... I... can't do it. I hate scary things..."

"It's just once... come on!!"- she pulled him to the roller coaster without waiting for a reply. He sreamed his lungs out, but they both had fun 

""Aren't you afraid? You should act shy... like... OPPA!! I'm afraid!!"

"I like roller coasters! Why would I try to be modest and say otherwise? I was always around guys... I have never been very... delicate?"- the roller coaster was extreme, but she loved the feeling of her guts turning upside down. It was definetly the most fu she had had since she left Seoul.

"Who are you?"- he said while laughing- "really... why do I feel like I've known you since ever?"

"Have we met in Seoul?"- for that moment they both left the formal speech. She had never dropped it so fast after meeting someone, but for some reason 

"I don't think so, I haven't been in Seoul for a long time... I'm from Changwon"

 "Ohh I'm from Busan. When I was a little girl I lost my parents and then moved to Seoul with my aunt... but for 6 beautiful years I lived without worries near the sea"

"Really? We're neighboards!"-

They conversated about everything, the food, their memories of childhood, and also absourd jokes starting flowing. He was familiar, almost like Hongbin. He even had the patience to feed her slowly, almost knowing how hard was for her to swallow. Hakyeon was warm, and carefull with her. But at the same time, she felt like it was so different from Hongbin or anyone in her life... something she hadn't felt before.

"So... what about your soulmate?"- she knew she couldn't avoid the subject anymore, afterall, they had played around till the fair started to close. They were already walking next to the river and returning to the hotel. It was past midnight and it had started snowing lightly but she wasn't as cold as before. 

"Before that... can I ask you a question?... a medical question?"

"Sure"

"Some time ago I started feeling... how to explain it?... Frozen? inside. I mean like... really cold and nothing I tried made me feel warm. It's like I'm living in a pool full of ice. I don't know why... but a doctor I saw in Hong Kong said it was about my vessels and the level being too low... but how come he is fine while I'm like this?" 

"Because... well it's probably because his vessels are full and yours are not"

"How can that be possible? I mean we... touch for the same amount of time."

"You have to tell me everything about it for me to figure it out"- she bit her lower lip. She had been thinking hard, how to explain the hole situation without making Hakyeon freak out- "You can trust me"- she didn't know why, but she knew it was true. She could trust him.

"Can we speak... in the hotel?"- Hakyeon smiled. She blushed deeply- "I mean..."- She was nervous. She had never done anything like that. She has just met the man, but now she was going with him into a hotel room.

"I know what you mean. I'll examine you"

He had notice while being with her. She had never stopped trembeling, even when she was wearing a big coat and a set of winter scarf, gloves and hat. He also noticed from the very beginning the lack of color in her cheeks and he could imagine how skinny she must be from how her coat hanged from her body.

The hotel was just a few blocks away from the fair. It took less than 10 minutes to walk there, but Hanna didn't find a subject to talk about, she was way to aware of Hakyeon's presence near her. His breath irradiated heat and became fog in the night. She admired him once again. He looked charming under the dimned lights of the farol like street lights. They reached the hotel and hopped in the elevator. She remembered their first encounter three days ago and a shy smile took her lips.

"I'm a doctor you know that?"- he tried to calm her before he passed the card to open the door. 

"About what I'm going to tell you... promise me you'll never speak about it with anyone"

"It's patient-doctor confidentiality you have nothing to worry... are you cold?"- his dark eyes run to her hands. She was shivering.

"Not as much as before. This is... normal now"- she said. He took her hand and inmediately felt the difference between their temperatures. Behind the closed door of her room he noticed how bad the situation was.

She took a look at the room. He was organized, nothing was out of the closet. It seemed like he had just arrived and hadn't unpacked anything. He opened his wardrove and took a bag out. He hanged his stethoscope aroung his neck and turned to look at her.

"I need you to take your clothes off"- she blushed- "Again... I'm a doctor, so don't worry"- She obeyed with caution. She was ashamed, to be in front of a total stranger in her underwear. But she noticed something had changed. His normal happy eyes were know focusing coldly in her body, he was another person. 

He started the examination. At first view, he knew. She was malnutritioned. He took her temperature and as he expected, it was below normal for a few degrees. Her eyes were yellowish and her pupils were dilated. Her pressure was low and had developed sores. He hadn't seen something like that happening to such a young girl. It brought terrible memories to his mind.

"This is going to hurt, but I have to determine the state of your vessels. Did the doctor in Hong Kong do this?"

"No"- he had a big needle in his hand, it was connected to a electronic devise.

