The paint on the telephone booth had started fading, Junhong noted. It had been a long time since he last set his foot there.

With a smile grazing his lips, he entered the telephone booth and leaned against the glass, staring at the receiver for a moment before he reached out for it. He held it close to him and dialed Yongguk’s number. He waited for the machine lady to finish her sentence before he started talking.

“Hi, Yongguk hyung. It’s me, Jello.”

The teenage boy let out an embarrassed chuckle and scratched the back of his head. Then he stared out through the glass, fixing his gaze on the bright blue sky.

“Are you watching over me? I hope you are. I feel good, hyung. Life is not that hard anymore. Maybe because I’ve learned to become strong.”

Junhong stayed silent for a few seconds, gathering the right words in his head.

“Hyung, I won’t wait for you anymore. I can take my own road now. I won’t follow you. You’ve helped me so many times already. I hope you’re okay with that?  Oh, I visited you last week. Did you like the flowers? Daehyun hyung bought it for you. He’s a generous person, hyung. He takes care of me well.

“Ah, I forgot to tell you about Himchan hyung. I’m going to see him today. Daehyun hyung will go with me. I can’t wait to see him. It’s been a long time…”

“Yaa, Junhong!” someone yelled from outside.

Putting the receiver back to its place, Junhong turned around and saw Jongup waving at him. He waved back and approached his friend.

“Hey, what’s up?’

“What are you doing here? I thought you said that you would go straight to the BBQ restaurant. The others are already there waiting for us. You don’t wanna mess up our graduation party, right?”

“Sorry,” Junhong chuckled.

“Hurry, I don’t wanna be late or else they’ll gobble up all of the meat.”

As Junhong followed his friend from behind, his phone rang. Before he answered the call, he gave his phone a look of disbelief. Daehyun had bought that phone for him for his birthday. Junhong had declined, saying that he didn’t need a phone but Daehyun had insisted. He’d even put a funny looking sticker at the back of the phone—a character that came from some cartoon Junhong didn’t bother to find out. Junhong had intended to take the sticker off but Daehyun had forbid him from doing so, saying that the sticker was cool. Junhong could only shake his head disbelievingly. The man could be so childish sometimes.

When Junhong answered the call, he could hear Daehyun’s voice from the other line.

“Hey kiddo, are you ready to visit Himchan? Our flight is at 2. I’ll pick you up at 12, we can have lunch together. Make sure you feed Bbang before you go. Don’t wanna let him starve.”

“Okay, okay. I get it,” Junhong rolled his eyes.

“Who was that?” Jongup slowed down his pace to match Junhong’s.

“Daehyun hyung.” Junhong answered after hanging up, smiling to himself.

“Why do you look so happy?”

“I’m going to visit Himchan hyung, Jongup.”

A wide smile crept over Jongup’s face. He gave Junhong a pat on the shoulder and then dragged him straight to the restaurant.

“Let’s make this day become the best day you’ve ever had in your life, Junhong.”

♦

“You look excited,” Daehyun told Junhong when he noticed that the boy kept on staring outside the window of the taxi, eyes restless.

Junhong turned to face the social worker and only replied with a smile. Of course he was excited. He hadn’t talked to Himchan since he went to live at a sanatorium on Jeju Island. They hadn’t even called each other or exchanged letters; Daehyun was the only one who kept in contact with Himchan. It was like Himchan had disappeared out of his life for good.

Six months.

Junhong had lived without him for that long. Sure, he’d been missing Himchan but he always reminded himself that Himchan needed to recover. He knew he had to give the man some space.

The moment Daehyun told him that they were going to visit Himchan, Junhong had jumped up from the couch, ignoring the TV show he’d been engrossed into. He kept on asking Daehyun when they would be able to visit him. Daehyun had laughed at him, telling him that he had grown incredibly fond of Himchan. Nonetheless, Daehyun had promised that they would visit Himchan after Junhong’s graduation day.

He also told Junhong that Himchan had recovered from his nightmares. He was happy to live there. He had found peace.

“But his memory is not that good,” Daehyun had frowned as he said it. “He still forgets.”

“What do you mean?” Junhong creased his forehead in worry.

“Maybe because of the concussion or traumatic experience, I don’t know. You know how hard he struggled to forget. I’m sure he’s fine. He just forgets minor things like misplacing his shoes or whatever, nothing serious there. Let’s be positive about it. At least he doesn’t feel guilty anymore, right?”

Although Junhong had agreed, he couldn’t help but feel dispirited. Maybe Himchan did recover from his mental issues but the fact that he forgot things bothered him to no boundaries.

What if bad things happened again?

“The sanatorium is located at the top of the hill,” Daehyun pointed out at a hill in front of them, bringing Junhong back to the present. It looked so far away that Junhong doubted that they would get there before five. “The air is refreshing there, like stepping into another world.”

Throughout the journey to the sanatorium, Junhong kept his eyes fixed on the hill. He wasn’t sure what he would say to Himchan when they came face to face but there was one thing that he was sure about; he would definitely give him a bear hug. He wanted to see Himchan so bad.

