Jongin was surprised to see Sehun and Yixing sitting in the living room together after he came down the stairs, having woken up late once again. They were animatedly chatting while flipping through a large brown leather-bound book that sat on their laps.

“What’re you doing here?” the artist asked his best friend as he sidled up to the two, shoving himself next to Sehun on the couch and throwing his left arm around the model’s broad shoulders.

“Oh, hey Jongin!” His best friend turned and grinned widely at the artist. “I don’t have anything scheduled today, so I wanted to hang out and have dinner at your house. I was actually going to come later in the afternoon, but then I got bored of doing nothing at my place. So I asked Yixing if I could come over earlier and he said I could.”

“You should’ve texted me yesterday and let me know. I would’ve gotten up earlier if I had known you were coming.”

“Sorry, I didn’t find out until this morning either. Donghae called me earlier and told me today’s photo shoot got rescheduled to next week, since there was a mix-up with the outfits or something like that. I honestly stopped paying attention the moment he said it was cancelled,” the model flippantly explained. “When I got here, I was going to barge into your bedroom and wake you up, but Yixing told me not to.” He lightly bumped the Chinese male’s right shoulder. “So I refrained and you should be thankful for that.”

Jongin let out a sardonic chuckle. “Thank you, O’ generous one, for allowing me to slumber peacefully in my own home. May you be blessed with an abundance of opportunities to work.”

Sehun smiled innocently.

“Anyway, what’re you guys looking at?” The artist leaned closer and peered at the large book. “Wait, is this the photo book we made by ourselves after graduation?” Jongin asked after recognizing the photographs pasted onto the cream white pages.

“Yeah, it is,” Yixing answered, shifting the photo book closer to Jongin so that the artist had a better view. “We ended up talking about our dumb adventures during university while we were waiting for you to wake up. Sehun remembered that we had this, so we found it in your parents’ library room and brought it back here to look through.”

“It was next to all of your yearbooks,” the model added with a chuckle. “I forgot that your parents bought one every year you and Jongdae were in school. And I can’t believe they bought the college yearbooks too. No one in college buys a yearbook.”

“I mean, the fine arts section was basically dedicated to me every year, so I’m not surprised,” Jongin said with a nonchalant shrug. “My mom likes having a copy of all of my interviews. She reads them whenever she feels nostalgic.”

“I thought Yixing was joking when he mentioned that, but there really is an entire bookcase labeled after you with everything you’ve done in chronological order.” Sehun shook his head in mild disbelief.

The artist just shrugged again. “Yeah, it’s there.” In fact, he had been the one to help his mother start the archive and keep it properly organized. Some of his artwork and interviews had been missing dates—mostly earlier ones from his childhood, since Jongin hadn’t been as proactive about dating his pieces when he was an amateur—so he had gladly assisted his mother in labeling those when she didn’t know where to place them.

“Does Jongdae have his own bookcase?” the model asked curiously. “Granted, I don’t think he really has anything to put on display, but your mom seems like the type to find something about him to showcase.”

Jongin immediately scowled before disdainfully answering, “Of course not. He'd barely be able to fill out a shelf, much less an entire bookcase.”

“By the way,” Yixing quickly cut in to divert the conversation away from Jongdae, “I also dug this out of my closet earlier.” He reached behind him to bring out an oversized sweater. He nudged the photo book so that it was completely on Sehun’s lap before pulling the sweater over his head. The manager struggled for a few seconds, blindly trying to find the opening for his head. Once he finally managed to pop out at the top, Yixing let out a relieved sigh and then jubilantly looked at his two friends. “Ooh, it’s really soft. I forgot I had it until now.”

“When did you get this?” Sehun peered at the sweater curiously. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear it.”

“Probably because I rarely have,” the manager replied as he smoothed down the wrinkles near the bottom hem. “I think this might be my third or fourth time wearing it? I can’t remember. Anyway, I bought it when the entire school store was fifty-percent off during the week of graduation. I decided to get one, since why not?”

“Oh yeah, they did have that promotion. I think I was supposed to buy a mug or something for my mom, but she told me she’d rather have a mug that I decorated instead when I brought it up,” Sehun recalled.

