“My baby girl. I can’t ... I can’t afford to lose her. My heart can only takes so much ...” Hyo Ri’s voice trembled and Kikwang closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around her as he blinked away his own tears. Hyo Ri melted into Kikwang’s arms, wanting to find a shed of comfort just for a moment. Just like he was. Hyo Rin joined them not long after, and all three of them cried in silence over the fact that they might lose their beloved someone.

Later that afternoon, they gathered in her room. Hyosung was surprisingly calm when Doctor Ga-Eul broke the news to her, too calm for his liking; she acted like it wasn’t a comet that hit her but just a mere feather. She patted their entangled fingers and smiled at him, gave it a soft squeeze when Doctor Ga-Eul finished her explanation.

“I understand and I want to go on with the surgery. I want to be healthy again. It’s no fun being stuck here all the time, you know,” She whispered, giggled and leaned in to kiss both her hands on Kikwang’s and her sisters, and the whole thing made him wanted to cry. Why wasn’t she scared? They neither opposed nor agree to it; both would have improbable result. He just didn’t know what to do that moment. He knew he was running out of time and his heart was still telling him that there was something more he could do.

Praying for a miracle was all he could think of.

Two days passed, and they scheduled Hyosung’s surgery to be in five days time. They all managed to act as normal as they could despite the heavy tension in the air. It was like as if they’re counting down the moments to apocalypse – unpredictable; will she or will she not make through it? What if something went wrong during the surgery? Too many ‘what ifs’ lingered in their thoughts, Kikwang was amazed that they were all still sane.

Despite Doctor Ga-Eul’s displeasure about Hyosung getting out of her watchful eyes, she reluctantly complied to Kikwang’s request to take Hyosung out that day. She knew how hard it was for him to accept what was happening, and this was the least she could do. At least it would help to ease a little pain away, right?

“I’m excited! Where are we going?” Pure excitement portrayed on her eyes as she eyed him and he smiled at her. He missed seeing her like this. He took her hand and placed a gentle kiss on it, before pinching her almost sunken cheeks. The cold were sinking in as Winter was just around the corner, so Hyosung was heavily bundled up and she look so tiny due to her decreasing weight. Nevertheless, she was still beautiful to his eyes. “Not telling. It’s a surprise!”

They arrived at Lotte World in half an hour, and Hyosung’s eyes brightened even more at the sight of her family and close friends who had gathered there before them. Her fellow Secret, Beast, Miss A, Infinite, G.Na, FT Island, 4Minute, and she was even more surprised to see Uncle Hong and her president to be there. Nevertheless, she was extremely happy to see all of them. No thanks to their tight schedules, they hardly ever got to visit her except some of them. She wonder how they managed to escape today’s schedule though, not that she was complaining about it. She was more amazed when she noticed that they were the only ones there, no one else but them. The power of money, she chuckled to herself as she eyed her president and Uncle Hong.

Despite Hyosung wasn’t allowed on some of the thrilling rides due to her condition, they had a blast mainly because most of them rarely got the chance to visit here too. They spent the whole day eating cotton candies, running from one ride to the other (Kikwang gave Hyosung piggyback rides while they were at it to keep up with their face-paced friends, which Kikwang later gave up and just walked instead), and they laughed their heads off when they were at the outdoor park. The boys decided to ride the Gyro Drop and that was when the funny part kicked in – Joon was practically screaming his heads off in fear, incoherent words could be heard all the way down and she swore Joon almost turn as green as Shrek when they came down from it.

Seeing how carefree they were that moment, Hyosung was taken back to the her past memories just before her parents died – the carefree days, going through it without having any burden on their shoulder to carry and led an almost problem free life.

“Are you okay?” Hyosung snapped back to reality when she heard Kikwang calling her name. They were now at the ice-rink, skating with each other’s partner and Kikwang flashed a concerned look on his face. “We can go sit down if you’re not feeling well. Let’s go.”

“Anya, I’m fine. Just a little lost in thoughts there.” She squeezed his hands as he pulled them across the ice, no thanks to her for not being a good skater. It was almost midnight and Kikwang had been nothing but really sweet and helpful to her today, like he always did, but somehow she felt really special that moment. She linked her fingers behind his neck, stared up into his eyes and gave him her brightest smile. “Thank you for everything. Today is really the best day, ever.”

