Flowers in the Snow

Chapter 6

          Entering the house, Yesung paused in the doorway, scanning around the dark, silent area at the mess the men in black had created during their raid. Yesung's eyes landed on Ryeowook who was currently curled up on the couch near the fireplace, where the dying embers dimly glowed, desperately trying to endure a few minutes longer. The two looked at one another as thunder began to rumble softly several miles away. "I, I should probably go get some wood brought inside for the night," Yesung mumbled, turning and exiting again.

As soon as Yesung closed the door, Ryeowook lowered his head and burst into tears again, fearing that Yesung angry with him and would scream at him like how Kyuhyun had done just several minutes earlier. Kyuhyun was right, everything was his fault, and Ryeowook didn't want to put Yesung in anymore danger. Standing up, with tear-filled eyes, Ryeowook walked out of the house and stepped off the porch, and right past Yesung who was chopping wood, heading towards the shadowy forest. "Ryeowook, Ryeowook," Yesung called. Ryeowook closed his eyes, allowing warm tears to drip down his chilled cheeks, his heart aching each time he heard Yesung say his name. "Ryeowook wait a second," Yesung continued, dropping his axe and running after the brunette. He caught up to him just before Ryeowook could venture into the woods, grabbing his arm. "Wait, please," he said.

Ryeowook yanked his arm out of Yesung's grasp and asked through tears, "Why, why should I wait? Your friend is right, I've done nothing but be a burden to you ever since I've arrived, and I care about you enough to not put you in harm's way any longer. I don't want you to die because of me, so I'm gonna just go ahead and leave because it's what everyone wants."

As Ryeowook turned to keep walking, Yesung gripped his wrist, causing the brunette to look at Yesung again as another rumble of thunder emitted in the distance, this time a little closer to the isolated house. "That's not what I want," he informed, letting go of Ryeowook's arm. Hearing Yesung say that made Ryeowook break down again as he fell to his knees, trembling and sobbing. "Hey, hey, it's alright," Yesung gently whispered, kneeling down to pull Ryeowook into an embrace, which the brunette immediately nestled into, burying his face in Yesung's neck as he wrapped his arms around him.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry for everything I've caused," Ryeowook apologized as he gulped down tears.

"I know you are, but please don't walk off like that again, if I can't find you, then how am I going to protect you?" Yesung asked. Pulling back, Yesung lightly placed his hands on Ryeowook's face, using his thumbs to tenderly brush away the still-falling tears. "Please, stay with me." Ryeowook and Yesung looked at one another, before Yesung noticed a snowflake land on Ryeowook's brunette hair. Glancing around the yard, Yesung found more snowflakes being spit out from the dark overcast. "C'mon, let's get inside, it looks like the snow is coming early this year."

Both Korean men stood up and walked over to the wood pile where Yesung and Ryeowook each grabbed several logs and quickly took them inside, shutting the door and turning on the kitchen light. As Ryeowook began stacking the wood next to the fireplace, Yesung placed a couple of logs on the crimson embers and watched as they soon began smoking and igniting, before shutting the creaky metal screen to keep the smoke out of the house. The sounds of the fire beginning to crackle and the wind violently howling and whipping against the roof filled the small home as Ryeowook walked over to the window and gazed outside. Trees shook back and forth as the darkening grey sky was filled with millions of white snowflakes, cascading down rapidly, clinging to anything they could get ahold of. He had never seen weather like this before, and the eerie sight almost frightened the brunette. "We're safe in here, right?" Ryeowook quietly wondered, turning his head to look at Yesung, who was picking up fallen items in the kitchen.