[CONTENTID1]Candy Promises[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]A SELECTION OF CHOCOLATE-BOYS[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

The world moved in disconnected sensations and fragmented moments. Suzy thought she had grown deaf. She heard her screams from somewhere in the distance but it was as if the atmosphere was thick with pressure that pounded against her ears like an incessant hammer.

She saw dust and the rocks were cleared. In that instant, Chanyeol fled the scene and all Suzy could do was kneel opposite Sungyeol’s fallen body and shriek over him like a frightened banshee.

Trepidation surged through her veins. Her insides twisted into knots. She was panicking; she knew, and the pool of blood that gathered underneath Sungyeol’s head only intensified the sick feeling in her stomach.

Was he dead? Why was he so still? Why were his lips so blue? Where was his megawatt smile, or the brightness of his eyes when he would laugh at the Sweety gang’s lame jokes, or the kindness in his face when she was distressed, or the love in soul when they were alone?

“Sungyeol,” she croaked; she was barely able to recognise the scratchy tone of her voice. It was as if she was not herself at all. “Sungyeol...wake up…”

Nothing.

He said nothing at all and his silence aggravated her further. Sungyeol should be loud and boisterous. He was the never ending noise inside their heads. This wasn’t Sungyeol. This couldn’t be him at all. She wanted her Sungyeol back. She wanted to hear his voice ring inside her ears once again.

Tears streamed down her face until she inhaled them through her nose and choked on their saltiness. Her fingers hovered over Sungyeol’s head; she was trembling. She was afraid that she’d lose consciousness because her vision came and went in blurs.

“Sungyeol…”

“What happened?” Changmin’s stern voice broke through the atmosphere like a sharp knife ripping through linen. There were a few fish in his hands but all hunger dwindled in his eyes and he rushed towards her.

“Suzy,” he said, but she didn’t face him.

She was drowning in a sea of sorrow. Her breath was coming out in sharp impulses. Her heart had shattered and pierced her lungs until all breathing became unbearable.

“Suzy,” he tried again, catching her shoulders and forcing her to look at him. “Calm down.”

“H-h-he’s dead,” she spluttered, “Oh my-- he’s dead!”

She thought she couldn’t say those words but they were hurled out into the open before she could grasp them back. It instilled a new level of fear inside her. All the world paled into a pall of darkness. It gloomed with misery and pathos.

Suzy felt as if her body was on fire. She thought she was burning but at the same time she was drowning in cold waters. Changmin’s fingers found her cheeks.

“Listen to me,” he ordered, but in a soft voice. “He’s not dead. The entrance has opened. Stay here, okay? Don’t budge. I’ll be back with help. Okay?”

Suzy grabbed his wrists. His face was hazy in her vision but his round eyes were sharply defined. This was a face that was always laced with aversion and ostracisms. Now, all she saw was wisdom beyond his twenty-six years. She didn’t know what it was that made her feel so secure but with him close to her, she was safe; her heart told her so.

“Don’t leave me, please.” It was true. She was afraid of staying next to Sungyeol, especially when he was immobile as he was. “Please, Changmin-- don’t leave me alone here.”

“Five minutes,” he reassured. “Five minutes. Count in your head for me. I’ll be back before that. I promise.”

He was gone, as effervescent as the wind but Suzy tried to count the seconds in her head. She avoided staring at Sungyeol-- his very presence terrorized her. He was alive.

He was alive!

But why was she so afraid? Why was her heart beating like a frantic drum. Sungyeol-- her precious Sungyeol was lying inside a puddle of his own blood, and there was nothing she could do to save him. It reminded her of how useless she was. She cried until her tear-ducts ran dry. She pulled at her hair because the pain forced reality back into her mind.

“Sungyeol, this is all my fault…”

One minute...two minutes…

The world revolved slowly around her. She shivered next to Sungyeol’s pale body. His lids were closed over his once shining eyes. For a moment, she imagined him jump up and scare her with a rambunctious guffaw-- just like how he would when the Sweety gang mused over a problem.

It never happened, and there was no laugh of his to comfort her this time.

Three minutes...four minutes…

Each second stretched into an eternity that only pulled her under the sea of blackness. It was suffocating her. She was so cold, so very, very cold.

Suzy pulled her knees against her chest, shivering for no reason at all. No, she had a reason and just the cogitation scared her more than the sepulchral air.

"I'm scared," she whispered to no one in particular. "Sungyeol, say so