7 years ago: Friday

“Please, Yunnie. Please do this for me” she whispered weakly; lip quivering as she tightened her hold on his fingers as much as she could. But he hardly felt it, her entire strength wasn’t enough to make even a toddler wince. His heart broke a million times watching how frail she’d gotten, her once rosy cheeks now pale, dry and sunken. Her beautiful lips that he loved to kiss so much, now chapped and trembling around the IV line.

“I can’t…” was all he managed to utter in his broken state, for the tears started to fall; a single perfectly shaped tear at first…slowly followed by a trail of never-ending streaks down his cheeks. He felt like each little drop from her eyes as she watched him in her helpless state, was taking away a piece of his soul with them. He couldn’t help the loud ugly sounds that escaped his throat, burying his head in her chest, trying to hold onto her. To keep her with him. Somehow.

“Please. As a parting gift, baby?” she tried again. She knew she was destroying a piece of him by asking him to do this. But she couldn’t leave the world knowing she hadn’t done her last bit to help another in need. With great effort, she lifted her free hand enough to place it on his head, knowing she could do nothing else to ease his pain.

That was the very last thing she said to him.

His already battered and bruised heart shattered to pieces as he lifted his head once his body-wrecking sobs had subsided enough for him to be able to talk… only to look into the empty, soulless eyes of his once-full-of-life beloved.

He screamed. He screamed his heart out, dropping his head on her stomach.

He clawed at his face, all but ripping his hair out of his skull.

Time passed.

He was taken out as they took her body to the morgue.

Sitting on the hospital floor, it took him three hours to finally comprehend what was written on the sheet.

PLEASE SIGN BELOW FOR PERMISSION TO DONATE THE DECEASED’S HEART…

It was her last wish.

***

On a different ward, a family was euphoric. Not really sure how to contain themselves with the news, they resorted to crying, hugging, and thanking the doctor over and over.

They had found a donor. Their youngest child and only son would live.

They finally had hope again.

As they gazed at the motionless, frail body of their son and brother, they knew they would never be able to repay the person whom had given their son a second chance at life. But they would do everything to thank the family of the person who had become a blessing to them at that time, for Jaejoong’s renewed life.

“Sir, there’s another, uhm…well, it’s not a cake, exactly...” came his assistant’s amused and somewhat confused voice through the speaker.

Yunho wasn’t really surprised.

It was Friday, he’d grown used to receiving some sort of gift on this day. It had been happening for over five years now. Although at first he refused the offerings, it soon became obvious that whoever was ending them was not giving up. He got all sorts of crazy things, ranging from suits and wallets to hand made bracelets, flower bouquets and homemade meals. It had taken three months for him to finally stop making his assistant offer the gifts to the charity shop down the road.

The first time he accepted the gift, it was a simple card. It had a short, handwritten message wishing him a good workday and to have a relaxing weekend. Bellow the message, there was a list of ‘soothing’ song recommendations he could listen to to brighten up his day. He’d been surprised to see that the songs were all ones he recognised and actually did like.

At the end of the greeting and list, at the bottom right corner of the page, it was signed “Forever Grateful, JJ”. That’s it. No full name, no address, nothing.

Yunho had expected there to be some kind of lame pick-up line, or some favour that the sender wanted from him. But as he looked at the little message, his heart slowly started to warm. He hadn’t realised it, but he’d just needed someone to say that to him. He had no idea why that little card affected him so much, but he suddenly had felt like there was someone watching over him…like he wasn’t as alone as he’d thought he was since losing the love of his life. Maybe he hadn’t realised it but he had a guardian angel all along, and he’d ignored it.

That had been the first time he’d smiled in two years.

It was a little strange. His cheeks felt weird, and by the end of the day his jaw was hurting from smiling so much.

Of course, his colleagues had noticed. Throughout the entire day, they’d stared at him in awe. Some were even excited, while others just smiled in his direction, but the entire office was buzzing on that day. His assistant had been so thrilled that she’d given him a full-blown lecture about rejecting the other gifts. She’d gone on and on about the possibilities if he’d taken the previous presents, and how much he’d missed out on. All he’d done in response, all he was able to do, was well… just smile more.

That card had become a precious souvenir. He always kept it on his desk. Every so often, he’d look at the message again, to remind himself of that fateful day. But it wasn’t really necessary. The next week, after a happy weekend in a long time, he’d been a little afraid. What if he was wrong, what if something bad happened. What if there was a selfish intention behind the small, sweet gesture. What if, what if, what if…all worthless questions in end. Because the next Friday, he received a small basket of white strawberries with a handful of beautiful, wild flowers.

There was a little note attached to the basket: “I went on a wilderness camping trip and guess what??? I found WHITE STRAWBERRIES! I didn’t even know they existed! Don’t worry, I’ve tasted some already and they’re safe. Please try some, they taste amazing! And I hope you like the flowers…hope you’re not allergic to it! Hehe!!! Forever Grateful, JJ.”

