The cat’s out of the box. Everyone knows. It’s only a matter of time until they lose another member.

 

It’s only a matter of time before Minseok, more commonly known as Xiumin, loses his lover.

 

It’s two days before their last concert for their world tour. Some members are busy practicing, others are taking the time to rest. Then there’s Minseok and Luhan.

 

Minseok is lying down on a bed in their hotel while reading a book. Luhan is sitting at the edge of the bed, his back facing Minseok. The two are silent. Luhan seems to be in deep thought. His hands are joined together as it rests on his lap. Minseok doesn’t seem to care about Luhan being there.

 

After a while, Luhan clears his throat.

 

“Can we talk? Please?”

 

Minseok puts down his book, but doesn’t get up. He doesn’t answer.

 

Luhan turns around and sees him blankly staring at the ceiling. His hands are spread across the bed, one hand holding the book.

 

Luhan’s expression saddens. He couldn’t look at Minseok properly.

 

“Don’t be like this. Please.”

 

“You’re one to talk.” Minseok softly answers.

 

Luhan stands up and moves closer to Minseok. He sits next to him. Luhan looks at Minseok’s unwavering blank expression. Despite it being a blank expression, Luhan could see that his face expresses sadness, anger, pain, and despair.

 

“I honestly don’t know what to feel.” Minseok suddenly speaks.

 

“I can see that you’re feeling everything but happiness.”

 

Minseok turns his head and shoots a sharp look at Luhan. “That’s because of you.”

 

“I know.” He softly answers.

 

Luhan moves his hand towards Minseok’s head. He gently and lovingly caresses his hair.

 

“I’ll miss doing this.” Luhan says as he tries to smile.

 

“Then don’t leave. Don’t leave me.” Minseok looks at Luhan. His eyes pleading.

 

Luhan stares at those lovely cat-like eyes and realizes that he fell deeper than he should have. He couldn’t look properly, but also couldn’t look away. He’s drawn to those eyes. He’s drawn into him. As he stares at Minseok’s eyes, it started to gradually gather tears. Until, eventually, one tear fell.

 

Luhan reacts to it immediately and wipes the fallen tear with the thumb of his other hand. Now he’s almost holding Minseok’s head. Luhan leans a bit closer.

 

He softly says, “Don’t cry. Please?” He tries to smile to calm down Minseok, but it only made him cry more.

 

Luhan lies down next to Minseok. He holds his head and places it next to his chest. He continues to caress Minseok’s hair.

 

Minseok continues to cry. His eyes are starting to redden, His face is starting to bloat. He tightly holds onto Luhan’s waist. Suddenly, Luhan sings.

 

Lying beside you, here in the dark

Feeling your heartbeat with mine…

 

Softly, you whisper, you’re so sincere

How could our love be so blind…

 

Luhan didn’t know why, but he thought that this would be the only way to calm Minseok down.

 

We sailed on together

We drifted apart

And here you are by my side…

 

Minseok became noticeably calmer. He slowly stops crying. Minseok held Luhan tighter.

 

So now I come to you with open arms

Nothing to hide, believe what I say

So here I am, with open arms

Hoping you’ll see what your love means to me

Open arms…

 

Luhan notices he was calmer and ended his song. Minseok then quickly wipes away his tears, sniffed and looked at Luhan. He sings.

 

Living without you, living alone

This empty house seems so cold

 

Wanting to hold you

Wanting you near

 

How much I wanted you home…

 

Luhan is stunned. He didn’t think Minseok would continue the song. Once again, he’s drawn to his eyes, those loving eyes, as Minseok sings.

 

Now that you’ve come back

Turn night into day

 

I need you to stay…

 

Luhan didn’t know much of the song. He didn’t understand much of the lyrics either. But he did understand those simple English words. I need you to stay. He knew Minseok meant them.

 

So now I come to you with open arms

Nothing to hide, believe what I say

So here I am, with open arms

Hoping you’ll see what your love means to me

Open arms…

 

Minseok stops singing.

 

They stare at each other for quite a while. Both of them thinks that they will miss each other so much. Both of them will long for each other’s touch. Both of them loves each other too much.

 

Minseok holds Luhan’s face.

 

“I think I understand. It’s work right? It’s still a big issue with you taking the company head on, but that’s your choice. Why do we have to break up though?”

 

“I honestly don’t think you could work if we’re still together.”

 

“I honestly can’t work if we’re not together.”

 

“Being away from you, it will just drive you crazy.”

