spring day :: jinseob

01

Spring has fallen once more.

Ahn Hyungseob is sitting alone at a corner booth of a diner on the side of the highway, absentmindedly staring out of the window at the passing cars on the road. He's been sitting there for about two, three hours now, and the sun is already starting to set. Every time the door swings open, a fresh blast of cold air comes in and the warmth that has settled in his system has long gone past now.

He's shivering in his seat. The diner is empty except for a handful, and he pushes himself up from his booth, dragging his feet towards the counter and perching on top of the school to be greeted with a smile from the person behind it. They're already friends; Hyungseob used to come here often with someone else who has gone and left him behind now.

Hyungseob receives a soft smile from the twenty-seven year old, one that he returns as fullheartedly as he tries. "Won't you go home, kid?"

"What's there to go home to?" He laughs, chuckling awkwardly as he lowers his gaze. The person, his name is Youngmin, tsks.

"Cheer up, where's your energy? Your happy virus? Don't be so down."

"My energy..." Hyungseob falters before he shrugs and cracks a small, forced smile. "My energy came with the winter that passed."

"You're becoming a poet again," Youngmin notes, leaning his chin on his arm against the counter top. "You've always had a way with words, you know, I'm still wondering why you didn't take up writing."

"It wouldn't take me anywhere." The younger boy shakes his head as the door suddenly swings open and he shivers, stuffing his bare hands in his coat pockets as his teeth chatter.

"Sciences were never your cup of tea. Neither was dance." Youngmin points out, shaking his head as well as he suddenly disappears into the kitchen before returning with a steaming mug. "Here, your lips are turning blue."

"Thank you."

Hyungseob gratefully accepts the mug and brings it up to his lips as Youngmin drags up a chair on his side of the counter. They have never been particularly close; it's always been Hyungseob and him, or him and Youngmin.

Ever since he left, though, it's just the two of them left in the space used to be taken by three. It's not awkward anymore, they're friendly enough with each other for small talk but nothing deeper than that.

He doesn't understand how everyone else can just continue on with life so easily, as if it's as simple as the changing of seasons and weather patterns. Youngmin doesn't look troubled, he's just continuing his daily life routines without looking like there's something in it that changed. Youngmin's twenty-four year old boyfriend, Donghyun, who works at a nearby flower shop is still as bright as ever, his shining eyes and blinding smiles unwavering.

While Hyungseob, Ahn Hyungseob, is sitting there and pretending everything is normal.