===

There he was, cladded in black ripped jeans and pale white sweater. Body fighting the lack of heat in the middle of winter. He wore what any other normal 21-year old would, except it was in the middle of winter and it was a dark chilly night.

He was extremely handsome, black hair parted to the side, pale white skin lighting up in the winter night and cherubim tinted cheeks inhaling the cold winter air. His distinction was the necklace hanging by his neck, silver, shining and yet tarnished in his mind.

One hand in his pocket, shuffling under were his fingers were slides of polaroids. Some dusty with age and others blurry with constant friction against fingers.

It was a normal Sunday, typical and yet all too unique and specially familiar to his memories. The sun's warmth blocked by the tons of snow and clouds. The sky was all too comparable to what he was feeling, dark and gleam so soon he ignores the atmosphere and chilling cold.

It was August 7th, the anniversary. Their anniversary, they were supposed to meet here, eat store-bought ramyun and laugh at each other's uninteresting jokes.

Instead, he was out in the snow. Alone, slightly shivering and eyes unmoving. He captures sight of a painter. Uninterested, he flicks his palm open to the batch of pictures as if in order. All of a sudden, he remembers one of the photographs.

Both of them, smiling and kissing under the cherry blossom. Eyes closed in cheeks flustered in complete happiness. He still remembers how it felt . Complete, like the world didnt matter.

Only he mattered.

His thoughts run aground seeing a mix and match of clothes brightly gleaming through his sight. The man begins to paint a girl and a boy; kissing and holding hands. looked all too familiar, aspirational even. The painter stood there, right at the same spot he first caught sight of him in his entirety

===

It was a typical August night. At least that's how Jaehyun treated it that day. His bestfriend Doyoung on the constant nagging him about going to the clubs and picking up some.

Jaehyun was basically his right-hand wingman. Though sometimes it felt like Doyoung was the wingman seeing as how the girls went to him instead of the other.

This was just like any of those August 7th's in Jaehyun's life. He and Doyoung, fully charmed up to go to a 'date' with Jaehyun being a wingman once again. He had no qualms about it seeing as how he wasn't interested in the girls Doyoung brings to him or even the girls the other date. He wasn't interested in girls frankly speaking.

"Ready? Look Mina and Nayeon are really lookers. You better do your part well." Doyoung instructively briefs and Jaehyun listens. It was constantly like that, Jaehyun listening and Doyoung speaking. A working and valid relationship, but stale nonetheless.

Jaehyun manages a nod and they both walk out of Jaehyun's house, they walk towards the nearby block where they were supposed to meet up with Doyoung and his' alleged 'date'.

As they enter the cafe, Doyoung faces to a nearby table. To Jaehyun's surprise, they were three. 

Two girls and a guy. Jaehyun wondered who he was, blonde hair falling to his eyes, wide eyes scanning Jaehyun and the other and a guitar slung across his back. Doyoung proceeds to in sit adjacent to one of the girls, Jaehyun does accordingly, eyes not leaving the blonde boy though he could clearly see at the back of his eye the girl's eyes light up looking at him. This could go extremely well if he wanted it to, except he didn't, he didn't want it to.

It wasn't until he heard the all too familiar sounds of a melancholy, it sounded sad, regretful and all too real. He looks to the open mic and sees the blonde boy, guitar now slung in front of him and fingers strumming the strings with ease. Jaehyun listens to the voice and it felt all too pleasing, it was too perfect to his senses he swore he felt his spine tingle.

"So. Jaehyun, right?" the girl asks, her hair parted to show off her entire beauty lauded in thick makeup. Jaehyun was too enamored by the sounds coming from the stage of the cafe that all he could muster was a grunt that sent out a 'Yes' to the other.

"Amazing, isn't he?" the girl says, and somehow Jaehyun picks it up and responds cohesively. "Yeah, yeah it is." the girl suddenly giggles, clearly impressed and with slight pride. "That's my brother right there." she says, and surprisingly, Jaehyun doesn't catch a word and simply nods in unknown agreement.

He simply stares, and basks in the beauty of the boy, singing and playing the strings with such ease that it made Jaehyun himself feel at such ease it was nearly euphoric.

That was the first time he's laid eyes and ears on his voice.

There was no going back, and Jaehyun knew that. He was never going to forget August 7th. 

the day he first laid eyes and ears on him.

===

Jaehyun was caught staring, the couple and painter suddenly giving him judgmental looks across the window of the cafe he first met him. He immediately lowers his head and walks ahead in the open night.

He stops by a different cafe, seeing as how the other brought back memories all too familiar to his heart and orders green tea in a paper cup for taking. His parents always reminded him that green tea was healthy, that it was good for the body and the heart. This time however, all it did was heal.his body, leaving his heart aching. Though he'd never have it any other way, it was a sweet kind of pain, the pain good memories bought, the pain caused by the fact that it was, well, simply memories.

He hurriedly sips the slightly stinging heat of the tea, ignoring the protests of his body and completely focused on drowning out the throbs of his heart even for a slight minute and gulps down the rest of the lower liquids and throws the cup onto a nearby trash can.

