what was once so lovely. | jaeyong

the second.

<3:40am>
<present>

Snow fell delicately, cascading down as if they had all the time in the world. The sun remained hidden behind the thick cloud of the snow. Taeyong looked through the car window, admiring the grey fog that prospered around the familiar area.

He opened the window, extending his arm outside to latch himself back into reality. He constantly shifted his hand's position, imagining it was a paper plane against the restless winds. Taeyong smiled gently at his childish wonders.

"Put your hand back in... it might get chopped off." Johnny spoke, almost scaring Taeyong from the sudden warning.

"Fine." Taeyong sulked as he shoved cold-held hand back into his coat.

He fixated his eyes back into the scenery with the windows down. The familiar shops and buildings brought so many memories, the good and the bad spiraling together within his memory bank. The nostalgic feeling warmed up his cold ridden skin.

Taeyong curled up into his seat as he held onto his cheeks to warm them up. He had no idea whether he should feel ecstatic or regretful about this decision. He looked at the back of the car, seeing Ten sleeping, bundled in Johnny's large coat, and behind him was heaps of their belongings.

Nesting back into his warm and comfortable position, Taeyong tried drowning his thoughts with bright smiles and grooving to what was playing on Johnny's playlist. Johnny always had a playlist for everything: a playlist for sleeping in the plane, a playlist for crying over a movie, strangely enough, a playlist for feeding the fishes.

"God, this place did not change that much... look, the bubblegum that I chewed twelve years ago is still on that wall." Johnny pointed out, of course, exaggerating every single situation to accentuate his bright personality.

Taeyong laughed at the hyperbolic statement, authentically enjoying Johnny's company and appreciating every little thing he does for him. Taeyong's personality development flourished. He loved to smile and to laugh, even at the smallest inconveniences in life. He smiled.

A name would always linger between his lips every time he smiled. It was Jaehyun. Jung Jaehyun, the one that got left behind. It was bittersweet knowing that he smiles because a past lover had told him that it was the most beautiful thing to have ever graze this planet.

Taeyong's eyes found its way back to the gentle fall of the snowflakes. Fascinated, yet distracted. Jubilant, yet unsure.

🌌

After driving for a couple more minutes, they finally arrive at their old house in this old town. The same houses were still standing, yet the faces were different but some remained. Taeyong could still recognize some of the kids from the neighborhood, now had grown up into teenagers.

Taeyong stood still on the pavement, eyeing the two teenagers playing with the snow. Tossing balls of snow and laughters finding its way to lift up the thick fog, Taeyong mindlessly got absorbed into the activity. The box in his hands began to slip each time they smiled and hurled a snowball at each other. Something in their eyes just held so much nostalgic and heartwarming essence that Taeyong did not even realize that the box in his hands dropped.

The box landed on his feet and a crack was visible heard, evident that something fragile had been broken.

He picked the box up and went inside the empty house. Each sound echoed through the walls. He settled the box on the living space, opening it and found a ceramic figurine of an innocent child, smiling with rosy cheeks and large cartoon eyes staring at the windows of his soul.