Love wets
the eyes
Love warms
the heart
Love exists// Francesca Michielin
.
14th February 1951
The temporary South Korean
headquarters
JAEHYUN BLEW the flaming candles placed on the creamy rice cake, a wisp of smoke spreading in front of his closed eyes.
The lively sound of the hands clapping soon after filled the kitchen, as the soldiers started singing the " Happy birthday " song to him.
Feeling embarrassed by the fact that he was being surrounded by lots of smiling faces, the brown haired male joined his hands together, his cheek becoming slightly red.
Overwhelmed and grateful, this was the way Jaehyun felt in that moment.
A moment that seemed to flow in slow motion, as if each and every detail of it mattered enough to be remembered,
to be conserved.
With a merry heart and selective eyes, the boy captured all his surroundings, while a warm feeling engulfed him slowly.
The scent of the burning candles then disappeared, just like the loud sound of his fellows' voices.
Isolated from this joyful atmosphere, Jaehyun felt his body lighter and his mind dizzy.
A memory flashed in front of him, a good one though, while the allowance his birthday was celebrated in, soon became a black hole.
The boy suddenly found himself standing in front of an abandoned building, a familiar one to be precise.
It was a church, an old one full of rubble and granules of cement, its windows all broken, the small pieces of glass all shattered on the ground covered by dried leaves.
A lively laughter made the male turn around, only to meet the figure of a little happy Jaehyun, running around with his childhood friends.
The younger Jae stopped in front of the older one, calling his friends out and suggesting them to enter the rotten cathedral and play hide and seek in it.
When all the kids agreed to the idea brought up by him, the child decided to make his entrance in the well said place — his body trespassing the soldier's one.
The older freaked out at what had just happened, quickly patting his whole body and, as expected, his hands trespassed it as well.
Bringing back his attention to the church, he noticed that the group of kids already disappeared, probably now inside the imponent building.
Looking at his surroundings, Jaehyun approached the large cracked door, the sound of his feet marching the coloured leaves, ringing in his ears.
The hall of the place was completely empty and silent — just some rocks here and there, nothing much.
Walking further, the male stumbled in the real allowance of the cathedral: rows and rows of broken wooden benches lead to an utterly old altar with some parts of it clearly missing.
Jaehyun approached it with a slow pace, his eyes lightening at the encounter of such a pure and vivid memory.
The more the distance between him and the alter lessened, the more the soldier could actually hear some whispers.
He finally arrived at his near destination, climbing one of the two steps set up, as the voices gradually became louder and louder.
Curious as he was, Jaehyun walked towards the source of the chattering, finding his little self crouched down to another unfamiliar kid
then he remembered: that was the day he had an encounter with a stray kid, who used to live in the abandoned church.
He didn't know his name, but he knew for sure that the boy told him
«Thank you for become my friend!
I promise I'll be a person who brings joy and happiness to the people around me, when I grow!»
The unknown kid said, interrupting the soldier's thoughts and stretching out his pinky finger soon interviewed with Jae's little one.
Looking at the two kids smiling at each other, the older noticed something that never came across his mind: the orphan boy really resembled Taeyong, the visuals were undoubtedly similar and the smile was just the same.
Never in his life he would have thought that the kid he once met in an old church and the cheerful soldier that through the journey of the war became his best friend, would be, indeed, the same person.
Life, without we even realizing, places absurd coincidences along our journey and when we discover them is most likely too late to get the positive side of them.
Wanting a proof of the identity of the child, Jaehyun stepped closer to the duo, his hands heavily gesturing in the air
«Hey, what's your name?»
he asked without receiving an answer.
The male repeated the question, but it looked like the other one was straight plainly ignoring him, as if he didn't exist at all. So the brown haired guy decided to try with his younger self
«Jae, can you please ask your new friend his name?»
totally ignored.
Disappointed by their poor consideration, Jaehyun just sat on the floor next to them, carefully listening to their conversation, as he placed his hands under his chin and his leg were crossed.
Everything just went on like his mind remembered, although something was strange, but he really couldn't understand what.
But the real question was why this specific memory flashed in his mind?
To let him know that Taeyong was actually a childhood lost friend?
Or was it some kind of sign?
Honestly, the boy couldn't tell.
His attention was then caught by some screams coming from the kids: little Jae was trying to choke Taeyong who kept saying that he wanted to be killed.
Yes, you read that right.
The soothing voice of a child asking to be killed really triggered Jaehyun, who really couldn't understand what was going on.
This wasn't part of the memory.
Things were going completely wrong.
Perhaps this wasn't a flashback?
A series of steps then made the soldier stand up and turn around — the rest of the children finally arrived at the infamous place, their eyes lacking in showing any kind of emotion.
Suddenly, one by one, they all started surrounding Jaehyun who panicked at their awkward behavior.
Grabbing the sleeves of his uniform, the young boys started shaking him as they all shouted in unison
«Soldier Jung Jaehyun, wake up!»
«Soldier Jung Jaehyun wake up!»
with his eyes open wide, the anxious male woke up panting heavily.
He rose up, only to meet the worried faces of his fellows — Taeyong being the one closer to him.
Gently caressing his right cheek, Taeyong tried to calm his friend down, who kept shaking uncontrollably.
«It was just a nightmare, don't worry.»
unedited.
Author note:
Okay, this was just a quite short filler before I publish the chapter that will basically slap all of you.
Not to be emo tho, but seriously, the next update will be really really really sad ;-;
Furthermore, after this, there will be only three chapters left to finish the first part of this book! But don't worry, the part two will not take long to write: everything will be put in one single fic!
Hope this story is not too boring tho,
lemme know what you think!
ilysm
zeno
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Fanfiction❝Even if we have to go around a long way, I will still feel the same. We'll be alright, I want to try again.❞ © ZENO | ONGOING ▶ 2019; all rights reserved. Jaehyun nct.
