~*~

Chapter IX

"Wherever you might be..." 

6월 10일

Woohyun stood in front of the mirror in his room, tying his tie.  He smoothed down the jacket and checked his reflection one last time.

His phone buzzed and he checked the text message.  It was from Kibum.  Woohyun let out a quiet sigh of relief, he needed some comfort from his friend.

Kibum:  I heard the news.  I’m so sorry, Hyunie.  I’ll be there for his funeral.  Do you need anything?

Woohyun furiously wipped away a few tears again, not wanting to show his weakness, even though he knew that Kibum couldn’t see his tears.  Even if he couldn’t see him, Woohyun knew that Kibum knew that he was crying anyways.  He quickly replied, telling his friend that he was okay and that he might not reply for a little while.  As he straightened out his suit once more, Kibum replied again.

All of us of Shinee are going to be here for you and Infinite.  Let us know if you need anything.  Remember that he’s in a better place now.  It’s better for him now, isn’t it?

Woohyun smiled thankfully before tucking his phone into his pocket. Maybe it was true that Myungsoo was in a better place, but he didn’t want to believe that, he wanted to know that the only place for Myungsoo was there beside them on earth.  His heart spoke the truth to him, gently telling him that Myungsoo was better without the pain and away from them.

Woohyun sighed and stepped out of his room.  Sungyeol, Dongwoo, Hoya and Sunggyu were already in the common area, ready to go, and Sungjong closed his door behind him to joined them, his eyes stained red from crying. 

All of them were dressed in their suits, not the ones that the cordi noonas gave them for specific events, but real suits, the ones that they would have trouble putting on by themselves, wrestling with the dress shirts and shoes, and their arguments about how to tie the ties which would end in looking up a turtorial on the internet.

“Kids, are you ready?” Hyoan asked.

“Let’s go,” Sunggyu said quietly, pulling a jacket over his suit.  He held open the door for them.  Woohyun looked at Sunggyu as he passed.  Sunggyu looked like if Woohyun just poked him, he would fall over the edge and start crying. 

“Hyung?” Woohyun whispered as they walked down the hall to the elevators. 

“Yeah?”

Woohyun opened his mouth to say something, to say anything, but then shook his head.  “Never mind.”

Over the year, they had taken the ride from the dorm to the hospital as they visited nearly every day.  There were only a few days in the whole year where all of them wouldn’t visit.  Everyday, there would be at least one of them visiting Myungsoo. The road to the hospital seemed to be the same road as the one that they would take to the practice studios, they could close their eyes and open their eyes at the exact moment that they arrive. 

They got to back to the hospital where the first part of the funeral would take place.  Woohyun watched out the windshield as Hyoan carefully drove their van as close to the entrance as they could so that they could avoid the press as much as possible.  A little thought in the back of his head made him wonder how the press found out so quickly, but it was quickly drowned out.  He tried not to focus on the reporters yelling questions at them, all of them asking if it was true that Myungsoo had passed away. 

Woohyun noted distantly that there was also hospital security trying to push the press back to clear the doors, but nothing really mattered to him except for getting to Myungsoo’s wake.  The six of them, plus their managers made their way back into the hospital where the first part of the funeral was taking place.

Woohyun bowed respectfully to Myungsoo’s family then he turned to the display of flowers at the front with a picture of Myungsoo in the middle.  Usually, at funerals, the picture above the display of flowers, there would be a formal picture, but instead, Myungsoo’s family chose a picture of Myungsoo where he was smiling and laughing.  Myungsoo smiled out at him from the picture, his eyes creased in happy cresents as he laughed at the person taking the picture. 

He looked so happy and free, just like how he was now… somewhere between the earth and heaven, happy to be free.

Sunggyu was a step ahead of him, placing a flower on the mantel before stepping back and bowing, his forehead touching the floor.  Dongwoo followed him, and after him, Hoya stepped up.  Sungyeol looked didn’t want to step up and bow to the picture, but as Sungjong followed the other three, Sungyeol slowly knelt down on the floor, resting his forehead against the floor.  Woohyun knelt down next to Sungyeol and bowed with him, standing up once to kneel down again.

