I looked at the clock for the umpteenth time and sighed while putting away my customer's items in a bag. Trying to look happy, I smiled and said, "Have a good day! Come back soon!" The customer suspiciously looked at me then walked quickly away. Nowadays everyone was suspicious if they saw a little kindness. It was expected for everyone to be harsh and strict on others. They said Mother Nature was cruel and that therefore it's okay to be cruel back. I disagreed.

I watched the clock tick.

I remembered back when everyone was happy, when there were more plants, laughter and sunlight. Before we started to use more trees, taking it for granted. Before we needed more paper and more houses as the population multiplied all over the world. When new diseases appeared as houses became more crowded and forced to be close to others. Diseases that eventually animals and plants caught. Genetically enhanced animals and crops that were immortal to the new diseases, but something went wrong with them and they are starting to die out too. Many cities flooded including Vancouver, New York, and most of England and Japan since all of the ice melted from the Arctic. People were forced to flee inland and crowed other homes.

There wasn't much happiness in my childhood since most of it was during hectic times. But there still was enough happiness in my childhood for me to yearn for it. There was Kibum.

Our parents left us as soon as they felt like they couldn't take care of all of us together, so they decided to keep the ones old enough to work and help. They left 13-year-old me and a 14-year-old Kibum to fend for themselves. It took us a while, but Kibum was able to find two factory jobs for the both of us. Our boss treated us well, but it was a draining job. There were more siblings that I remember very vaguely, but whenever I asked Kibum about our past he'd become too upset to answer, so I never asked about our older siblings. After ten years, I forgot my parents and brothers' faces, but it didn't matter since I had Kibum.

I'm glad Kibum didn't leave me, he could've, but he didn't. It meant a lot to me. He was the only person who cared about me and did everything he could to keep me alive.

Two years ago we found out he had cancer. Even though there was a cure, we didn't have the money for the surgery so I worked twice as hard and slept for only 6 hours with one meal and three cups of coffee. I didn't let Kibum know how hard I was working so that I didn't worry him more than he does now. I was okay with it, as long as Kibum survives. I sighed again, thinking of how we had to survive alone.

*******

"Hey!" someone said sharply, bringing me back to my job. I looked up and saw my boss glowering at me.

"Sorry, sir, what did you say?"

"I need to close the store, get out!" and with that he his heel and walked away.

I put away my stuff and walked out. Finally, I could see Kibum again; I smiled at the thought and hurried my pace. I only got to see Kibum twice a week so I tried to make the best out of each visit.

I waved at the receptionist who has long gotten used to my unusual friendliness. Kibum always taught me to smile and laugh no matter the circumstance.

I skipped into Kibum's room and sang, "Hi," but stopped midway when I saw my brother.

His skin that was usually a healthy color was literally yellow. My eyes widened when I saw how his bones jutted out from his skin and how sunken his eyes were. Yet as usual when he saw me he smiled the best he could, which instead looked like a grimace. When did he become so sick, I just saw him four days ago.

"You look horrible, hyung," I whispered.

"And hello to you too," he said cheerfully. "Come," he opened his arms, "I missed you, Little K."

I rolled my eyes at the annoying nickname he called me, he always begged me to call him Big K, but I never did. I walked into his arms and held on tightly to his hospital gown. His body felt frighteningly thin and fragile. It felt like if I held him any tighter he'd snap.

I couldn't take it anymore. Hyung is dying. My only hope in this world and he was dying. Tears sprang to my eyes and I didn't bother hiding them this time. I sobbed violently and shoke as I thought of Kibum leaving me alone. Alone in this heartless world.

Kibum only held me tightly and rubbed my back. He whispered words in my ears that I couldn't hear. Eventually I stopped crying when his soft voice soothed me.

"Hey," he said, "It's going to be all right, nothing's going to happen to either of us. Even if something does happen to either one of us, we still have to be strong. It's what both of us want, for each other to be strong. If you want to make me happy stay strong, don't worry about anything. Besides nothing will happen."  I looked into his eyes, and saw how hard it was for him to say that without breaking-down himself. So for once I just laid in his arms and believed that it'll all somehow work out in the end.

"I've got one more thing to ask you to do," he said seriously.

"I'll do whatever you want." Wondering what his second last wish is.

He smiled, "Good, now call me Big K." I burst out laughing, "Never." For the next few hours we laughed until we cried and forgot the whole mess we were in.

