Storyteller | JHS ✓

Chapter twenty-eight; Blue and Grey

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𝗗𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲
'𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁
𝗣𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲

 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵

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"So," Hope started, "how was that for a birthday present?" The words left his lips a bit chopped, each word spoken out of breath.

Dear reader, I didn't have any words. But really, how could I? In mere minutes, he created a world of love and loss, of blood and diamonds, and of roses and thorns. Did this man, so humble, really spin such a tale rivaling Shakespeare's tragedy, Romeo and Juliet?

The story was brilliant, yet the ending...

"To tell the truth, I think I would've liked it better if it had a happy ending."

"Well, Minami, I think you know by now that my stories neither start with 'once upon a time' nor end with 'and they lived happily ever after.'"

"But doesn't it make you sad?" I refuted, "To see characters you designed and created yourself to get broken up into smaller and smaller pieces and still not have a happy ending?"

Hope smiled a gentle smile, "Yes. It pains me to no end. It's like I'm betraying a dear friend whenever I do this to them. But stories where everything goes smoothly will never make an impact on people."

Hearing this, I asked a question I'd been wondering for a while.

"Do you tell stories to forget? You say each word and draw each breath so wistfully, almost as if you're saying goodbye to them. You incorporate friends into your stories too. Do you want to forget them?"

Hope closed his eyes, deep in thought, while I thought of all the characters from his stories.

Kim Namjoon, the genius.

Kim Seokjin, the little moon prince.

Min Yoongi, the pianist.

Park Jimin, the tailor.

Kim Taehyung, the magician.

And Jeon Jungkook the jester, tying all of the stories together into a grand finale.

Six people in total. Did Hope try to forget all of them?

Finally, an answer came.

"So you caught that, huh? Clever. But I'm not exactly forgetting them...I'm more-or-so saying goodbye...and the easiest way for me to do that is to forget them so that the pain would be less...painful."

Looking back, this was definitely a challenging topic for him to talk about. Usually, his sentences would flow with the grace of a swan, yet, having this conversation had him struggling to find the right words. But I understood: he wasn't trying to forget them. He had to in order to give them a proper farewell.

But why was he saying goodbye?

I asked that very question to him and received no response.

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"So...when are you going to tell me your story, huh?"

Hope gave a little laugh, "When the sun aligns with the scarlet morning."