1O
Being Desolated

It was a storm; the wind was blowing roughly, carrying the heavy rain which constantly wobbles the rusty platform Taehyung was on. But not only it was just the young man shaking due to fear, Hyemi was too.

She felt like a baby for crying in front of Taehyung but then again, who wouldn't be crying when someone you care about is in risk of dying in front of you and you can't do anything to save him?

She called out for his name and he didn't ignore her; he turned and, despite he was in a crisis, smiled — of course, he didn't want her to worry and she knew that but she wasn't the type to lay back to a scenario like that.

“Taehyung, I have to tell you something. Something very important,” she voiced. In an instant, he stopped trying for the lever and focused on her.

“I know you like me so much but this isn't the right time to flirt with me,” he joked.

She her lower lip, looking so hesitant and he always noticed. Always.

“Hyemi, whatever happens, we just have to accept it. I did this to give you the world you need,” he stated, loudly. He was soaked wet, and probably freezing.

“And now you're taking it away from me.”

Her words made him pop-eyed at her; they have dumbstruck him. She continued, “If I am, to you, the sun, then, you are the world to me. But now, you’ve went this far to reach me without a shield, to see me with eyes.”

The sudden lightning that flashed in the clouds above didn't bother them.

“You shouldn't have come because you can't save a dying sun. You’ll burn. You’ll go blind. We can never be together.”

A loud thunder followed causing Hyemi to jump whilst Taehyung, having expected it, didn't. He sighed with a smirk forming on his lips, “A dying sun, huh? That does portray you better.”

His hair was a mess, dark in the night, and wet. His fingers were trembling and she wished she could pull him into a warm embrace — but there was nothing she can do except for accompanying him from there. His small eyes met hers and the dark pupil pierced through her as his thin lips moved to say, “But if you die, I’ll die too. It is a lost either way.”

The down part of the rusty lifter quaked harshly as the strong winds were constantly – roughly – hitting on it and the young man have almost tripped but managed to take a strong grip on the rails, and, afterwards, tried to balance himself with the scaffold. Hyemi gasped his name aloud, hands on the transparent shield before her. She prayed for someone to save him.

“I can't afford to lose you too!” She shouted.

How devastated she was for having to lose her brother and now, she was going to lose him. She felt that it was her fault for not warning him about herself but then again, she have tried giving hints that she couldn't be with him.

“Well then, start slowly from the inside; open the curtains tonight and watch tomorrow’s sunrise as it gives you hope.”

She never listened to Himchan — and she figured she shouldn't have but when death hit him, she couldn't help but to fulfill his wish, to actually do as he advice her to which was to open her curtains, to feel the outside world. How unfortunate it was for her to do just so and have someone to fall literally for her. The young man faced her, his lips were quivering to say something as she was crying again. The sounds of sirens from afar interrupted them for only a while.

“Just hang in there!” She told him.

“I'm sorry, Hyemi.”

Her brows rose in question, not being able to comprehend what he was apologizing for, so she asked him, “What for?”

“For lying,” he answered. “I have been lying to you all this time. Please forgive me.”

The platform shook, and she screamed which faded as the sirens got louder as the fire truck and ambulance came closer to the area and parked closely after a garden between the two apartment buildings. Taehyung held tightly onto the rails, closing his eyes, prepared for a fall that, fortunately, didn't happened. People who were in their respective apartment rooms were awoken due to the loud sirens. They looked through their windows and were all gaping at the scaffold and the emergency services gathering around the garden — everyone of them curious to what was going on. Jimin nervously opened his curtains and was flabbergasted to see familiar figures meeting each other’s whilst being separated by a glass wall; he never expected that his neighbor, Taehyung, would boldly take a scene like that just to meet Hyemi.

Taehyung opened his eyes, flustered, and quickly closed the gap between him and the glass, peering into the girl’s panicky face, and stated, “What is it? What is it that you want to tell me?! Quick!”

“Taehyung… You’re not… Just hang in there, please!”

“It’s now or never!” Since when was Taehyung the negative type? Hyemi asked herself.

She was shocked and he always noticed. Always.

“It’s just that… I just don't want you to regret. The only way to not feel a slight regret is to live in the moment and believe me, that’s what I’ve been doing all this time. That is why I’m here,” he confessed. “The present is a gift, how it is wrapped into a gift is the past, and what’s inside it is the future.”

“Continue to remain calm! We’ll get someone up there!” A man wearing a firefighter suit voiced using the mic that was connected to a small speaker on the truck, interrupting them. A few of the other crews were all busy pulling out the staircase and a large soft bag – containing a wide fabric that can provide soft landing – from the truck. Paramedics were trying to evaluate the scene, talking to the janitor and his wife.

“Inside the present holds the future and the future can be as what we expected it to be, but can also be a surprise,” he continued. “One thing for sure is that we can't tell our future completely — it’s scary, I know. That’s why, I’d like you to think of the many possibilities ahead of you — for example; you… might not see me ever again.”

Both of them looked at each other; dejected, hurt, and hopeless. She didn't want to hear it from him and he didn't want to say it to her.

“Therefore, with that possibility included, live the present — think of it as though there's no tomorrow. Live and die without regretting anything,” he said and the wind shook the scaffold once again. One of the firefighters took a lift on the automatic staircase provided on the fire truck, slowly going upwards to reach Taehyung.

Tears flowing down from her cheeks, each dripping slowly onto her bathrobe, she called out to him with a cracked voice, “Taehyung.” There was sniffles as she continued, “I wanted to say-!”

There was a loud bang made by the lifter after another blow from the storm, and Taehyung was stumbling back and forth and Hyemi screamed along with some people who were watching. That was it, she figured. She needed to do something. She went about the room, in search for something and found a pan in the kitchen. She charged towards the glass in attempt to break it but only after a dozen times she hit it did there was a crack formed. She wanted for him to jump into her apartment for safety.

“Hyemi! Stop!”

She didn't stop trying.

“Hyemi!” She ignored him.

“What is it that you wanted to tell me?!” She turned, hurt in her eyes. There was haste in the air she inhaled in as she tried to cover the pain inside her.

“I… I’m… I’m sorry for lying that we’ve never met before because… we have and… And we were close.”

She have been holding that for too long. Now that she’ve said it, there was something leaving from her, making her easy to breathe again. She continued to look at Taehyung with teary eyes; he wasn't shocked, not even the slightest.

The lifter connecting to the scaffold was falling for the down part was damaged. The workers below weren't prepared for the worst case scenario to happen; the fabric wasn't enough to provide anywhere that was possible for Taehyung to fall on, and there won't be a way to save him if he falls along with the scaffold — the only way was to jump to the safest area where the saving trampoline is and that could also be risky as the storm was rough and Taehyung could barely see the ground floor.

Although in such a disaster, he beamed at her; his smile was genuine and loving.

“I know.”

Then he fell backwards and to the side, along with the scaffold, one hand on the rail and the other reaching for Hyemi.

But she was unreachable.

She was unreachable from the start.

He managed to mouth something but she couldn't tell what it was. Sobbing, underneath her tears was a smile that she forced to bloom out of her sadness. She smiled at him, not wanting to regret anything.

Because she decided to accept the present and open it.

And he smiled at her. Seeing his smile made her realized that he was crying and have been crying all this time — her watery eyes blurred her sight not until then.

Barely missing the block behind and the people below, the scaffold crashed onto the garden underneath the sorrowful sky.

The clock have reached twelve indicating that Sunday was over.

hugs you
Live the present — think of it as though there's no tomorrow.
What did you learned from this story?
((Taking every bit of WiFi connection left to publish this chapter ;; <3))