********

"Bye," I called out to Kibum and he answered, "Stay smiling and laughing Kyuhyun."

I walked out of the room, but bumped into someone who dropped his files. Bending down, I reached for the files and gave them back, "Sorry." Looking up I saw Kibum's doctor.

"Oh, good. I've been meaning to call you and tell you, but..." he looked away and ruffled his hair. "I'm sorry, but...he doesn't have much time left."

"How much," I sighed, I knew he didn't have more than a year left.

"Six months, if we're lucky," he said and I gasped *six months?*. He quickly continued, "I don't mean to rush you, but the sooner you get the money, the sooner his surgery will be able to take place. And the sooner, the better, because if we do the surgery too late, he could still die.

"I'll try my best," is all I can say for now.

**************

My body felt numb as I walked out of the hospital. I can't cry. I promised hyung, I'd stay strong for him. Then I brightened, if I hurried, I could probably pick up an extra shift at one of my jobs, or find another job, besides I don't think I can sleep right now.

I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking until I bumped into another guy. This time I fell and when I looked up, I saw a shady man wearing dark clothing. My eyes widened as I realized I was walking in the bad neighbourhood that I usually avoided. More guys came from behind me and surrounded me. My body stiffened and froze in shock.

I counted eight guys around me. Gripping the switchblade, hyung always made me carry around since there were more bad people around, I felt a bit more confident.

"I'm sorry," I said and I got up brushing the dirt from my clothes. "Um..." I said uncomfortably as the other guys loomed over me.

"Sorry?" sneered one guy, "What good will a sorry do? What should we do to make him pay?" he looked up at the guy I bumped into. I realized that he was probably the leader.

I searched my head for what might make up for my mistake. Then I smiled and pulled out my Coffee Crisp from my pocket, I always kept some type of caffeine, in case I needed it. "Is chocolate okay?" I smiled; I love chocolate and everything about it, especially how sweet it is. I offered the chocolate to the leader. Looking up at him I saw that he had brown fluffy hair the same color as a Hershey bar *I wonder how his hair feels like*. I shook my head awake, now wasn't the time to be day-dreaming about chocolate hair.

The switchblade was still in my other hand gripped tightly. Even if I wouldn't be able to take down one of them, let alone eight, I wasn't going down without a fight. All of them grew quiet, *were they mad?* I was just about to pull the blade out when one of them held my wrist tightly and pulled my hand from my pocket with the blade. He squeezed until I let it go with a yelp. Another one kicked it away. They started to come closer.

I looked back at the leader and begged with my eyes for him to accept the chocolate. He squinted at me. "Wait," he said calmly and they all froze and looked at him. He grabbed my arm and grabbed me to the closest street light and scrutinized my face. I felt uncomfortable with his gaze so I looked down at my shoes.

“Yesung,” he called one of them over. He whispered something in his ear that caused Yesung to widen his eyes. He came over to me and looked at me with the same look. The other members of the gang started joking around with each other, not caring about what was going on here. I was startled by this because most people would have been suspicious of me and would have killed me minutes ago without hesitating.  

“What’s your name?” Yesung asked.

“Kyuhyun.”

Yesung and the leader gasped.

The leader brought his arms up and I flinched expecting him to hit me. When I didn’t feel anything I opened my eyes and saw that Yesung had stopped the leader, “You’re going to freak the kid if you hug him now Leeteuk hyung. Instead…” and he whispered into his ears. Leeteuk nodded.

He turned to me and smiled, which freaked me out.  Was he planning something? Was he happy because he found a fun way to torture me?

As if reading my mind he answered, “No, we’re not going to hurt you. Instead we want you to join our gang.” He smiled and took the Coffee Crisp, “Thanks, I love chocolate, by the way. So what do you say? Are you going to join our gang?”

I shook my head, I wouldn’t have enough time for my jobs if I joined the gang. I couldn’t leave Kibum. “Why do you want me to join anyways?“

Yesung hesitated then said, “ We only let people that have feelings to join.” *Oh that explained their different behaviours*

Leeteuk and Yesung looked disappointed. “Is there any way we could change your mind to join us?” Yesung asked hopefully.

I hesitated. I didn’t want to tell them that I was having money problems. It wasn’t really something strangers told each other about.

Leeteuk softened, “Is it money?”