It hurt so much to finally be there, to finally be in the place where they no longer had Myungsoo with them.  This would be the last place that the seven members of Infinite would physically be together. 

Woohyun looked up slowly, finding Myungsoo’s eyes in the photograph smiling brightly back at him.  As he stood, he gently grasped Sungyeol’s shoulder, telling him tht it was okay to sit up.  Sungyeol straighted up, tears falling down his cheeks steadily. 

Together, Woohyun and Sungyeol turned to Myungsoo’s family standing to the side and bowed to them too.  Woohyun nearly missed what Sungyeol said to Myungsoo’s family, but when he realized what he had said, it nearly made him cry again. 

“I would bow a thousand times to you and your son.”

“A real man doesn’t cry.”  Woohyun’s father used to always say that to Woohyun and his brother, but that wasn’t true. 

Everything that they went through made them real men.  All of the things they went through was now at an end, it made them real men. 

And it made Woohyun cry. 

~*~

A few hours later that felt like a lifetime to all of them, Jungryul drove them back to their dorm in silence.  Even more than usual, everyone was silent, buried in their own thoughts.  When they got to their dorm, everyone just sat down in the common area and didn’t move.  None of them felt like moving.  There had been many days when it had been like this, when nobody wanted to get up and take a shower or change and get into bed.  On those days, one of them would turn on a movie or a drama and they would all lie around the common area and rest there.  Every once in a while, they would all pile up in the biggest room, Myungsoo, Sungjong and Sunggyu’s room, and they would all fall to sleep together, piled on top of each other’s legs and chests, half on the bed and half of the floor. 

Now, as they were all piled in the living room, Hoya could nearly see Myungsoo sprawled out on the floor, his legs fighting with Sungyeol’s for a place on the couch while he rested his head on Dongwoo’s lap and craned his neck around to talk to Woohyun.

Hoya jumped up and muttered a excuse about going into the shower before sprinting towards the bathroom, hoping that the tears wouldn’t fall.  He quickly the shower and stepped in to the hot stream of water.

A knot worked his way up his throat, threatening to choke him.  Hoya grabbed the shampoo and scrubbed it angrily into his hair, hoping that his hard actions would somehow squash the lump in his throat.

But still, hot tears fell down his face.  Hoya screamed in frustration, punching the shower wall.  All that came back to him was the echo of his scream and sob against the bathroom walls.

His knuckles burned.  His eyes stung with tears.  His heart hurt.

Someone knocked on the door.  “Hoya?  Are you okay?” Dongwoo called through the door.

He sighed and collected himself.  “I’m okay.  Do you need the washroom?”

“Not really, I’m just checking on you,” Dongwoo said.   

Hoya smiled softly. “No, I’m okay.  I’ll be out in a second.”

“Don’t worry.  Take your time.”

As Hoya shut off the shower, it was harder to convince himself that it’s not tears that are falling down his cheeks.

The common area was quiet when he left the bathroom.  Sunggyu and Woohyun were lying on the couch together, sleeping after the long day and Sungyeol and Sungjong weren’t anywhere in sight, probably in their rooms.  Dongwoo appeared from their room, carrying a blanket.

“Hey, Hoya.  Are you okay?” he asked softly to not to wake up Sunggyu and Woohyun.

Hoya nodded.  “Are you?”

With a little shrug in answer,  Dongwoo carefully pulled off Woohyun’s jacket and tie and spread the blanket over the two sleeping members. With a tired smile at Hoya, he gently said, “Let’s go to bed.”

“Are you feeling okay?” Hoya asked again, looking worriedly at Dongwoo.

Dongwoo nodded as they entered their room, heading to their respecitve beds.  “How well can any of us be?” he asked, rather to the air than to Hoya.  “Let’s just go to sleep for now.” 

Hoya didn’t say anything as they got into their beds and Dongwoo leaned over to turn off the lights. 

