Jonghyun takes his cup of tea as he settles on the couch, watching the sakura tree outside their home shed its petals, the lavender skies serving as the background of a surreal natural phenomena, how lucky he was to have parents (may they rest in peace) who decided to plant a tree so beautiful in one of the most serene and quiet places you'll rarely see in Seoul. 

 

He takes another sip of the hot drink, and watches intently again, he loves how a single tree can draw so much inspiration, as a composer, everyday is a need for inspiration and everyday, in different times of a day, he gets it from the sole sakura tree in their garden. 

 

Jonghyun places the hot cup on his cheek, "...winter's almost here." he mutters to himself, he pulls his legs closer to his chest to keep warm, his clothes are not helping much. 

 

He doesnt know when he decided to walk out of the house and into the garden, when he had the time to change his clothes to his favorite jeans, boots, white shirt under a black cardigan. He keeps walking, basking under the petals of the sakura tree, he holds out his hand, a single petal lands to his open palm, he stares at the beauty he accidentally caught and smiles, he closes his palm to keep it, only to forget how fragile that one pink petal is, he immediately opens his palm again and finds the petal broken, and it hits him. 

 

For every beautiful thing he's caught, there's bound to be an ugly retaliation of sort. He lets the petal fall to the ground and he walks faster to the now never-ending line of sakura trees stretched to the street, if there is a street. He looks at the ground and he doesnt even see his feet, he sees a low stretch of fog covering them, he doesnt feel it exactly, but he knows it's cold, so he pulls his cardigan closer to himself, and when he looks up to walk forward, there he is with his back turned to him. 

 

"MINHO!"Jonghyun calls out, but no voice came out of his throat, the boy he called for walks some more, "MINHO! WAIT!" he screams, at least he tried to, but again, no words came out. He walks faster, but the other boy's legs wins over him, he takes one step and it seems Minho's taking two or three ahead of him, "MINHO PLEASE! WAIT!" But he doesnt hear him, he doesnt know why his voice had disappeared, and chose to do so at a crucial time like this. 

 

He tries to run just so he can keep up and not lose sight of the boy he's been walking after, he stretches his hand, trying to catch the hem of the taller boy's jacket at least, "MINHO!" he still calls for him, no matter how much he knows already that his vocal chords are not working at the moment. "Minho, please..." His not-so-there voice is almost breaking, and he can feel his eyes getting wet. "Wait for me, please..." And he pushes himself further and stretches his hand once more to the longest that it can possibly reach and he does, only to find it pass through a silhouette of cloth. Minho is vanishing in front of his eyes, he calls again, repeatedly, and louder and louder, or it seems to be, he runs faster but his steps are obstructed by the fog, which is no longer a fog, when he looked down, his boots are now ankle-deep in a sheet of snow. 

 

"Minho... dont leave me..." And his voice finally comes out, but no one's there to hear him at all, besides the last sakura tree there is. It's hopeless. 

 

Minho's left him, maybe he's broken the younger boy without realizing it. He crouches down by the tree and cries. There were days he'd nag so much on Minho, he'd throw a fit when Minho forgets things he wanted done, he'd walk out whenever Minho gets the upperhand of an argument. 

 

Jonghyun forgot that Minho is a beautiful creature, and beautiful creatures want to share their beauty to someone, and Jonghyun's been selfish, he held Minho too close so he wont escape, and he broke him and now he walked away, just like the sakura petal he accidentally crushed moments earlier, it's of no use to him, he'd let it go and let it fall to the ground. 

 

But unlike the petal, he needs Minho. He needs the comfort he gives, he needs the smile he shows, the love he shares, even the arguments they have. He needs the beauty of Choi Minho more than the beauty of the sakura tree and the lavender skies. 

 

He pulls his legs close to his chest and he cries, he wants Minho back. No. He needs him back.

 

"JONGHYUN!" 

 

Jonghyun feels a hand ruffle his hair, he lazily looks up and sees a hazy image of a small face and big eyes smiling at him, "I'm home."

 

"...Minho...?" Jonghyun mumbles, he's sure that his voice is back, "Uh - huh. Who else?" 

 

"Oh god!" Jonghyun scrambles on his feet, breaking the cup of tea as he loses grip on the porcelain cup and hugs the younger boy, almost hanging onto Minho for dear life, "Don't leave me, dont leave me... please... please." 

 

"Are you okay? You're crying..." Minho asks as he hugs back his partner in confusion, but Jonghyun kept mumbling the word please over and over. "What's wrong...? Jonghyun...?"

 

"I'm sorry for everything... I'll be a better boyfriend. I'll be the best. Please dont leave me... stay with me, Minho. Stay, please."

 

"I think you had a bad dream..." Minho feels Jonghyun hug him tighter and he feels his shoulders getting more wet from the shorter boy's tears, Minho kisses his boyfriend's head, "You're already the best like this, dont ever change."Jonghyun nods but kept whimpering. "I'll stay as long as you want, Jonghyun, don't worry. I hope you dont leave too."

 

"I wont if you wont."