PROLOGUE

Lekir looks down at the tray of food the nurse just delivered to him that morning, unconsciously staring on it. The bony and pale hands unknowingly playing with the plastic utensils instead of he should be eating right now before the nurse would come by and give him the medicines. He felt nauseous, so weak--a little part of him feel a bit guilty about wasting the food. He's gonna apologize to Ms. Aliya, the nurse for not eating properly again...

Normally he would take and finish the plain yogurt half-full eaten, or take one bite of it, making sure to the nurse that he touched the food even if only a little. But now, he was too tired.

Cough...cough..

He coughed again--feeling the short, painful breaths stabbing his own chest, each of it making his lungs getting worse. Well, his condition was already worse...

He lay down on his bed, blankly staring up the ceiling for a while before he shot a glance at the window, admiring the outside view. It was quite yet peaceful before--

BAMM!

"How is my favorite Malaysian guy doing?!", Jinwoon loudly asked as he barged in the room with Hoshi quietly following suit behind him, the Japanese guy was holding multiple of paper bags in his hands. Oh, they bring flowers too...that's new.

"We brought you some apples, with Hoshi's money of course~ It's your favorite, right? Ah! Wait, let me wash it for you okay, jagiya? We can eat it together~", Jinwoon took out a few apples and grapes from the paper bag and quickly walked towards the sink to wash the fruits he bought earlier, slightly humming a song. Hoshi just silently stood still beside him after finished putting the sunflowers on the table.

Lekir smiled seeing the sight of his two bestfriends. He really misses them so much even though they come to visit him everyday, chatting and joking around, sometimes they would be yapping how stressed they are but still got a dean grade. Ah, he really envies their genius brain.

"Aww did you guys miss me that much?", Lekir mused, pursing his dry, cracked lips, not minding how his voice sounds hoarse and raspy.

And he got a scoffed and an annoying eyes roll as a response.

"Like hell I would miss you. I just don't wanna hear yer whining about how bored you are here. Fyi, we came here just to escape studying, besides my eyes already tired of seeing one more alphabet, it makes me feel sick! I swear if I see more of those fucking math equations--i gonna commit genocide!", Hoshi take a chair and dragged it closer to Lekir's bed.

"Who said that I miss you,huh? I just can't finish all of these fruits all alone and i as your handsome homies can't let you starve so do you want some strawberries too, jagiya?", Jinwoon showed him those fruits he just bought earlier with cheeky grins.

Lekir just let out a raspy laugh.

Tsk, what a tsunderes.

"Ehem, ehem. Btw...", the Japanese guy cleared his throat and took something from his pants pocket.

"Our noisy senpais said to give this to you, they'll visit you once the basketball tournament ends. They really adore their 'little baby manager', don't they?", Hoshi muttered the last words as he hands out the sticky notes which Lekir gratefully took without complaining. His senpais really loves to send him a message or letter like this--everyday...

||To: Lekir Neyqayyl ||

♡ Get well soon. Don't skip eating. Wait for your cool senpais, we have big surprises for you! ♡

'Senpais...thanks for always taking care of me.'

"And our sweet little kouhais also gave you something to cheer you out~" Jinwoon put everything that their junior gave to him on Lekir's lap.

A stuffed animal, Harry Potter book series and many more...

Lekir holds the colorful notes, reading it carefully one by one.

|| Lekir-senpai(⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠) ||

If you can't sleep, hug this penguin. Dream of me! -Kaito a.k.a your cute kouhai

|| Jinwoon-hyung and Hoshi-hyung said you haven't gotten enough sleep lately so I thought reading a book could help you with that. Please take care of yourself, hyung. I miss having boba milk tea with you again... -Minho ||

||We miss you, Lekir-senpai! ||

Lekir stared at his lap, his hands were shaking. Life is so unfair...it's so unfair, so cruel...

His eyes getting blurry.

"....they don't have to do that. All of this...", now Lekir felt like he was gonna cry at the moment.

"They insisted."

Hoshi sat down on the chair beside his bed, slightly rummaging through another paper bag on his lap.

