My fingers started trembling as I started trembling and I stopped playing and continued crying instead. I placed my hands on the top of the paino and leaned my forehead on my hands as my tears landed softly on the keys. Just then, I heard the quiet click sound of the door opening. I looked up and saw the one person I didn't want too see, Kim Yugyeom. I quickly wiped away my tears and grabbed my bag.

"We need to talk..." he said seriously.

I ignored him and headed towards the door but he slammed it shut and stood in between me and the door. With the hardest of my abilities, I started trying to push himm away but he wouldn't even budge. Suddenly, Yugyeom placed his hands on my shoulders and slammed my back against the wall. There was hardly any space in between us and we were so close that our breathing seemed so loud.

"Why are you like this?" he asked.

My eyes darted everywhere else except for him but then he roughly shook my shoulders and I focused on him. I saw desperation in his eyes... and sadness and confusion.

"Why do you care?" I asked coldly.

"... Because I love you..." he said.

My heart started racing and I shook my head in disbelief. He couldn't love me... he shouldn't.

"No, you don't," I said, trying to deny his feelings but he was more stubborn than me.

"I love you, Kang Sowon. I'm telling you now... no matter what you do to stay away from me, I'll always run to you and stay close because I love you," he said firmly.

With that, he took a step back.

YUGYEOM'S POV

I said it... I actually confessed to her. She didn't say she loved me back but I know  she did. I just didn't know why she was holding her feelings back. Out of the blue, I saw her shedding tears again. She kept on wiping them away but it was of no use as more tears fell.

"Yugyeom... You don't want to love me," she said, sounding like a warning.

"I do... You said that we can't control how we feel. How I feel about you... I can't just ignore it anymore. Whatever, I'm not rich... I'm not smart but I am strong and I'm as stubborn as a mule and I'm not going anywhere," I said but she shook her head and continued crying.

"Please don't... I don't want to hurt you, Yugyeom ah... Please don't love me..." she pleaded as her legs lost strength and she slid down to the floor.

I knelt down in front of her and helped her up. Why was she like this? Why did she not want me to love her?

"Why? Tell me why, Sowon. Why can't I love you?" I asked.

"Because I'm going to hurt you a lot... Don't let me hurt you, Yugyeom. I really don't want to hurt you... I don't want to hurt anyone..." she said in between sobs.

I hugged her tightly. I didn't understand why she would hurt me and I didn't understand why she wouldn't tell me. What I did know was that she was sad... and she felt alone.

LATER ON...

I was at home. My textbook was in front of me, wide open but I wasn't paying any attention to it. I didn't even realise that Mark hyung was back until he spoke up.

"Gyeom ah!" he shouted, making me shocked.

I turned around and frowned at him.

"YAH, HYUNG! You scared me!" I complained and he laughed mischievously.

"Gyeom, you seem distant today. Anything wrong?" he asked.

"Oh... Sowon... I told her I loved her today," I confessed.

Instantly, Mark hyung's expression changed to worry and he looked nervously at me.

"And?" he asked.

"She told me to not love her... because she was going to hurt me a lot but she didn't tell me anything else so now I'm confused. She looked really, really sad the whole day so I didn't ask her anymore," I said.

There was a certain look on Mark hyung's face that showed he knew something that I didn't.

"Hyung... Your lying face is appearing. Do you know anything about this?" I asked.

He shook his head quickly and rushed into our room. I followed him inside and saw him on his bed, staring down into his palms.

"Hyung... Come on, if you know something, you have to tell me," I said as I sat on the floor in front of him.

Mark hyung looked up at me and sighed.

THE NEXT DAY...

I was late again to school that day and I could tell Jackson, Youngjae and JB were getting worried. I was at the hallway, placing stuff into my locker.

"Sowon ah~"

I looked to the side and saw JB, Youngjae and Jackson looking worriedly at me.

"Uh?" I asked.

"Are you okay?" JB asked.

"Yeah..." I lied.

"I'm not buying it. Pretty Sowon smiles all day... that's when I know she's fine. You hardly smile now so that means you're not fine," Jackson said cutely, which was hard for me to not smile at that.

"Ei~~~" they said in unison.

"Um... I'm sorry for being sad all the time... I... I have a secret that I think you all should know about but I'm scared.

The three of them looked at me puzzlingly.

"Okay... Lets eat first, recess ends in 15 minutes," Youngjae said as the four of us headed to the cafeteria.

We had all finished our food. I decided to tell them then.

"Um... I guess you guys know that I've been home-schooled all my life and I've never had a single friend that's my age. I go to the hospital often and guards are always close to me," I said and they nodded.

"The thing is... I'm sick..." I said slowly.

"Sick? Like fever.... flu?" Youngjae asked and I shook my head and bit my lip.

"I... um... I have this disease... where my heart can't beat fast... and its really weak..." I said, feeling tears in my eyes.

"So that's why you can't go to P.E. That's nothing to be ashamed of!" Jackson exclaimed.

"There's something else... Isn't there?" JB asked worriedly and I nodded.

"Um... My heart is getting weaker and weaker everyday. The doctors said there's a high chance that I can't live past 20 years..." I said.

No one said a word after that.

"I... uh... Excuse me," JB said as he got up and left.

"I... I need to go to the restroom..." Jackson said, a slight crack in his voice.

I faced down to the table and started crying silently.

"I'm so sorry, Sowon... I know you want friends... but for now... let us think and take it all in for a while, okay?" Youngjae asked and I pressed my lips together and nodded.

He got up and left afterwards, leaving me alone. I didn't hate them for leaving... I would've done the same too if all of a sudden someone I cared about and just knew told me they were dying. Whenever people found out I was dying, they'd pity me and there would be this... wall in between me and them. I didn't want that wall between me and my friends. However, what I didn't want more was for them to find out about it too late. Just then, Yugyeom sat in front of me and started eating a piece of bread.

"Aish... You already finished eating? You didn't even wait for me," He complained.

"Yugyeom, I----" I said halfway when he interupted me.

"I know... I know about everything. Mark hyung told me," he said as he looked at me, into my eyes.

"Then why are you here with me?" I asked.

"You're left with 2 more years to live. That means I only have that much time left with you and I'm not going to waste another second," he said.

I was taken aback by his words... and for the first time, someone who knew about my disease, didn't avoid me.

"Yugyeom ah..." I said, feeling touched.

"So don't even bother trying to stay away from me. I can stay away from others... just not you," he said stubbornly.

I smiled and felt a tear trickle down my cheek. Yugyeom leaned closer to me and wiped the tear away with his thumb.

"I'm not going to leave you... You've been alone long enough... I won't let you be alone anymore," he said.

"Can I say something that I'm not supposed to?" I asked, a smile on my face.

"What's that?" He asked.

"... I love you," I said.