eternal ↬ markhyuck

nine

"What does that one mean?"

"This one?"

"Yeah."

"Wisdom. It's supposed to symbolise wisdom."

Mark stared at the flower in wonder. Who'd know they each meant something so sentimental? Certainly he hadn't known. "And..." he crawled forward and pointed at another one, eyes squinted in thought. "What's this? It looks regal. I'm guessing it symbolises fortune?"

"No," Donghyuck covered his mouth to suppress the laughter. Mark was so bad at guessing that it was painful to watch. "It's 'integrity'."

The older comically hit his head and sighed. "Okay, I'll definitely get the next one." His eyes scanned the plants until they landed on an interesting orange one. He crawled over to it, too warm and dehydrated to actually walk. "This has to mean love, right? It's romantic-looking."

"It actually symbolises eternal life."

"You know what?" Mark grumbled. "I take back what I said. It isn't romantic-looking. It resembles a suction cup."

Donghyuck shook his head mockingly. "You're not awful at this," despite what he was actually thinking, "you're just...new to it...?"

Mark shrugged and sat back on his heels. The warmth on his face was pleasant and the smells today were strong without being overwhelming. "It's okay. At least I know what the rose symbolises. That's enough for me."

The younger boy exhaled and leaned forward, brushing a few petals from Mark's hair. Mark looked nice today, as he always did, but Donghyuck noticed it more because it seemed that the elder was having fun, and with a face as happy as his, he could see the refined attractiveness. The little petals fell away and Mark's eyes met Donghyuck's, staring at each other for a quiet moment when the breeze was stagnant and the life around them waited. The sandy-blonde's hand slowly fell to settle on the grass and he shifted his gaze away shyly. "M-my favourite is this one..." he trailed off and reached for a drooping, untainted daffodil.

Mark dazedly blinked and tore his focus from the beautiful boy to the flowerhead he was supporting with his fingers. "What does it symbolise?"

"It means a few things...but in my opinion, the most beautiful one is 'rebirth'. It's a question that's often asked, but the answer is so foggy and subjective. 'What's happens after death?'."

Mark nodded and watched Donghyuck smile a small, contented smile.

"I guess it also means 'new beginnings'." He drifted his gaze towards Mark's and their eye contact held again. "It's just a pretty flower all-round. Not to mention it additionally symbolises 'returned affection'. Who wouldn't want that?"

"It's like a wonder-flower, then," Mark chuckled and tilted his head ever-so-slightly to look at the bright yellow sun-like form. The silence relapsed and Donghyuck let go of the daffodil, watching it droop again. "I wonder if there's a flower for everything."

Donghyuck shrugged and raised his eyebrows at Mark. "There must be."

"Then..." he pursed his lips in thought and exhaled, eyeing the field in all its splendour. "There's a flower that symbolises death?"

Donghyuck looked around with squinted eyes to the sun and kneeled up. There were just so many plants that finding a single one was difficult. "There are a few, but..." he stood up and stumbled a bit, knees weak from sitting on them for a while, but Mark held his arm and kept him from falling. Donghyuck bashfully thanked him and wandered over to the edge of the field, where a tall-standing flower was rooted. "Chrysanthemums are so beautiful. They don't look like they should symbolise death, but they do." He was looking at it with rosy cheeks because Mark was still holding his arm. "Flower symbolism is like a foreign language, huh?" He chuckled lightly.

"I was never good at those," Mark groaned, thinking back on his below-average capability with them. Well, he wasn't great at identifying the flora either. He let go of Donghyuck's arm and turned around. "How do they all grow here? Surely some of these must have different habitats...."

Donghyuck followed the older's line of sight over the extensive collection. "Like I said before; this garden is special."

•・•・•

"You know that song you often hum?"

Donghyuck rolled his head to the side and felt the grass tickle his cheek. They were both lying on their backs, looking up at the sky. "I didn't even know I hummed."

"Well," Mark paused, "I was just wondering what the rest of the words were."

"Why?"

"Why? Because I drive myself crazy trying to fit the same phrase to each line of the melody. It's a nightmare when it's stuck in my head and I hear the same few words on repeat."

Donghyuck smiled to himself and closed his eyes. "I can tell you the rhyme if you sing it."

The older wasn't one for singing, but he didn't feel embarrassed in the secluded field with the mysterious dweller. "It starts of with 'love has the gentlest song'." After quietly singing the phrase, Mark eyed Donghyuck, who rolled onto his side to face him.

"That's not the starting line," he smiled. "It's the close of the tune."

"So what should it sound like?"

"It's supposed to be melancholic but hopeful at the same time. It's a love song."

"Oh." Which brought the same question to Mark's attention that he had wondered about over the weekend. Was Donghyuck in love? "Well then, what're the words?"

The younger interlaced his fingers over his tummy and began to recite the lyrics.

"When the world slows down and peace sets in, won't you bring me along?
Because the memories of 'without you' cling and pester me for so long.
Like the tide to the moon, my fate is sealed to yours wherefrom,
I'll be strung along to follow you, because love has the gentlest song."

"It doesn't make much sense," Mark remarked. "Where did you here it?"

"Sometimes I have visitors. One of them sang it to me, and for the life of me I couldn't forget it."

"Why?"

"Because he had such a beautiful voice. I can still here it now," he mumbled softly. "It was so pure and relaxing, but somehow the song makes me unsettled."

Mark watched as a cat-shaped cloud floated slowly into view. The further across the sky it got, the more warped it became until it no longer resembled anything other than a puff of white fluff on a painted blue background. "Then why do you sing it?"

Donghyuck opened his eyes and turned his head to look at him. "Because, like I said, I can't forget it."

"Snap," Mark laughed. "Neither can I. It's an earworm." But he was smiling to himself because it seemed that Donghyuck wasn't singing it for somebody in particular. That was, as strange as it felt to him, a relief.