Ineffable 𓇢𓆸 || Jakehoon

🍂 Chapter 53 🍂

Jake's POV

The end of summer is always bittersweet, but this year, it feels like the world itself is grieving. The days are shorter now, the heat of the sun fading into the cooler breeze of autumn. It's strange, how everything around us is shifting, how the world outside is burning up in chaos, while the leaves on the trees turn shades of red, orange, and yellow-like the sky itself is reflecting the fire below. The war is everywhere. It's in the air we breathe, in the tremors beneath our feet, in the way people speak, if they speak at all. People are losing everything.

I can see it in the eyes of the others, in the way they avoid looking at each other for too long, afraid that if they make eye contact, it'll be the last time. Fear is getting bigger every day, creeping into the hearts of everyone here, like the bombs that explode more frequently now. The sound of them has become a strange, hollow rhythm in our lives, like a beat we can't escape, even if we wanted to.

It's funny-if you really think about it-that the leaves are still beautiful. They're dying, yes, but at least they do it in a way that makes you notice. The world around us is dying, too, but the war has turned everything into gray dust and fire. The colors in the sky, the smoke and ash mixing with the sunset, seem so out of place. Everything is out of place.

Sunghoon's injury is healed now. I don't even remember how many days have passed since that night he got shot. He never talks about it, not even when his eyes fall on the scar-just a faint mark on his chest now, barely noticeable unless you know what to look for. He doesn't want anyone to treat him like he's fragile. I don't blame him. We can't afford to show weakness.

But I know him. I know when he's pretending, when he's trying too hard to act like nothing's changed. I can see it in the way his chest tense, in the way his smile doesn't quite reach his eyes sometimes.

"I'm fine," he says when I ask, as always. He says it so easily, like it's a fact, but I know better. We both know better.

I glance over at him now, sitting a little ways off with Jay and Jungwon, talking about something-probably nothing important, just trying to fill the space between the cracks in our lives with words. They've all been keeping busy, trying to stay normal, like the world isn't collapsing around us.

Sunoo, Niki, Heeseung, Eunhee-they're all here, huddled together, holding on to what little we have left. I can't remember the last time we had a full meal, or the last time any of us slept without waking up to the sound of distant explosions.

But at least we're still here.

I watch Sunghoon's movements carefully, the way his eyes flicker over the horizon, the slight tension in his jaw when he hears a bomb in the distance. I think maybe he's more worried about me than I am about him. Maybe it's because I'm the one who keeps looking for ways to keep us safe. Or maybe it's because I can't hide my fear from him. He knows me too well, and that scares me sometimes.

The others are talking, but I'm not really listening. The world outside is so loud now. The screams. The gunshots. The hum of helicopters overhead. Even the silence between the explosions feels heavy. It presses down on my chest. It's hard to breathe.

And yet, here we are. Just kids trying to make it through another day.

I can't say I'm okay. I can't say I'm fine.

But I can say this: as long as Sunghoon's here, as long as we're together, maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to keep going.

Maybe we all will.