It was a little after Chanyeol’s birthday. Baekhyun sat silently beside the window pane and watched as the raindrops pattered on the leaves outside of the window. He rested his elbow on the window pane and placed his chin on his knuckles. His eyes were not focused on the leaves outside, but rather, staring at nothing in particular. He had no more tears to spare. The weather was rainy and the sky was full of dark clouds, making it grey. That day, he was dressed in all black.

            “You okay?” her voice drifted into his ear, making him shivered a little. He missed her voice for such a long time but now he needed time to get used to it. Meanwhile, he also needed time to get used to the absence of his voice.

            “Yeah sure,” Baekhyun refused to face her and Taeyeon knew he’s just trying to hide his tears. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and rested her chin on his shoulder. She squeezed his hand in hers. She heard Baekhyun sighed shakily. She kissed his nape softly and breathed on it.

            “Come on,” she forced a weak smile, “It’s time.”

~   ~   ~

Taeyeon slightly pulled on her black dress as she walked, dragging the fabric across the grass. She held a small bouquet of flowers in her hand as she walked hand in hand with Baekhyun down the lane. He held the bottle of paper swans in one hand. Taeyeon felt Baekhyun walked a little too slow that day. It was as if he was dragging an invisible weight around his feet, slowing his movements.

Baekhyun was trembling when the casket was being lowered into the earth. Taeyeon hugged his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. He was trying hard to hold his tears in. His eyes and nose were already red. He hugged the bottle tightly against his chest.

Taeyeon moved forward and placed the flowers beside Chanyeol’s memorial stone. She sent a kiss with her hand and placed it on the surface of the stone. She then whispered, “Goodbye, Chanyeol. I’ll never forget you. Thank you for everything, I’m going to miss you forever.”

Baekhyun crouched down, scooped up some of the dirt and