ʟᴜʟʟᴀʙʏ ♪ ʟᴇᴇ ᴅᴏɴɢʜʏᴜᴄᴋ

[44]

Donghyuck had finally come to a decision.

He was currently in his bed, tucked under his comfortable, heaven-like sheets. The sunlight peaked in through the surprisingly open curtains, as it had been for the last two hours or so. Donghyuck had slept surprisingly well, hell, better than he had in a good couple of months. He was knocked out for almost 8 hours. And upon waking up, he had remained in the comfort of his bed, immersed in thought.

Finally, the boy slowly sat up. His posture was heavy, eyes only half-open and his hair spiking up in all directions. He scratched the back of his head, looking straight at the door, as if looking through it.

Yes, this was what he'd needed for so long. She'd been what he'd needed.

Without much of a second thought, he scrambled out of bed and walked over to the door with hurried steps. Walking down the hallway, he was greeted by surprised members who had probably never seen him waking up this late. Donghyuck just waved to them as they weren't who he wanted to talk to. He then walked up towards the kitchen door, seeing her petite figure leaving from it.

'There she is.'
He thought, an unfamiliar excitement and nervousness bubbling inside of him.

Soomin squealed as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her away towards somewhere more isolated. She looked up at the boy in shock, as he stared down at her with clearly something to say.

"Donghyuck? Did something happen? Are you ok-"
"Get ready, you're going out with me in half an hour."

♫

Soomin could only pout as a single droplet of sweat ran down the side of her face. Despite the AC blasting full force onto her, bathing her in the icy cold, she could still feel the heat of the rays of the bright sun outside. After all, the weather was rapidly getting hotter whilst the girl was forced to wear black long, baggy clothes.

Sitting in the passenger seat, she looked over to her left to find Donghyuck there, carelessly driving with just one hand on the steering wheel. She had never seen him so impatient and reckless, as he hadn't even ordered for her to wear something over her eyes to not know the base's location. That was something quite unusual for him.

"Where exactly are we going?" Soomin asked curiously, seeing as they were entering the suburbs of Seoul.

"You can think of it as an exchange." Donghyuck hummed, not taking his eyes off the road.

"Exchange?"
"Vulnerability for vulnerability."

Soomin blinked a couple of times, trying to make sense of what he was telling her in her mind. Then, her mouth parted in a shocked 'o' as she stiffened in her seat.

"So you're telling me we're going to-"
"Yeah, we're going to see her."

The girl pursed her lips together, her stomach tightening. It was nerve-wrecking, it was. She met Donghyuck only about two months ago, yet he trusted her so much that he decided to show her something so personal and vulnerable for him. Of course it felt nice, it meant that he cherished her and confided in her. But that still didn't overshadow the feeling of anxiety.

Donghyuck turned his head to look at Soomin, who was staring out into the peisage but probably not even paying attention to it. Just her face alone and her silence made him tighten his grip on the steering wheel, foot digging deeper into the pedal making them go above the speed limit. 

And after just a few minutes, he parked in a muddy, mistreated parking lot.

Soomin on her own complied to wearing a mask just before she left the car. Her boots stepped into a puddle of brown, sticky mud with green weeds sticking out of it in all directions, but that was the least of her worries. She shut the door behind her, running up to Donghyuck as he silently began making his way towards the big gate.

Suddenly, he felt a tug at his hoodie and as he turned back, he caught Soomin staring towards a stand selling things.

"What?" He asked a bit annoyed, already wanting to get this ordeal over with.

"I wanna get a candle. And some flowers." She explained softly, looking up at him.

Not in the mood to argue, Donghyuck let out an exasperated sigh and shuffled through his pockets. After taking out a bunch of receipts and some miserable change, he managed to gather a small sum. 

They both went up to the lady, and bought a small, baby blue candle along with some pretty white flowers. Then they continued through the gates.

"Why do you always buy these things whenever you're at a graveyard? You bought that last time anyways." Donghyuck initiated conversation as they walked into the gloomy place despite it being an extremely sunny, almost summer day.

"Oh, well..." Soomin began, looking down at where she held the candle with both hands. "It was something my mom taught me. Before she died when we would visit my grandma's grave, she always bought a candle and flowers. Every single time. She said that if you light up the candle on the grave, it would signal the soul of the deceased person where to go and lead them to the visitors. You can talk to them, and even if they don't respond, they'll definitely be there to listen to you. The flowers come as a gift to say that you come in peace and maybe make the soul's day." 

Lost in her own word, the girl didn't even realize how far they've walked already. She looked to the side to see Donghyuck staring at her and she immediately giggled in embarrassment.

"I know it's silly. It's just another story she told me as a child, you don't have to take it seriously." 

"No, I think it's really nice."

Soomin looked up again, now a bit surprised. "You do?"

Donghyuck hummed as he looked back to the front. "Yeah. I think it's a really beautiful way to present death and the people who've passed away. I wish my mom had told me something like that."

The girl couldn't help but smile as she looked back down at the candle, for no reason feeling really happy that Donghyuck didn't find the story stupid or pointless.

And he couldn't help the tips of his lips also twitching up as he watched her. 

Aww this is so sweet

So I've decided to focus on this series since I've been finding it really easy to write :)