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It was lucky enough that the rain had passed this morning. The aftermath of the rain caused a cold atmosphere outside, rain droplets remaining on window panes and the roads and pathways to be wet, people walking slowly and drivers driving steadily. The beeping noise of his digital alarm clock was pounding against Mingyu’s ears, causing him to wake up with a groan.

He picks himself up from the bed and sleepily rubs his eyes and yawned. He ruffled his hair and walks to the bathroom across the hall from his bedroom. His feet were met with the cold tiles underneath, the cold stinging upon his feet with each step.

The tall giant styles his hair lazily with his hand, brushing his bangs downwards. He reaches for the toothpaste, only to realise that it’s empty. Mingyu notes to himself to buy some on the way out and maybe to not use so much toothpaste every time he brushes his teeth. He brushes his teeth with just water – which he does know is unhygienic, while looking at his reflection in the mirror. In getting enough sleep (unlike he usually did since he always stayed up late to do work), the heavy dark circles that were usually drawn underneath his eyes weren’t as evident. His shirt is wrinkled and his hair was still messy. 

After spitting out the contents of his spit and water, he takes a comb, runs it under the running water and brushes his hair down to tame his dishevelled hair. He had to look presentable for her after all. Mingyu goes to make himself breakfast – actual eggs with bacon instead of just plain old corn flakes. She would scold him if he didn’t eat properly. After eating, he replaces his wrinkled shirt with a new one, adding a cardigan and a coat on top. She would be worried if he wasn’t warm enough after all. In checking the weather forecast, it is stated for a slight chance of rain. The tall giant takes his umbrella with him. She would be upset if he got wet or caught a cold.

He finally takes his keys, shoving his wallet and phone into his coat pocket as he locks his apartment door. Entering the elevator, Mingyu presses the down button to the ground floor, plugging in his earphones. He taps on the railing to the beat while waiting for his destination.

Exiting the tall apartment building, the tall giant walks down a path way to the bus stop. His bus arrives fifteen minutes later, travelling to the next stop. After arriving at the bus stop that he usually arrives to work at, he looks down at his watch. There’s around a little more than half an hour left before the arrival of the next bus, so Mingyu quickly makes his way down to a certain store.

Making his way down the cement path and pulling out his earphones, he finally reaches the flower store. 

“Hello! Welcome back!”

Joshua is standing in the middle of the room, sweeping up fallen flower petals.

“You’re a little early. I opened up around an hour ago and I barely get any customers around this time”

Mingyu gives a small smile. “Yeah, I have something coming up. I was just wondering if I could another bunch of the anemone flowers from last time”

“Sure! Just give me a sec and I’ll arrange the flowers for you”

Joshua finishes up sweeping the floor, and picks out a bunch of the requested flowers. He brings them to the back room of the store. A few minutes later, the orange haired male comes out of the room with the anemones neatly wrapped up in light purple decorative wrapping and tied together with a large white ribbon.

“It’s beautiful” Mingyu stares in awe. Joshua just smiles.

Mingyu pays for the flowers and takes the flowers in his arm. He waves good bye to the employee and heads off to the bus stop again. On the way, the tall giant stops in his path and smells a familiar smell.

Steam meat buns – he remembers how much she likes them. He looks up at the store – The Bakery. "What a generic and original name", Mingyu scoffs. He pushes the door open and is welcomed with the smell of sweet and savoury baked goods. He looks around the store, spotting the steam buns near the window that is slightly open. He takes a tray and a pair of tongs and walks over to wear the meat buns are displayed. He picks up four of them and places it on his tray. Walking over to the counter to pay for the food, he realises that there is no one working at the counter – or so he thought.

“Hi, welcome to The Bakery.  How are you today?”

Mingyu looks over the counter to see someone familiar. The worker was barely visible; all that could be seen was the purple hair sticking out and eyes above the counter.

“Jihoon?”

“Oh! Hi, Mingyu!”

“Well… um it’s been awhile”

“It’s only been like two weeks”

Mingyu laughs.

“Well then, are you going to give those to me so that I can put it in a bag for you or do you just want to stand there with them?” Jihoon refers to the tray that Mingyu is holding.

Mingyu just chuckles and hands the tray on to the glass counter. Jihoon carefully grabs hold of the tray that is above him, and walks over to the normal counter where the cash register is. He types into the computer to retrieve a receipt while packaging the steamed meat buns into a paper bag. Mingyu pays for the food and thanks Jihoon as they say their goodbyes.

“See you again soon!”

“Yeah, see you, Jihoon!”

