Minho frowned as he read that text message, and his brown eyes narrowed with a confused expression. Finally, he sighed and put his phone in his jacket pocket, feeling something strange that he couldn't shake off.

Suddenly, a foreign cry alerted him. He stood up quietly, without trying to wipe his tears, and a figure appeared in his field of vision. He obviously hadn't noticed his presence as he was facing away from him.

A tingling sensation, as if his body had frozen, ran through him. He swallowed hard as he realized the person was Jisung, and the thought that had popped into his head only made him tremble with fear.

With his heart beating wildly, Minho approached him stealthily, listening to how he murmured his name. His sight blurred as he noticed how determined Jisung was.

My soul left my body when he took the momentum and jumped.

A sob escaped from his body when the adrenaline dropped suddenly after having pulled Jisung with all the strength he had, falling Han's body on top of his.

Jisung had his eyes closed for a while until he dared to open them, seeing that Minho was hugging him in shaky and weak movements. They cried incessantly, and neither of them could utter a word.

It had been a too horrifying experience. Minho felt empty.

What would he have done if he hadn't saved Han Jisung? He would have jumped after him.

Jisung kept his face hidden in the chest of the other and cried even more, feeling the tears fall down his cheeks. His body trembled, and his sobs mixed with the fast beats of Minho's heart.

"I'm sorry," Jisung whispered, his voice choked by the crying. "Please, let me do it."

He tried to free himself from the arms of the older one, but he felt so weak that he couldn't even and his arms fell without strength around the boy's body. The contact comforted him, but at the same time, it made him feel more vulnerable. He wanted to get away, but at the same time, he didn't.

He felt so stupid, so idiotic, and so damn selfish. Maybe he was, that's why the people made fun of him, and he deserved it. He wanted to get out of there, of the world, or just of the school. He wished he could run and get lost or even die. But his strengthless body didn't allow him to do anything, and his tears didn't permit him to see clearly. He felt too vulnerable.

Why did he have to go through these things? Why couldn't he stop thinking about wanting to die? He had always heard adults say that adolescence was the most beautiful stage of life, but Jisung didn't see it that way. For him, this stage was like a nightmare he wanted to escape from. And the only solution he found was to take his own life.

Minho looked at Jisung with sadness, feeling his heart beat hard at his words. He was going through dark times and knew how painful it could be. He knew it wasn't easy to convince someone who wanted to take their own life otherwise, but he also knew he couldn't let him go like that. Jisung was valuable to him, even if he didn't know how to express it.

After a few minutes of silence, Minho finally spoke.

"Don't say that or do something you might regret, Jisung. You're not alone. Some people love you, your mother, your family, your friends. You're important to them," he said softly, caressing Han's hair with tenderness. Jisung couldn't help but laugh, discouraged since he was the only friend he had. "Don't try to let yourself carried away by a bad streak like now. I know it's not easy, but trust me. You don't have to fight alone. I'm here for you, and I always will be."

He was being a damn hypocrite since that idea had also crossed his mind, but he had nothing to lose by doing it. He was damn alone, and no one would care about him, and he knew Jisung wouldn't either. Thinking about that caused a knot in his throat.

Jisung was silent, feeling his heart beat hard in his chest. He wanted to believe him and believe that things could get better, but he wasn't sure. He had felt so lost and desperate for a long time that he didn't know if he could trust someone again.

"Why do you care so much?" he asked, lifting his head to look Minho in the eyes. "I don't understand."

The other one smiled at him sadly, understanding the confusion and pain in his friend's eyes. He wanted to tell him how much he loved and needed him, but he didn't know how to express it. Minho stopped caressing his hair and caressed his cheek with his thumb.

"Because you're special to me, Jisung. You're my friend, my classmate, my... my everything," he said, feeling how the tears threatened to escape from his eyes. "I know we don't know each other much, but I can't imagine my life without you. You're important, super important to me."

Jisung looked at him in astonishment, feeling his heart beat hard at his words. He had spent so much time feeling lonely and abandoned that he couldn't believe someone cared about him. But there was Minho, looking at him with eyes full of love and concern, and made him feel a little better.

"Thank you," Jisung said with a small sigh, closing his eyes while the tears continued to roll down his cheeks. "Thank you for being here with me, little smiles."

Minho felt his heart beat hard at that new nickname that Jisung gave him, but he didn't say anything about it. He only smiled at him cutely and continued to caress his cheek, knowing that that was all he needed to feel better.

Time passed, and the tears kept falling from Minho's eyes even though he had already separated from the other one, besides having called the younger one's mother to pick him up. When the woman arrived, Minho found it funny to notice they had the same smile, seeing both leave together after a few minutes without saying too much.