He then walks back to the bright white lights of Seoul's loud chilling nights and enters a nearby restaurant. And opening the wooden door to the restaurant included opening one of the countless painfully sweet memories Jaehyun had with him.

===

Jaehyun had definitely made the date with Nayeon that night work out despite the slight distractions at the start. Though it wasn't a distraction, more like a goal.

It was Jaehyun's goal to get to know his date's brother a little bit more. And the only way he's thought about succeeding at it without Doyoung constantly showing his reprimanding side is to constantly go on dates with her. Nayeon commented on one of their dates that her brother would constantly be wherever she was because he was way too overprotective of his younger sister. This was a blessing in disguise for Jaehyun seeing as how this meant he would get to see and listen to the other more often.

Eventually, after countless dates and no advancements done to her. They go on one final date and Nayeon's brother finds himself sitting with the two of them at a restaurant. Jaehyun clearly ecstatic, the girl sitting right beside him, clearly annoyed with her brother's presence.

"Can you please leave? Its me and Jaehyunnie's date!" she says demandingly. Jaehyun was one to comment immediately "No! Please stay. I'd like to know more about her through you." Jaehyun pleads to the unnamed brother of his date. He was certainly surprised she never wondered how he never bothered asking for his brother's name, seeing as how he was always in their vicinity at their dates.

"Taeyong. The name's Taeyong." He opens, mouth slghtly agape yet lips somewhat pursed in a thin smile. Jaehyun could feel his cheeks heat up in excitement and his heart beat.

Taeyong. Taeyong. The name sounded so beautiful in his head. "T-T-Taeyong. That's a nice name." Jaehyun wasn't usually this awkward with words, but he felt like his tongue was on fire and this made him all the more embarrassed. "What's yours?" Taeyong asks, slightly holding a laugh for some reason. "J-Jaehyun. Hi." those were all wrong, he was supposed to come off as cool, confident and attractive. And yet there he sounds like a complete mess in front of someone who could possibly be the love of his life. And yes he did believe slightly in love at first sight.

"Haha. Nayeon does have great taste. Cute." he remarks and Jaehyun isn't sure if he wants to crawl into a hole and disappear forever or combust into a flame of hormones from the amount of adrenaline rush talking to Taeyong gave him. He immediately mutters something inaudible under his hitching breath and walks out to the bathroom. He washes his face in irritation and curses mentally then walks out, he encounters his date giving him a look.

"I know what your up to." she speaks up, slightly vile yet a hint of cunningness present. He eyebrows hitch in confusion and she suddenly bursts in slight laughter, shoulders rocking up and down. "Gosh. Yeah yeah, I get it. Doyoung's told me about it. Your not interested in me, or girls for that matter. You like my brother? Go ahead, he seems to take a liking to you as well." she slightly lingers, she seemed into the idea of him liking his brother. He couldn't have felt any more thankful to the other, even slightly hugging her. "You better take care of him or I'm coming for you." she laughs and soon disappears from his sight as his heart races and thoughts go haywire.

"Took you long enough." Taeyong jokes, hands cupped in his mouth in a fist as if laughing pleasantly. Jaehyun apologizes and scratches his head in pure awkwardness. Taeyong suddenly goes back to another open mic stand that the restaurant had and begins playing songs with a borrowed guitar soon made Jaehyun feel ethereal once again, the dark and deep sound of his voice and the way he played the guitar. The warmth clearly present, the happiness, the perfectness of everything. Jaehyun felt it with Taeyong.

Soon he finishes to a standing crowd, hands clapping and cheers shouted in thanks to his beautiful renditions. He goes back to his table with a flustered yet proud Jaehyun welcoming him. 

"Look, I don't wanna sound like a total fool. But listening and watching you play music makes me feel happy. Like, I can watch you do that all day. Taeyong, your amazing." Jaehyun doesn't know how these words formed and became coherent in his mouth but it did and Taeyong can't help but seem amused and obviously happy at his reaction. "Wow, that was sudden. Your my first fan then." he says. Jaehyun nods in complete agreement and sits back down.

"I really do wanna become a singer. Like, seeing myself on stage. I'd really like that." Taeyong says dreamingly, and Jaehyun gets lost in the trance of Taeyong's lost eyes. "You'd make a great singer." Jaehyun flats out. "You think?" the blonde asks and all he gets is a strong nod, a couple of strong nods from the other. "My sister doesn't seem to think so. She thinks its a waste of time." Taeyong says slightly broken, there and then Jaehyun realized how much it meant to the other.

"No, its not a waste of time. I think that's amazing of you to pursue such a dream. Go for it. Don't listen to what your sister says." Jaehyun encourages, and Taeyong gives him a slightly flustered look. "Gee, thanks I guess." and they both sat there in awkward silence.

This was now or never according to Jaehyun.

"Wanna go on a date?"

===

He slightly parts his thin lips, good memories flooding his thoughts. This was all soon rushed back with heartache, an