Hospital

Ravi jolts awake, eyes wide with fear. There’s no Hakyeon anymore in the white room that he is currently in. He never got to say his goodbye. Where is he now?

Goodbye. Ravi is so close to say goodbye to N forever before he passed out on the road. His white-casted foot suspended in front of him reminds him of where he is. His whole body is sore, all of his tissues are flaming on his bone. He shouldn’t be here, trapped down with tubes and cords to the life-supporting machine and IV tube and oxygen bag. He shouldn’t be here at all.

A middle-age woman in Tweety Bird scrub comes by his bed he could delve deeper  into his misery.

“How are you feeling, Wonshik?” she asks.

“I’m Ravi,” he says. The headache is especially phenomenal. It feels like a cow is chewing on his head. The whiteness around him is part of his body now. He always ends up in the hospital somehow. Someone told him once that he was destructive, dangerous. Ravi laughed at him, telling him that he was just salty that he could never tame him. Maybe there was a grain of truth to it. Ravi can never get out of the hospital.

“I’m leaving you with the newspaper, pen, and paper,” she says, “in case you're bored. Press the button behind you if you need anything. You should know that much by now.” Then she leaves him alone.

Ravi should know a lot of things by now. So what? As long as he doesn’t change his way, he will never be able to get out. He swears he knows her from another hospital far, far, away, far from this time. Or she is a completely different person. Ravi feels like he can be a new person overnight after what happened.

He picks up the pen and the blank paper---a clean slate.

"Tell me a story," Hakyeon asked Ravi a long time ago.

"I’m done telling stories." His voice breaks.

"You’re a writer. Your job is to tell stories.” He got on his tip toe, using Ravi’s shoulders as support to peer at the highway roadside that didn't seem to end. "Tell me a true story. Or a not-so-true-story; it doesn't really matter. Nothing matters as long as we have a happy ending."

But stories don’t end when you are not here.

"I'm here to restart my unfinished journey," Hakyeon said. “I want to say goodbye properly."

Wonshik pulled away, eyes wide with fear. So this is why you're here? To crush my hope completely?

Hakyeon read Wonshik’s thought and Hakyeon was more sorry than anyone on Earth. "I have to go back to Seoul to be a dancer, an artist, an idol, a performer or whatever. I need to be on stage."

"I will go with you,” said Wonshik.

Hakyeon only shook his head. "My parents and I already signed a contract with SM Entertainment."

“Your parents did what?” Wonshik stared back at him dumbly. “But you ran away for six months without saying anything. They forgave you?”

“I passed the audition. I guess that made them less worry about me.” Hakyeon backed away from Wonshik until he touched the wall. “This isn’t about you. Don't throw your future plan for me.”

"My future is you." Wonshik shook his shoulders, hoping that he could shake some sense into him.

Hakyeon waved his head dismissively. "You're just lost without a destination. You were stuck with me since forever. You don’t know where you’re going yet because we did everything together: we tried out for sport teams, mixed with the wrong crowd, involved with the same girl… You should find where you want to go."

"I want to be with you." Wonshik stomped his feet like a whiny kid, but he didn’t care. "Do you know what you did to me? You made me care about you more than I should."

"That's exactly what's wrong, Wonshik.” His eyes were steely. "I want to love someone who knows himself."

A tear threatened to fall, but Wonshik stopped its momentum. “So you don’t love me because I don’t know what I want?”

He caught Wonshik’s cheeks in his palms. “Don’t be stupid. I love you.” He drew Wonshik near until their lips met. He had expected Wonshik to push him off; he tangled his lips in his hungry for his presence and his stay. Hakyeon played along, he was lit by Wonshik’s passion. The rise and fall of their breath lasted Hakyeon a lifetime.

“See you, Wonshik.”