The driver nodded his head at Gracie's request. As the traffic light turned from red to green, the driver spinned the steering wheel left, bringing the vehicle away from the girl's previous destination.

This is the right thing to do, right?

Chen Linong was or her best friend.

She should care about Linong and his little sister more, right?

Plus, the boy was crying, sobbing for his little sister. He sounded so soft and vunerable for the little girl that he loves and care for.

He can be tough to protect others, like how he prevented Gracie from other guys, yet he can't bear to see people he loves getting hurt.

He'll think it's his fault for not 'protecting' them.

Gracie knew Linong all to well.

"Wouldn't it be nice to have someone like this as your love?"

Gracie did thought of that a few times, getting distracted by Linong's presence in her life.

But she realized that despite all of the boys she might stumble upon, Chengcheng would always claim that special spot in her heart.

The thought of Chengcheng could easily make her cheeks go red, he would always make her smile whenever they texted and chatted with each other.

Even for this past few days, Gracie can't help but recall the time when Chengcheng pulled her into a bear hug when he heard that Gracie feels the same as him and would be his girlfriend.

She smiled to herself and daydreamed about that moment, hoping that those things would happen again in the future.

So why...

Did she change her mind and went to see Linong? Doesn't she want to create beautiful memories with Chengcheng?

He's even in the hospital right now.

"But what happened to Chengcheng though? I couldn't be something that bad, right?", she thought.

She was curious on why Wenjun called her to come to the hospital for Chengcheng, but nonetheless, friends comes first, she reminded herself.

The taxi driver then finally pulled up in front of Linong's house. Gracie paid the amount of money needed to the driver, thanked him and exited the taxi. She dashed towards the door and knocked on it.

She could hear shuffling noises coming from inside of the house for a few seconds, before hearing a twist of a knob. The door opened, revealing Linong in normal clothing in front of her.

The only problem is that it's evident that he looks worn out of crying.

She could really see that his pair of eyes were swollen badly.

"G-Gracie...", the boy softly let out as he looked at her.

"Nongnong, are you okay? Is Lihua okay? Where is she? Why are you're eyes so swollen? What can I do to help you?", Gracie shoots him with tons of questions, worrying about the two siblings.

One was in pain and one was blaming himself.

"Yeah... Lihua is sleeping right now, don't worry"

"Come in", he invited her in.

Linong held the door and went to the side as Gracie came in. He closed the door after that.

"Thanks for coming... I-I just... had a hard time...", the boy said sadly as he looked down.

"I know Linong. But please, don't blame yourself in this. Nobody knew that Lihua was being bullied right? We'll teach those kids a lesson later, okay? Don't be sad", she tried to comfort the boy and pulled him into a hug.

Gracie rubbed his back soothingly as he placed his on her head. The two stayed in the position for a while, peacefully enjoying each other's warmth, before getting interrupted by the sound of Gracie's phone ringing.

Linong let go of the hug. Gracie looked at her phone– Wenjun.

"Oh shit I forgot to tell him"

"Um sorry I need to take this", she said.

The boy nodded his head in response and went upstairs to give her privacy.

Gracie answered the call.

"Where are you?!! You shouldn't be taking this long!!!"

"Sorry Wenjun, I had to–", before she could even finish, she could hear someone yelling at the other side of the phone. It was noisy from where Wenjun was but she could make out what that voice said.

"HURRY! HE NEEDS TO GO THROUGH SURGERY NOW! CALL MR. ZHANG!!"

"GRACIE, GODDAMMIT! CHENGCHENG IS DYING!!", the older yelled at her when he realized the situation at the hospital.

Gracie almost dropped her phone from the sudden news.

"W-what...?"

"Gracie, if you really love Chengcheng, stop doing what you're doing now and come here...", Wenjun tried to calm himself.

"Because you... you might never see him again..."

And with that, Gracie ended the call.

"NONGNONG!!!!", she shouted, not caring that it was six in the morning and that people are still asleep.

Linong came rushing down the stairs as he heard her booming voice.

"Hey! You could've woken up my sister!"

"Chengcheng's in the hospital. He's about to get fucking surgery. Wenjun said that... I might never see him again if I don't come to the damn hospital right now", she straightforwardly told him.

"wHAT?!", Linong screamed in shock, but not as loud as her.

"I need to go to the hospital... Stay here and take care of your little sister"

He nodded.

"I'll call you a cab. Wait outside", he said.

He then went to fetch his phone while she went outside.

Gracie waited for a couple minutes, pacing around the sidewalk as she waited for the cab impatiently.