Once the room was in darkness, Hoya spoke again.  “Hyung… are you sure you’re okay?”

The silence crept on as Dongwoo tried to find something to say.  “I’m okay, Howon,” he said, his voice rather tight.  “Just go to sleep.”

Even though Hoya nodded, he spoke again.  “Hyung,” he said quietly.  “Do you think that he’s okay too?”

Again, Dongwoo didn’t answer, but Hoya heard a little sob instead.  Quietly, Hoya crawled out of his bed and into Dongwoo’s.  Dongwoo gratefully hugged Hoya and cried quietly in the dark. 

“I don’t know,” Dongwoo whispered in answer to his question.  “I don’t know.”

The only thing that he wanted to do was to sleep, to sleep forever, close his eyes and not open them again.  It was hard to say that when Hoya knew that Myungsoo couldn’t open his eyes any more and he would do anything to open them again.  No matter how hard they would wish, there was nothing that they could do.

Hoya just held on tighter to Dongwoo as if they could protect each other from the darkness that had Myungsoo forever. 

~*~

Sungyeol stared at the empty bed.  Myungsoo’s old bed.  It was still waiting to be slept in, but never going to be used again.  He sighed and hitched his legs up to his chin, his eyes never leaving the empty bed. 

How many times had he come into the room to scare Myungsoo out of his sleep?  A lot of the time, he would jump onto Myungsoo and scream in his ear until Myungsoo grudgingly got up to stop Sungyeol’s yelling. 

Sungyeol knotted his hands together so tightly that it hurt as he looked at Myungsoo’s old bed. 

The yellow street lights cast shadows over the floor and the sheets.  He looked the out of the window and saw the half moon outside his window, glowing brightly in the night sky, next to the shining stars in the sky.

Maybe Myungsoo was up there at the stars, up there with the moon.  Sungeyol smiled softly.  It was nice to think that Myungsoo was happy up in the stars.

“Sungyeol-hyung?”  A soft shadow slipped into his room, interrupting his thoughts and sat down on the floor next to him.  “Are you okay?”

Sungjong rested his chin on his shoulder, breathing out slowly, soothing him with his steady breathing.  Sungyeol relaxed feeling Sungjong’s chest rise and fall against his arm.

“Are you okay?” Sungjong asked again.

Sungyeol bowed his head and looked down at his hands again.  They started to shake and Sungyeol could feel the tears stinging in his eyes.  He felt totally wrung out and he didn’t want to cry, knowing that it would only make him feel sick. 

As he stared at the empty bed across from him, the tears started to burn in his eyes again, making his vision swarm in front of him. 

“I miss him so much,” Sungyeol whispered, his voice cracking as he started to cry. 

Sungjong hugged Sungyeol.  “I’m sorry,” he whispered.  Sungyeol leaned into Sungjong’s arms, tears still falling.

“It’s not your fault,” he whispered back.  “It’s not your fault that he left us.  I’m sorry for being like this.”

Sungjong patted his back.  “It’s okay,” he said.  “It’s going to be hard, so let’s be there for each other, like I’m here for you now.”

Sungyeol let out a strangled sob.  Sobs clutched his chest now, rocking him back in forth as Sungjong held onto him tightly.  Sungyeol kept on sobbing, each breath ripping out of his chest in uneven and shallow heaves. 

“I… I hate… I hate thinking of him… so much… it feels… so empty without him,” he choked out between harsh breaths.  “And it’s only been a day, how are we going to survive if it’s always going to feel like this?”

Sungjong replied slowly, his own voice filled with tears and uncertainty,  “We are going to… we just are…”

~*~

Tick tock… tick tock… tick tock…

The clock on the wall was ticking by one o’clock in the morning.  Woohyun slept on the couch beside Sunggyu, but Sunggyu still couldn’t find sleep.  Instead, he sat on the couch, Woohyun’s head in his lap as the hands on the clock slowly went around. 

He knew that all of them were in pain.  They all collasped after losing one of Infinite.

