CANDY

"You can't love someone unless you love yourself, Tae."

The words hung in the air like a whisper that didn't quite reach him. He slowly took V's trembling hand into his own - it was cold, fragile, almost weightless. Those eyes... once sharp, unfeeling, void of everything human... now flickered weakly, exhaustion claiming what little light was left. His pale skin had lost its glow - he looked more ghost than man.

He swallowed hard. "I've never loved myself," he murmured, his voice cracked and soft - more confession than reply. "But him..."

A faint smile tugged at his lips, trembling, breaking. "I loved him so much, I forgot what hurting myself even felt like hyung."

His hand drifted down, resting over his stomach - gentle, reverent - as though the fragile beat within was all that tethered him to the world.

A tear slipped from the corner of his swollen eyes, tracing down the hollow of his cheek. "If loving him was wrong... then I don't ever want to be right again."