Trying to keep the kiss as sweet and tender as a first without tainting it with the bitterness of a last, Donovan communicated every last ounce of feeling he could. He wanted no secrets to drag down with him to the grave, freely revealed everything he tried so hard to keep hidden in the past. Maybe it was a cruel thing to do, but neither had the benefit of being spared from the truth anymore.
In that brief moment where everything else slipped away, he imagined all the duets they would have played together, lunches he would have packed for Kyu-Sik and a daughter they could have adopted. No harm now indulging in a fantasy of what kind of future they could have built together, too upset with reality to let it take part. They could have been happy.
When it finished, Donovan no longer felt afraid, wiping away the tears from Kyu-Sik's eyes before they could properly fall. "I forgive you," he promised, another brief brush of lips to seal it. In acceptance of his fate, he lightly wrapped his fingers around the hand holding the dagger and squeezed encouragingly, wanted Kyu-Sik to have no doubts of his consent. "There are a thousand different ways I would have died for you."