Mingyu walks down the path that leads him to the bus stop. Not a lot of people are around this morning – the road isn’t as busy and there’s barely any people walking by.  Mingyu clutches tightly onto the bouquet of flowers in his right arm, holding the paper bag in his right hand and grabbing onto his black umbrella in his left hand.

The tall giant arrives at the bus stop, sitting on the bench as he waits for his bus to arrive. In just around five minutes later, the bus welcomes Mingyu inside, doors folding open for him to step inside. The tall giant puts his money into the fare-box as he walks to the back of the empty bus and sits at the back seats near the window like he usually does. Mingyu places the umbrella and paper bag on his lap and hugs the bouquet of flowers close to his chest. He inserts his earing phones into his ears, selecting the shuffle button as it cues a random song. The ride was long – people got on and off the bus, the scenery was outside the window was a blur, and the only thing that could be heard was the song being put on repeat.

어떤 상황에서도 눈물 흘리지 마요

한 방울 한 방울이 아까워

(we’re in this for life yeah)

내게 기대어 봐요 손을 잡아줄게요

세상이 등을 돌린다 해도

(we’re in this for life yeah)

Don’t shed tears in any situation

Each drop is too precious

(we’re in this for life yeah)

Lean on me, I’ll hold your hand

Even if the world turns its back on us

(we’re in this for life yeah)

The bus arrives an hour later at the bus stop that Mingyu gets off at to meet her. He takes out his earphones and walks down an old cement foot path. He walks by the empty road, only few cars passing by. The trees are swaying lightly in the breeze, and the birds chirp loudly. A gust of sudden wind hits the surface of Mingyu’s skin, causing him to grip onto the items in his arm and hands tightly.

The foot path leads him to a grassy field – something that Mingyu is quite familiar with. He keeps walking down the field and reaches the area that has scattered sacred stones. They’re all sleeping – he knows – and hopes that she is waiting for him.

“Hey there, it’s been awhile little sis. Sorry it’s been so long”

Mingyu stands in front of his little sister where her name is carved. He then sits down, legs crossed in front of her.

“How have you been? I’ve been doing fine. All the boys at the store are fine too since they screw around as always. Seungkwan found his soulmate two weeks ago. He wouldn’t stop talking about it and rubbing it in my face. When will I find my soulmate?” the tall giant pouts. “Everything’s all cool at the store…except Jeonghan though. He’s been pretty upset lately and I think it has something to do with his soulmate but he hasn’t said anything about it. I’m kind of worried for him”

A leaf falls on top of his head – it was as if his sister was patting his head, telling him she hopes everything will be okay. “Yeah, I hope so too”, Mingyu gives a soft smile.

“I got you something! These are anemone flowers. Just something different from the roses that I usually always give you. I met this really nice guy at the flower store. His name is...Joshua? I think that’s how you pronounce it. I think it’s some kind of foreign name. Anyway, he told me that flowers had meanings to them. Did you know that? ‘Cause I didn’t. You’re much smarter than me so I figured that you would have known”

Hell yeah I’m smarter – Mingyu felt like that’s what his cheeky little sister would have said with her snarky and sassy attitude. Mingyu grins.

“The anemone flowers means protection against evil wishes, and forgotten love…and the approach of a rainstorm when the petals are closed up”

Mingyu places the flowers in front of his little sister. A light breeze is felt, and brushes lightly over the bouquet. He can feel his sister smiling at him. He smiles back.

“I also got you steamed meat buns! Remember when we used to walk pass the bakery every morning to school and we always got these?” Mingyu takes a bun for himself and leaves the paper bag of the other three buns in front his sister. He takes a bite out of the bun and gives a satisfied sound.

“Mm! They’ve gone a little cold since I bought them like more than an hour ago, but they still taste really good! Speaking of the bakery, the bakery that I went to was literally called “The Bakery”. So original, right? I also met this small guy there. I met him at our store originally. When he first came in I thought he was a high school student! Turns out he’s a college student though. His name’s Jihoon – he has purple hair and as much as I don’t really want to admit it, it looks really cute on him. He was really grumpy when he came in. It was because he needed to buy a textbook” Mingyu sighs, “I know how he feels. Sorry, I’m rambling on aren’t I?”

A light breeze flows past him. Mingyu smiles and takes another bite out of the steamed meat bun.

“Hm…what else is there? Oh, right! I met some random stranger at the bus stop a few weeks back. The first time I saw him, he was crying. I went over to talk to him and cheered him up. Isn’t your older brother amazing?” Mingyu could almost feel his sister rolling her eyes at him. Mingyu laughs. “And well… I haven’t talked to him since. I saw him again a few days ago, but I was already on the bus and he was sitting at the bus stop when the bus took off so I couldn’t do anything. He was kind of…”

Mingyu stops for a moment, choosing his words carefully.