Maybe Jisung hadn't been able to carry out his plans to take his own life because it wasn't his time to die yet. He still had something in the future. However, Minho had nothing, absolutely nothing, and nothing stopped him from finishing what his friend had tried to start but himself.

Jisung was leaving with his mother, but he had a bad feeling. He wanted to go with Minho, apologize and be by his side. They got in the car, and she tried to talk to him, but Jisung took his phone and started typing a text message. His mother quickly took it away from him before he could send it.

Frustrated, Jisung got out and tried to control his breathing. That feeling was still there, and he felt that something horrible was about to happen. He felt that he could and should stop it. As he thought about things that could happen to Minho, one possibility came to his head. After all, his family had been shitty with him, the whole school, and even himself, his friend.

He started running, going up all the stairs until he reached the rooftop and saw Minho, realizing that he was looking at his cell phone with an expression of calmness, smiling falsely, making all that peace in him a little more complete, contradictorily. Minho tried to say goodbye to his parents, but they had their calls forwarded, making it more than clear that he was nothing to them. He had returned to the rooftop and thought it would be a painful death, but would it be worse than the pain he felt in his heart?

Jisung trembled with fear, but still, he told him what he was thinking. What he didn't want to say to him for fear of hurting him or himself, what he hid for fear that he would do the same as Seungmin.

"I like you," he knew that had been sudden, something that had nothing to do with what he wanted to do, but his mouth made sounds and words by itself. "Don't do it, please, don't leave me."

Jisung let himself fall to the ground, kneeling and felt how his whole body hurt. He didn't want Minho to try something drastic because of him. He didn't wish the boy who had saved, defended and protected him so many times to stop living. He wanted him to smile again and be happy as he had been in the past, or at least that's what he thought. The tears and the knot in his throat didn't let him speak more to tell him everything he thought, but he wished he would realize it.

Minho wanted to laugh. He didn't believe Jisung. He couldn't. He couldn't believe him at that moment. He had gone through many situations where people lied to him and played with his feelings, so at that moment, it was hard for him to trust what Jisung said. Despite that, he approached Jisung stealthily and knelt, hugging him. He wanted to say nothing, didn't want to lie, but he had to.

"I wasn't going to do that. I was just trying to understand what was going through your mind when you tried to do it," Jisung knew he was lying. His eyes, facial expressions and each of his movements told him so.

Minho hugged him tighter, kissing him on the cheeks before gathering the necessary strength to carry him in his arms and go down all the floors. Jisung's mother consoled herself in the torturous silence when she saw Minho bring the other in his arms. Without saying a word, Minho put Jisung in the back seat of his mother's car and kissed him on the forehead.

"I would appreciate it if you could answer my messages from now on," he said jokingly, maybe just to lighten the mood. They were both mentally exhausted. "See you soon, Jisunggie."

He firmly believed that Han's mother wouldn't let him do anything that could endanger his life, and he envied that love.

The love he never received.

But Jisung, ignoring everything he said, grabbed his arm to prevent him from leaving.

"Come," he whispered. "We'll go home, come with us."

He knew that for his mom, that wouldn't be a problem, that she would also take care of him as if he were her own son, that she would do it because Minho was his friend and he had saved him. He verified it when she grabbed Minho's arm, took him to the front seat and fastened his seat belt.

It was weird. Minho had never felt that someone had cared about him, and maybe they were hindering his plans. He wished this had never happened. Everything would have been better if he hadn't entered Han Jisung's life.

During the trip home, the atmosphere remained tense and silent despite the woman's attempts to distract them with jokes, songs and trivial conversations. Jisung just looked at the sky through the car window, watching how the rain started to fall. He closed his eyes, sighing and wanting to sleep, wishing all this was just a dream.

After a few minutes, they finally arrived at the small but cozy house that radiated warmth. The facade had vines, and white lace curtains decorated the windows.

Jisung's mother prepared them a delicious mushroom cream, and the night fell quickly, forcing the young Minho to leave for another day, plans he still had in his head.

Jisung's room was small but well-designed. It had a couple of posters of his favourite artists and a small bookshelf full of books and music CDs that occupied one of the walls. The bed was in a corner, covered with a dark blue blanket and several pillows, which made it look very comfortable.

Unlike Minho's bedroom, which was often messy, Jisung's was surprisingly clean and tidy, and the older one couldn't help but laugh softly. It was his style.

They still felt tense and were mentally tired.

"Good night, Sung."

Minho spoke from the improvised bed they had made for him next to the younger one's bed, listening to the rain hit the room's windows, comforting him a little.

I hope tomorrow is a better day for you.