Walking into the hallway, sicken with grief and pain, he didn’t bother finding a chair, but just sat down on the floor against the boring white walls. With the smell of sterile metal wafting through the air, Tao held his head in his hands, crying, hoping that he nurse was wrong…that it isn’t true.

He made no movement until he heard Kris’s voice struggling to whisper his name from the room across the hallway.

“T-tao..Where…Tao…” He barely got out the words before Tao rushed into the room where Kris lay, sick and lifeless. Clinging to his hand, Tao looked at his sad, pale face and the hat Tao’s mother knitted for him when she heard that he had cancer.

“I’m here…right here. I’m not going anywhere. I promise!” Tao spoke in between sobs and squished his hand a little bit as he was talking. While he was crying, listening to Kris breathe, the nurse walked in carrying a clipboard with a fake smile plastered on her face, knowing she was to deliver bad news.

“Sir…He only has 49 days..Sir...Sir?” The nurse lightly tapped Tao’s shoulder.