Chapter 3

The Color of Sound

"Well." The stranger started awkwardly, noticing Sunggyu's stare, "I better be going then. My younger brother is waiting at home for me." He said before passing Sunggyu.

 

Sunggyu blinked and came to his senses. "Wait!" He called after the man. "What's your name?" He asked in a soft, rushed tone, a bit embarrassed at his question. The man stopped and smiled.

 

Sunggyu watched in awe as the man's lips parted to let the captivating color of his voice mix with the words he yearned for.

 

"Nam…Boohyun."

 

Sunggyu took in his name, repeating it in his mind a couple times before muttering it under his breath. He had really met the man from the horoscope. But wait; didn't the horoscope say something about staying with the red sun person to live life to the fullest?

 

Since the horoscope foretold of their meeting, shouldn't he follow it to the end? He looked up from the ground, which he had apparently been looking at while sorting out his thoughts. Boohyun was nowhere in sight. He was alone again. The relaxing mood was gone, now replaced with an empty silence.

 

There was a ringing in Sunggyu's ears, almost as if his conscience was yelling at him for missing his chance. His eyes fell to where he had bumped into Boohyun. He caught a glimpse of a blue object lying on the side of the road. He blinked and picked up the object.

 

To his surprise, it was a phone. Boohyun must have dropped it when they collided. Not certain of what to do, Sunggyu stared at the black phone screen. Should he turn it on or not? He didn't want to intrude on the man's privacy, but he needed some way to get it back to the owner.

 

He finally pressed the on button at the top. The phone lit up, screen at full brightness, practically blinding Sunggyu. With squinting eyes, he swiped his finger along the unlock pad. There had apparently been no lock, making the phone easier to access.

 

His own phone didn't have a lock, either. It was too much of a bother for him. It wasn't like he had anything he had to hide on his phone so much as to need a password. He rarely even used his phone anyway.

 

The phone opened to the home screen, which was a pixelated selfie of Boohyun and another boy. Sunggyu thought as of who it might be; Boohyun did mentioned having a brother.

 

Sunggyu's eyes studied the picture. Both of the brothers seemed to have the same eyes but totally different hairstyles. They were both holding up peace signs and had identical pouty smiles.

 

A cold wind blew Sunggyu's hair in all directions and only then had he realized that his legs were burning from being in a squatting position for so long. He stood up and walked to the closest bench and plopped down onto it, not minding the thin layer of powder that covered it.

 

He scrolled through the phone's contact list. He looked for a mom, dad or even brother contact but found none. He had scrolled all the way to the bottom of the list but still hadn't seen anyone with the last name Nam.

 

Sunggyu stopped at the last contact. There was no last name; it just said 'Woohyun'. Curious, he clicked it. The contact had been put into the label of family, so Sunggyu recognized that this Woohyun could have been Boohyun's brother. Their names were similar, too.

 

He wanted to text the man, but decided that calling would be the best way to get it back to them. Sunggyu hit the dial button and held the phone up to his ear. He waited for a bit, and after the fourth ring, he heard the other line pick up.

 

"Nam Boohyun, how long are you going to take getting home? I've been waiting since seven and I'm hungry! You're the chef so hurry up and get here!" An unfamiliar voice shouted, obviously annoyed.

 

Sunggyu was taken aback. How was he supposed to tell this outraged man that it wasn't his brother? He cleared his throat before speaking up.

 

"Hello. This is Kim Sunggyu. I ha-"

 

"Who?" Woohyun cut in. Sunggyu paused; this guy was getting on his nerves.

 

"I am Kim Sunggyu and I have your brother's phone. We bumped into each other earlier and his phone must have dropped out of his pocket. Um…is there any way I can meet up with you to return it?"

 

The line went silent; Sunggyu almost thought that Woohyun hung up until he heard rustling from the other line. He heard a low mumble, but couldn't make out what he said.

 

"Just…can you stop by our house? It is a barbeque restaurant called Meok and Sam. It's in Suyu. If you saw Boohyun then you shouldn't be far." Woohyun said.

 

Sunggyu got the feeling that Woohyun didn't want to leave his house to get something as minor as his brother's phone. He subconsciously started making false accusations about this bratty kid. Sunggyu came from a pretty wealthy family, but never in his life had he acted like what he just witnessed.  

 

Nevertheless, Sunggyu texted his family that he had somewhere to be and left for Suyu. On the bus ride there, Boohyun's phone vibrated in his jacket. A new text came in from none other than Woohyun. He opened the message and read over it.