Many times, although they never said it aloud, the dorm room seemed to small for seven of them.  Each of them wanted their own space, each of them needed their own space to do their own things off camera.

Now with only six of them in the dorm, it felt too big and empty.  The loneliness started to cry in his heart. 

Back when they were trainees, there was another trainee that was going to debut with them.  That trainee was going to be their leader, but as he left, the spot of leader was left alone.  Sunggyu had gone up to their managers and CEO and told them bravely, “I’ll be leader.  I’m the hyung.  I’ll be a good leader and I’ll take care of them.”

Sunggyu sighed, looking down at Woohyun who was still sleeping.  “Am I a good leader to all of you?” he mumbled.  “Was I a good hyung to him too?”

Woohyun didn’t answer, still sound asleep.  Sunggyu ran a hand over his face, tears in his eyes again.  “I’m sorry if I wasn’t good enough… I’ll be a better leader…”

Sunggyu stood up, careful not to wake up Woohyun  and he quickly slipped on his shoes, hurrying out of the dorm.   A bit less than a hour later, Sunggyu found himself in Woollim’s practice studio.  His feet took him to the singing studio, his fingers trailed over the knobs and buttons on the control panels.

Closing his eyes, Sunggyu listened to the echoes of their voices, filling the small recording booth. 

The echoes of their happiness.

Sunggyu could nearly hear Myungsoo laughing with him as they practiced their songs together.  He could hear when Myungsoo was composing his song, ‘This Song for You’, and had asked Sunggyu for his opinion, singing the song for him. 

Quickly, he tried to drown the memory replaying in his head.  He the song recordings as loud as it would go and started singing with them.

He sang through all of their songs as loudly as his voice would let him, silencing the ghosts echoing in his head. 

Sunggyu put all of his feelings into the songs; his grief into the ballads, his anger into their fast songs, and in the upbeat songs, he poured the happiness that he didn’t want to remember, but he didn’t want to forget.

Sunggyu took a deep gasping breath as he finished ‘Shine’. He checked the display board and half smirked as ‘Kontrol’ appeared next on the shuffle.

너의 그 자린 항상 늘 그대로일 테니까 (Your place will always forever be just how you left it)
혹시라도 내가 다시 그리워지면 (So if by any chance you start to miss me again)
아무런 걱정하지 말고 다시 내게로 돌아와줘 (Don’t worry about it and come back to me)

He broke off even as the rest of the song continued.  He screamed his frustration out to nobody in particular and yet hoping that someone could hear him.

“Sunggyu-hyung.”

He whipped around.  Woohyun stood there, looking as though he had been watching him for a little while.  His big brown eyes were filled with sadness, but he tried to smile at Sunggyu.  “Sunggyu-hyung… let’s go home, okay?”

Immediately, Sunggyu felt bad.  “I’m sorry.”

Woohyun raised his eyebrow slightly.  “For what?”

“I should be looking after you, not the other way around,” Sunggyu said quietly.

Woohyun shook his head, gently putting his arm around Sunggyu’s shoulders.  “It’s okay.  Even the great leader Kim Sunggyu needs a shoulder to rely on sometimes.  I can be that shoulder for you.”

He smiled shakily and let Woohyun guide him away from the ghost that sang inside the studio, echoing forever. 

~*~

6월 11일

Usually, nothing could ever wake up Dongwoo. 

Before, someone would have to get a bucket of water and dump it on his head on his worst days.  After the first few times of getting woken up by a bucket of water and Sunggyu screaming in his ear was more than enough motivation to try to wake up earlier in the morning.  They all had different ways to wake up Dongwoo; Sungjong’s way was to wake him up nicely like a normal person like Hoya, but Woohyun and Sungyeol’s way of waking him was to jump up and down on his bed, screaming, until he woke up.  Depending on the day, sometimes Sunggyu would be a general when he woke him up, but other days, he would be gentle in waking him up. 

Today, nobody woke him up and for the first time for a long time, the sunlight from the window and the sounds of the city waking up brought him out of his sleep. 

Dongwoo opened his eyes in the morning slowly.  He sat up, rubbing his hand over his face.

