the man with the blue hair || seongjoong || ATEEZ

ch. 1 : white

seonghwa graduated from university with a degree in fine arts. he was told all his life that he wouldn't be able to do anything useful with that degree from the moment he declared it as his major. his parents told him that he should've gone into the sciences, been a doctor or even a lawyer, something that would give him a substantial amount of money so he could support himself.

while he knew that they were right because making it big as an artist, a painter no less, was not something that most people ever accomplished. even prodigies, amazing painters that had graduated before him and were expected to do something great with their lives, were not doing so well.

but despite all the backlash and nearly being disowned by his parents, he couldn't find it in himself to do something else.

he loved painting. it was his whole world.

he wouldn't consider himself the best, or even all that talented for that matter, which some of his friends would tell him that he was just being humble. he loved designing and drawing cartoon characters, painting them in these beautiful colors that nearly made those 2D drawings into something 3D. he was extremely lucky, being picked up by a small, struggling company that went around doing part-time volunteer work at local hospitals only a few months after graduation.

everyone told him that he would regret his decisions and would have to go back to university to study something that he could actually use. but it's been four years since and he has never regretted anything.

the same company grew over the years, thanks to many sponsors and supporters that loved what they stood for and decided to help finance them. so for the past four years, seonghwa had been working with them, becoming one of the most requested artists to help decorate the giant windows that lined the pediatric center of the children's hospital.

at one specific location, seonghwa just volunteered his time. the hospital was a struggling one, they didn't have enough money for extra expenses to hire artists to help bring life and color into the very gloomy lives of the children that suffered there. so when people told seonghwa that he would do nothing good with his degree, he would immediately tell them that they were so wrong.

he got to see children who were in pain all day long, smile because of a painting of a pony he did. to him, that was what made everything worth it.

he knew nearly every nurse and doctor there. it was a super small hospital and care center, but the community was strong and had a wonderful sense of family that all the other hospitals he worked at, did not have. he grew very acquainted with yunho and yeosang, who were both pediatric nurses that spent all day in the unit caring for the children. he admired them, they both were younger than him and he found it amazing how they were so good with the kids, they knew how to calm them down when the shots were too painful for them to handle.

at the same time, he also felt really sorry for the two nurses. he could never do something like that. he could never be in the constant presence of children every day who spent most of their lives suffering and in pain. seonghwa was too soft and caring, he grew too connected to anyone, especially children. it was even extremely hard on him when he noticed that a child's room was being cleared out, the parents not making any eye contact with anyone and looking more lost than anything.

he felt like he had lost a bit of his heart whenever that happened, so he could only imagine how the two nurses felt.

it was a cancer research hospital after all, and it was inevitable, but that didn't mean it hurt any less. no matter what, seonghwa couldn't help but make friends with all the kids there, teaching them how to paint shapes and small animals when they were feeling up to it. he came around at least once a month to redo the main themes in the halls, and if his schedule was open enough, he would try and come by every weekend to have little playdates with the kids.