Oasis (A KaiSoo Fanfic)

Prologue

"I don't get you," I said, shaking my head as my eyes landed on him. "You're about to become completely blind while a tumor is slowly destroying your body, yet you still manage to walk through life like it's a field of daisies."

He laughed at me, his eyes still pointed to the sun-lit cityscape in front of him. "Do you know the definition of the word oasis?" he asked, finally turning his head and eyes in my direction.

"No," I said with slightly narrowed eyes, shaking my head.

"It actually has three definitions, but I have my own personal favorite," he said.

"What is that?" I asked.

"A pleasant place that is surrounded by something unpleasant," he said, a faint smile on his lips.

I furrowed my eyebrows, perplexed. "Okay, but what does that have to do with anything?" I said.

"Don't you see?" he said as his smile widened. "It has to do with everything. The way I see it, this planet that we live on, it's all just one giant oasis, but ironically enough the people who suffer the most don't see that." He paused for a moment, turning his head back toward the sunset. "Yes, I have cancer and I'm about to become a blind man and maybe die soon, but if there's one thing that walking with Death has taught me it's that this place really is a pleasant place to be as long as you're living in it, it's just that all this unpleasant stuff surrounds it." I shifted my head away, only to bring it back seconds later when he spoke again. "You want to know how I keep positive? By being happy." His eyes were on me again, that smile still occupying his lips.

"But still," I said, looking down at my fingers briefly. "How can you stay positive and happy when you know that today could be your last day?"

"Because I am dying, that's how," he answered, earning another baffled look from me. "I'm dying and if I'm unhappy, I'll die unhappy and that's my biggest fear, dying unhappy. So, I tell myself that I have to stay happy because my happiness is the only thing that I have left."