pink roses. || l.ty

twelve.

The two of them walk around the town and they're both walking side by side to each other, not making any eye contact. The warm sun is shining down of the two of them as they walk together in silence. They both are thinking to themselves what to say to each other since they've barely said anything to each other. As they walk around town, they pass by a stuffed animal store that had a bunch of stuffed animals displayed in the window. Rose immediately notices it and squeals, making Taeyong jump at the sudden excitement. She runs over to the window and starts gushing over how cute the stuffed animals are.

"I bet you have like a million of those at your house." Taeyong jokingly says, crossing his arms. Rose playfully glares at him and looks back at the stuffed animals.

"Actually, I used to have lots of them. But, I... gave them all away." She replies with a sad look on her face. Taeyong turns to look at her, noticing her sadness.

"It was for a good cause though," she adds while weakly smiling. "They're all now in a safe place now." Taeyong notices that Rose was staring at a huge hamster plush. He turns back to her and realizes she had already started to walk away. He chuckled. How many times is she going to start to walk away without me?

The two of them ended up at the park and sat down at a bench. There were other kids playing there at the playground so they decided to sit out. The sun was slowly starting to go down as time went on. The two of them were having fun while watching the kids play. But after a while, Rose finally decides to say something.

"Remember how fun it was to play at the park with other random kids and have no other worries about your life? Well, maybe if you fell and scraped your knee. But you still had fun and got to feel the excitement of running around. Those were the good days." Rose laughs to herself and turns to look at Taeyong who chuckled. She turns back and sighs to herself.

"My mom used to bring me at the park ALL the time when I was little. Then afterwards, we would go and get some ice cream. She loved to treat me to sweets. My dad would get mad at us for eating ice cream before dinner but my mom always let it slide. She was so care free about every thing." Rose says, weakling smiling to herself as she looks down at her feet. Taeyong looks at her to listen in more.

"I remember I used to wear these shoes that had a little bit of wedges and she used to wear these warm yellow high heels. She loved those high heels so much that she literally wore them all the time. I always wondered how she didn't get tired of wearing those because whenever I wore my wedges for too long, my feet started to hurt. I always looked up to her and wanted to become a strong, free willed woman like her. She never let anything bring her down. She always persevered and fought through anything that got in her way. I figured if my mom is so strong and fights through anything, then I will fight through the pain of wearing heels. So, I asked my mom for a real pair of heels for my 11th birthday."

"One time, we were walking around at a city or at a store and I had my heels on. My feet started to get sore and I eventually started to limp a little. I would try not to whimper but sometimes, I did. My mom noticed and she stopped me. She opened up her purse and pulled out a pair of sandals for me to wear even though I told her that my feet weren't hurting. She didn't believe me for a second." Rose chuckles to herself and looks back up.

"She told me that it's okay to stop and let yourself heal and that I don't always have to act tough all the time. She also said it may hurt right now, but the more you practice with the heels, the more used to it I would get. So, I did. She taught me that it's okay to let yourself to be vulnerable at times and to let yourself refresh so you can get back up and do it all over again. My mom fought through it all to the end."

"The end?" Taeyong asks, turning his body towards her. She sighs, running her hand through her hair.

"Not long after that birthday, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I remember seeing how tired and how sick she looked from getting the chemotherapy. She always felt nauseous and barely wanted to eat. But she always smiled and thought of positive things. I seriously don't know how she could still stay positive while she was dealing with hell. She eventually reached Stage 4 and passed away shortly after." Rose's eyes started to fill with tears. Taeyong felt himself feel the same pain Rose was feeling at that moment. Tears start to roll down her cheek and she quickly wipes them.