Lilies And Lavenders

02

The sun was as bright as ever, lighting up every round drop of rain that had fallen last night creating the perfect prism of colors. Anyone could be fascinated by its beauty. Despite the beauty of it all, it was still a very hot day.

Seokjin walked down the street, admiring the beauty of everything happening around him. The way everyone moved about their day not caring about the harshness of the heat. Sweat dripped down his forehead and neck but he couldn't seem to care. He shouldn't care.

After a while of walking, Seokjin halted to a complete stop. His eyes not leaving the beauty before him. The way the sun reflected off of the flower drew Seokjin's attention. The way the dew drops settled onto the petal and dripped down the stem had him mesmerized. Flowers are delicate and should be handled with care but Seokjin just wanted to have a feel of those flowers, wanted to see how the petals would settle in between his fingers.

Not being able to hold back, Seokjin reached forward and touched the flower as delicately as he could. The dew drops making it cold to his touch. As soon as his fingers made contact with the flower, he felt a harsh tug on his arm forcefully pulling him away from the flower.

"What do you think you're doing boy?" A loud voice rang in his ears startling him for the time being.

"Forgive me sir, the flowers caught my attention," he apologized quickly composing himself. His hands still shaking. Seokjin backed away from the flowers and started walking towards his destination.

He was still new to this part of town. His eyes wandering around capturing the beauty of the capital as his feet forced his body to move towards his grandmother's home.

His grandmother lived in the capital and as Seokjin turned 18, he decided to leave his parent's house and search for a better place to live and maybe earn a living. Ambitious as ever, he was looking forward to a beautiful start of his life.

Finally reaching his destination, he knocked on the worn out wooden door and patiently waited for his grandmother to open it. The house from outside was not so big but was enough to match his grandmother's needs. It had flowers covering the patio and a frame of bougainvillea around the door, snatching the attention of many people. The door finally opened revealing a short lady dressed in the traditional beige hanbok with patches of dirt on it, perfectly contrasting with the smile on her face.

"Seokjin-ah, it has been a long while," his grandmother addressed him snatching his attention away from the flowers around him. Seokjin looked down at his grandmother and smiled his most perfect smile he could manage.

"How have you been, grandmother?" Polite as ever, Seokjin questioned whilst removing his slippers by the door after being welcomed inside. His grandmother hugged him tightly as if she had not seen him in ages, which was true. She had not seen him ever since Seokjin's parents left and took their son who was five at the time with them.

"I have been good. How have you been, son?" Seokjin knew she was lying. The dark circles under her eyes and her slumped and tired posture said otherwise. Despite knowing it, he did not say anything.

"I have been doing great as well." Seokjin said. His grandmother's face slowly lit up as she smiled and her eyes disappeared amongst all the wrinkles. It made Seokjin sad for a while seeing how as the time flew by, he just remembered seeing her a lot younger than this.

In Seokjin's opinion, time flies never to be recalled. What has been done is done and there is no changing back. He can not go back in time and spend the lost years with his grandmother and learn from her. He can not go back in time and watch her grandmother grow old. He can not go back in time to recreate the memories he had with his grandmother. It's saddening but there's nothing he can do now.

His grandmother led him towards the living room and slid the doors open revealing a small sitting area. Seokjin sat cross legged on one of the cushions whilst his grandmother left to get him some tea to relieve his stress. The fatigue had finally caught up to him.

Looking around Seokjin could see a table in the left corner of the room decorated with bonsai, some old and some new. The wall was decorated with swords and shields and medals that his grandfather owned before his death. On his right side was an opening to the outside garden, revealing a lot of plants and flowers catching his attention. Lastly in front of him was a mahogany worn out wooden table covered with red cloth contrasting with everything in the room.

A tray was suddenly placed in front of him startling him in the process as his grandmother's laugh filled the silent air. His grandmother sat down in front of him and placed Seokjin's cup in front of him.

His grandmother then proceeded to pour out some tea, chamomile tea, in two cups from the kettle. Picking up his cup he blew on it to cool it down before sipping from it. The sweet taste of honey immediately made contact with his taste buds and he almost melted with how good it felt.
The fresh herbal scent steaming out from the cup helped sooth his stress and ease his mind immediately.

"Drink up son, you must be tired from all that walk," His grandmother said sipping from her cup as well whilst exhaling a relieved sigh. She looked like she was almost in heaven by the look on her face and Seokjin smiled at that.

"I am tired, but I really do want to walk around for a while and get familiar with the ways of people." Seokjin remembered what happened earlier today and shuddered at the thought as the angry eyes of the man resurfaced in his mind.

"You can walk around tomorrow. Why don't you rest now?" His grandmother took another sip from her cup and placed it down gently on the red cloth over the table.

"Yes, Grandmother," taking one last sip, he placed his cup in front of him and began to stand up to stretch his legs. He may not have realized this earlier but now he was truly feeling the pain in his legs from walking for so many hours.

His grandmother also stood up, leading him up to his room. Seokjin set his things down on one corner of the room and laid down on the mattress laid out on the floor as his grandmother bid him a good night.

Tomorrow he was going to explore the capital and he was more scared than excited.

🌹🌹🌹

Rusty here again.

Sorry for the long wait and a boring chapter. It will take time getting back into practice again.

Thank you for being patient and thanks WordsGambler for being on my ass 24/7 and reminding me to update.

I'll be more frequent with them now.