It was cold outside. Kyuhyun just stared at the man before him, his breaths coming out in vapor trails that were all too evanescent, much like the wonderful, beautiful silence that had ballooned between the two men before Zhou Mi had said those terrifying, horrifying words.

"I just don't love you anymore."

The moment they left his mouth, Zhou Mi knew that he could never, ever take them back, that things would never be normal between them. Sacrificing things for Kyuhyun was something he had grown used to, so he figured he would sacrifice any chance of remaining friendship as well. Or maybe he was just sacrificing his sanity, because the moment the words escaped his lips, hot, annoying tears began to spill down his face, and his heart felt as if it might stop.

Kyuhyun just stared at him, his face mostly unreadable. Zhou Mi thought he saw flashes of hurt, regret, confusion, all of those things, but the singer was mostly quiet, his usually sharp mind trying to figure out exactly just what his friend had said.

"Zhou Mi, what do you mean?" the younger said finally, his voice strangely high, and a little rough. That voice never failed to give Zhou Mi goosebumps; there was just something so sensual about Kyuhyun's voice, in singing and speaking. But now was definitely not the time.

"Us. We can't. Not ever again," he whispered, but not without certainty behind it. "I can't, I don't, I'll never love you."

Kyuhyun looked as though he had just been slapped across the face. His chocolate-colored eyes never lingered from Zhou Mi's own, trying to see if there was nothing more than defiance and disdain in his eyes. He could easily see that there was; Zhou Mi was never good at hiding things from him.

"Why are you saying these things?" he replied shakily, a horrible, empty feeling welling up in his stomach. "You told me…you told me you loved me. You told me you were in love. You…" Kyuhyun's voice grew quieter, his tone softer. "You know I love you, that I'm crazy for you. You're the most important person in the world to me. If this is about yesterday…"

"No, no, no, Kui Xian, this has nothing to do with yesterday." Zhou Mi wiped the now cold tears from his face, even though new ones were threatening to form. "I can't tell you why. I just can't love you anymore."

Kyuhyun felt them coming, the inevitable tears. He promised himself a long time ago that he would never cry in front of Zhou Mi, but Zhou Mi was tearing him apart. His words, his unwillingness to at least let Kyuhyun understand was destroying the younger singer, and it hurt. It hurt like hell. He wanted, needed to know.

"Zhou Mi. Please. Please tell me. I need to know why," the Korean man begged, his tone urgent, his eyes dark and pleading. "I know you still love me, I can see it!"

Zhou Mi shook his head from side to side vigorously, willing the younger's words to be untrue, even though he knew they weren't. Of course he loved Kyuhyun. Of course he did, how could he ever not? He kept shaking his head, but some part of him inside crumbled when the first heartbroken tear rolled down Kyuhyun's right cheek, along the curve of his nose that Zhou Mi admired so much, and then onto his lips, which Zhou Mi would give anything to kiss again.

"Kui Xian, I'll tell you. I'll tell you because I do love you, more than anything." He breathed in, long and deep. "They know."

Kyuhyun stood in silence, waiting for the Chinese man to continued.

"They all know, everyone does, and they told me it had to stop. Us. Our thing. They told me it couldn't happen, it was wrong, it was ruining everything." Zhou Mi couldn't control his anger at this point, couldn't control the unfairness of it all and the tears came. "They told me to stay away from you. They said that if I didn't, we would both be dropped. I can't let that happen."

Zhou Mi then smiled for the first time that day. "I know you said it was me, but I know that singing is the most important thing in the world to you. And you're good, Kui Xian, really good. Our relationship isn't worth you losing that."

Kyuhyun's chest felt tight. He finally broke his gaze from Zhou Mi, no longer able to look him in the eye.

"It is worth it," Kyuhyun said quietly, a rather strong breeze sweeping through the deserted parking lot they were standing in. "I can always sing. But if we're not together, I don't know how I'll find the voice. I…" He faltered.

Zhou Mi was quiet. Kyuhyun was pensive, trying to figure out what he should do. No, what they should do, because they were Kyuhyun and Zhou Mi, and to him, nothing in the world had ever sounded or felt so right.

"I think maybe you should go," the younger of the two said finally, Zhou Mi's previous words running painfully through his mind.

"I just don't love you anymore."

Kyuhyun had hated to hear it, and now he hated to think it might even be true.

Zhou Mi understood Kyuhyun's reasoning in telling him to go. Zhou Mi immediately ran up to the shorter male, threw his long arms around him and hugged him, whispering things frantically in Chinese spoken too fast for Kyuhyun to understand, other than bits and pieces.

Wo ai ni. Saranghaeyo. I love you. I never want to be apart from you, I never wanted any of this to happen. How dare the world do this to us.

Kyuhyun muttered something back to him in Korean he knew Zhou Mi didn't know, and the elder man finally pressed his lips to Kyuhyun's, and the world around them seemed to stop. The kiss was chaste, and every second of it made Kyuhyun's heart pound in his ribcage and he didn't want it to ever end, but Zhou Mi broke apart from him.

"If you're willing to leave SM and be mine forever," he whispered against Kyuhyun's soft hair, where he had pressed his lips, "then I'll love you forever and ever."

Kyuhyun hesitated. Zhou Mi continued, reworking his words.

"Kui Xian, I'll always love you no matter what you decide," he said quietly, taking the younger man's hand in his own.

"Zhou Mi," Kyuhyun began, his voice low. "I'm going to stay with SM and with you. I'll make it work. They can't drop either of us. I promise, everything will be fine."

Kyuhyun tried to sound strong, but Zhou Mi knew. He knew things wouldn't be the same. They would have to hide their love, or face the consequences. And it was killing Kyuhyun, he could easily see.

And then Kyuhyun's eyes grew misty and his beautiful face was plagued with more tears, and he even sobbed, and then he felt weak. Zhou Mi held him, and the two remained locked like that.

"I'll always love you, you'll always sing, I'll make sure you're happy," the Chinese man breathed as he his magnae's hair, his Korean broken and his accent slipping through. "I promise. I love you. I should have never told you otherwise."

Kyuhyun nodded and then broke away from Zhou Mi's hold on him, wiping his eyes on his jacket sleeve.

He tried to tell himself that what he had said was true, but sometimes it's hard to believe.

It was very hard to believe.