Grey Suit, Business Proposal

━━━ Prologue

GREY SUIT
Prologue
❛ His grey suit. ❜ 5th September 1998

The crisp, tingling smell of dried leaves touched upon young Ahn Ye-Jun's senses. He hadn't really taken note of the constantly changing seasons, he never questioned it, but as his curious dark eyes surveyed his surroundings, Ahn Ye-Jun stilled.

Emerald green leaves fell from skeletal trees, some leaves morphed into palettes of orange.

Golden, bedazzling rays of the sun were drenched by a pale grey, as some light, ashen fog covered them.

Families of onyx birds scattered across the skies, decking the stretch of white with their flying bodies, off to venture for some place warm.

It was just summer a day ago-- what happened to it? He found himself asking.

Mindlessly stuffing his cold bitten fingers into his pockets, twinkles of puzzlement touched upon his enlarged eyes as he made his way back towards Bittersweet florists. As soon as the tip of his worn out shoes, touched upon the first step to the front door, his eyes landed on the plant pots that were placed in front of the shop.

The plants were rooted, limply, within their homely pot.

The soil was greyer than it was in the summer, the stem almost midnight black.

The cottony pink buds of the peonies were demolished by the hands of time and their scent dissipated alongside the death of summer.

All the wilted petals crunched under his shoes; Ahn Ye-Jun frowned.

"Halmeoni!" He called for the shop owner, his mind racing with ideas on how to revive the collection of dead flowers.

"Oh Ye-Junah--" The florist let a joyed chuckle spill from her lips, her eyes crescent moons as they trailed over to her little grandson, who hopped into her open arms.

"Halmeoni . . ." He repeated, his bottom lip aquiver, "you forgot to water the flowers-- Shouldn't we water them? They don't look normal," he pointed towards the entrance, where it housed the peonies.

A great deal of softness bled through the grandma's set of almond coloured eyes. Somewhere within her, knew that this day would come, where she'd tell her grandson about the season of grey. "That is because autumn has arrived my dear."

". . . Au . . . tumn?"

The season where the beauty of death is magnified.

"-- Some flowers bloom through the summer and only the summer. But after that, they wilt away."

The sides of his coral orange lips drooped downwards.

"What if we want them during the autumn, forever? Can't we just get it back by watering it?. . ."

"No," the sides of his grandma's face warmed as she ruffled his tousled hair with the palm of her hand, "sometimes we have to learn to let go. Just like these peonies, we can't control what can stay and what cannot. We cannot control the seasons, summer cannot last forever--"

"So halmeoni," young Ahn Ye-Jun fiddled with the zipper of his thick coat, his worried gaze settled onto his grandma's sunny ones, "are these peonies . . . gone forever?" He whispered the last words as if he would somehow jinx it.

"Not at all, they're not gone forever . . . they'll just come back next summer, and the summer next, and the summer after that. Because, once the roots are settled, unless someone moves them, they'll always be here to greet you in the summer."

"So . . . we just have autumn and then it'll be summer again?"

"There are four seasons, winter, spring, summer and autumn. You just have to be patient until it's summer again . . . and you're patient, aren't you Ye-Junah?"

"Mhm!" He saluted, as he does when he wants to prove his courage and words. I guess I can let go of these peonies. "I can't wait till next summer."

"That's my boy," patting gently at both sides of her grandson's cherubic face, her chest swelled with pride.

It was fascinating to Ahn Ye-Jun, how, most of the nature around him was wilting away, dying by the hands of time. Yet, most of it stayed standing, awaiting patiently for the first day of summer. Still, he felt out of place, his heart was the embodiment of summer and spring, how would he endure the harshness of autumn and winter?

Ahn Ye-Jun hoped that one day, he could find someone who was just like him. A soul belonging to summer; someone who reflected himself. Someone to make him feel as though summer never left.

But Ahn Ye-Jun was only so young when he learnt about the four, constantly changing seasons.

So, he decided to put on a grey suit, well, metaphorically speaking.

So, that he could match the colours of autumn.

When will he wear the colours of summer again? He wondered when the day will come. For now, he concealed his summer colours with his grey suit-- and awaited for the day his peonies would come back to him.