"I need you to lay on your left side"- she layed in the bed. He knew that exam was very painful, so he grabbed her hand and looked in her eyes to make her calm down. It was the first time he had hold her hand.- "It's going to be ok"- she nodded- "Breath in"- he said pushing the large needle in her right side. She moaned painfuly at the sudden intrusion. It was not just a little painfull, she felt like she'd die from it. She grabbed his arms to make him stop, but he was stronger- "I'm sorry... We need to do this"- she was at the verge of tears- "It's going to take a while..."- he stopped pushing the needle in and inmediately got up to get ready the next equipment he needed- "You remind me of my mom. She was strong too. When I was young her dream was for me to be a doctor, but she died suddenly, and not longer later, my dad did too"- she tried to get up and see his eyes, but the pain of the needle inside her vessels made her stay still- "I was 16... but they made sure I had everything, so I didn't suffer much"- he returned to her side. And then she saw it in his eyes. He did suffer, the lost of his parents were a great scar in him- "After I graduated school, I came here to study. Mom's dream became mine after a while, and I became a doctor... I hate seeing people suffering, so I became a doctor to cure the disseases"- Her body rejected completely the intrution of the needle, the naussia was making her lose conciousness. But Hakyeon's story, well she wanted to know... or maybe it was more like she needed to know- "... Good job, you are doing well."- he said and then patted her shoulder when the needle finished the recognition. He read the results and sighed- "What's really going on? This kind of... state is not something you can get to in a few days..."

"He...the person in my drawings... is my soulmate"- she started narrating after putting her clothes back on- "To make it short...ahh please don't think of this weardly... it just happened like this"- she was really nervous, because she knew he would be surprised by the truth- "He is in love with other person... and I thought it was better to be alive than to die. So we made a contract in wich we can hold hands for a few minutes a day... you know, just enought to keep us alive, to refill our vessels. He's a singer and I'm accompanying him on his tour... and after this we'll be back to Seoul so I can finish my studies... well that was the original plan but... I started noticing that my body is reacting differently than his. He is fine but I..."- he sighed. Not even in his wildest dreams he could've imagine that kind of story would actually happen. 

"How long has it been? Since you met him and since you started having the pain"

"Since I met him... a month and some weeks. Since the pain started... about two weeks already"- she started playing with her fingers and looking down. She was ashamed and something in his tone of voice made her nervous for the first time.

"Did something happened that day? The day you started feeling pain?"- he tried not to push her too much, but he needed to know in order to understand the situation fully.

"I saw... them kissing"- she blushed- "It started that day. Normally I'm not near them when they are together, but that day... it just happened"

"You... love him?"- she avoided him, but he moved to meet her eyes- "I need to know to tell you what's wrong"- she had asked the same question during the time she had started suffering the pains. The vivid image of him smiling and singing angelicly came to her.

"...yes"- she was trying to deny it, to herself and to the world, but she knew she had already fallen for him. He sighed again.

"Then that's it... Even if you don't touch him he'll be alright. Your vessels refill... how to explain it? Human vessels, they fill with... love. Love it's a wave, our vessels... they transform those waves into matter, particles. And that's what make our organisms function. Skinship it's only a form to demostrate love, to pass those waves from body to body, it's not the only way of refilling your vessels. If you really love him, his vessels will be full always, even if you don't touch him"- she noticed he lost his bright smile. He was... hurted- "The real problem is... he doesn't love you. So even if he holds your hand all day long, your vessels won't refill, ever. I can't believe this is happening... like... you can't treat this matter as a contract you know? This is a serious matter. This could kill you. Oh My God... This is worse than I thought"- he massaged his temples- "I really think he should know... this is already a death sentence."

"Please... I... don't want him to know. You said you didn't have to tell him what I didn't want him to know".

"You don't want him to know you love him?"

"I don't want... and that... about the death sentence..."

"Why?!"

"It's complicated"

"Do you wanna kill yourself?! Look at yourself! And it's only going to be worse day by day. I can't understand how can he love someone else... doesn't he feel it?... When you find your soulmate is not only a matter of activating your vessels... it's not just biology. You are destined to love that person, to care about the person... How can he not love you?"- he couldn't understand and that made him frustrated. Even if he had just met her, he was a doctor. How could he ignore her state? In all his studies he had never seen a situation like that. 

"I..."

"Look... this problem it's not only yours. If you die... he will die eventually too. You are one soul, one life. People seem not to understand fully, but this nature of ours... it can be a wonderfull miracle and also a terrible curse."- he made a short pause to look at her. She was trying to process everything that he was telling her, but it was like she couldn't. She didn't realize the depht of the hell she was putting herself into.

"It's because I love him... I..."- the tears she had been holding started flowing silently- "want him to be happy. If he knows... I will die... even if he knows, it won't change much"- he felt a shiver through his hole body.- "You haven't seen him with her. His eyes... he melts when he is with her. He cares so much, he's always watching her... He smiles, he sings, he lives for her... It's not a matter of if he can live without her. It's the matter of dying slowly without her. He'd prefer a painful slowly death to a life without her..."