 

“I’m already crazy thinking about us breaking up.”

 

Luhan sighs. “At least think of the members. What would they think of you if we’re still dating after I left?”

 

“What do they care? We’re just colleagues. This is my personal life. This is our personal life.”

 

“Minseok you’re being unreasonable. This… is for the best. Okay?”

 

Minseok is silent. Luhan caresses his face. Minseok holds the hand caressing his face.

 

“You like touching my face don’t you?”

 

“How can I not? It’s beautiful.”

 

They both smile. And once again, they’re quiet. They’re holding each other close and tight. They hear each other’s breaths. They feel the up and down movement of each other’s chest against theirs. They both hear and feel their heartbeat steadily, calmly beating. They both cherish this precious silence, this precious moment, this thing called love.

 

Slowly, Luhan holds Minseok’s chin and tilts his face towards his. He gently leans on him, and lightly pecks his forehead. He does this a couple of times, covering every inch of Minseok’s forehead. He moves on to Minseok’s closed eyes. Down to his nose. His soft, squishy cheeks. His lovely chin. But before he could kiss his lips, Minseok blocks it with his fingers.

 

Confused, Luhan asks, “Why?”

 

“Don’t kiss me.” Minseok answers.

 

“Why not?”

 

“Kiss my lips… at the concert. In front of everyone.”

 

Luhan pauses. He’s surprised and is still confused.

 

Minseok explains, “Since this will be your last concert, and our last stage together, let’s share our last kiss there too. Let’s profess our love in front of everyone during our ‘kissing’ segment. Let’s actually kiss.”

 

“Don’t you think it will become an issue?”

 

“I don’t think so? The nearest fans wouldn’t see us actually kissing since they’re still kind of far. The live feed camera will only capture a good angle to make us look like we’re kissing. The only people who’ll see are the members. I don’t think they would mind.”

 

Luhan sighs as he smiles. The fact that Minseok’s so determined to do it on stage makes him more adorable and lovable for Luhan.

 

“I understand. Okay. Let’s do it.”

 

Minseok smiles brightly.

 

“I think we need to practice.” Luhan says.

 

“Practice kissing?” Minseok curiously asks.

 

“No! Practice our choreo and singing!” Luhan laughs at Minseok’s question.

 

“Sorry! Sorry!” Minseok apologizes out of great embarrassment. But Minseok is happy. Genuinely happy.

 

The two are both in a good mood. Although they’re about to break up, that doesn’t seem to be a big concern now. They both realized that what they have now is the best thing that the two of them could ever share and have. They have accepted that they can’t stay this way forever, so the best thing to do is to cherish their final moments as one. They know that later on, these treasured moments will keep them moving forward.

 

It’s the day of the concert. Hundreds of fans have filled the stadium. Their loud cheers gave life to the stadium. And then… the concert started.

 

The group performed their opening act.

 

Then the solos of some of the member.

 

Another group number.

 

Three more solos from the members.

 

And then it’s the special stage. All the members are gathered, but the much awaited act for this stage is Minseok and Luhan.

 

As they near their big feat, both of their fans start to cheer for them.

 

Xiumin! Xiumin! Xiumin! Xiumin! Xiumin! Shouted Minseok’s fans.

 

Luhan! Luhan! Luhan! Luhan! Luhan! Shouted Luhan’s fans.

 

Somehow after a while, these two names conquered the stadium. With the fans shouting their names at the same time, it almost sounds like their names are combined and are being shouted as one.

 

XiuHan! XiuHan! XiuHan! XiuHan! XiuHan!

 

Minseok and Luhan’s breaths are getting shorter with their dance routine. But before they could catch their breaths, it’s time.

 

They pose and freeze like a statue as part of their choreography. Both of them are ‘moved’ by a member. They are put in front of each other. They are not facing each other. But once they are ‘moved’ to face each other, it’s time to do their last act of love.

 

Their chins are held by the member ‘moving’ them, and in a split second, they face each other.

 

They were faced closer than their other stages that the moment they were face to face, their lips grazed on against each other. In that split second moment that they faced each other, Luhan’s lips leans towards Minseok’s and Minseok leaned his lips on his.

 

They have shared a kiss on stage. In front of everyone.

 

They savor the taste of sweat, lipstick, make-up, and the taste of sweet goodbye.

 

In less than five seconds, they have shared the love they have kept hidden and protected from the world. And in less than five seconds, this love is forced to break to hide and protect it from the world.

 

They release. And smile at each other. Sincerely. Lovingly. Truly.