The Afterlife

28) The Last Spring

(a/n: this is a flashback chapter so buckle up
i never really SAY when there's a flashback, but here, you should know, since you really need to mind the names and whatnot
now lesgo)

The sun never dared shine anything but brightly on the street that was unconditionally bustling with life, as if it took it for a competition ane swore on its rays to never let a man be more vigorous than it.

Even during the night hours, it lent the moon its lights to let it shine just as enthusiastically, filling the city with life till its peak.

It was a city the likes of all else, with a modern color that reflected the sun's rays on its glass, but it had enough of the greens and life from water to shelter people just as nicely.

The countryside was even more full of life, the neighbourhoods loud with the normality of their days that rocked them back and forth, times when the stress of work and exams shook the very core of it, and times when the sounds of free laughter challenged those very things.

Even when the distress that came along with the new decade filled the people with fear, there was this one neighbourhood that never lost its vigour, just like many others of its likes. It was mindful, but living, still, and it held to its traditions like it was what had kept it alive.

"It is only the beginning of a new semester," the tiles creaked below Soojin's feet as she purposefully walked on her toes; there was not much to fear walking properly, but it was the fun of it, the exceptional taste to hanging even that much closer to the air, "and you already off to procrastinate."

"Your accusations cannot tear through me," against the cupboard, he lied, the face where the sun decided to shine the most; it was coming through the window, never too severe, but still full of life in its stance; it shone on his face to further perfect it, and it made him look all the more keen on being seen, "I will have my well-deserved rest."

"When have you not?" From beside him, sitting on the wheeled stool, Minho snorted, picked the pen on the desk by his side mindlessly to click it into life and back.

"Spring demands to be lived to the fullest," Jongyul said in reply, closing his eyes at the warmth of the sun for a clearer representation of what he meant, "and what do you mean by that?" The ease was all lost at once as he frowned, opening back his eyes to look at Minho in defence.

"He means that you take your graduation year a bit more seriously," Younghwan was bent on his book himself; he was reading, but none of them asked of him the nature of the book. It was no surprising scene - their friends being hunched over the pages for hours in a gathering of theirs, and while said gatherings were deemed to be less with the beginning of another academic year, Younghwan wasted no time without his glasses on and books on the table, "you have to really work harder if you want to maintain an acceptable grade."

"Did someone say lunch?" Like a reaction to a merciless storm, the door to the room flew opened, and with how quickly it did so, the four of them worried for its breaking for a second, jumping back in surprise themselves upon the sudden entrance.

"No, I said grades," Younghwan huffed, regaining his posture where he sat to return to his book while the rest of them circled on the ground, "and you really should learn to knock."

From where she stood, Soojin went to sit right beside Jongyul, who welcomed her easily as they settled around their meal. Easily, that was, by wrapping an arm around her waist and drawing her against his chest; there was a faint chuckle met with a faint smile that all went unnoticed by the rest of the gathering, for it was nothing they had not seen before.