Paint Me A Rainbow (JJ Project)

Epilogue: White

The sun was unforgiving as it turned the world into a boiling oven. Jinyoung lifted the bucket hat he was wearing to shield his eyes from the strong light up a little, wiping the sweat off of his forehead. He felt his joints creaking as he stretched after hanging all the laundry. His body really catched up to his age, it seemed. He took the basket from the ground and went into the house he had been living in for the past 7 years.

The cooling air inside felt soothing after being under the scorching sun. He sighed as he took off his hat and put down the basket. He sank into the sofa, getting himself comfortable beside a little boy whose attention was focused on the sketchbook in front of him. His small hand was busy dragging his crayon over the paper, his brow knitted together. In the end, he put it down and pouted.

"What's wrong?" Jinyoung asked.

"Why can't I draw Appa as beautiful as Dad did?"

Jinyoung looked at the supposedly replica of his face on the framed canvas hanging on the wall in front of them. After seeing the painting, he finally knew how he looked like through the filter of Jaebum's eyes, and understood why he fell for him at the first time. The man inside the painting was so beautiful that even he himself was enthralled by him, there was no way it was the same person as him.

The painting was in black and white, or so everyone said. Jaebum said he wanted Jinyoung to see his painting as it is, and that the painting was more colorful than any painting he had done. He wanted him to see how the colors inside him intertwined together into a white light that shone his world bright. Jinyoung didn't think he could fully understand it, but one thing he could see in the painting was how much Jaebum loved him, and he couldn't help but falling all over again for that man.

Jinyoung smiled at the sulking boy and patted his hair. The boy that was him and Jaebum's child. He was so glad they made a decision to adopt him five years ago, who had brightened their days since with his cheerful and cheeky personality.

"I think it's great though," he said looking at the drawing, "I like it better than Dad's."

The boy looked at him, stars blinking in the dark of his round eyes. "Really?"

Jinyoung pulled him on his lap and kissed his forehead. "Of course, Jaejin's is way way more better than Dad's."

"Whoa, so that's how it is? I'm hurt," said a voice that suddenly came from the front door.

"Dad!" Jaejin literally screamed. He jumped from Jinyoung's lap and ran to his kneeling dad's arms.

"How is our little hero doing today?" Jaebum asked.

"Appa said I draw him better than Dad," Jaejin said in an innocently smug way. Jaebum pinched his button nose affectionately.

"So why do you want to draw better than Dad? Does Jaejin want to become a painter too?"

"Of course! Dad looks so cool when you're painting. I wanted to be like that too!"

Jaebum ruffled the kid's hair. "Great! That's my boy. And for a good boy, there will always be reward. We're going to the amusement park tomorrow!"

"Really?" Jaejin's chubby cheeks reddened like an apple from excitement as he flung his arms around his Dad's neck. "Dad's the best!"

Jaebum laughed as he lifted the boy up with one arm and walked inside. Jinyoung, who had been watching the whole interaction with a fond smile on his face, finally approached them. "Welcome back."

"I'm home," Jaebum said, his features softened as he looked at Jinyoung. He put Jaejin down and rummaged through his bag before taking out a small white carnation bouquet. A silver band circling his ring finger reflected the sunlight that slipped through the window, identical to the one around Jinyoung's finger, as he held the bouquet out to Jinyoung. They were the embodiment of their red string that they believed connected to each other. They were the vow that would bind them together until the end of their life. They were the symbol that signified the wearers as two people tied by a vow for life. A vow called marriage.