Sit and Listen...

I should be updating my other stories since its been so long but I wrote this on vacation and I really wanted to publish it! xD Yeah, I've been gone for a while 'cause I was really busy then went on vacation so that's why I haven't updated my other stories, but I'm back now! and I'll update them soon! So until then enjoy this random one-shot! :D

Sorry for any mistakes I missed~

Disclaimer: I own nothing~

It was warm and my time to bloom has come again. I stood proud drinking in the sunlight. I was not alone, others like me were scattered throughout the grassy field. A gentle breeze blew through the field rustling my petals. My existence was simple really, I was nothing more than another sunflower enjoying the bright sun until Lady Winter rece more. Then one day, a being wandered into my field and everything changed. It was unlike anything I had seen before, it did not have a stem or petals. But it was beautiful. Long light brown hair that reached down barely past it's shoulders. It had pale caramel skin and clear brown eyes. It introduced itself as Taemin, a teenage boy.

"I'm crazy, aren't I? Talking to a sunflower...Ha... Oh well. I have no friends and you're the only thing I have to talk to. You'll listen won't you? It's not like you have any other choice..." Taemin said. He sat down next to me and drew his knees up to his chest. Another warm breeze floated through the air; blowing his hair across his face. The sunlight shone off him, making it seem like he was almost glowing. He sighed then looked up at me, the look in his eyes the saddest thing I had ever seen. Could something this sad exist in the world? My days were full of warm air and the bright sun. Never have I known something as sad as this boy. He spoke again.

"My Mother loved sunflowers like you. She used to bring me here when I was little. This was our secret place, our field of sunflowers. No one else knows about it. We used to have so much fun here in the summer... I haven't been here in years. Not since she passed away..." He ran his hands through the green grass leaning back and tilting his head up towards the sky; his hair cascading down his back. The sun shone down on his face as he gazed at the clouds. He continued to speak telling me of his tragic life. Such a sad story he had to tell. I wish I could've done something to make him happy, but I am only a sunflower.

He came back every day throughout the summer. Telling me about his life. His Father left when he was 6, leaving his mother to raise him and his older brother. It was hard but for a while everything worked out fine. But then one night some men had broken into his house, at the time Taemin was 12 his brother was 18. He remembered hiding in his mother's bedroom closet, the door was slightly cracked. He remembered hearing his brother whispering on the phone to 911 as he held Taemin in his arms. He remembered watching those men murder his mother. He remembered he look on her face and the heart wrenching scream that slipped past his mother's lips as one held her still and the other plunged a knife into her chest. He watched as her once beautiful face contorted into a mess of pain. The man stabbed her over and over again plunging the knife into her frail body. He could barely hear his brother's shaky whispers that everything was okay and that everything would work out fine. He just stared with wide traumatized eyes at the bloody mess that used to be his mother. He heard the men speak, saying how they only needed to get the woman as it was their boss's orders. They just left her there and disappeared. His Brother held him in his arms as sobs racked his older brother's body; he was rocking back and forth. If it was to comfort Taemin or because he was so traumatized, Taemin was not sure. The rest of the night was a blur, the police, being taken away from their home, everything. They learned that their father was the leader of one of the most powerful gangs in South Korea and had probably ordered the murder of their mother. The next month went by in a blur, everything had been settled and it had been decided that it would be the best for Taemin to be under the custody of his older brother since he had no other family. Both Taemin and his brother attended a therapist for a while after that but nothing could erase the memories of the night he watched his mother be murdered. Taemin and his brother lived in a small apartment now, his brother working several jobs day and night to support himself and Taemin. After the accident Taemin became withdrawn from everyone he barely spoke at all not even to his friends at school. Eventually he managed to get a little happy again trying to bring some light into the life he now shared with his brother, knowing his mother would want them to be happy. His attempts at happiness turned out to futile. His life plummeted down hill from there; Throwing him to rock bottom. His brother became a drunk to relieve the stress of the constant nightmares he got of the night his Mother died, the stress from working all the time to support his brother, and he snapped. That's when he began to abuse Taemin. Constantly he would hit Taemin and insult him. Calling him horrible names. Then start crying; uttering out apologies for everything turning out this way then proceed to pass out. This process went on nightly, seeing as his brother worked so often he never came home until night. He'd come home every night to repeat the process of getting drunk and beating his younger brother. Taemin always came to visit me at night after the first time he came, he said it was easier to come after his brother had passed out for the night because during the day he was at school, and after he got home from school he had to clean up the mess his brother made every day.

