The Puppy Who Fell In Love With The Sun

🐶 ❤️ 💥

ft. jackson wang & choi youngjae

When Jackson was ten, he met a boy whose smile was as bright as the sun. He had a laugh that ringed with joy, wholeheartedly filled with love. His voice was loud and he was a little weird. He likes to make weird faces and sing his hear out to the theme song of Pororo as if he experienced a heart break. He was far from being normal, and that was okay because Jackson wouldn't want it any other way.

His name was Choi Youngjae. 

When Jackson was fourteen, he met Choi Youngjae again and became best friends. They were an odd pair to say the least, one was too wild and one was too mild. Jackson was the school's basketball icon and Youngjae was the school's soccer icon--both best friends were captains of their teams. They would make a bet for each game they played; whoever scored the most points at the end of the season would grant the other a wish. The only rule was no questions can be asked (unless it's something out of reach like murder) and should be granted immediately. 

Jackson won, and he waited until their senior year of high school to use the wish he won. He wished for Youngjae to kiss him, not on the cheeks but on the lips. He couldn't ask why because it was one of the rules, and so he kissed Jackson. That night, Youngjae learned that his eccentric self-had somehow found its way into the heart of Jackson Wang.

When Jackson was twenty one, he surprised his boyfriend, Youngjae a spare key to their very first apartment. Youngjae was ecstatic and thrilled to know he would be living under the same roof as his boyfriend. He couldn't help but think of all the romantic scenarios he dreamed about. He wanted to try breakfast in bed, cooking together, being lazy on the couch together, heck, he even wants to try on the kitchen table. Whatever it was, he wants to do it all with Jackson. 

As months passed by, their schedules resumed busier with school and work. They rarely saw each other in the day, sometimes not even at night, and that was the hardest when neither could sleep without the other. Every semester at college was getting more difficult requiring more hours to be put into studying. Some nights, Youngjae didn't make it home having fallen asleep at the library during another night of endless studying. Jackson was always the one who found him. He was also the one who always carried him back to their apartment, tucking him into their shared bed and lying down next to him. 

Youngjae was always thankful for Jackson. He lived a happy life with a man who was his boyfriend and best friend. 

When Jackson turned twenty three, the pair finally graduated from college. Jackson graduated with honors and a bachelor in physical therapy. Youngjae graduated with honors and a bachelor in psychology and music therapy. They were proud of one another, and they knew they were able to make this happen because of the support they gave to one another. That night, Youngjae planned a romantic dinner for two to celebrate their achievements. Youngjae may have planned the dinner, but Jackson planned something else that involved eternity.

"Will you marry me, Choi Youngjae?" Jackson knew the very first time he met Youngjae at the age of ten, this was the person he wants to spend the rest of his life with. He loved the younger boy since then and still does.

"J-Jackson," Youngjae gasped. He couldn't believe what was happening. He couldn't believe he was getting proposed and it was to someone he loves more than his life. His eyes swelled with tears and he nodded his head over and over until Jackson sported the biggest smile on his face. Their bodies pressed up against each other, eyes filled with tears--happiness, of course--and Jackson's firm fingers placed the wedding band on Youngjae's wedding finger. 

Youngjae couldn't stop the happiness he felt from showing. He grabbed hold of Jackson's face and plant a kiss to his soon-to-be husband's lips.

When Jackson turned twenty-five, he married the most beautiful man in the world. It was a day filled with happiness and blessings from their loved ones. Youngjae was always beautiful in his eyes, but today, he looked extraordinarily beautiful and bright--like the sun.

They spent their days together as newlyweds, doing absolutely everything together as a married couple. They even spoke of adoption and starting a family soon. Jackson was just so happy and he felt so loved. He was blessed to be the one who can love all that is of Choi Youngjae. 

When Jackson turned twenty-eight, he received a phone call, thinking it was from his adorable boyfriend, Jackson picked it up within the first two ring. He didn't even looked at the screen. 

The person who called him was not Youngjae.

He left work early and rushed to the hospital. His hands are shaky and his legs are unstable--he feels like he'll fall any minute. He tried his best to keep it together, to find Youngjae, to make sure the younger was okay. 

A thousand scenarios played in his head. He didn't know what his life would be like if he lost Youngjae. He doesn't want to imagine it. He needs to see Youngjae, to hold his husband in his arms. He can't lose him. Youngjae was the sun in his life. 

"I'm sorry," said the doctor. "There isn't much we can do. At this rate, we have to prepare for the worst. He stopped coming to chemotherapy for almost eight years now." 

"W-what do you mean chemotherapy?" Jackson asked baffled. He didn't understand why Youngjae would need to attend chemotherapy in the first place.

"He didn't tell you?" The doctor asked. "Your husband, Choi Youngjae, he has cancer. He was diagnosed with cancer when he was ten years old." 

The words he heard from the doctor went into one ear and out the other, traveling back to his brain. Jackson lost his balance; his legs became weak, and fell to the ground, disbelief. His face was blank, he felt lost. Youngjae has cancer? 

But how could he not have known? Why did Youngjae not tell him? There was no way his Youngjae has cancer. 

"T-there must be a...mistake," Jackson argued. His voice was not convincing at all, and instead, it was weak.

"I'm sorry. There's nothing much we can do anymore," the doctor said once again. Jackson clung onto the doctor's arm, crying as he begged for the doctor to please save Youngjae. He is willing to do anything to just have Youngjae be healthy.

Jackson sits in the middle of the waiting room, feeling the world around him move at a faster pace. Everyone was going on about their lives--doctors rushing into operation rooms, nurses assisting, patients having their families gathered to be by their side, and all Jackson could think of was how did he not know. The man he loves, the man he married has cancer and he didn't know. 

He doesn't want to think about life without Youngjae. He doesn't want to convey negative thoughts when Youngjae was still here. He was still here. He closed his eyes and searched for the brightest smile he had of Youngjae. The smile that shine as bright as the sun was the life he knew he wanted the first day he met Youngjae.

And it finally dawned to Jackson. The first time he met Youngjae was in a hospital. 

Youngjae was already a cancer patient by the time he met Jackson in the hospital's playroom.

He remembered their first meeting and Jackson broke down in tears. He didn't know then that the boy with a smile as bright as the sun, a laugh that was music to his ear, was a patient in the hospital. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jackson asked, tears falling down his face. He tightly grasp the younger boy's hand in his, afraid that he could disappeared any minute. 

Youngjae smiles weakly. His eyes are so tired but he fights against the drowsy feel to see the one face in the world he knows he will miss the most. How lucky he was to have met someone as pure and affection like Jackson? It must have been his punishment from neglecting his treatments early on in life all because he wanted to appear like a healthy boy. 

Youngjae always knew since day one that the chance of him surviving cancer was slim. He knew he could go any second, any minute. He knew yet he fought and preserved because he fell in love, and that was his strive for not letting death take him too soon.

Jackson's afraid, so afraid of what the outcome will be. It pains his heart to see his lover lying on a hospital bed with tubes inserted in just about every spot in his body. Jackson hates that he can't take the pain--he wants to transfer his pain to him. 

"I love you, Jackson Wang." Youngjae mumbled. His eyes were getting heavier and he could no longer stay awake. The medication was making him drowsy. He did his best to not let go and smiled because he knew how much Jackson liked it when he smiled. He smiled like the radiant sun he was, and slowly, his eyes begin to close. Youngjae fell asleep with the memories he created with Jackson. He carved them deep into his heart and will remember them always.

When Jackson turned twenty-nine, he said goodbye to the sun in his life. 

END.