He’d been surprised too. Not only because the sender apparently knew he liked strawberries, but also because he, too, had no idea white strawberries existed. The fact that someone had gone to the trouble to pick some out for him and send them along with handpicked flowers - that he wasn’t allergic to – had just touched him so deeply.

As time went by, he started to call the sender by JJ, and pretty much all his colleagues knew JJ and his endeavours. It wasn’t surprisingly that Yunho, along with everyone working in that office started to become attached to the mysterious person. After a couple of more notes, they all concluded that JJ was a boy, and that he really liked to talk about his activities. Some of the things he wrote were squished together because the note paper used was often too small. Yunho couldn’t help but smile at the silly things that he read sometimes.

Yup, JJ definitely liked to talk a lot…or write a lot. But it was a natural conclusion that someone who blabbered so much in written form, would definitely be a chatter box in person. Yunho wasn’t sure how old JJ was. Sometimes, he came across as older than him, other times, he was sure it was a teenager. Needless to say, Yunho was getting more and more curious as the years went by.

One thing that he was always, always interested in, was what exactly JJ was ‘Grateful’ for. He’d spent hours, days and weeks thinking of anything that could have made someone so indebted to him. But no matter how much he pondered over it, even consulting his friends when his curiosity couldn’t take it anymore, he could never come up with a plausible explanation.

Often he felt guilty for accepting the gifts. What if JJ was poor? What if he was making his life hard by sending him these gifts? Was it fair, no matter what Yunho had done to make him so thankful, for JJ to put so much effort into him?

Five years. It had been going on for that long.

In the third year, Yunho had stopped the delivery man to ask questions. He’d wanted to send JJ a letter. A letter full of “Thank You”s, questions and other random things he’d scribbled down. But the man had no idea who was sending the presents.

Yunho had tried everything to try and track down JJ, to just find enough of a lead to send him a ‘thank you’ or anything, but to no avail. It had taken another year for him to admit defeat. He was gutted. Eventually, he accepted the gifts for what they were; a ‘thank you’ from a very endearing stranger, and managed to finally stop feeling guilty and enjoy what was given to him. Instead, he appreciated the effort put into the simplest things because they always, without fail, made him smile.

JJ had become the bright spot in his life. He was often teased for falling in love with a faceless stranger, and as much as he wanted to deny it, to call them stupid for saying such silly things…his heart had other ideas. It was hard for him to realise it, but his heart no longer felt like it was in stitches.

 Fridays had become a day he had subconsciously started to look forward to. Even though he wouldn’t admitted it to anyone, he liked to contemplate what could possibly be sent to him on each week. And every time he was wrong. In his head, he was playing a competition with JJ, to see if he can ever guess next week’s gift correctly. And for this week, since it was his 29^th birthday, he was betting on a cake.

As his secretary started to giggle on the speaker and the voices became louder and louder, almost like everyone was gathering around, Yunho decided to go and look at what JJ had sent on this fine Friday.

“What’s with all the raucous? You losers better not be eating my cake! JJ makes the best cakes and if I-” he stopped mid-threat.

That was not a cake.

Or a basket of flowers. 

Or anything he was expecting for a birthday present, at all.

“WOOF”

There, sitting on its hind legs while Yunho’s secretary petted him and everyone crowded around him, was a great, big, white dog.

A dog.

Yunho had a dog.

JJ had gotten him a dog as a birthday present.

A DOG!

He just stood on the spot, his jaw hanging open.

“Whoa! JJ has really out-done himself this time!”

“I can’t ing believe there’s a dog in our office!”

“It’s so cute, oh my god!”

Everyone was shouting things all around, and as Yunho finally collected himself, he saw the look of disgust on the dog’s face. Clearly, it was not impressed with the reception it had received!

He couldn’t help as a chuckle left his lips. That caught the dog’s attention, whose ears perked and immediately charged towards him. Yunho ignored his assistant’s indignant shouts of ‘traitor’ as the dog came and started rubbing its nose against his knees.

He bent down to look at the collar which had a bright red, tiny card paper hanging from it.

“Happy 29^th Birthday Ahjussi! I hope you like him, and he likes you…cuz he hated my guts. Humph! No cake for you! You need a healthier diet and more exercise. You can do that while taking him for walks!! I’m a genius. Lol! Btw, I wanted to call him TaePoong, but since he’s yours, you can call him whatever you want. Forever Grateful, JJ.”

Yunho burst out laughing. He couldn’t help it. JJ had often mentioned how he loved animals ‘soooo much’, but they hated him. He often read stories of how his cat Jiji had broken his heart for one reason or another. And reading the note now, he could somehow just imagine JJ pouting while he scrunched his eyebrows, glaring at the dog as he wrote the letter. That image sent him into another round of boisterous laughter.

“If you’re done laughing, what are you going to call him?” someone asked him.

Yunho hugged the dog and was pleasantly surprised to see it return the favour by his face. There was a huge smile on his face as he made his decision. For a second he’d considered JJ, but then realised that would be stupid. So he went along with JJ’s decision. It was cute anyway.

“TaePoong. I’m calling him TaePoong!”

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AN: Not really sure where this came from. 

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