The Ghost Of You

5

Starting now, Min's dialogue is in italics.

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It had been hard for Minhyuk to find his way back to Jooheon. Each street he saw was unfamiliar and confusing, it was as if he had never been in Seoul when before his death he knows the place like the back of his hand. But eventually, after stumbling into many other wandering ghosts and going back and forth to different alleyways and identical streets, he finally found himself standing infront of his old home, where he and Jooheon lived after they got married. Minhyuk felt a sting in his chest thinking, he didn't even reached their second anniversary. He was taken too soon.

Tentatively entering the place by passing through the doorway, he looked around. He hover his hand around the wall of the entrance hallway to the living room.

From his memory, it used to be filled with photographs. Each wall of their home used to be filled with many stilled memories. Now, they're all bare.

Going deeper into the house, he felt how silent and cold the place was. Their home was never quiet, never gloomy. It was always bursting with life.

On a corner, he saw a couple of boxes filled with things. He can't help asking himself if Jooheon was moving. He can't help wondering how long it's been since he left. It was slightly frustrating how he doesn't know anything.

Upon inspection, just looking at the open boxes as he's incapable of  touching them. He realized it was filled with their framed pictures. Only then he realized, their cluttered walls were now bare. One box was filled with his old things, so he assumed the rest was the same. Jooheon is taking his things and all that's connected to him away. He can't decide how he felt about that.

"Oh Jooheon..." Minhyuk breath sadly when he entered a room, seeing the said man laying on a mattress on the floor, many paintings both finished and unfinished all around him.

The room was Minhyuk's little studio, He spent most of his time there when he was still alive. Minhyuk sat on the floor infront of where Jooheon was laying. His lips trembled and his throat burn watching the other's tear-streak sleeping face,  It was evident he cried himself to sleep. He noticed Jooheon was hugging a bee plushie, Minhyuk vaguely remembered it was the last thing he ever gave him.

Minhyuk hovered his hand on Jooheon's face, acting like he's caressing his cheek.
"I'm here Honey, I'm always here"

As if Jooheon could sense Minhyuk's presence, his eyes opened. He sat up, unknowingly coming face to face with Minhyuk.

He looked around the place, his hand going up to touch his cheek where Minhyuk gave his just seconds ago. His eyes only seeing the paintings and not the artist in front of him. With a heavy sigh, he gathered all his strength and stood up, leaving the place without a word. Minhyuk, just silently following and watching after him.

Minhyuk watched over Jooheon, only being able to learn the length of time whenever Jooheon would tear away a page of the calendar he kept hanged by the kitchen wall.

It was a painful thing to do, but that was all he could. He watched how Jooheon cope up with his death, how he slowly pick himself up but never piece himself together.

Jooheon one by one removed everything that Minhyuk owned and all photos in every inch of their house, hiding it all away in the attic. All except for his paintings that he left untouched in the artist's working space. For the first few months he slept there, unable to bear being inside their shared bedroom. But then one day, he just closed the door and never entered it again. He went back to their bedroom, he threw away all the sheets, changed the furnitures and re-paint the walls. Leaving no sign of Minhyuk inside. But despite all that, a large part of him still lives inside his longing heart.

There are days that he cry himself dry, to the point that when morning comes he can't get up, muscles hurt and his throat sore. Some days he just have fun, joke around and laugh as if he never experienced heartbreak in his entire life. But it was never the same as before. It was not the happy laugh Minhyuk loved, not the bright smile that made his heart flutter.  But he tries hard to get by and Minhyuk, though in pain is proud of the strength he shows each day.

Minhyuk jump down the wooden drawer he was sitting at the moment he heard the front door open. He quickly run towards the entrance knowing it was Jooheon back from work. He rarely follows him outside, scared he'll get lost and unable to find his way back to his Honey. It happened before and it took him days before he found him again by luck, seeing him inside a shop.

"Welcome home Honey!" Minhyuk greeted even though the younger could not hear him.

Jooheon only felt a shudder run down his spine but ignored it, like how he learned to ignore the unusual things that happens inside the house. Minhyuk had learned a few tricks with his long free time. Simple things like locking the door, closing the lights and picking up light stuff. Jooheon, with his unstable state would often forget about simple things. Like locking the door or closing the stove. Minhyuk took it upon himself to do it for him whenever he's not looking, not wanting to scare the younger.

"How's your day Honey? Did you have fun? Was it stressful? " Minhyuk asked Jooheon, as he followed the younger into their old room, not caring if his questions were left unanswered.

Jooheon, unaware of the ghost of his beloved lazily tossed his bag on an armchair in the corner of the room. He placed something on his bedside table and unbuttoned his shirt before dropping to his stomach on the bed. Seeming to choose to fall asleep without even changing his clothes.

"Are you going to sleep now?" Minhyuk asked peeking to see if Jooheon has his eyes close. "But have you eaten? You should eat first"

Seeing as Jooheon seem to fall asleep quick, Minhyuk just sighed. The other might have had a busy day. He seems to have one every single day. He always goes home tired, which worries Minhyuk.

Catching glance of the thing Jooheon set on the table, Minhyuk walked and look at what it was. It was a simple rectangular paper in a light color of peach, with minimalistic floral design.

"Ki and Hyunwoo's wedding.." Minhyuk murmured upon realizing it was a wedding invitation.

He has no idea Kihyun and Hyunwoo had planned their wedding again. He heard before that they postponed it for reasons Minhyuk didn't know. It's nice to know they're still going to go with it.

Minhyuk felt a sudden twinge in his chest remembering he promised Kihyun he'd paint them a wedding portrait if they ever get married. He had always been sure the two would end up together. No matter how much Kihyun spent his teenage years denying the big fat crush he had on Hyunwoo.

" The least I could do is witness them exchange vows, right?" He said to himself before he went back to Jooheon and laid on his side.