"You don't understand!"- he took her by her shoulders and shook her violently. She tried to scape his grip but ended up in the floor. He breath heavily and sat again- "This is... how my father died."- he hadn't told the story, to anyone. When he was young, he had to see how agonizing the pain was. The trauma was what made him study medicine- "He died because my mother had an accident. She passed away... he had no way of refilling his vessels... and that was it. It's a cruel lonely death. Why would you go through this alone? At least appa had omma for a long time, but you..."- Hanna could see his wound wide open. She understood the loneliness he must have felt, the sadness and the painfull life he had lived. 

"You... are the one that doesn't understand"- she said- "It's because you haven't found your soulmate... when you do... you'll know"- he remembered his fathers lasts words. They were the exact same. He was angry, at her, at his father- "I wasn't sure at the beginning, but this month... even if I haven't been with him for long. I would rather sacrifice myself than see him unhappy. Happiness has different meanings for everyone. And I... can be happy as long as he is."

"This is what you think?"- he got up but she hold his wrist- "I can't get you... You are so selfish!!... he'll die too"

"At least I can be this selfish... But as long as I'm here, I want him happy."- Hakyeon's head hurted. He couldn't believe she was saying that so nonchalantly. What kind of person was she? He couldn't figure it out. 

"It's going to be painfull, so much more than it is now. Your temperature will keep dropping. Your stomach won't be able to hold anything, so you'll have to start taking intravenous nutrients to keep you alive. After a while your kidneys will fail and you'll need dialysis. In some months your vessels will get atrophieded and then your heart will stop"- she started trembling and sweating cold.

" I can... take it"

"You can't... the pain. It's inimaginable..."- he didn't know what to do. He knew he couldn't tell anyone, nor even her soulmate, But seeing someone die, like his father did was just too terrible for him. But he also could see in Hanna's eyes, the determination. Neither him nor no one could ever convince her otherwise. He sat next to her again. She hadn't stopped sobbing and crying, but she hadn't realeased his wrist either.

"I don't know why did I tell you this... I shouldn't have..."- She knew her story was unbelievable. After the visit of the doctor in Hong Kong, she could figure most of her situation alone. But Hakyeon's explanation made her even more sure of what she had to do. Hakyeon was stupefied. The hole situation was ridiculous, how can she even think about going to that much pain... she was already on it- "I.."

"You... want to die?"

"No"

"Then..."

"As you said... you are destined to love that person. Your soulmate... when you met her. Nothing else will matter anymore. I... was reluctant to accept it but... to protect him I will do everything. Everything"- his heart broke. Her eyes were sad and painful to look at, but he knew, nothing he would said or do would change her mind. He knew because his father was like that to. Hakyeon's dad prefered death over living a life without his wife, above his son.

" I can't bear it"- he threw himself on the bed- "I can't believe I'm living his all over..."- the silence took over. She remainded sitting in the floor, sobbing silently. The sudden realization of her own feelings had let her numb, she dodn't feel her legs or hands. She could see every single Taekwoon drawing she had made. She could see them, in all his facets. She rembered the caffe talks and the time she had to be alone with him, she could even recall every single gaze they shared.

In the other side of the picture, Hakyeon was just inmersed in his thoughts. The tortuous memories of his father in the bed of a hospital... to pale to recognize. He was turning pale too.

"I'm sorry"- she said noticing his demeanor change- "I just met you... and I reminded you something so terrible. This... you can just forget about it..."

"I've been developing something... it's a serum. It's in the test stage"- he interrupted. He didn't know why he was saying something so rudhedly, but he couldn't bear the possibility of her walking out of his room, walking way from his life... and then a painful death in a close future- "The serum... stops the advance of degenerative states of the deprived filling body"- she looked confused- "It can stop your body for shutting down when you're soulmate dies... or in your case, doesn't love you...- her eyes lit. That was the work of his live. He had been working on it since his parents died- "But I haven't test it on humans yet..."

"So he doesn't have to die... if he takes the serum?"- She grabbed his hands while standing, her eyes had a new sparkle on them. Hakyeon once again was taken aback.

"I'm talking about you. Geez... Really..."- Hakyeon could only look at her. She was so small in stature, her kind of colored skin and big honey eyes. Her long wavy chocolate hair and fair full lips. She had long fingers and a mole in the middle of her right wrist. She looked delicate, but she was so strong- "I can't promise anything but... I've been working on it for a long time, maybe a miracle..."- she was bewildered and couldn't hold her happiness. She threw herself in his arms and they both fell in the bed- "Was it destiny? That we met today? Who are you?"