Meanwhile, Jongin didn’t comment at all and he only wore a deep-set frown, which Yixing noticed and the manager slightly deflated. “What? Does it look bad on me?”

“No, it’s not that. I just hated our school colors,” Jongin answered with a grimace as he recalled the dark brown and white accents around their university. “Wait, scratch that. I still hate them. It’s the most boring color combination out there. And the shade of brown they use is so ugly.” He glowered at Yixing’s school sweater which was completely brown, save for their university’s name printed in white block letters. The color reminded him of mud and military camouflage, and he hated how dull it was. Especially since it also reminded him of his ruined color vision.

“Yeah, it’s not the most visually appealing shade they could’ve chosen, but at least we got a cool mascot,” Yixing reminded him while pointing to the photograph of the three boys posing next to a large bronze statue of a coyote. This picture had been taken in their second year at university at the insistence of Yixing’s mother, who had been extremely excited that her son would be sharing an apartment with Jongin and Sehun instead of living alone like she feared he would. Although Yixing had complained loudly, not wanting his friends to regret agreeing to let him join their housing lease, the other two had good-naturedly granted Yixing’s mother’s request and dragged the Chinese male to the statue. “What if our school mascot had been a vegetable or a bug or something as equally dumb instead?”

Sehun and Jongin both snorted out loud at the ludicrous thought. “Oh man, can you imagine some guy running around in an artichoke costume during spirit days? Or even a snail,” the model snickered.

“God, I would’ve defaced every depiction of the mascot on campus if that were the case,” Jongin groaned, not wanting to entertain such an absurd hypothetical about his prestigious alma mater. “I can’t believe some schools actually have those kinds of stupid mascots. Aren’t they embarrassed?”

The manager shrugged. “They probably think it’s funny. And I guess it is, to some extent. Not really my type of humor, but I can see why others might like it.”

“I think it’s hilarious!” Sehun chimed in, now doubled over in laughter.

“That’s because you have the same sense of humor as a three-year-old,” Jongin playfully jabbed. “If I didn’t already know you, there's no way I'd ever believe you’re in your thirties.”

The model impishly tapped his flawlessly smooth cheeks with his index fingers before saying, “Perks of being sponsored by the best skincare brands in the country. I’m literally getting paid to drink the fountain of youth.”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it. You’re hot. No one here cares,” Jongin complained, but his tone held no malice and the artist grinned as his best friend good-humoredly placed him in a weak headlock.

“Wait, don’t crumple the pages!” Yixing yelped as he tried to rescue the photo book from being crushed by the other two males’ antics. “We worked really hard on this and there’s only one in the entire world!”

“Oops, sorry.” Sehun smiled sheepishly as he raised the artist’s head high enough for Yixing to safely pull the photo book onto his own lap.

“Now, where were we?” the Chinese male murmured as he gently flicked a speck of dust off of the open photo book before flipping to the next page. “Ooh, this was taken during the summer after our third year.”

Sehun released Jongin from the headlock and both of them turned to look curiously at the photograph that the manager was pointing to. It was the three of them sitting on the edge of a rocky cliff, overhanging a beige beach, and they were looking off into the horizon while the sun was beginning to set. A mixture of reds, yellows, and purples reflected against the cerulean waves that rolled against the shore and the white foam sparkled like diamonds.

“Whoa, I forgot about this too,” Sehun commented. “Dang, you edited this photo really well, Yixing. The color grading is fantastic.”

Jongin slightly turned his head away, holding his tongue from making any unnecessary sharp remarks about being unable to see anything properly. He would just be rehashing the same grievances over and over again. Yixing and Sehun had dealt with that enough already. This was supposed to be lighthearted hang-out, not another pity party.

Meanwhile, the manager beamed brightly, unaware of Jongin’s internal dilemma since Sehun was sitting between them and partially blocking the artist from view. Yixing had been in charge of fixing up the pictures to their visual peak. It had been a huge labor of love with the Chinese male spending countless nights in front of his computer, staring at each image and painstakingly adjusting the color values. This was the most ambitious aesthetic project he had ever taken on and it hadn’t even been for a grade.