I looked away and nodded. Who knows? Maybe they’re the only way I can get money for Hyung. I felt my face flush.

“How much?”

I whispered the amount I needed in his ear. His eyes widened, and I looked at the ground. Was it too much?

 “That little? We can easily get you the money, so will you join?”

I hesitated again. Kibum only had 6 months left…

“Think about it for a couple of days okay? Let’s switch numbers.”

**********************

A few hours after my shift I was back home. I looked at my clock and saw that it was 3AM.  I still didn’t feel well enough to sleep so I had two more hours until my next job.  What should I do for two hours? I had no TV or computer since I sold those years ago.

In the end, I ended up making ramen. I needed to eat, since today’s going to be another long day. While slurping my noodles as loud and as slow as I could I stared out the window and saw the sky turning a dark purple. After washing my bowl and putting it away, I stared at the wall and sighed.

I turned over to my home phone (I can’t afford a mobile phone and home phone so I only have a home phone) and saw that I had 26 missed calls from an unknown number. I frowned and clicked play to listen to them. Leeteuk and Yesung’s distinct voices came out sounding more and more worried with each passing message. I startled when I heard the phone ring. I looked at it wondering if it would bite me.

Slowly I answered it, “Hello?”

I heard some murmurs and then a loud shout, “Teukie Hyung! He answered!” said Yesung.

“Hi! Kyuhyun is that you?”

“Yeah, Yesung-ssi?”

“YOU REMEMBER!” I heard more shouts over a phone and a “gimme that.”

“Kyuhyun! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?” said Leeteuk’s worried voice.

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“CAUSE YOU DIDN’T ANSWER THE DAMN PHONE! You had us worried, where were you?”

“At work,” I said, confused on why they were worried.

“Oh so you work at night.”

“And in the day.”

He sounded confused now, “Then when do you sleep?”

I didn’t answer.

“YOU DON’T SLEEP!!”

“Just today,”  I reassured him.

“WHY AREN’T YOU ASLEEP?”

“I can’t fall asleep.”

“GO TO SLEEP!”

I looked at the phone. Should I even bother to answer?

“Are you still there?”

“Yah.”

“Why can’t you fall asleep?” Leeteuk said softly.

Why did Leeteuk and Yesung act like they care for me? Why are they trying so hard to pretend like they care when they shouldn’t? I had only one person who cared for me, the only one capable of caring. WHY DO THEY DAMN CARE?!?! It made my blood boil, are they trying to replace my Hyung?

“WHY DO YOU CARE IF MY BROTHER’S DYING IN 6 MONTHS? WHAT’S IT TO YOU? STOP BUGGING ME I’VE GOT WORK UNLIKE YOU THUGS WHO BUY PEOPLE TO GET WHAT YOU WANT! WHY DO YOU CARE ABOUT ME?!?”

I was crying now.  I slammed the phone down and cried into my arms.

Soon I got up to wash my face, my next shift is in a few minutes and I couldn’t impress my boss with puffy eyes. I sighed and walked to the bathroom.

2 SUBSCRIBERS A COMMENT AND ALMOST A HUNDRED VIEWS?!?!  *sniffs* I feel so loved GIMME A HUG \(T^T)/   <---- tears of happiness!

hello everybody! I thought I'd try to write a long chapter ( hehe it's 2AM... get it? But seriously it really is 2AM)

Is it okay? Boring? Too fast? Confusing? (you can ask me questions I'll answer :)) GIMME FEEDBACK NOW!!!

You know what's weird? I'm generally a happy, hyper person (or so I'm told) and I'm writing this sad story while listening to happy songs... did I mention I'm weird? hehe cuz I am!!! and I'm proud of it :D

I'm working on the poster, but I'm lazy so it'll take a while...

This story is making me feel sad :( but most of the time when I'm sad I'm sad in a good way...it's hard to explain lol

Now I'm happy *squeals* cuz *drom roll...* I'VE FINISHED MY FIRST EVER CHAPTER!!! YAY!!!

COME ON CONTINUE SHOWING ME YOUR LOVE!! COMMENT AND SUBSCRIBE CAUSE I'M DESPERATE :P

btw I'm I the only one who ABSALOUTLY LOVES THE BACKGROUND?! It's soooo awesome, even though it doesn't fit the mood of the story...

muahahah I'm planning something evil that will (hopefully) blow your minds >:)