alone | minsung

LVII

"Hey, where're we going?"

Yet again, the two boys are sat in the car, Minho in the driver's seat, on their way to a different part of the district surrounding them. But instead of the rolling valleys and bright green fields, Minho is taking them by towering cliffs with rickety wooden walkways trailing the edge. To be completely honest, Jisung is on edge as they drive underneath - fearing that any second on of the cliffs could crumble and fall on them.

Minho smiles, "You'll see."

Groaning, Jisung rests his head on his palm and stares from the window, "I don't like surprises."

"You'll like this one."

"How do you know?"

"I just do."

No matter how much Jisung tries to question Minho after that, he doesn't answer, just continues to stare straight ahead with his eyes trained on the road. In fact, he doesn't speak another word until they finally pull into a car park, and he kill the car engine.

"We're here," he says, grinning to Jisung as he grabs his phone, wallet and keys from the centre compartment.

"It would help if I knew where 'here' is."

"Jeez," Minho sighs, "If you get out of the car and follow me, you'll find out." Minho pushes his door open and jumps out, before running around to Jisung's side to pull his own door open and stand there like a butler, waiting for Jisung to follow him. "Hurry up."

Jisung huffs, "Fine."

The two of them walk along the path, surrounded by trees and grassy greens. Minho takes a deep breath and sighs, "Come on, Hannie. We need to drop in the shop that's down the path, but then I want to show you something."

Jisung's heart skips a beat when Minho calls him Hannie. He likes how it sounds when Minho says it. They way it sounds so natural and loving. By the looks of it, Minho doesn't even realise what he said, and he certainly doesn't notice the impact it has on Jisung. After that, Jisung can't help but follow Minho and a small smile even appears on his face when Minho grabs his hand to tug him along faster than before.

They reach the small little shop - more like a cafe - and Minho pushes eagerly through the glass door. A little bell dings above their heads, and a boy behind the till peeps up from his laptop.

"Hi!" he says, his voice cheery and sweet. When Jisung gets closer, he sees that his name tag read Jeongin. The boy is clearly younger than them, and has a bright and contagious smile that makes even Jisung grin.

Minho beams at him, "Hello, can we have a fresh loaf of bread please?"

Jeongin nods, "Sure, we've only got a small one left though, is that okay?"

Nodding, Minho swivels to face Jisung, "Want anything? A drink? Food?"

"Um," Jisung glances at the chalkboard menus above his head, "Can I have a hot chocolate, please?"

Jeongin overhears them and yells back in response as Jisung continues to stare in awe at the small cafe. Warmly glowing fairy lights outline the menus that hang on the wall above the till, and each table has a small flower in a glass in the centre, along with a candle ready to be lit when the sun goes down.

"It's really pretty in here, do you own it?" He asks when Jeongin comes back with the loaf of bread in hand. Jisung can hear the humming of a machine making his hot chocolate as Jeongin leans his forearms against the counter-top.

He laughs, "Not exactly. It's my parent's, they're away right now and so I'm taking over for a few days. Although it'll be mine one day." He smiles again - not that he ever stopped before.

"Do you like it?"

Jeongin thinks for a moment, hesitating, before he answers slowly, "Yeah, I do. There's somethings I'd change, but yes, I don't mind it here."

"I'd prefer to be in the city - doing something like auditioning for a company. I've always loved singing. That's my actual dream, I guess, but the chances of being successful in the music industry are so low, I don't want to give all of this up only to have it blow back in my face."

Jisung nods, "That's understandable." Before he can say anything else, Jeongin disappears. he comes back a minute later with Jisung's hot chocolate in his hand. He takes the payment and gives them a warm smile. Jisung can tell he doesn't want to be questioned anymore, so he drops the subject and he returns a smile. Minho takes a bit longer in saying goodbye, so Jisung waits for him outside the door. He sips at his hot chocolate slowly, already beginning to regret his choice on such a hot day.

"You ready?" Minho says when he rejoins Jisung.

"I don't know," he says, "you still haven't told me what we're doing here. And what's with the bread, anyway?"

Minho grins and grabs Jisung by the wrist, tugging him through a thick line of trees to the green on the other side.

Jisung stares on in awe. The grass is bright and soft, swaying gracefully in the breeze. Daisies have begun to spring up in the grass, and the other random patches of planted flowers leave it looking like a meadow, the colours majestic and entrancing. The scents of freshly cut grass along with a light floral note reaches Jisung, his mouth curving upwards at the beauty of the scene. At the centre of the huge space is a lake, with ducks and swans gliding slowly through the waters, leaving gentle ripples in the surface.

Children run along the grass, playing with joyous shouts as their parents watch on with happy smiles on their faces. That's just it, everything is so happy.

A part of Jisung can't help but be happy too.

He grins, and glances towards Minho. The boy doesn't say anything, just hands Jisung the loaf of bread they just bought. With a gasp, Jisung finally realises why Minho insisted he come here.

"Feeding the ducks?" He exclaims, his eyes going wide and lighting up. "You remembered?" His voice quietens down when he speaks again, and his eyes glass over slightly. Suddenly, Minho finds himself in a tight and warm embrace. Jisung throws his arms around Minho's shoulders and buries his face in his neck, "Thank you."

After recovering from the initial shock, Minho smiles and leans into Jisung as well. He holds onto him for a bit, making sure Jisung feels the sincerity of it before pulling away. Without a word, Minho tugs Jisung further onto the green, and they both drop to their knees beside the lake. Jisung grins and starts tearing chunks of bread from the loaf and tossing them onto the lake. He giggles when ducks paddle along and nibble at it. At one point, Minho takes the bread for himself and tries to lure a duck out of the water with it, laughing when it waddles closer to them.

The two of them stay there for hours - until the sky burns orange. Jeongin sighs as he makes his way around every table and flicks a match to light each other candles. From his cafe, he can just about see the lake, along with the two boys still sitting side by side at the edge of it, their hands centimetres apart.

Dear Hannie,

I used to feel like I was invisible. And I know this sounds cliche as fuck, but I'm being honestly truthful: when you started writing your letters to me, I didn't anymore. I've said it before, but I always used to look forward to reading your letters, and I regret not replying sooner.

I also know what you mean about the shield, but no one ever got close enough to see mine break in the first place. We all have shitty parts that we don't want people to see, and even though everyone has them, for some reason no-one can accept it if it's someone else. They always say 'You should love yourself no matter what,' but doesn't that apply to other people? No matter what questionable things they've done, or how annoying they are, they're still human.

And after writing that, I'm not going to sit here and say that you don't have any of those shitty parts. Hell, I've got tons - you've seen some of them. You say you're neither good nor bad but one thing I can say, is that out of everyone I've ever met, you're the best. You may not believe me, but you have the most good parts.

You're not nothing, you're everything. You mean everything to someone.

Love, Minho

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