"...He tells me how useless I am, how ugly and stupid I am. He's right, I know how worthless I am, I know I don't deserve to live on this earth. I know how horrible and disgusting I am. He just constantly reminds me how no one loves me. His apologies are never sincere... I know he hates me. I hate myself too..." He trailed off. His eyes, one of them almost swollen shut from the black eye his brother had given him, turned towards the ground. He began to remove his jacket, underneath he had a black tank top on. His beautiful skin was covered in red marks, some cuts, some scars. The angry red marks laid on top of dark purple bruises. At that moment I wished I was more than a sunflower so I could hug him and tell him that I loved him. But I could not, I was only a useless sunflower all I could do was sit and listen to his story.

"...I did this to myself, you know. Not the bruises, just the cuts and scars. I deserve it. You don't care though, you're just a sunflower..." The stars shone down brightly from the night sky. If only I could wish on one of them to change me from just a sunflower to a human so I could tell this boy how I much I cared for him, no matter how much I wished I could; The stars couldn't grant my wish. I watched this beautiful boy fall to pieces before me and I could do nothing but watch as the words left his mouth. Watch the tears rain down his broken face. I watched as sadness writhed throughout him; his emotions pouring out and I could do nothing. I'm only a sunflower, and for once I wasn't content with being just a sunflower because a sunflower was not what this boy needed, he needed a friend that could love him... And that was something I could not be.

It went on the way for a while, I spent my days drinking in sunlight waiting for Taemin to visit. Every day the dark night came and the stars that could never grant my wish lit up. I always waited for Taemin, and he always came. I was beginning to fade away, soon I would not bloom again. Soon it would be winter, and I would not bloom for months. I did not want that, I wanted to stay bloomed forever with Taemin. But life does not work that way, winter was nearing and my time with Taemin was coming to an end... Today, it was rather strange, Taemin had come in the day like he had the first time. He was smiling, he looked genuinely happy. He walked up to me and gently ran his fingers over my petals.

"Your time is coming to and end soon, and so is mine, Sunflower. Thank you for listening to me all these nights. You're the only real friend I've ever had, I'll never forget you. Everything is going to end soon, and I will not live in pain anymore. Everything will be over. Goodbye, my friend. I know you'll be happier without me here to bother you, everyone will be." He smiled brightly then left. He had sounded so relieved... I was only a sunflower I did not understand what he meant by those fateful words.

Time passed and Taemin did not visit again; soon winter would come. Would he not visit me before Lady Winter returned? But then, one day a man came and I was uprooted from my spot and transferred to a large pot. Then other people came, they dug a hole in the ground where I had been. They had a large wooden rectangular box with them. I couldn't tell what was in the box until it was lowered into the ground. It was Taemin... He was dead. Suddenly the last words he uttered to me made sense... He had killed himself. I wanted to scream and cry but I could not, I was only a sunflower. He looked so peaceful as the lid on the box was closed and he was lowered into the ground, the other sunflowers mournfully blowing in the breeze around us. I was taken from the pot and replanted back in the spot I had previously been that now rested over Taemin's grave. I guess I was his grave marker of sorts since no actual marker was placed. Only one man stayed behind. He had been there the whole time, standing in the background tears silently rolling down his face. He walked over and stood in front of me then fell to his knees, sobs wracking his body.

"He told me about you, in his letter. I know you're the sunflower he came to talk to every night, you're exactly as he described you. There's something different about you. I'm his brother, he probably told you about me. I just... I want you and Taemin to know... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But it's too late now, I ruined everything and now he's gone and I...I love him so much! I didn't mean for things to turn out this way...I..." He didn't finish his sentence, angrily beating the ground with his fists as he cried. He kept saying how sorry he was... I felt a mix of anger and pity towards this man. He had been one of the reasons Taemin was gone but he clearly had many issues of his own... But nothing could make up for the loss of Taemin. Before, I was just another sunflower but now... I was different. I had grown attached to a beautifully broken human. I loved him, but he was gone now. And I could never do anything to help him because I wasn't what he needed; I was just a sunflower.

Time passed and...I didn't fade in the winter. My fellow sunflowers did but I braved through the winter I stood bright and proud. I never went away. For years after that, I stayed fully and beautifully bloomed all year long. I was no longer just a sunflower... I had a piece of Taemin's spirit with me and in his honor I stayed bloomed fully, year round unlike any other sunflower. I was no longer just any sunflower, even Taemin's brother was shocked at my constant bloom year round; every time he came to visit, which he often did. Now I was more than just another sunflower, I surpassed all possibilities with Taemin's beautiful spirit guiding me... I wasn't just any sunflower... No. I was Taemin's sunflower.

I honestly have no clue why I wrote this I just saw a sunflower on vacation and this came to me. I hope you enjoyed~ Oh and My tumblr~: http://dazzling-sherlock.tumblr.com/