As the memories of last night and the day before rushed over him, he groaned loudly and flopped back down on his bed.

“Dongwoo-yah…”  Sunggyu’s gentle voice floated through the room.  “Dongwoo-yah, it’s time to wake up.”

He shook his head and covered his face with his pillow, refusing to get out of bed.

“Dongwoo…”  The bed dipped as Sunggyu sat down on the edge.  “Get up now, Dongwoo-yah.  We need to get to the CEO’s office by ten then to the press conference and then to his funeral.”

“I don’t want to,” Dongwoo whispered, his voice muffled by the pillows.

There was a short pause as Sunggyu sighed.  “I know you don’t want to,” Sunggyu said slowly.  “I don’t want to either, but we need to.  So wake up now… I’ll be back in a few minutes to make sure that you’re awake.”

Dongwoo slowly lifted his head as he heard Sunggyu leave.  The room was already empty, Hoya was already awake and out of the room, just like the others running around the dorm to get ready.  He looked over at the back of the closed door where his suit was hanging from last night.  Dongwoo remembered that the seven of them went suit shopping together on one of their free days a long time ago.  Myungsoo insisted that the suits would be important someday soon and Sungyeol because they thought that the only time they would need a suit, the cordi noonas would have one for them. 

“This is important?” Dongwoo whispered to Myungsoo.  “Your funeral is the important event that you insisted we prepare for… I’m not ready for this…”

He sat up and let his pillow fall into his lap.  Dongwoo looked over at Hoya’s empty bed beside him and for a second he remebered the many mornings that he would wake up and find a equally sleep Myungsoo on the futon beside him, back when they were only trainees in their mold ridden dorm room.

He looked down at his lap and found a envelope stuck to the pillow.  Puzzled, he took it in his hands and flipped it over.

Dongwoo-hyung

He hardly dared to breath as he opened the letter.  He had placed the letter under his pillow only about three or four days ago, but it felt like a lifetime.  The thought of reading the letter scared Dongwoo so much, even the first sentence sent him into tears.  Tears dripped down on his hands, nearly staining the letter.

His heart felt like it was being squeezed into pieces as he quietly opened the envelope.  Myungsoo’s familiar writing spoke out to him, even though there was no words uttered.

To Dongwoo-hyung.

I’m going to miss you.  Your smiles every day, your warm hugs, your words that teach me, everything about you and that includes your hand on my .

You’ll be okay, right?  You’re going to be okay as you read this letter, that’s why you’re reading this, right?

Take care of the others too.  Lead them when Sunggyu-hyung needs someone to take care of him.  Give Woohyun and Howon advice and a lot of love.  Teach Sungyeol and Sungjong the little things that will matter.  Get everyone to work together well so that you can become a stronger Infinite.

You’re Infinite’s ray of sunshine.  You’re always the one who remembers to smile at us when the rest of us are frowning.  If you aren’t smiling, there’s no sun.  If you’re crying, it must be raining.  I don’t think that you can do the BTD dance holding umbrellas so make sure that you smile. 

In my life, you gave me wings to fly.  In my death, I’m stronger and I’ll spread my wings to cover you and help you fly.

Wherever you go, I’ll be watching you.  I’ll be happy for you and I’ll be flying to your side.

If you smile, I’ll smile back to you from the heavens.

Thank you so much for giving me my wings.

Look up, hyung, I’m smiling down at you. 

Please smile up at me.

Dongwoo let the letter fall into his lap as he finished reading it, tears falling flooding into his broken heart.  Dongwoo nearly laughed at Myungsoo, he had wrote the other letters as if he hadn’t died yet, but for his, Myungsoo seemed to know that Dongwoo wouldn’t read it until after his death.  As much as he wanted to laugh, he could only cry as he held the letter close to his heart. 

There was a soft knock on the door, Dongwoo couldn’t answer the door as he continued to cry.  He heard the door open, and Sungyeol’s soft tred stopped beside Dongwoo as he sat down beside his hyung.

