Daehyun knew that it was stupid, he knew it couldn't possibly work.

He was also a little tired and his hands stung from papercuts.

Still, he kept at it.

He had 10 more to go.

It was for Youngjae.

Since it was for him, Daehyun forced himself to keep folding.

Youngjae was his childhood friend, his best friend, his first love, his everything.

Daehyun had to keep folding.

Perhaps, just maybe, this would actually work.

Once he finally had a thousand paper cranes, Youngjae might survive.

Yoo Youngjae had Cystic Fibrosis.

Everyone knew that he wouldn't live to see twenty one.

Even Daehyun knew about Youngjae's fate on some aspect, but he never was able to quite grasp that fact.

He pretended that his buddy was completely normal.

They ignored the sadness around them and concentrated on building castles in the sandbox.

Soon, they couldn't do that anymore.

The sand irritated Youngjae's lungs.

Instead of running around like regular six year olds, Daehyun would go with Youngjae to the hospital to get treatments.

They did the same when they were ten, fourteen, seventeen, and finally twenty.

It never bothered Daehyun, it never really hit him that his friend had a life-threatening disorder until Youngjae almost died in front of him one time.

Youngjae had broken down into a coughing fit, hacking and panting, trying to catch his breath.

He couldn't stop coughing and he started wheezing.

It got harder and harder for Youngjae to breathe in.

Youngjae collapsed onto the floor, writhing on the ground

Daehyun watched on in horror as he stood helpless, unable to do anything except wait with him for the nurses to come.

After that, Daehyun realized that he had limited time with him.

That's when he decided that he would make paper cranes.

Daehyun had seen it online once, after reading some things for homework.

While they were at school eating lunch under some cherry blossom trees, he asked Youngjae about it.

"Have you heard about the thousand crane legend?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I was thinking, maybe if I made a thousand paper cranes..."

"Maybe."

Youngjae's eyes sparkled, threatening to let tears fall, but he kept them in.

He looked up at the cloudless sky, hoping that gravity would prevent the tears from falling.

With his eyes closed and his head thrown back, Youngjae breathed in deeply.

Daehyun admired the curve of Youngjae's neck, his perfect skin.

The wind gently stirred the petals.

They ate the rest of their lunch in silence as cherry blossoms dropped all around them.

As weeks went by, Daehyun found himself wishing for Youngjae to keep living.

Daehyun pleaded with God, desperately asking if there was anything he could do.

He lost his appetite, he lost his emotions.

He felt completely numb to the world around him.

Meanwhile, as the disease progressed, Youngjae had to drop out of college.

Youngjae stayed as carefree as ever, but he noticed that the happy Daehyun he knew was withering away.

Daehyun was almost recognizable now, his cheekbones protuded and he had big, dark eye circles.

He was worried because even though Daehyun looked like this, Daehyun acted like he was okay.

He could see the pain in his eyes, the scream that was aching to burst through his closed and curved up lips.

It upset him, that his best friend didn't realize that Youngjae could see exactly what was going on.

At one of his last treatements, Youngjae sleepily said,"Dae, when I'm gone, I don't want you to be sad for me. That'll make me sad, even if I'm not here."

While Youngjae drifted off into sleep, Daehyun simply held onto his cool hand, delicate patterns on it and not saying a word.

Instead of wishing for Youngjae to stay alive, Daehyun started wishing for him to be happy.

That was what he wanted for his best friend. 

Everything that Daehyun did was for Youngjae's happiness, so even if it meant Youngjae wasn't with him anymore, he would let him go.

As he folded the last crane by Youngjae's hospital bed, the heart monitor started to slow down.

With tears trickling down his face, Daehyun commanded himself to manipulate the paper.

With a final fold, the monitor let out a loud, never ending sound.

Daehyun dropped the last one into the round jar on Youngjae's nightstand.

"I hope you're happy, Jae."

At the funeral, Daehyun didn't say a word.

He didn't cry, he wasn't angry at the world for this injustice.

He simply held onto the jar throughout the entire ceremony, staring at the terrible picture they had up of Youngjae.

Youngjae had always hated that picture, and he had specifically told them not to put it up at his funeral.

Daehyun inwardly chuckled at the memory, but a sharp pain quickly cut through it.

When the funeral was over, he walked over to some cherry blossom trees.

He reached into the jar and scattered the paper cranes into the air.

He continued throwing up the cranes until there was none left in the jar.

Daehyun let the jar drop from his hands and sat under the trees, watching the origami flutter around.

A gust of wind suddenly picked them up and sent them sailing though the clear blue sky, mixing with the pink blossoms.

A thousand paper cranes

floated freely in the air,

departing.