100 DAYS [SEONGJOONG]

[5] - RED

86 DAYS

Red.

The painter had a mind of his own, splashing his brush against the canvas of the empyrean above, radiating it with bright shades of an incarnadine hue. It looked pleasing, to stare at the mesmerizing welkin, soft and sweet within the confusion of chroma flushed all over. The Sun was soon to settle down behind the brown hills, appearing to be a small sphere of blazing orange from afar. The clouds bathed in the twilight glow, soaring above in a gentle manner at ease.

The evening breeze made the grasses dance, nodding their tops and softly brushing against my ankles as I sat amidst their verdant presence. Several wildflowers of white and yellow topped the meadow, accompanied with flowers of other colors as well, making it seem so picturesque. They glistened under the shine of orange and yellow, stretching across the vast expanse. It was a sight to behold, so soothing to the eyes bearing the burdens of life, to a mind preparing to face the horrors incoming, to a soul strangling with the twists of events and a haunted consequence.

"Hwa?"

I jolted in surprise, as I turned my head to face the person beside me. Hongjoong sat with his knees pulled to his chest, his feet joined together and the big box of stones settled near his feet. He had a stone within the cup of his left hand, halfway covered in white, as he held a brush in his right, it's edge smeared with the same color. He stared in my direction, looking at me in slight confusion mingled with tinges of concern, a twisted concoction of emotions that I couldn't decipher well. His gaze held several of them swirling within the orbs of his eyes generously splashed with the last streaks of the dying sunlight, and those were perhaps the only two that I could possibly realise.

"Yeah?" I responded, my voice reduced to a whisper. It was easy for him to catch the response, since we sat so close together.

"Nothing much," Hongjoong was quick to respond, "You looked lost, slightly absentminded. It seemed as if I had just encountered a storm brewing within your head and that made me a little concerned," I watched him sweep the color loaded bristles of his brush against the grey exterior of the stone, soon coating it with white. It felt so satisfactory.

"I'm good," I answered after a little pause, my eyes travelling above to the approaching dusk, the sky now shimmering in violet and blue, with slight touches of red and orange yet to be erased. The moon was vaguely visible, and the stars were slowly coming in appearance.

Night was about to settle in soon.

"Mn, I hope so," Hongjoong continued to paint his stone, and when it was fully covered in white, he put it down upon the lid of the box to let it dry with the other painted ones. His fingertips and his palms were now covered in an array of numerous colors, mostly dried, except the patches of white which were yet to dry. He didn't seem to care.