“You read the letter,” Sungyeol stated rather than asked.

Dongwoo nodded, trying to wipe away his tears.  “I… I-I-I do-don’t kn… know if-f I can do wha…what he asked,” Dongwoo whispered.

Sungyeol hugged him tightly.  “Just one step at a time, hyung.  Just take it one step at a time,” he said gently, wipping his eyes and cheeks for him.

Dongwoo nodded, trying to swallow his tears.  He looked down at the piece of paper in his hands, now stained with teardrops.

Smile up at me.

Dongwoo looked up at the ceiling, up towards Myungsoo, the tears still falling down his face.  He tried his best to smile, and some how, a smile formed over his lips.  His heart screamed out for Myungsoo, but his lips couldn’t form his name as he called out to him.

“I’ll smile up at you…”

~*~

Sungjong stood behind a screen, shielding him from prying eyes of the press just a few steps away.  Right after they had left Woollim’s office, they had got to the press conference.  From there, they could hear the screams and the chatter of the press and the fans.

“Ready?” Sunggyu whispered, making sure that all of them were ready.

The others nodded back although all of them knew that they were all lying.

“Okay.”  He held his hand out in the middle.  “Let’s keep it together.  Hold it together.  If you can’t for youself, just do it for him.  For him, okay?”

Sungjong nodded and placed his hand on top of Sunggyu’s, the others stacked their hands on top of each other’s.

“Ready… one, two, three, fighting.”

Dongwoo lead the way onto the stage, Hoya walking beside him.  Sungjong sighed and walked followed the two others.  Sunggyu, Sungyeol and Woohyun followed behind him.

They stood there, as the photographers shot pictures of them.  Sungjong could hardly think as the fans screamed loudly.  It felt so lonely to be up there with only six of them.  Maybe it was true that they weren’t the closest that they’ve ever been, but through the last seven months, they had got closer together.

The older six members of Infinite always said that they felt empty when they were promoting for their solo, duo, and acting jobs.  Although when Myungsoo and Sungyeol always had their other cast members, Woohyun had Kibum and Hoya and Dongwoo had each other, they still felt lonely not having the other six members by their sides.

“Hello, we are Infinite!”  They bowed in unision again.  It was just like yesterday, but they could all feel the missing space where Myungsoo should’ve been.

Sungjong pulled out his chair and sat down.  He looked up and down the row.  Dongwoo, Hoya, Sunggyu, Sungyeol, Woohyun…

But not him…

No Myungsoo. 

Sunggyu picked up the microphone first and cleared his throat, tears already shining in his eyes, but not falling.  “Hello everyone.  There have been rumours about our visual, L…” Sunggyu said, his voice wavering a bit.  “That L passed away.  And I… I have to admit that those rumours… are true.”

There was silence. 

Suffocting silence. 

Silence was something special. 

Silence was what they painted their music on. 

Silence was what Myungsoo was now trapped in forever. 

Woohyun broke the silence uneasily as he tried to speak.  “He… left us on June the 9^th in the hospital.  H-he passed away peacefully with his family by his side after his battle with lung cancer.  He… h-he…” Woohyun cut himself off as a tear fell out of his eye. Sunggyu, the closest to Woohyun, squeezed his shoulder, trying to stop him from crying as tears brimmed in his eyes.

Sungjong blinked away the burning feeling in his eyes.  He stared out into the audience, but the crowd was drowned out in his tears in his eyes, turning into a blur of colours and a few flashes of light.

“He’s going to be missed by many people,” Hoya said, trying his best to continue the conference, though his voice was thick with tears.  “We... we are going to miss him.”

He broke off too, not trying to cry.  None of them could talk, all their faces were wet with tears and none of them had the courage to tell the Inspirits that Infinite would now only be six instead of seven.

Suddenly, from the crowd, someone started to chant something in the silence.  Slowly, it grew louder as more Inspirits started to chant too, growing from a soft murmur to a loud chant.

