7 DAYS OF TAUFAN [DISCONTINUED]

> 02 : Dying <

"85 more years..." The wind elemental mumbled, his dreary navy-blue eyes staring down at his two hands.

Taufan had both of his palms up, counting the fingers from his hands that represent as the days for a whole year.

He was currently  seated on the floor, with his head leaning onto his bed that was next to him. He heaved a long sigh as he stared down at his hands, a gloomy look was plastered on his face. He was feeling quite down for a while, with none of his brothers noticing it since he was always wearing his happy mask just to hide what he truly feels.

Except for one.

"Taufan?" One of his brothers called, his voice sounded weary but actually expressed a concerned tone as well. "What are you doing here? I thought you're playing outside with Blaze and Duri." He added, his body leaning on the wind elemental's doorway with his arms folded on his chest.

It took a few seconds before Taufan slowly raised his head up to see who just suddenly barged in his room. He was a bit surprised when he saw him, thinking that it's unusual to see him going here in his room, especially when he doesn't like to bother other people's businesses. It was really unexpected, for him.

"Ais?" The navy-blue capped boy's brows furrowed, staring at the said elemental in disbelief. "What are you doing here?" He asked, his head slightly tilted to the side.

"Haven't I asked that the same question to you as well?"

Taufan laughed nervously while scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Oh yeah! I completely forgot!~" He replied, as he smiled sheepishly. "I just don't feel like playing with them for a while so I thought of going here to umm... clean my room! Yeah!" He responded, his lips formed a grin afterwards.

His ice elemental brother stared at him blankly as his light-blue eyes wandered around his room, then glanced back at him again. "But it's already clean." He stated, with one of his brows raised up. "Don't you remember Gempa had already cleaned your room earlier?"

"Oh yeah! Hahahaha! How silly of me!" The cheerful boy said, another nervous chuckle escaped from his lips.

Ais frowned at him, his eyes narrowing at his direction in suspicion. "You're acting weird today, Taufan." He remarked. "Is it just me or, have you been spacing out from us lately?" He asked, looking at him and hoped to receive a response from his brother.

But all he received was just plain... silence.

Taufan didn't replied back to him. Instead, he chose to remain quiet, his eyes avoiding his brother's cold gaze. He pursed his lips, his body started trembling slightly in fear without him noticing.

But for Ais— who's good at observing every bits of his brothers' actions, he noticed it.

"Are you okay?" He worriedly asked, as he made his way towards his wind elemental brother and kneeled down beside him. His icy hand made its way to his brother's back, gently soothing him afterwards.

Taufan glanced at him, with a wide smile was plastered on his face. "What do you mean? I'm always okay!" He vividly responded, and let out a cheery laughter.

But at this point, he's on the verge of tears, and he was only holding it back for who-knows-how-long already.

"I know you're not, Taufan." Ais deeply sighed. "I can tell, judging by how you forced yourself to laugh like nothing just happened." He stated, as he shook his head in disbelief.

"You know, I've been observing you lately," He said, his face frowning once again. "And whenever there are problems, you only laugh them off. Like what you did just now." He added, his teeth gritted in annoyance.

"Just tell me what's going on!" The ice elemental exclaimed, as he was starting to lose his cool. "I hate seeing my brothers facing their own problems by only themselves!"

Taufan flinched from his brother's sudden temper, as tears started to trickle down his face unknowingly. His breath hitched, as he hugged both of his knees and buried his face slightly between it. He tried hiding his tears from Ais, but unfortunately for him, the latter completely saw it.

The wind elemental released a long sigh before slowly looking back at his brother, with a glum expression plastered on his face.

"If you only have a few days to live, what will you do?" He asked out of the blue.

"Taufan! What are you—"

"Just please answer it." Taufan cut him off, gazing at his brother beside him with his teary, desperate eyes.

Ais sighed in defeat, his eyes scanning his brother's face in which he found him serious about his question. He sighed once more, as he looked up while humming in thought.

"For me, I would spend those remaining days with my friends and family." He replied, then glanced back at his brother in confusion. "Why did you ask that question anyway?"

Taufan smiled at him sadly, with tears continously flowing down his face. "Nothing. I'm just curious." He said, chuckling lightly afterwards.

"Taufan, please. Tell me why did you ask that question?" Ais eagerly asked, staring at his brother with a confused yet, worried look.

Taufan heaved a heavy sigh, as he opened his mouth to reply. "Some people say, you can live for more than 100 years. We're currently 15, so that makes it 85 more years to live, or more. But then..." He bit his bottom lip, hesitating to whether should he tell his brother about it or not.

But he became open about it more.

"Now, I feel like I'm dying. Dying because, I can't feel the same happiness like I had before. Dying because, I feel like I'm not myself anymore..."

As soon as he said his last statement, one of his hands made its way on his cap, removing it completely from his head afterwards. There, it revealed that his dark brown hair, was slowly turning white, making Ais gasped in shock as he stared at him in disbelief.

"And, I feel like I won't even last for more than 85 days..."