“…beautiful?” Mingyu feels his cheeks heating up, and a gust of large wind along with a pile of leaves flows pass him, a few leaves fall onto his head and clothes. He could almost hear her obnoxious laugh.

“Oh shut up! I know I sound lame. But he’s just…admirable; mesmerizing.” Mingyu sighs. “You’d have to see him to know what I’m talking about, okay? His hair looks really nice. His eyes were sharp – it really suited him. His smile is super cute too. Let’s not even get started on his voice – it’s like an audio version of Nutella. His voice is so deep I could probably drown in it. Not going to lie – he was kind of hot, but more cute than hot to be honest. It doesn’t matter anyway, I haven’t seen him in ages so…whatever”

A leaf falls onto the tall giant’s shoulder. She was giving him sympathy again. “I’m fine, really”. Mingyu takes another bite out of the meat bun and chews slowly.

“There’s so much going on these past weeks.  The universe must be absolutely insane” Mingyu sighs and devours the rest of his meat bun.

Mingyu rambles on about his days and weeks. He feels guilty that he hasn’t visited his little sister in a month – which is why he gave her the three steamed meat buns to make it up to her. He talks about how well he’s doing in university and how much he studies (which isn’t that much and he could feel his sister whack him across the head when a gust of wind and a stick that flies at his head. In which he then apologizes and promises to study more). He explains a little more about Joshua and Jihoon, and how they have such interesting personalities. He talks about how well Soonyoung and Seokmin are doing together, and how Seungkwan won’t stop stalking his soulmate’s social medias when they’re already together. He discusses how much their mum keeps on nagging him about safety and how much he dislikes it but has to listen anyway even though he’s already a young and growing adult.

He tells his little sister how much he misses her. He tells her how much he wishes to see her again. How much he wants to wake up every morning by an annoying voice like back in their elementary/high school days. How much he wants to brush and style her hair when getting ready for school. How much he wants to walk with her to the bakery to buy more steamed meat buns. How much he misses the petty arguments about who was going to do the house chores. How much he misses cooking dinner with her when their parents were too busy to be at home (although all she did was sit at the counter and nag at him about watching out for the oil when it was sizzling on the pan). How much he wants to hear her voice. How much he misses and just wants to hear her say good night each time they went to sleep.

Mingyu vision starts to blur, the rim of his eyes filled. Another gust of wind blows pass his face, as if to dry up his tears. A small white flower is strung along in the wind, and lands on his head. He rubs his eyes with his coat sleeve quickly, not wanting to have his sister worry about him.

“I’m okay”

Mingyu hadn’t realised how much he had rambled on for, and the sun is in the stage of setting. He pulls out his phone from his pocket, the time reading 6:31PM.

“Well, it’s getting late and the next bus is going to arrive within twenty minutes or so, so I should be leaving. Thanks for listening to me for so long as always. I hope you enjoy the meat buns and rest well. Love you, little sis” He pats and leaves a peck on the gravestone.

He stands up and gives one last stare at the bold writing carved in her stone. The tall giant then treads down the green, grassy field, and makes his way onto the old cement foot path, leading him back to the bus stop.

Mingyu’s bus finally arrives just moments later. When the bus doors open up, the tall giant inserts his money into the fare box, stumbling his way down to the back seats of the bus – per usual. And as per usual, he takes out his earphones, stuffing them into his ears, selecting a song on repeat.

내 손을 잡아봐 누군가 필요할 때

I’ll be that somebody somebody,

we’re in this for life yeah

나만 바라봐 어깨가 필요할 때

I’ll be that somebody somebody,

we’re in this for life yeah

Hold my hand when you need somebody

I’ll be that somebody somebody,

we’re in this for life yeah

Only look at me when you need a shoulder

I’ll be that somebody somebody,

we’re in this for life yeah

The ride to his bus stop is quiet; only the pounding beats and the tunes of a guitar along with the female singers’ voices to be heard through his earphones. There’s only a few people that come on and off the bus; a contrast from the large amounts of people this morning. The bus finally arrives at the bus stop near his work place; the bus stop that he needs to wait at to get home. He takes out his earphones and shoves them into his pocket as he stumbles through the small aisle of the bus. He thanks the bus driver and steps off the bus and in front of the bus stop bench. He stops. 

A/N: I honestly meant to upload this earlier but...it's the 17th today...yeah. I waited just so I could upload on the 17th...

Incase you were wondering, the song used in this is The Light by The Ark because I'm still angsty about their disbandment

also incase you were confused, I wrote alot of this back in mansae era, just so you guys can visualise the story better,,

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