when it blooms | yunsan

Chapter 11

The late Saturday afternoon is met with thunders in heaven.

Among the howling of the dogs trying to win over the raging sky, the confinement of being in a building which in other words means arduous paperwork, Yunho finds the rain comforting than before. Towards the end of the rainy season, he seems to have made a truce with it, and feels the lightness even. But maybe not today.

"Hyung, you can leave, I'm back."

Jongho comes in, back from a walk with Pepper and Cinnamon. The rain is quite unexpected, and Jongho has been drizzled upon whilst his last minute dash. How he flips his red hair to dry himself quite resembles the way Pepper does. Yunho grabs two towels and tosses it to the boy.

"No, I don't have to. San told me his friend from Seoul is staying with him over the weekend," Yunho answers.

Catching them easily, Jongho blinks. "A friend?" He ponders for a minute before he mutters, "Seonghwa hyung."

Yunho probably shouldn't be too inquisitive and meddle with every one of San's actions, but he asks anyway. It's about San after all.

"Seonghwa hyung?"

Jongho ruffles the towel over Pepper even before he does so himself. The dog is happily getting the treatment with his trademark squint on his eyes.

"They used to share an apartment in Seoul," Jongho says. "He is basically the reason why he moved here." He murmurs unconsciously, but it reaches Yunho's ears nonetheless.

Noticing Yunho's inquisitive stare, Jongho clears his throat before he explains. "Because Seonghwa hyung got married recently. So of course they both had to move out."

It explains why San had to find a new place to stay, but it doesn't explain why he had to move out of Seoul. Yunho asks, but Jongho doesn't answer immediately. He proceeds with drying himself and the towel on his head is concealing his intent.

"It's only my speculation, but I'm guessing he was upset with the marriage."

The thunder grows louder and Yunho sees a small figure shaking in the dark.

❀

Hearing that his friend came over, Yunho didn't expect to see the shop open the next day. More so, he certainly didn't expect to see an unfamiliar brunette standing in the shop, wearing a moss green apron.

Yunho stumbles at the entrance, while Pepper looks puzzled to see a strange face here.

"Hi," Yunho greets.

"Hey, um, are you looking for a flower?" the brunette man asks awkwardly. Even though he appears to be fit for the flower shop with the apron on, he doesn't exactly sound smooth while asking that question.

"Actually, I was looking for San?"

He mumbles an 'oh', and studies Yunho, glances at Pepper before he comes back to Yunho's eyes and smiles friendrily. "Are you Yunho?"

The handsome brunette with a sharp jawline doesn't look familiar in Yunho's eyes, but he nods anyway.

He beams a shade brighter. "Sani told me about you! Ah, yes, you are handsome and tall. And like he said, you look very nice."

Yunho flushes in an instant, not so used to hearing someone compliment him right at his face, and to hear that those words were from San. Yes, Jongho has kindly informed him before, but it still flusters him.

"Sorry, how rude of me to not introduce myself," the brunette furrows his brows. "I'm Park Seonghwa, San's friend."

Seonghwa hyung.

Jongho's voice rings in Yunho's ears. San's friend from Seoul. The one who San used to share his apartment with. The one he spent yesterday's thunder with.

"He forgot his phone, so he pushed me to do the shopkeeper while he go grabs it. I don't think this is how you treat a friend who came all the way here, seeing after months at that," Seonghwa bickers, but the chuckle he gives along is affable.

"I'm Jeong Yunho. San's friend, and I work in a dog shelter," Yunho tells him.

"Yes, I've heard lots from San! I believe you are quite a close friend, with how you take care of him during thunder," Seonghwa smiles. He's handsome and sharp, and Yunho sees no resemblance within themselves. He brushes his nape with his left hand, and Yunho notices a silver on his ring finger. "I was worried, actually. When we used to live together, I could look after him, but now that I can't, I was worried about him."

You're special.

Jongho had once said. Because San lets Yunho help him with his fear. It comes easy to him, the vision in the dark of how a lump is formed in the middle of the bed, that is shaking slightly, that you notice only when you step closer. With a pat on it, blonde hair creeps out, then the timid eyes that trap Yunho, and a small shaky expectant hand that reaches out to him.

"I'm glad he has you now," Seonghwa says with a genuine smile.

The hand reaches out, and tugs on the other nervously. The figure complies and slips in the bed with him, coddling him, holding him close. San is easing in the touch, and he is no more shaking.

Yunho is seeing it all from afar.

As the blonde mixes with the brunette.

❀

There's a squeeze at his chest when it comes to this. Always.

He sees Molly, one of the dogs that came by their own name and avoided any spicy touch, step out in the broad daylight, her leash held by someone that was not Yunho or Hongjoong.

She looks happy enough, Yunho's been with her for a good ten months to figure out that much. It's always a happy thing, to find a home for the dogs out of the shelter, since the shelter isn't what should be called their home.

But to Yunho, it is almost like sending off his own daughter to wed, away from home. He had looked after each one of the dogs closely, diligently, lovingly, and he can't really lie that in between the happiness he feels, there's sadness instilled in it when he sees them leave. He knows he's not the only one, from how Hongjoong is visibly watering his eyes looking at Molly growing smaller.

'Home' is quite a vague term, Yunho thinks. Perhaps Molly will miss them and miss this place, having associated with it for long. Yunho also thinks he could probably call the shelter his home in a sense. He knows the place for years, a year-older Hongjoong acts like a big brother to him (although he's physically small), and Hongjoong's parents treat him like a good son. Sometimes he babies him too much, feeding him more when they invite him over for lunch or dinner, and he could see Honjoong sulking in the corner of his eyes.

He also has his mother, who will forever be his home, and an apartment he shares with Mingi, although he wouldn't admit, Mingi's whining and bickering has been part of his comfort by now.

Home is cozy, home is warm, home is safe. He feels the same way when he holds San. he doesn't know what it is—maybe it's the way his frame perfectly fits in Yunho's, maybe it's San's soft flowery scent that soothes him, maybe it's San's body temperature a degree lower than his that draws him closer. Yunho wants to call it home.

He wonders what San would call a home. He wonders how he used to live in Seoul, and how he fits in this town. He wonders about his family and friends.

The 'home' he only knows is the dark room in the Mangyang street. There's a small figure trembling with the raging sky outside. He sees someone reach out to him. He sees, from five steps away. It's a taller brunette, and the smaller figure jumps in his arms as the brunette cradles him softly.

Five steps away, but he feels he's eternity away, carrying a stinging heart.

Maybe that was his home. And maybe it still is.