[Flashback]
"let's make a band!"
The boy stood up from his seat and waved the magazine he was reading to get the attention of his friend.
The other boy didn't even look at him and shrugged thinking it was another one of his goals which he will forget in few days.
"I'm serious Suga! Lets make a band!!" The boy said and dragged Suga by his arm to the empty music room on the 7th floor. Were they even allowed to go to that floor?
"See this room is screaming our name." The boy stood in front of a shabby room which looked like a good spot for shooting a Horror movie.
"It's screaming ghost and dead people." Suga deadpanned said.
"Why do you want to make a band so suddenly?" Suga asked. Normally, Suga never asked him reasons about his long list of goals but this time, it was related to music and Suga had to admit, it piqued some interest in him. The boy only gave his sunshine smile and put a finger on his lips,
"It's a secret."
Of course, what was he expecting? Even rolling his eyes was too much work, so Suga just left him there and went back to his class.
"Wait! Suga! I know you love music, so why won't you give it a go." The boy shouted, running towards Suga.
"How did you know?" Suga was shocked, His parents didn't support his choice for music so he never expected anyone else either that's why he made sure that nobody knew about his secret hobby.
"It's a secret!"
If Suga could, he wanted to disown the boy right there and then.
"Are you joining?" The boy had thought of a plan and smirked a little devil.
"No." Suga said, suspecting a catch.
"Too bad huh. Guess I'll just show this picture to Jin." The boy held his phone, close to Suga's face and when he did, Suga's tiny eyes bulged open. It was picture of suga, playing his mini keyboard on the school rooftop. Every now and then, Suga would ditch his devil friends and secretly go to the rooftop, to immerse himself in the music.
"Where did you get that?"
Well that was not the real issue. However, if Jin got his hands on this picture then the whole world will know.
"Are you joining or not? "
"..."
"Okay, sending this to Jin-"
"J-Hope!"
"Yes~"
"...don't send it to Jin."
"Hmmm, I could listen to your request if you offer something of equal value."
Suga confirmed, his friends were devil in disguise of humans.
"..."
"How about you join my band and I will not send this picture to Jin?" The boy, J- Hope felt so proud as if he made the biggest deal of his life.
"The band needs 4 people to be registered as a club." Suga thought of a reason to make J-Hope back down.
"Jin already agreed. See!" J-hope showed him the chat between him and Jin and he did agree. Well that guy just needed an excuse to flaunt his beauty any way.
"But there's still one member missing." Suga knew it was useless but he still refused to give in.
"Oh? don't you worry about that." J-Hope gave his brilliant smile and the other reluctantly agreed. He ran out of options already.
Long before the Music Club was formed. Suga impressed the other members with his musical talent and their Guitarist was quick to learn. Jin focused on improving his voice while J-hope learnt to play the drums.
It was long and hard efforts of the four boys that they formed a band capable of producing good music. At first, they would just copy the music form famous K pop bands and learn through them after they developed initial skills, they begun to produce their own chords.
"Is this what I think it is?" J-Hope asked staring into the sheet of paper which was offered to him.
"Mn." Suga nodded, although a little embarrassed.
"You wrote this?" J-Hope asked, still in shock but brimming with happiness.
"Mn." came a simple reply. Suga had always wanted to be able to produce his own music and thanks to the courage of J-Hope and rest of the members, he was finally able to do it.
"Man!! you're awesome!!" J-hope jumped at Suga and both fell flat on the floor laughing.
"Thank You." J hope said without getting off of him.
The two stayed in that position, staring into each other's eyes. The window welcomed the wind and allowed the curtains to wash over them, the heat of summer was truly splendid. Their lips intertwined and soon their first kiss turned into a series of pleasant delight.
The guitarist was standing outside the door, he dared not to ruin a beautiful moment and he gestured vocalist to stay quite when he spotted him nearby.
Those were the peaceful days!
. . .
There was something about his smile that could make the world bright and he was doing the same to Suga's heart. Suga didn't realize how much he become dependent on his smile, that's why it was Suga, who first noticed when his smiles begun to falter.
"What's the matter?"
It was just another day in the summer when Suga and others were in the music club. They had been preparing a song for upcoming cultural festival and it was Suga who composed it.
The vocalist and the guitarist went to buy the drinks and it was just the pianist and drummer in the room.
"What do you mean?" J-Hope asked, looking confused.
"You don't...look good." Suga was certainly not a man of words.
"Is that so? Well you needn't worry, I'm absolutely okay." J-Hope gave his reassuring smile.
Suga gave him a concerned look to which J-Hope gave him a kiss on his cheeks, making him render less to form a straight thought.
The other two returned and they returned to their practice.
The things really started to change when his smile begun to recede day by day. There were just 7 days in their cultural festival. And the members were all really busy with their preparations.
"You look awful!" Vocalist said looking at the younger boy with visible eye bags and pale skin.
"Geez, thanks for the vote of confidence." The drummer retorted
"What happened?" Vocalist asked.
"Nothing, why do you ask?"
"Hope, we both know you're lying." The guitarist asked, who was just returning from the student council room. He was responsible for doing all the paper works and bunch of other work that needed permission from authority.
The drummer looked back and forth between the Vocalist and the Guitarist. Seeing they weren't going to give up, he finally decided to tell them.
"Promise me one thing first." He pleaded.
"Don't let Suga know anything about it."
The two exchanged a glance and finally agreed to J- Hope's condition.
. . .
They gasped in shock and covered their mouth to not let any voices escape.
"We are not performing at the cultural festival!" The guitarist announced, making the final decision.
"No please! You can cancel anything but that! Please!" The drummer begged the other two.
"Hope, we are not risking your life!"
"Please! Suga always wanted to perform! Don't take it away from him! I promise I will do anything just don't cancel the performance!" The drummer was desperate, he didn't work this hard only for it to get canceled.
"If we talk over with Suga, he'll understand." The Guitarists suggested.
"Please No! it will break him! He doesn't show it but he has been looking forward to it the most! Don't take it away from him!" The person that used to smile so much was now crying in front of them. Pleading them like a child. They didn't know what to do either.
"Please think of it as my last wish."
[Flashback ends]
.
.
.
"And that really turned out to be his last wish." Jin said staring into empty room. It used to be filled with joy and happiness, not it was the epitome of pain and despair.
"The way he played the drums, he doesn't look like he was fighting against cancer." V said when he looked at the drummer through the screen.
"He had us all fooled but right after the performance ended, he collapsed. The cultural festival was the last day, his doctor gave him for surgery but it turned out to be his last day of life." A tear escaped Jin's eyes. He wished he could turn back time and force J-Hope to go to the hospital.
"How did Suga Hyung react?" V didn't want to know the answer, he feared it might break him.
"He drank a lot that night." Jin laughed without humor. Minors weren't suppose to drink.
"Sometimes he carried on like nothing happened while sometimes he dismantled himself. No matter how much we tried to comfort him, he was too broke to be fixed. The only times, I heard him play are the days of his death anniversary."
"Its been two years since then and he hasn't moved on. And this is our last year as 3rd years, I'm afraid of what might happen when I'm not close to him. I'm afraid he might do something to himself when I'm not around." Jin was struggling to hold back his tears. It wasn't just the pianist who lost a friend that day but also other members. But they had to be strong for his sake, otherwise they would lose him too.
"That's why I asked you, how much of the worth is that love of yours? Don't give him false hopes and break his heart. He can't afford it anymore."
Even though his words were harsh, V understood them completely. He felt them completely.
But was he really capable of saving him from himself?
------------------------
Sorry for Errors and thank you for reading.