"In case your stupid ass forgot--", Hoshi gently put an empty glass, a jar to be exact along with a pen and a pile of paper in front of him. Lekir blinked his eyes in confusion. What now? Is this guy really gonna make him write an essay and put it inside this jar?

"You still owe both of us a wish--no, you can have as many wishes as you want. Just take that damn pen and write it down."

"If you need some help, I can help you with that. Writing your wish, I mean", Jinwoon smiled as he took a seat beside Hoshi.

Lekir takes the jar and having a staring contest with it.

||WISHING JAR♡ ADD YOUR WELL WISHES OR MESSAGES TO THIS WISH JAR♡||

He blinked again, and stared at both of his friends and to the jar and back to the two for a few minutes. Oh...Oh.

"Wish jar,huh? What's it gotta do with me? Sounds too syirik for me", Lekir hands the jar back to Hoshi which makes the latter shoot him a death glare, ready to smack his head.

"Lekir Neyqayyl Bin Hang Iskandar."

Not the full name,geez...

"Fine, fine. I'll write and fill this cute jar full of my stupid wish,okay? Stop glaring at me, you guys scaring me out...", Lekir only pouted, definitely surrendered and played along with what these two guys wanted.

A wish, huh...?

My last wish...

He watched himself getting thinner and paler than the first time he remembered he got in the hospital, sitting on this bed. His body gets smaller despite the fact that he was taller than Jinwoon before in highschool--his black hair was mussed up and dry(he really loves his hair, now he's losing it), his hands...the rest of his body--looking all pitiful,all depressed. He's getting weaker and weaker day by day...in fact, he was dying...

Not when no amount of medicine could counter the cancer cells spreading on his lungs, those new drugs making him can't even move a single muscle, he can't even barely lift a finger. Just like those days when he's in too much constant pain, he had rated the pain levels as 10 or worse to the doctor. He feels like he was drowning...every gulps, every inhale or exhale of breath, every single oxygen felt like repeatedly stabbing inside his chest--really painful, silently killing him.

Of course he wouldn't tell this to his friends, no one should have known about this. He can't make them worry about him, he shouldn't.

"Do Jinwoon. Hoshi Akihiko." He called them, eyes still on the jar.

"Hmm? What's it?", Jinwoon hums, still focusing on peeling off the apple's skin.

"What?" Hoshi cocks his eyebrow, still waiting patiently for him to continue his words.

'Thank you for everything. You guys are the bestfriends I could ever have, not a single nicest soul can replace both of you guys.'

He wanted to say that but...

Yet, he only shook his head a little. His shaky hands grips around the wish jar tighten.

"Nothing. Just wanting to say that I really love you guys so much", he giggled before he gave them the saddest yet most beautiful smile his friends had ever seen, looking all innocent with a happy smile blossomed on his paler face.

The room fell into silence for a while before Hoshi broke it off--

"We love you too. Far than you can even imagine."

"Endless love!" Jinwoon shouted, raising both of his hands up in the air. Getting too energetic, aren't you?

And out of the sudden he felt a pair of hands patted his shoulders.

"We trusted you, Lekir. Keep fighting!" , they both said in unison.

'Please survive.

Stay with us, don't you ever dare to say goodbye yet.'

\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*

"Lekir."

He slowly raised his head and his eyes met their gazes.

"We'll come again to visit you tomorrow. Make sure you write down your wish or else I'm gonna yeet you out of the window. I don't care if you're sick or not", Hoshi wrapped a blue scarf knitted by him yesterday around Lekir's neck. "And keep yourself warm, stupid. You're too cold."

"Once you get out of the hospital, we'll take you travel around the world! Just the three of us! I already made the list of the country that we should go to and already write all of the plans hehe! We're gonna make many memories together! Don't you dare to forget that, jagiya!",Jinwoon gently hugs him before walking towards the door.

He's really gonna miss them after this...

He looked at them painfully for a moment and nodded. "Okay. Goodbye guys, take care."

Nothing could last forever.

"See you tomorrow, Lekir"

After his friends left, he broke into tears--

"I'm sorry...I'm really sorry everyone..."

"Lekiu...I'm so sorry..."

"I can't keep our promises. Please forgive me."

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