Daisies.

“Chanyeol.”

“Hm?”

“A flower,” says the android boy of uncanny human resemblance, his eyes wide and clear with innocence, “for you.”

Chanyeol bends down and receives the single stem of wild daisy with a soft smile.

“Thank you, Kyungsoo.”

The small android boy smiles shyly in return, his rosy lips forming into a delicate heart shape, and runs off. Chanyeol stands up and his eyes trail after the humanoid weaving through tall grass, venturing deeper into the vast field behind their small cottage. Blooms of wild daisies dot the meadow and gently, they sway back and forth to the call of passing breeze. Beneath the wide and cloudless sky, Kyungsoo waves eagerly at the taller man from the sea of flowers.

“Chanyeol,” he calls at the top of his lung and spreads his arms as wide as he can, “flowers, for you! I love you!”

Memories stir awake inside Chanyeol and a bittersweet smile stretches across his face. He was doing those actions and saying those words to Kyungsoo years ago but everything has now changed. Blinking back the tears threatening to fall, he raises a trembling hand and waves back.

The small android repeats happily as he spins in a circle in the field of daisies, casting white petals into the wind.

“Chanyeol,” he says, “flowers, for you. I love you.”

---

Minseok looks up from the cartoon mug in his hands and surveys his surroundings. Nothing much has changed since he last visited in winter, aside from leaves that have grown on the ivy vines climbing around the side of the house. The cottage is still humble and homely, just like how it was when Kyungsoo lived in it.

“How are you doing?” he asks carefully, eyeing the taller man sipping wordlessly on his mug of coffee. Chanyeol raises his head and flashes a smile at his visitor.

“I’m fine,” he answers and turns to look at the small android in the backyard, whose attention has been completely captivated by a spider spinning web in between low hanging branches, “we are fine.”

Minseok also turns to regard the android who holds an eerie resemblance to his deceased friend and he could not help but frown. He still doesn’t understand why Kyungsoo decided to leave Chanyeol with a humanoid boy in his exact image. He thinks it shackles the taller man to a past that no one can change.  

“You know he is not Kyungsoo,” Minseok says after a moment of silence, both his and Chanyeol’s eyes still fixed on the small android who pays them no attention, “he’s just an image of him. You can’t live the rest of your life out here with an image of someone that is of no more.”

For a long while, Chanyeol does not respond and just continues to sip from his mug. A peaceful yet heavy silence settles between the two men and there is only the sound of wind brushing against tall grass in the near distance. Gradually, the scowl on Minseok’s face deepens and frustrated with the unusual quiet of his tall friend, he leans over and places a concerned hand on the other’s boney shoulder.

“Chanyeol, he’s not Kyungsoo,” Minseok tries again, his tone grave, “Kyungsoo is not here anymore but we are. We are all worried about you, everyone at The Lab, ah… I’m, I’m sorry…”

The tall man visibly flinches at the mention of The Lab and immediately, Minseok regrets bringing it up. The Lab used to be their work and their lives, a hidden organization where they spent endless number of hours doing research and designing artificial intelligence for the government. It was where Chanyeol and Kyungsoo met, became friends and eventually fell in love. Many of their memories together are housed there but Chanyeol cannot bring himself to return ever again.

The Lab was also where Kyungsoo breathed his last, shed his blood and bid his goodbye to the world.

“You and Junmyeon hyung come and visit me all the time but if you’re that worried, you’re always welcome to come more often,” Chanyeol whispers and pulls his gaze away from the humanoid boy just long enough to meet gaze with Minseok, “I am fine, hyung. Really, we both are.”

Chanyeol calls the little android over before Minseok could start apologizing again, and forcefully ends their conversation. Blinking his large, innocent eyes, humanoid Kyungsoo runs into the tall man’s welcoming arms and relishes the warmth of the hug. When he emerges from the embrace, he nods shyly at Minseok and says his greetings. Then pulling a pressed daisy from his shorts pocket, he offers it to the taller man with a happy smile.

“A flower for you, Chanyeol.”

The said man smiles in return and takes the flower.

“Why a daisy?” Minseok asks quietly from the side. But before Chanyeol could answer, little Kyungsoo giggles.

“Because it’s our favourite, of course,” he says as a matter of fact, “it’s the flower Chanyeol got Kyungsoo when he first said ‘I love you’. It’s the flower I treasure the most.”

The smile on Chanyeol’s face widens and misty eyed, he gathers the small android into his arms again. Looking straight at Minseok who is shocked and greatly saddened by the words from his humanoid, Chanyeol says surely.

“We’re fine, hyung. Kyungsoo is here.” 

---

Soft moonlight shines through the window and scatters into mist of shimmers that fall across the cozy bedroom. In the dark, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo lie face to face on the bed, a thin blanket covering their intertwining legs and linking hands.

“Who made me?” the humanoid boy asks.

“A man who had the same name as you,” Chanyeol answers and brushes a strand a hair away from the boy’s smooth forehead, “his name was Doh Kyungsoo.”

“What kind of person was he?”

“An amazing person,” Chanyeol pauses and his eyes soften remembering his lover, “he was always sincere with everything he did. He wasn’t a man of many words but it wasn’t because he was a passive person. No, he had a passion for life and he loved everyone he cared for with everything he could offer. He was beauty in simplicity but also with the most complex and interesting mind. Kyungsoo was… Kyungsoo was gentle, kind, brave, strong, and genuine. He really was the most humane person I knew and I loved him. He made me feel alive.”

The little android held the man in careful regard before whispering: “You really loved him, didn’t you.”

“I did,” Chanyeol smiles sadly, “more than life itself.”

Blinking a few times, the humanoid Kyungsoo edges closer and tightens his hold on the other's larger hand.

“Why am I here, Chanyeol?”

“I’m not sure, I wonder about that sometimes too. Why were you left for me?”  

“I think I know,” the small android nods and leans in, pressing his lips against the other’s forehead, just like how his creator would do whenever the tall man was sad. Stunned, Chanyeol gawks at the boy, who simply kisses the back of his hands calmly.

“Because Kyungsoo knew that you loved him more than life and because he too, loved you more than life. He didn’t want you to be alone. Kyungsoo loved you, very much. Kyungsoo still loves you, very much. And Kyungsoo will always love you,” he says sincerely and solemnly, exactly like how Kyungsoo himself would say, “Always, because I am here.”

A pair of childish arms wrap tightly around Chanyeol’s upper body and the little android tries his hardest to make the man feel loved. He doesn’t understand what love is but ever since he woke up to this world, he knew that love is Park Chanyeol and wild daisies blooming in early June. He knows that love is to hug and to share your warmth with the people you enjoy being together the most. He hasn’t seen much of the world out there but he is sure there is nowhere else he’d rather be than to be by Chanyeol’s side, living in a cottage by a field of daisies. Because Park Chanyeol is love and Kyungoso loves him, dearly, even well into in death.

So as much as he can, in the ways he knows how, the little android loves the man that has succumbed into silent sobs in his frail, skinny arms. He hopes that one day Chanyeol will feel his love and Kyungsoo’s love; their love.

---

“Chanyeol.”

“Yes, Kyungsoo?”

“Where have the daisies gone?”

“They’ve welted, I’m afraid.”

“I see… will they bloom again?”

“Yes,” the tall man smiles fondly at the little android boy holding onto his hand, “daisies bloom every summer and I will be here to see them with you, every summer from now on.”

“Okay,” the humanoid boy smiles as well, looking identical to his creator, “it’s a promise then.”

“Yes, it is our promise.”  

---

FIN.