 

Hi, this is Boohyun. Thank you for finding my phone. I hadn't noticed I lost it until my brother Woohyun told me that a man called him from my phone. Were you the one I walked into? I'm really sorry about that.

 

Sunggyu smiled. Boohyun was an angel with a devil for a brother. He seemed much more mature than Woohyun and Sunggyu was glad he had bumped into him instead of the brat. Just as he was about to type a reply, another message came in.

 

Woohyun said that you would be coming to our house to drop off my phone. You really don't have to go that far. Please, meet me at Caffe Bene. It should be closer than my house.

 

Sunggyu wrote a quick reply.

 

No, it's fine. I'm on the bus to your address right now anyway. Just stay at home and I'll be by soon.

 

He hit send. The message loaded for a second before sending. A little note appeared at the bottom notifying him that Boohyun had read it. No reply came so he continued on his way to Boohyun's restaurant.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The bus stopped a couple feet away from the building with the sign Meok & Sam. Sunggyu thanked the driver and hopped off the bus. It was already 10 o'clock at night and he was sure he wouldn't be able to wake up tomorrow.

 

Despite the late hour, the flashing OPEN sign was and the doors propped open, letting the warm air of the store leak out onto the street, serving as a lure to shivering passers by.

 

Glad to be out of the cold, Sunggyu stepped into the store and sighed in content. He looked around for a familiar face but to no avail. A server walked over to him and gestured for him to follow. Hesitantly, he sat down at the table the waiter showed him to.

 

Sunggyu was confused, the table could fit four but he saw plenty of single or double-seated tables around him. Suddenly a glass of water was placed onto the table. He looked up and met eyes with Boohyun.

 

"Hey." He said with a friendly smile. Sunggyu could only nod, not trusting his voice enough to say hi back. Boohyun sat down across from him, making Sunggyu fiddle with his zipper. Why was he nervous?

 

"Ah!" He remembered why he was there. He pulled Boohyun's phone out of his pocket and handed it over with shaking hands. Boohyun reached out to take it but a hand swept down and grabbed it before he could. They both looked up.

 

"Ah, this is my brother Woohyun. He was the one you talked with earlier." Boohyun introduced his brother, who was busy checking over the phone to make sure Sunggyu didn't do anything to it. After confirming that nothing changed, he gave it back to Boohyun and walked away to serve a customer.

 

Sunggyu couldn't help but glare at the back of the younger man. Boohyun was laughing quietly, either about the actions of the other or Sunggyu's expression at that moment.

 

"What's up with him?" Sunggyu asked, turning back to Boohyun. He laughed again before explaining.

 

"He's always like that to strangers. He used to get bullied often as a kid so now he hides behind a persona he built for himself. He seems arrogant now, but once you get to know him, he's actually a kind man." Boohyun looked nonchalant, as if remembering the past while explaining to Sunggyu in the present.

 

"Speaking of strangers," Boohyun smiled, "I never got your name."

 

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gotaemin
I just got a lot of subbers. Was I in a fic rec recently?

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DaniaOthk #1
Chapter 13: OMG!!!!!!
DaniaOthk #2
Chapter 10: Hahahaha Sunggyu would have held on to Woohyun's arm to not lose him 😂
Aws they are already moving forward!!!
Why are you like this author-nim? 🤧 Don't make them suffer 🥺
DaniaOthk #3
Chapter 7: Omg I thought maybe the photo site had gone down and put a random photo instead of the original photo or it was advertising hahahaha sorry! I really like your story. I'm dying to read woogyu
DaniaOthk #4
Chapter 6: Wow, I'm dying of curiosity about Woohyun's voice 😍
Handsome and intelligent, what more do you want Sunggyu?
DaniaOthk #5
Chapter 5: Does Woohyun also have white color in his voice? He made me curious since Sunggyu didn't mention anything.
Zd7394
#6
Chapter 5: How much I love the family you make for Gyu they are really fun
closedbook7
#7
Chapter 21: I'm here for the second time and I know I'll be here again in the future^^
closedbook7
#8
Chapter 22: Thanks for sharing this story with us! I loved their cutely awkward relationship and your synthesis concept was really cool, which made the story more interesting! I will hope to read more of your works!
natsumi4ever
#9
Chapter 23: I’m low key worried for them because I actually don’t think purple was a good thing when it came to romance?
Like lol, I only I know this because of Colors by Halsey but I think purple represents tragedy???
Anyway I really did enjoy the story! Synthesis is always an interesting topic too!:)
LoveTwentyFour
#10
Chapter 23: I enjoyed reading this!! Thank you authornim! Ahhh my heart is exploding-