Sweet Soul (Sweet Home Fanfiction/Lee Eunhyuk)

The Beginning of the End.

 Areum sat on the roof ledge of her apartment building. Her thin, bruised legs dangled lifelessly over the edge. The first rays of sunlight were only beginning to peak over the mountains of Seoul, reflecting off the glossy ivy leaves that clung to the grim and dirty Green Home apartment building. The light breeze made the poisonous leaves shiver and caused Areum's skin to crawl, her school uniform providing little protection from the morning air. 

The young girl stared aimlessly at the pavement below. 

She stared at the single rose growing between the bricks that were laid in a path. It looked awfully out of place but that was because Areum was the one who planted it there.

The rose was a symbol, a marker, a grave.  

That was the exact place her mother hit when she jumped from the place Areum was sitting. Even though Areum was young when her mother committed suicide she never fully recovered.

Exactly 8 years ago, a cloudy day as an ominous thunder storm was brewing on the horizon while  Areum made her way to the rooftop to help her mother hang up the laundry like she always did. But what she saw was something she never expected, her mother standing numbly on the ledge staring longing at the ground below. She looked painfully beautiful as the swishing wind combined through her hair and the dense purple clouds created the most chilling backdrop. 

Areum could still recall the smell of rain in the air that evening and the ice-cold wind, two of her favourite things were now a painful reminder of her biggest loss. 

Exactly a year later Areum laid in bed until she was sure the entire building was asleep. She tiptoed down the echoing and eerily dark hallways of the apartment to the storage room where her frail hands wrapped around the wooden handle of a pickaxe. 

The night was cold, wet and windy, exactly the same as that fateful day. Areum knew the exact spot to dig and she didn't hesitate. The first few hits produced sparks but soon the bricks began to crumble. 

Once the soil was visible Areum dropped the pickaxe as she struggled to catch her breath. The dirty and sweaty girl fell gracefully to her knees and gently pulled the rose seed from her pyjama pants pocket, her mothers favourite flower. 

When the seed was buried it began to rain as if her mother was watching from above. The light drizzle carrying the filth off Areum's face.

She smiled gratefully up at her mother, finding comfort in the fact that even though she was gone, she was never really gone. 

***

"Areum!" Yoori, Areum's older sister called her from the kitchen prompting Areum to sigh as she stood up from her desk, leaving her homework and earphones behind.

Yoori dropped the plate of food aggressively in front of Areum on the dining table and the young girl already knew she was in for a harsh scolding.  

There was an awkward silence between Areum, Yoori and their father, Gilseop. The heavy quiet filled with the noise of metal utensils scraping their ceramic dinner plates. The ticking of their grandfather clock only reminding Areum that the seconds were counting down to her doom.

"Eunhyuk said he saw you on the roof again today," Yoori said with a strained voice, not even looking up from her food as she cut gruesomely into her steak and a chill ran down Areum's spine as she pictured herself in that position. The sudden statement made their father, Gilseop, stare curiously at Areum over his half-moon spectacles. 

Areum couldn't help but let warmth rush to her face when she heard his name. 

Was he watching her?