"Oh why did I wasted time and didn't just go to the freaking hospital?!", she groaned at herself.

"Gracie Kwan you're such an idiot!", she couldn't help but scolded herself.

Right on time, the taxi arrived. Gracie opened the door and entered the taxi, it was the same taxi as before.

The driver gave her a smile.

"Is it the hospital, miss?"

"Yes. Extra fast please!", she said quickly.

The driver nodded and sped to the hospital.

The driver did drive the taxi fast as she requested. In no time, she arrived at the hospital.

She paid the driver and thanked him. She hurriedly exited the cab and entered the hospital.

She practically ran towards the reception counter.

"Hello, how may I help you, miss?", the receptionist politely asked.

"Can I know where is Fan Chengcheng?", she asked the receptionist.

The receptionist smiled and nodded at Gracie before checking the computer.

"Aishh can't she be more faster?!", the girl complained as felt impatient.

"He was put into room 503, but he is now undergoing surgery. The surgery room is at the second floor", the receptionist finally said.

"Thank you!"

Gracie dashed around the lobby, searching for the elevator. When she found it, she immediately pushed the button.

As if luck was on her side, the elevator opened instantly. She entered the elevator and pushed the button.

Her heart can't stop beating wildly. She was running and was scared.

Scared to lose Chengcheng.

"I just met him", Gracie remembered that they met about a few months ago.

"I just fell in love with him", she fell in love with the boy's antics.

"We had an unique way of falling in love. It was through that one app", suddenly grateful of the app that brought her to him.

"I finally found someone that can make me feel this way. Someone I could call as my first love", she knew that Wenjun never made her felt like this.

"So please, don't take him away", she pleaded.

The door opened and Gracie stepped out. She followed the signs that lead towards a bunch of surgery rooms.

She called Wenjun as she walked, trying to search for him.

"Hello? Wenjun? I'm at the second floor already. Where are you?"

"I'm in front of Chengcheng's surgery– oh there you are", Wenjun caught a her figure that was looking around mindlessly.

As she heard what Wenjun said, she looked in front, and saw Wenjun with some other people.

Gracie ended the call and ran towards Wenjun.

"What happened?", she immediately asked.

"Gracie, dear... We have something to tell you...", Chengcheng's mother suddenly appeared from behind.

"What is it Mrs. Fan?", she asked, dying to know the reason why Chengcheng was suddenly going through surgery.

Mrs. Fan looked at her with sad eyes before saying,

"Tell her, Wenjun"

Wenjun nodded at the elder's orders.

He pulled Gracie away from the others to break some news to Gracie.

"So? Why is Chengcheng suddenly in the hospital?"

Wenjun let out a sigh.

"Chengcheng... has pancreatic cancer", Wenjun confessed about his boss slash friend.

"WAIT WHAT??!!"

Gracie couldn't believe what she just heard. Did she hear it right?

"hE HAS CANCER!? Wait a second...", she then remembered something.

"He had asked me about cancer before... And what I would feel if he suddenly... died..."

Tears unknowingly streamed down her face at the sudden realization.

Chengcheng sometimes acted weird. He sometimes deletes his messages that he had sent to her.

"I know this is hard for you, Gracie. It's hard for me too. One day he suddenly told me that he had cancer. It was late detected, and the cancer had been growing inside of him, slowly eating him alive. He knew that he was dying. He knew that he doesn't have much time left. He wanted to do all sorts of things before leaving this world. And one of them was to love"

Gracie looked up at Wenjun as her tears continued to stream down her face.

"B-but.. he c-can't leave!"

"Gracie... Chengcheng loves you. He really does. He wanted to earn your love that desperately. But I don't know if... this is all too late or not. 2 days ago, Chengcheng started feeling pain again. He was admitted into the hospital yesterday and now... I don't know if he can even make it out alive right now"

Gracie almost dropped to the floor if it wasn't for Wenjun catching her.

"FAN CHENGCHENG YOU IDIOT! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME EARLIER!! I NEVER KNEW I WAS THAT SPECIAL. I NEVER KNEW YOU WANTED TO BE YOUR LOVE BEFORE– BEFORE LEAVING THIS WORLD! OH GOSH WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID!! AND I'M STUPID TOO FOR MAKING YOU EARN 'MARKS'. I'M SORRY I PLAYED HARD TO GET. I WANT YOU. I NEED YOU. DON'T LEAVE ME, PLEASE!"

Lol yall knew this was coming.

Holidays just started yeayyy. Lol I was supposed to end this fanfic about here but heh, change of plans I guess :)

If you saw my wall, you should know that I planned to make 3 ip fanfics after finishing this :)