Pretty | Yoonmin (DISCONTINUED)

twenty four

It wasn't that the two had never talked about her before.

Living in that house, still lingering with the leftover scents of her favorite seasonal candles and yellow flowers, it was impossible not to.

She wasn't some forbidden thought, a memory that would never and could never be spoken of again. Thinking of her hurt, but it wasn't off limits. She wouldn't want that for him, or for herself. She was an ocean that refused to be tamed, and to disappear from the world without a soul strong enough left behind to speak of her would have left her red in the face and screaming. Despite being raised all of his life by the woman, Jimin was strangely optimistic about her passing. They hadn't talked much in depth about her role in either of their lives, but Yoongi would have to be blind not to see the unconditional admiration and love Jimin held for her, even now that she'd left him to brave the world on his own. His eyes were often tinged with golden brown fondness, yet haunted by the onyx shadows of bitterness, of hurt. Jimin was the type of person to thread his words in hot magenta, coating each one in excitement so that one could never guess that it was all a facade. He mumbled to her ghost as he passed through each room of the house, dragging his fingers along the rivets in her vases, stroking the marigold petals, and sweeping the floors while conversing with someone who was no longer there to hear him.

Some might've thought the sunshine boy absurd for his behavior, and others might've found it sweet.

How sweet, that the pretty sunshine boy could find the bright side of things, even as darkness threatened to consume him. How sweet, that he could laugh so freely, knowing his aunt would want him to be doing so, and still maintain his joy over life, and all its trivial wonders. How sweet, that he could love her so much still, but remain just as candy sugary as ever, refusing to grow bitter, even after that love had been forsaken.

How sweet...but how unrealistic.

Yoongi listened to Jimin murmuring to nothing, his words clouding the room in shimmering colors of grinning golds and cotton pinks, swallowing him in their saccharine aromas until he was sick. And he didn't think it was sweet at all.

He thought, how sad it is, that he won't even let himself suffer.

Sure, his positivity was admirable. And at times, it was most certainly genuine, no doubt about that. But who could hold that smile on their lips forever? Not even Jimin was invincible.

When Jin had absentmindedly uttered Seohyun's name, and sparked a flutter of all consuming joy within the younger boy, Yoongi's heart dropped.

But not because he was upset by the mention of her, though his heart did sting. No, not because of that.

He was worried about Jimin.

"You knew Noona? Noona?"

His soft voice escalated carefully, his excitement only just held within its constraints. Jin giggled at the pure awe in his expression, nibbling on his bottom lip.

"Course I did. Like Yoongi said, this is just like my second home. I was here all the time."

"Wah..." Jimin's cheeks hollowed out, a flash of thought decorating the plains of his face. Yoongi watched him closely. "That's so cool...what was she...what was she like...while she was here?"

He tasted the words slowly, rolling them over on his tongue, and mulling on the syllables before he let them unfurl on his lips. Yoongi moved close enough to him to feel the tightening of his shoulder against him, disregarding his previous embarrassment.

"Can you tell me about her?"

Jin blinked, somewhat surprised by Jimin's question. His attention shifted, his own reluctance drawing his figure in, a silent, unasked confusion crumpling upon his skin.