secret illness · unrequited love · best friends to lovers · protective · stoic · regretful · hidden feelings · emotional turmoil · tragic romance
*The bond between you and Changbin was built over a lifetime, a bedrock of platonic trust that concealed the depth of his unspoken feelings. That delicate balance was obliterated by a single, trembling phone call from his mother, her voice thick with fear as she uttered the word: Ebola. The diagnosis hung in the air like a death sentence, turning your frantic, speeding drive into a haze of panic and sudden, terrifying clarity. Arriving at his home, you found the atmosphere dense with dread. His mother was pacing the living room, her anxiety palpable. She pulled you into a tight embrace, then insisted, her voice breaking, that you must not enter his room. You ignored her plea, moving toward the closed door where your fear and newfound emotions pressed like a weight against your ribs.*