withering bloom | TXT

21 | to you four.

at some point, they all began to give up on each other. they gave up on fourteen years of friendship, throwing it away. similar to how yeonjun's sweatshirt was taken to the dry cleaners, for the names to be removed from it. similar to taehyun's playlist changed to a private playlist, as well as the description, which changed to:

4 myself, nobody more

similar to soobin's gallery which was once filled with photos of the five of them, thrown into his recently deleted album. similar to how hueningkai continued to live home alone, with nobody around him.

the friendship was torn, as if it were unable to become mended once again.

——

one year later.

soobin stood by his large canvas, framed with gold accents hung up along the wall of some of the most brilliant artists in the country. he had finally taken the risk of submitting his art to become, soon showcased in the gallery. the museum gallery comes around once a year, gaining thousands of artist's and viewer's attention from all across the globe.

soobin stood, admiring his canvas full of colors and designs, framed in glass. he anxiously bit his lip and stomped his foot gently, full of nervous tensions. this was his dream, he would finally be achieving it.

he looked at the plaque that stood near his painting, showcasing his name and piece background.

the clock had stuck 12 pm, indicating the massive crowd of people entering the museum of new coming artists. a smile painted largely across his face, as he looked at the hundreds of people dashing upstairs to examine works.

it did upset him though. he saw magnificent artists have crowds of people, admiring their works as his stand had been left unvisited. he thought to himself, doubting his work and the quality of his painting, as a frown was soon painted across his lips. he fixed his specs, in hopes of becoming confident in his piece.

he looked up to see somebody walking up to his stand, their eyes attached to soobin's painting as he came closer and closer.

the young, brown haired boy fixed his mask to his nose as he admired soobin's work.

"choi soobin, huh?" the boy smiled proudly under his mask.

"yes! i-if you want i can give a description of the piece and—"

"i think it does all the speaking for itself." the boy stood attentively as another young, blonde haired boy had entered to the stand, holding his papers from the other exhibits in the museum. he crossed his arms, tapping his foot and placing a pen in his mouth, admiring the piece.

"hello! i'm choi soobin!" he said, reaching out his hand to greet the visitor with joy overcome inside of him from the other two people who began to walk up to his stand.

"i can tell from your name tag, haha!" one of the boys returned the excitement.

the blonde haired boy began to walk away. "that's a lovely piece you have, soobin. i hope to see your art showcased again next year, yeah?"

"i hope so too, K.T?" soobin questioned, tilting his head to the side in confusion as he read the name tag on the visitor's left coat side.

"oh yeah, they advised to place your initials on the name tag if you're a visitor!" the blonde haired boy explained. as he walked away, soobin excitedly smiled waving away to the blonde haired boy, as joy overcame soobin knowing how somebody loved his work of art.

"are those orchids?" a black haired boy began to ask about soobin's piece. the boy pointed to the glass, standing respectively behind it.

"actually, they're a made up flower." soobin explained, as the black haired boy watched attentively, still standing by the other two brown haired boys. "they stand for imagination and hope. that, hopefully, our imaginations can lead us somewhere we never knew.

"but if hope fails us, there's no other way, right?" one of the brown haired boys asked, as soobin nodded, the brown haired boy repeating his gesture.

"everybody depicts art differently. hopefully my artwork can have all three of you think differently about your outlook on the world." soobin smiled, waving goodbye to one of the brown haired boys, who was walking to another exhibit.

"i know it's odd that there are flowers in a hospital room in the painting. but there's always been something i've questioned about. this might be a little TMI, but i always wonder to myself about how i ended up in a hospital for a surgery about a...year ago? i think?" soobin looked up at the ceiling, trying to recall the memory. "it's odd that they never told me what the surgery was for."

"i had a similar experience!" the visitor exclaimed, pointing to the piece.

"but anyway, i decided to place the symbols of hope and imagination inside of the hospital. i could only imagine why i had been there that day."

"that's really impactful, you know. i was debating coming, but since i heard it only comes around once a year, i decided to take the chance and come view the new coming artists." the boy nodded. "i have to go, thank you for showing us your lovely art!!" the black haired boy began to walk away, waving goodbye to soobin.

soobin looked at the masked brown haired boy who had been examining the piece for over 10 minutes now.

"sir? is there anything you'd like to know about the piece?" soobin asked, smiling at the fact that someone wanted to examine his art for quite a while.

"i relate to this piece a lot, i'm sorry if i'm examining it for too long."

"take your time, art can take a while to absorb, i'm full of joy seeing that my art can have such an impact on a viewer!!" soobin exclaimed.

"you grew so much from your older pieces." the boy mumbled, still examining and not darting an eye at soobin.

soobin bunched his eyebrows. "what do you mean? i'm a new coming artist." soobin laughed, confused.

it was as if the boy didn't hear soobin's comment, his eyes darted to the glass plaque near the large canvas. he read the paragraph as he began to ask soobin questions.

"oh, it says here you take requests?" the boy pointed to the plaque as he placed his hands in the pockets of his black coat.

"i do, since it's a community art competition, i want to be able to incorporate the community members' ideas in my art." soobin smiled. "why do you ask, do you have a request?"

"i do, actually" soobin waited for the boy to go on.

"how about..."

the brown haired boy placed a finger on his chin, as he began to walk away, leaving soobin confused with the request he had left him with.

"a painting about the story of how a friendship of five withered away, like the petals on a sunflower in the harshest weather"

                                  THE END.