Minhyuk looked at the boy. He was taller than him, had a slightly dark complexion and his body was definitely more muscular than his, he then took a better look at the boy's face, admiring how gentle his traits were. He then stood up and smiled brightly at the boy, stretching his arm to shake the other's hand

”I'm Lee Minhyuk” he said, greeting him with his bright smile.

Hyunwoo was amazed at how pretty the boy in front of him was, but still managed to reach out to him.

“Nice to meet you” he said shyly, smiling not nearly as bright as the other boy. The nurse who had brought Hyunwoo to his room smiled at the two, who bowed politely before she left.

“Nice to meet you too” Minhyuk shook the boy's hand, then pulled apart and showed his new roommate the small room.

 “Well, here you can see...our beds, and on your right...that door is the bathroom” the shorter pointed at the door right in front of the two beds “...And that's the end of our tour. Not much, but it's comfortable.” Minhyuk shrugged, to which Hyunwoo chuckled

 “No doubt it is” now it was Minhyuk's turn to chuckle.

They both sat on their beds, chatting about anything that came to their minds, even if it was mainly Minhyuk asking questions. He discovered Hyunwoo was one year older than him and was a lonely child.

“And why are you here?” the shorter boy asked at a certain point, the other was a bit taken aback by the sudden question, but after all, there was no point in not talking about it. It's not like one of them could fake being alright. They were in a hospital. There was of course something wrong.

“I have osteosarcoma” Hyunwoo blurted out, not hesitating at all.

“It's in my right leg”

Minhyuk looked at the boy with an understanding look

“I'm sorry” was all he was able to say, he was used to any kind of illness, and he had known many people who had cancer in the last nine years, even though this was his first roommate with a tumor.

 “What about you?” Hyunwoo asked

“The nurse has told me you've been here for almost ten years” Minhyuk smiled.

“It is true. This place has become my home now, even the nurses are bragging about my attendance record?” he looked down at the floor while chuckling lightly

“By the way, they say I'm depressed” he shrugged, then showed the other the scars on his wrists

“...and they're probably right” Hyunwoo added, staring at what once must've been deep wounds and were now scars marking indelibly the boy’s fair skin

“Not necessarily”-Minhyuk spoke-“cutting doesn't always imply being depressed” he said, in a teacher-like way as he pulled down his sleeves again, making the older chuckle.

“What do you do?” Minhyuk asked, not even thinking about what 'privacy' was.

The older chuckled at the boy's curiosity “I used to dance” Minhyuk's eyes saddened at the past tense the other used.

“Hey” the younger said, grabbing one of Hyunwoo’s hands, slightly taking the other aback “You dance. You didn't use to, clear?” he smiled, trying to encourage the other, giving a light squeeze to the hand he was still holding before letting it go.

“You will solve your problem, leave this place and come back to the stage!” Minhyuk continued with a bright smile, to which Hyunwoo's lips curved into a smile

“You're right” he said, trying to convince himself that the boy in front of him was truly right.

 

Hyunwoo's dream had always been becoming a famous dancer. He had always watched idols' and dancers' performances, admiring how their well-built bodies moved harmoniously to the rhythm, and had always wanted to be like them. He had started practicing when he was a child, and then entered a dance team when he was fifteen. He absolutely loved dancing, and he dropped out of school when he was seventeen to focus on his passion, because his team was starting to gain more and more fame and he didn't have time for school.

His mom was happy that his son was following his dreams, so she didn't even get angry at the boy when he decided to leave school. His dad, on the other hand, thought his “hobby” wouldn't have brought him anywhere, and that it was a waste of time, so he was firmly against his son dropping out of school, but he didn't forbid him anyway, and left him the right to choose for his life: something a lot of parents should learn to do.

Hyunwoo's team was starting to be casted for performances and appearances in music videos. They were becoming quite famous in their field.

That was when everything started to fall apart.

One of his group mates got married and left the team. They continued for a while, and their fame wasn’t really affected by the loss of one member. Then Hyunwoo started accusing a weird pain in his right leg. At first, he thought it was because to the excess of stress due to practice and all, but even resting didn't seem to lessen the pain. When he decided to go see a doctor, he was suggested a MRI, which showed the tumor in his right leg.

That was exactly two months before he finally got hospitalized, since there was a long queue for the surgeon he had to go through. The doctors had decided that since the tumor wasn't a big one, it was better to remove it instead of making the boy undergo chemotherapy.

The older boy was now sleeping on his bed, it was 3 PM and he had fallen asleep after his long talk with his roommate. Minhyuk was drawing the sleeping boy. He couldn't find anything worth being drawn in that aseptic room, until he turned and saw the peaceful expression on Hyunwoo's face. So he started drawing the other's soft traits.

 "He truly is handsome" thought  the white-haired boy  as he kept on sketching the sleeping boy.