“…Kim Myungsoo.  Saranghae.  Kim Myungsoo.  Saranghae.  Kim Myungsoo.  Saranghae…”

Sungjong looked up, completely surprised.  The Inspirits’ voices echoed strongly though the air, as if they were trying to get their voices up to the heavens so that Myungsoo could hear them.

Tears started to burn in Sungjong’s eyes again.  Since his death, none of them had spoken Myungsoo’s name out loud.  Every single time that the Inspirits called his name, it felt like his heart was torn a little bit more.

“Kim Myungsoo!  Saranghae!  Kim Myungsoo!”

Sungjong looked over at the others.  Each of them had the same expression of supressed pain on their faces.  Sungjong looked down, feeling the lump of tears fighting their way out of his chest as he let out a loud sob.

“Saranghae!”

It was so hard, all of them felt the pain in their heart every single second and the pain would last there for a long time after from this day.  As the Inspirits continued to chant, even though it felt like his heart was being squeezed into pieces, somehow each word, one by one, seemed to heal Sungjong’s heart just a little bit more.

Maybe it wasn’t all the way, it was definitely not all the way, but it was a start, somewhere to start.

Sungjong lifted his head and brought up the micorphone to his lips again, tears slipping down his cheeks.

“Kim Myungsoo.  Saranghae,” he called out. 

As Sungjong called his name, it felt like he was seeing Myungsoo die all over again.  It hurt so much to call out his name, but it felt so good at the same time, knowing that Myungsoo would always be in his heart.

Woohyun looked up at Sungjong and Sungjong smiled shakily back.

“Kim Myungsoo.  Saranghae.”  Woohyun joined in.  “Kim Myungsoo.”

Sunggyu sat up as Woohyun started to chant.  If Sunggyu trusted anyone in Infinite, it would be Woohyun.  If Sunggyu wasn’t leading, he was following Woohyun.  Woohyun struggled to smile at Sunggyu, nodding comfortingly.  “Saranghae!  Kim Myungsoo.”

“Kim Myungsoo.  Saranghae.”  Dongwoo and Hoya joined in the chant, Dongwoo’s smile was blurred with tears, but he was smiling anyways as Hoya tried his best to stop the tears.  “Kim Myungsoo.  Saranghae.”

Their voices grew stronger together, as they continued to chant, to call out to Myungsoo from far away.  Sungjong looked over at the others, proud of them for facing the pain that they were holding in their hearts.  Sungyeol was the only one of them who wasn’t chanting, he was sitting in his chair, his face covered with his hands and his shoulders shaking with heavy sobs.  Sungjong rested his hand on Sungyeol’s shoulder comfortingly, knowing that Sungyeol was trying his best to cope after the death of his best friend.

“Kim Myungsoo.  Saranghae.  Kim Myungsoo!  Saranghae!  Kim Myungsoo!”

Sungjong embraced Sungyeol tightly.  “It’s okay to cry… it’s Myungsoo… how can any of us not be sad?”

“Kim Myungsoo.  Saranghae.”

Sungyeol stood up and looked up at the sky above them.  “KIM MYUNGSOO!” he shouted on the top of his lungs. “DO YOU HEAR US?  WE LOVE YOU!”

Sungjong stood up with him, fixing his eyes on the spot in the sky that he wished that Myungsoo would be looking down at them from, smiling and happy.  “We love you, Myungsoo-hyung,” he called out.  “Wherever you might be, please remember, we love you.” 

Hello! 

It's been a little while!  Sorry that I haven't had a chance to update for a little while.  Finals are finally finished and done sophmore year of high school now! Yay!  Summer has started and I'm free!  So I have a lot of time to write!  I'll update Story of the Heavens soon and I have a new MyungGyu one shot that I'm going to update tomorrow, Spring Songs.  And a new project coming up soon too!   It's going to be a fun summer!  

Thank you for reading!  Please give me comments and subscribe and upvotes!   See you soon!  

ps, sorry that I haven't replied to comments recently ;; now that i'm not busy, I'll reply more ^^~ Love you so much!  Also, not finished yet!  I hope you'll stick with me~