Efflorescence (2won)

1. Bad news

Pink, blue, purple and yellow flowers covered the room. The gentle scent of flowers floated in the air. A blue watering can was on a wooden table, and next to it was a light green retro radio, which was playing the newest and hottest songs of the summer. The room was messy, but cozy. Light curtains waved quietly in the wind, because a little window by the wooden table was open.

The door to the room opened and a man walked in. The man was tall, had black hair, dark brown and big eyes, and thick lips. He was just the kind of man who was followed a lot of women. He was wearing a light blue t-shirt, black jeans and a white cap. Fashionable, handsome and clearly close to nature. Perfect boyfriend material.

The man sighed and laid down his groceries. He looked at the flowers that covered one of the walls of the room. In a couple of steps, he was at the wooden table and he took the watering can. He gently and lovingly watered all the flowers in the room and put the can away. Then he admired his room and listened to the song that is playing on the radio.

He was lucky. He had a job and a nice apartment, but he lacked something. He had no close friends. Although he had been living in the new city for over a month, he only knew his colleagues and a few guys who we're working in a café. He longed for high school when he had really close friends, with whom he was able to fool around and make stupid mistakes. That time was in any case over. Now he was an adult with a job.

The man sat in a retro armchair that was in the corner of the room. He was quiet and listened to nature, the city and the radio. He had no worries.

In the city center a masculine man drove a motorcycle around the block. He felt the wind and tension on his skin as he noticed someone coming after him. First, he thought it was an undercover cop, who noticed him driving a little too fast, but when the biker behind him sped up even more, to catch up to him, he knew who it was. He slowed down and stopped at a parking lot.

The other biker came after him and stopped too. He took his helmet off and smiled cunningly.

"Wonho, did I frighten you?" He asked sneakily, while getting up from his bike.

"Fuck you, Shownu." Wonho laughed. "I would recognize that stupid helmet of yours anywhere."

Shownu laughed, but then his expression became serious. "So... have you heard?"

"Heard what?" Wonho asked, getting a little concerned.

Shownu sighed. Just like he didn't want to tell. "I hate to be the one to break this up to you, but Gun got into a really bad accident." Shownu said.

Wonho felt his heart beat faster. "Is he... okay?"

Shownu shook his head. "Wonho... he died."

Wonho couldn't answer. Their friend was dead, and he had not known. How do you deal with such situations?

"Wonho, hey... don't feel guilty or anything. It was an accident, so we couldn't have stopped it from happening." Shownu tried to calm down the other man.

"Was it painful?" Wonho asked, not looking at his friend.

Shownu was quiet for a moment. "No. Jooheon told me it was instant."

Wonho just nodded, still not able to talk a lot. The atmosphere had really gotten heavy, really fast. Wonho wanted to cry, but he couldn't. He looked at Shownu and smiled softly.

"When will the funeral be held?" He asked.

Shownu smiled too, realizing that Wonho wasn't going to have a breakdown. "They are next Sunday, one o'clock in the afternoon. His family decided that he would be incinerated and thrown to the sea, you know... because he wanted to travel the world." Shownu explained.

Wonho smiled a little more. "That's lovely." He said quietly. "Do you know are we going to be invited?"

"I think so. You know, his family always loved us." Shownu said.

"Oh... I do remember his father saying that he always wanted to be a biker, but never had the guts to do it." Wonho laughed. "Keep me informed, okay?" He asked.

"Of course. I think I'll go now. Jooheon is waiting for me to go play video games with him." Shownu said. "See you later."

Wonho waved at his friend, who then took off. The world changed for him. Life was no longer fun and easy, he noticed the dangerousness and sorrow of it. This was difficult, but he knew that Gun would not want them to cry. Wonho knew it, but still he cried himself to sleep that night.