But the photo book was a lasting memoir of his university days with some of his favorite people, so Yixing hadn’t minded putting in the extra work to make sure it was perfect. And with Jongin overseeing the project, the Chinese male also knew that his friend wouldn’t have settled for anything less than perfection either.

One by one, they began walking down memory lane and relived the days of their carefree youth.

Jongin didn’t know how much time had passed as they pored over the photo book. But it was actually quite fun going through old photographs and recounting the accompanying memories with his closest friends. University had been a time of exploration and growth, even with the two-year break when Jongin and Sehun had fulfilled their mandatory military service.

During that time, Yixing had focused on doing most of his coursework for his second major, business management. Although he could have received his fine arts degree instead, he and Sehun had already promised to enroll in the same classes together once the two Korean males returned from the military. That way, all three of them would be able to walk together on the same stage when receiving their diplomas at graduation. Jongin, who was a budding professional at that point, had a much more advanced course plan than they did, so Yixing and Sehun usually registered for the same lectures in order to help each other out since they weren’t as artistically gifted as their prodigy friend.

Since he hadn’t seen them as often, thanks to being in different classes, Jongin treasured the memories of going on spontaneous road trips and hosting relaxing game nights with his best friends and other classmates from the fine arts department. Even simple hang-outs like going out to eat at restaurants or doing projects together in the library basement study rooms were cherished moments. For the most part, he had lived as a normal university student.

Sure, Kim Jongin was still the genius artist who had won dozens of accolades for his school and elevated its nationally ranked fine arts program into an internationally acclaimed department. He had been the university’s golden child, to the envy of other schools who had desperately tried but failed to persuade him to attend their institution, and was now one of their most notable alumni. He had been the most prolific student there, attracting visitors from all around the country and abroad to view his exhibitions of breathtaking artwork.

However, despite all of the fanfare, no one there had ever pressured Jongin into doing more than he felt like he could handle. The university had allowed him to promote himself as he pleased instead of extorting the young artist for clout. No professors or school officials had ever forced him to compromise his artistic autonomy in favor of capitalistic endeavors.

Honestly, Jongin had been extremely lucky. His university had been a wonderfully nurturing environment that allowed the young artist to bask in the freedom of being like every other student while providing top-grade resources and materials for him to hone his skills to the highest level. There had been no need for him to sacrifice any part of himself and Jongin was forever grateful for that.

Most people would never experience this kind of fortune in their lifetime.

And best of all, he still had Sehun and Yixing with him to this day. He still had his two closest friends by his side. Even though hundreds of friendships were cut down as paths diverged and priorities changed, theirs had withstood the test of time and emerged stronger than ever after graduation.

Jongin wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world. Not even for the return of his color vision.

The memories with his friends that he had created over the years, muted as they were at times, were still more cozy and comforting than anything the artist could ever create with his hands. And even though his color vision had betrayed him, Sehun and Yixing never had.

Even though being alone was comfortable, Jongin was glad that his friends were still near.

He didn’t think he could handle complete solitude.

♈♈♈

A/N: I apologize for the delay! This was supposed to be finished and uploaded on Kaisoo Day (January 13), because I always prepare updates on Kyungsoo's birthday and Kaisoo Day. But as we all know, January 13 was the day Chen made his big announcement.

In case you didn't know, I'm a Chen stan so I went through my own emotional journey as I read his letter and processed everything. I've made my peace with the news since, and I do not condone any of the horrible things that are being said and done to him. I understand being shocked at the sudden news, because it was a lot to take in all at once. But that does not excuse the amount of hate being flung at him non-stop for the past two months. At the end of the day, I just want Jongdae to be happy. He's given me so much happiness over the last four years, this past year especially when I finally got to meet him and see him perform multiple times. He is the reason for my happiest moments in 2019 and I'm not going to suddenly erase those precious memories because of a surprise announcement regarding his personal life that I frankly have no involvement in.

I'd also like to state that this news does not affect Jongdae's character in this story whatsoever. I write him as if he's an actor portraying a character I've created, so I don't see any harm in continuing to do so. Anyway, thank you again for being such amazing readers! I'm so grateful to have you and I really appreciate the patience. Subscribe, comment, and/or upvote if you're enjoying the story so far! Have a lovely day and see you next time with a brand new chapter!