“I’m glad that you love it.” Kikwang gently peck her lips and then a gentle kiss on her neck as he softly whispered, “Okay, let’s get going to the grand finale.”

“Grand finale? There’s more?” Her eyes widen in wonder as Kikwang lead her to the middle of the ice-rink. She suddenly realized that all the lights had dimmed down, and they were the only two that was visible to the eyes as two spotlights dawned on them. Kikwang smiled at her before he disappeared into the dark shadow and she was left standing alone under the spotlight.

A sudden spark lit up from a far, and another one lit up just right next to it, and it continued until a full circle of colourful sparks were made around the ice-rink. It was beautiful at how it lit up the room, and the sound of tiny explosion above shocked her. Something fell on her hair softly, and she realized it was a pink rose petal – it was snowing rose petals all around her. Kikwang.

She couldn’t keep the silly smile on her face when he emerged from the darkness, looking dashing as ever with tuxedo on. Wait, did he go for a wardrobe change? Kikwang skated towards her, and it seemed like she wasn’t the only one with the silly look. He took hold both of her hands, before deliberately skated in circle on the spot, causing her to burst into paroxysms of silly giggles. He then stopped and pulled her closer to him, their faces barely an inch apart before his lips slowly touched against hers tenderly. When he pulled away, they were both smiling with forehead against each other, feeling the unexplainable love they had for one another.

“Shall we dance?” Before she could answer, a music started in the background. He pulled her closer and they started to move (skate to be specific) around the ice-rink. He did all the work, seeing how badly she couldn’t skate, and they glide effortlessly under the glow of colourful lights lit above them.

“Are you enjoying this, Miss Jeon Hyosung?” Kikwang whispered in her ears.

“So very much,” She laughed.

“Good,” He replied, his voice exultant, and he leaned down to kiss her while they glided. She felt like she could die happy now, if that was what her future would be, so be it. She couldn’t ask for anything more than just to be in his arms like this. The music changed, and just then, their friends and family joined them in the rink and danced along with them. They laughed, they screamed in laughter when someone slipped, they exchanged partners and then the music stop abruptly. Doojoon who was dancing with her, left her standing alone while the crowd parted and she saw Kikwang moved forward to her before kneeling on the icy floor, taking her hand in his and kissed it. He then looked up at her, clearly nervous but his angelic smile never left his face.

Eyes widened, her heart thundered against her ribs, and she swore she could hear it echoed through the whole area. She gulped. Oh god, is he ...?

“Do you love me?” He asked her.

“I do.” She smiled down at him, and she bit her lips down.

“Do you want me to be happy?” As he asked her this, Hyosung could feel him trembling through their linked fingers.

“Of course I do.” She was almost in tears, when it finally registered what he was trying to do. Oh my god.

“Will you do something for me, then?” Kikwang gulped, clearly nervous as heck. Hyosung could only nod as she covered her free hand on , trying to stop whatever sound that’s coming out. Her throats begin to tighten when Kikwang took out a red velvet box out of his pocket and there it laid, a simple silver ring with two tiny diamonds encrusted on it. Kikwang gulped again, and took out the ring out of the box and held it to her.

“Will you marry me...?”

“Y-Yes. Yes. Yes, I will.” She managed to choke out in a nearly unintelligible whispers.  Overwhelmed in emotion, she nodded as Kikwang slipped the ring through her fingers. She didn’t realized she was crying until Kikwang stood up and gave her a breathtaking smile of exultation as his hands reached up to cradle her face and his eyes shone through her soul, tearing up as well.

Kikwang bent his head towards Hyosung, and she stretched up on tips of her toes, and encircled her arms around his neck and then he kissed her tenderly. If she could exaggerate, she swore she felt like she was in seventh heaven then; it made her forgot where she was and how her heart swelled so much it could burst any moment. Kikwang pulled away slowly, forehead against each other and smile exultantly again before he picked her up and twirled her around in circle.

“She said yes!” An explosive of cheers and applauses joined them from behind, and she had never felt more loved than it was right then.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

A short update, I think. I usually wrote up to seven pages but yeah. Anyway, Kikwang finally proposed her! Let's us all rejoice to this! But wait, what about her surgery? Will she survive the ordeal, or will she succumb to it?

Stay tune, because the next two chapters will be my final ones! And yes, I'm keeping my promise about making an alternate endings. I haven't forget. Please do anticipate it. Thanks a lot guys for reading! *big bear hugs to all of you.