fall

Lee Eunsook x Kim Junghee ✩ Implied character death ✩ 1240 words
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The leaves are yellow, red and green.

They're coloring the scenery a warm hue that only foreshadows the cold that will follow when the trees are left bare and alone. She sighs as she bends to pick another of the fallen leaves, gently turns it around in her hand before she smiles and nods.The leaf joins the others in her small basket.

Eunsook hums gently as she walks up the mountain trail, in between trees of all sizes. They all show something different. Most show golden nuances but there was one with leaves so red they reminded her of a fire truck. She smiles and continues her trekking up the mountain while she picks the falling leaves off of their branches and gets them in their perfect state before bugs and smaller animals will feed on them or stomp on them.

She closes her eyes when she reaches the small bench placed so people can rest their feet. Eunsook isn't tired from walking anymore but she suddenly realizes how exhausted her mind is.

When she turns around and walks back down she's looking at the forest trail and not at the colored leaves, trying not to cry.

“Eunsook, please,” Junghee says and looks at her with a pout. Eunsook sighs and nurses her coffee, the steam hitting her face gently.

“It's seven in the morning,” Eunsook says and Junghee sends her a smile that lights up her world.

“But they're so pretty!”

Eunsook cannot deny that and she promises the smaller girl that they will leave when she has finished her coffee. Junghee is staring excitedly at Eunsook while Eunsook drinks her coffee and the kiss Junghee presses to her cheek as she finishes is worth it all.

The childlike wonder that Junghee collects the leaves with, makes Eunsook's heart clench and she remembers just why she's so in love with the smaller girl. Junghee is perfect. She has her life figured out but she never lets that hinder the small wonders.

Everything that Eunsook appreciates is because of Junghee. She even finds herself enjoying finding the prettiest of leaves.

Eunsook forcefully removes the tear when she finds the most beautiful leaf she has ever seen. It has golden hues that turn into orange only to fade into red and she holds it towards the sun, prays that Junghee can see it. She is sure she just dreams it when she feels the sun a little warmer against her cheek in a caress and Eunsook sends it a sad smile when she removes a tear that had fallen onto her cheek anyway.

She continues up the mountain to collect the prettiest of leaves for her girlfriend and every time she finds a beautiful one she holds it up to the sun, looks through the leaf and sees how the sun plays with the colors and the veins of the leaf. She has a half-filled basket when she returns home and puts them into the heavy books so she can press and dry them.

Eunsook finishes and sits in the dark office where framed leaves hang around in beautifully created patterns on the wall.

“Can we go find fall leaves, baby?” Junghee asks and Eunsook yawns and pulls the cover over her head. Junghee isn't very satisfied with that response. “Please!”

Eunsook lowers the covers a little and looks at her girlfriend and sends her a tired smile.

“We picked leaves yesterday,” she says and Junghee sends her a blinding smile and nods.

“But what if there's an even prettier leaf out there today?”

Eunsook gives up when Junghee presses her lips to Eunsook's pouting lips and promises that she’ll buy them something delicious to eat that evening. Eunsook's feet are hurting but Junghee is too far ahead, completely enthralled in the falling leaves.

When they meet up at the bench and Eunsook's sits down to rest her legs, Junghee continues with an energy Eunsook didn't know the smaller girl had. She can't help the smile that creeps onto her lips when Junghee places herself in Eunsook's lap and thanks her for coming before she presses their lips together.

The fall gets colder but Eunsook collects as many leaves as she can before they get trampled from passersby and adventures. She can barely find any pretty leaves but she still hasn't collected nearly as many as Junghee would.

Junghee always had a way to find the most amazing leaves and Eunsook doesn't know how. Maybe it was her childlike wonder and her happiness when she went to look for the leaves.

Eunsook gets mad at herself for not being able to find as many pretty leaves as her girlfriend. It shouldn't be like this. She sighs and turns around long before she reaches the bench but she can't go home before she has at least ten leaves that she deems pretty enough.

It takes her hours through the parks of Seoul as she stretches onto tiptoes to find the last of the pretty leaves. When she returns home her feet are hurting but she barely feels the pain.

“I just got my period, Junghee,” Eunsook says annoyed and in pain. Junghee looks at her with a fallen expression.

“Maybe a small walk will do you good?” she says in a small voice and Eunsook groans.

“I don't want to go pick leaves with you today, baby.”

Her voice is harsh and she doesn't mean to be that harsh but Junghee retreats back into the kitchen and Eunsook locks herself away in the bedroom with aheat pad and some chocolate.

Junghee is in a bad mood the entire day and Eunsook feels bad for not going to pick up leaves with her but she thinks her period cramps are a good excuse for not walking through the forest. Junghee seems to think the same but her mood is still affected. Eunsook thinks she's silly.

Eunsook looks at the framed leaves. Most of them are arranged prettily so as to not break. They're arranged from green to fire truck red on the wall, every nuance framed. There are big leaves and small leaves and every one have a very specific place in the color palette that Junghee had carefully created.

On the other wall is Eunsook's mismatched wall in the hopes of copying what her girlfriend had done before her death. But there's nothing in Eunsook's leaves that show the love and warmth that Junghee's wall does. She can feel the tears pressing when she remembers their last fall together.

7 years together and she had found Junghee's habit of looking for the prettiest of pretty fall leaves stupid and annoying and a waste of time. She had begged Junghee to grow up, to lose her childlike wonder and Junghee had tried hard for her.

Eunsook cries her heart out when she remembers how she the happiness out of Junghee. The one who shone as bright as the sun was suddenly in the shadows as Eunsook wanted to grow up and stop collecting leaves.

Now that Junghee is gone and Eunsook is left to the memories, the leaves are all she has.

author's notes

So ... this was supposed to be the fem!Jongyu but it turned into a more Eunsook-centric drabble. Anyway, I really love this because of how their relationship deteriorate until Junghee dies and Eunsook suddenly realizes how precious it really was. 

Thanks for reading.