“We’re here,” the taxi driver announced as he parked the taxi under a shady tree, right in front of the entrance of the sanatorium.

“Thanks for the ride,” Daehyun paid the taxi driver and stepped outside.

Junhong followed suit and straightened his shirt. Daehyun craned his neck to look at the boy and raised an eyebrow.  

“You ready?”

“Y-yeah,” Junhong nodded sheepishly.   

“I thought you were excited,” Daehyun chuckled as he ushered Junhong into a beige-colored building.

The building seemed odd. It looked like it didn’t belong there, among the trees. Despite the appearance of the building, Junhong couldn’t help but feel lighter. It was like the atmosphere was different from the city. Everything was calm at the sanatorium. It was easier to breathe. Daehyun was right; it was like stepping into another world.

“Are you here to visit Mr. Kim?” a receptionist asked.

“Yeah,” Daehyun scratched his head and let out a chuckle. “I came here twice but I can’t even remember where Himchan’s room is.”

“Mr.Kim’s room is at the first hall to your left,” the receptionist said. “Just go straight until you reach the end of the hall.”

“Thanks,” Daehyun smiled and signaled Junhong to follow him.

Both of them walked side by side. Each step made Junhong feel more restless. He swore his heart would explode if he were to start running. He couldn’t really contain his excitement so he fastened his pace, almost walking ahead of Daehyun.

When they’d reached the room, Daehyun stepped forward and knocked on the door. No one answered. Daehyun tried once again but nothing happened. He decided to open the door and found nothing but dozens of paintings in the room.

“Woah,” Junhong stepped inside and looked at every painting. “Did Himchan hyung paint all of this?”

“He told me that it’s a therapeutic way to release stress and anxiety. He’s been doing it since he got here,” Daehyun smiled, running his thumb over the surface of a painting as if to check whether there was dust.

Someone cleared a throat and both of the visitors turned around at the same time.

“Are you looking for Mr. Kim? He’s at the garden, painting.” A cleaner told them.

“Oh, okay then,” Daehyun thanked the cleaner and shook his head with disbelief. “Why does it feel so hard just to see him?”

Junhong shrugged and went straight to the garden after confirming the direction from the cleaner.

“I didn’t know that Himchan hyung liked painting, I th-”

The moment Junhong reached the garden; he stopped talking and stood frozen in his position. A man with blond hair was sitting on a stool, dipping a paint brush into a glass of water whilst staring at the horizon of the evening sky. He was the same man whom Junhong met for the first time but the color of his hair had totally surprised the boy. He didn’t expect him to dye his hair blond. Maybe he wanted to change, like starting a new life.

“Himchan hyung…?” Junhong blinked.

Upon hearing his name, Himchan craned his neck to look back. When he saw Junhong, he got up from the stool and eyed him for a long moment, straining his eyes.

Six months.

Was it enough to change everything and start anew? Was it possible for them to focus on the future and never look back?

A part of Junhong doubted his thoughts but watching Himchan standing in front of him, looking perfectly fine with not even a single trace of paranoia in his eyes told Junhong that everything would turn out good.

Junhong wasted no time and ran to him, wrapping his arms around Himchan. He let out a sigh of relief when Himchan gave his hand a soft squeeze, the thing they used to do back then.

“Hi, hyung.”

Himchan’s eyes crinkled as a smile made its way to his healthy face.

“Hello, Junhee.”

A/N:

This is the end!

If you’ve read my other stories, you should know how much in love I am with open-ended stories. Kekekeke. If you think about it, the ending is kind of a bitter-sweet ending aye? I’m not sure about it though. I'm a bit upset about the ending, not lying here. :(

Anyway, I have an important thing to say to you guys. I wrote this story for like a week and a half. It sounds impossible but I assure you guys that it is, possible to write multi-chaptered stories in that duration. I did it to challenge myself. Char and I had discussed about the possibility of writing stories in a short period and so I tried it myself. It worked! It freaking worked guys! The most important thing for you to achieve this kind of thing is for you to have an insane amount of feels and ridiculous determination.

I started this story with random ideas. I only have the word murderer in my head so I was like ‘I should just go with the flow’ and the next thing I knew, I have written like four chapters in one day. Okay, so maybe some of you might think that I was being an idiot by writing so carelessly (I do admit I’m no writing goddess) but yeah, I’ve been so in love with the phrase ‘Write drunk, edit sober’. It is such a useful phrase. When else can you write if you keep on holding back, right?

One more thing, I do realize that the plot is nothing extraordinary. It’s kinda lame to me. Keke. After finishing the story I’ve been editing it millions of times. I tried focusing on the character development but yeah it didn’t work pretty well. I still think that my characters are weird and like out of place. I need to learn more about writing. OTL

Gosh what am I talking about? I’ll wrap things up and leave now.

Wait, thank you so very much for reading my humble story :D I do appreciate it, you gorgeous people.

Just one more thing, I do want to write another himlo but I don’t think I have anything in my mind yet. Next year I’ll have tons of free times to write so maybe if you have unwritten ideas and wanted to give it away, you can just tell me via my wall or pm or comment, whatever. Just know that I don’t write romance. I’m more to darkish thing and anything psychological.