Xiumin was smiling after the two stars left. He met his bias, Park Chanyeol. It was a dream come true. At the end of work Himchan came out from his office, “What has you happy Xiumin-ah?”

“Baekhyun-ssi came by with Chanyeol-ssi.” Xiumin blushed.

“Gosh you’re adorable Xiumin. What are you doing tonight?” Himchan ruffled Xiumin’s hair earning him a disgruntled look.

“Nothing much, just studying for a quiz later this week.”

“Great we are going to have dinner then. Just me and you.”

“I’m sorry hyung but-“

“No excuses. We haven’t had dinner with each other alone since Jongup died. I am not allowing this to continue on any longer Xiumin-ah.” Xiumin nodded once he saw his hyung’s narrowed eyes. They were his ‘obey or die’ eyes that no one wanted to be on the receiving end of. They finished closing up before walking to a nearby BBQ place. They sat down, ordered, and soon were grilling up their food in silence. “Xiumin-ah you know I don’t blame you, right?”

“But hyung if I hadn’t introduced you two then it would have never happened.” Xiumin replied in a small voice.

“Xiumin I knew what I was getting into when Jongup and I decided to get together. The only thing I am sad about is that you didn’t tell me that you have the same disease.”

Xiumin looked down at his lap, “I… I didn’t want to burden you hyung. I’m leaving. I can’t do this right now hyung.” Xiumin left as quickly as he could leaving Himchan by himself. “Oh, Jongup if you could see your nephew now.” Himchan mumbled before he started eating, it was never polite to let food go to waste.

Xiumin ran all the way to his apartment and slam the door shut, he collapsed to the floor crying. Too many things were happening to him at once. First Luhan come to Korea, then Chanyeol, and finally Himchan knowing. Knowing about the one thing that only his doctor knows about. Xiumin cried and cried until he had no more tears and his phone rang. “Hello?”

“Xiumin?”

“Chen?” Xiumin choked on a sob.

“Hyung are you okay? Do you need me to come over?”

“Please.” Xiumin kept sobbing but no tears were present. A few minutes later a soft knock echoed through the apartment and Xiumin got up and opened the door. He flung himself at Chen and hugged him like a life line. “Hyung what’s wrong?” Chen asked softly as he half carried Xiumin to his bed. Chen was sitting against the headboard and Xiumin was on top of him still sobbing but slowly calming down.

“I saw Luhan again and Himchan wanted to talk about Jongup.”

“Who is Luhan hyung? Is he someone you knew in China?” Chen asked. He knew not to touch the Jongup subject. Jongup was a name that could make Xiumin shut down when uttered by anyone that was not close to him or if he was highly strung out like now.

“He was my best friend. He was my best friend and he betrayed me. He left me. He left me Chen.” Xiumin choked out the words. He was too distraught to give Chen the whole story.

“Shh. Shh. Hyung don’t worry I’m here. I won’t leave you hyung. I’m right here.” Chen decided that calming down Xiumin was more important to find out anything else. Xiumin fell asleep once calmed emotionally exhausted from everything. Chen looked down at his sleeping hyung and frowned. “Hyung what happened to you? I hate seeing you like this.” Chen shimmied both of them under the sheets and fell asleep as well holding his small hyung whom looked so fragile at that moment in time.

The next morning Xiumin opened his red and puffy eyes to the sight of Chen’s chest and smiled, Chen kept his promise. He didn’t leave Xiumin. Xiumin detached himself from Chen’s side and went to the bathroom to wash-up and get ready for the day. By the time he was done Chen had woken up. “Thank you for staying Chen. Sorry if I was a burden.”

“Its fine hyung but one of these days you’ll need to tell me what happened between you and Luhan.”

“I know… Do you want pancakes before we go to class?”

“Yes! Of course! Pancakes are from the Gods!” Chen exclaimed rushing to the kitchen waiting for Xiumin to start on the delicious breakfast. It was one of the few moments Xiumin allowed happiness back into his life. Music and these rare moments with his friends, really just Chen as Chen was his best friend. Breakfast was quiet, minus Chen’s moans of delight, and the two were soon off to campus. Before parting ways Chen whispered to Xiumin, “If you need this Luhan guy off of you don’t hesitate to call or text. If it gets desperate tell him you have a boyfriend.” Xiumin nodded in agreement. Chen kissed his cheek and Xiumin slapped his shoulder before going to his first class. He felt like today would be a good day.

He was slightly wrong, today was horrible. Luhan seemed to be in all his classes and sat next to him either staring at him creepily or questioning if he was Minseok. Xiumin had to have it were Chen tool him to and from classes, their schedules matched well, and after the last class he ran out of campus. He had the day off today so he decided to do what Chen had always told him to do to lift up his mood, shopping.

Xiumin stepped into the department store and decided to stop by the music store first. He still felt stressed, anxious, and tired but as he let his mind wander from everything that has happened to nothing at all he started to relax. He never really had any money to splurge with all the bills and school but he could see why Chen went shopping to lift his mood. He forgot about responsibilities and schedules and got lost in the stores surrounding him. Xiumin walked into a jewelry store a couple hours later and he started looking around curiously, he had never been in a jewelry store before so everything was new to him. Then something caught his eye. It was a necklace. It was fairly simple in design actually. Just an oval locket on a silver chain. The locket itself had a delicately carved fairy that had an expression of longing on it. Xiumin carefully calculated the price and how much money he had to spend on something that was not necessary for him to survive. It was a bit expensive but it just called to him and he decided it was worth it in the end, after all it was the first gift to himself in many years. He called one of the staff over and quickly paid for the necklace before leaving the store. On his way home he figured out the perfect picture that would go in the locket.

He quickly took the picture and went to the school library to scan and shrink the picture afterwards he cut it out and placed it in the locket before clasping the necklace around his neck. It was a picture of his parents hugging him with Jongup in the background grinning like he won the lottery. The picture was from his sixth birthday and it made him tear up are he looked at how happy he was then, how happy they were then. He fell asleep that night clutching the locket dreaming of cakes, smiles, hugs, and singing. How he wished he could turn back the clock just to have a little more time with his parents and Jongup.