The blond haired boy crouched down in an attempt to communicate with a small cat that seemed strangely fearless, looking out for his next move. He reached out for it with his right hand, the animal carefully approaching it a moment later, letting the boy caress its soft fur. In his other hand he was holding colorful flowers. Exactly ten of them.

Hwitaek was one of the first boys of Pentagon family to join the company. Hyojong was already there, a boy without a companion, focused on his training more than anything else. He was different. Weird. It wasn’t a bad thing, but not many people could read the short rapper, couldn’t understand him. Most of them weren’t even trying, they simply found everything that Hyojong showcased – from looks to dancing and rapping interesting and strangely inspiring.

“Strange”, “special”, “beautiful” were some of the labels he carried around without much care. No one knew him well enough anyway for him to actually care. He felt that it wasn’t enough – not because he was trying to please anyone, but because he had to do it for himself, choosing to work hard on polishing his own skills instead. Because that was the only thing he knew how to do. It was natural.

The boy from the countryside was smart. He knew he sometimes looked like an alien among other trainees. He wasn’t “the idol material”, high tone rapper with a distinctive voice that seemed to be hard to fit in with other people’s vocal colors. A lazy looking kid that spoke slowly, his laid back aura making people judge him before getting to know him. Hyojong didn’t need pushing, he pushed himself enough, staying loyal to his only dream and doing what he loved – his music. He had faith that he’ll get where he needs to be, at his own pace, as long as he enjoys the ride. It was natural.

Then Hui entered.  They met and they “clicked”. It was natural.

Hui was a bright open kid who didn’t hesitate to approach people he liked. Hyojong was bright too, but he was shy and always on his own. He didn’t have a problem with communicating with other people, but truly opening up and actually making friends didn’t come so easy. Most importantly, the rapper wasn’t the one to take initiative, make the first move. Meeting the older boy was different though. Hui naturally reached out, but Hyojong did too and they met each other halfway. As if on cue the younger one changed his pace. It came natural.

Watching Hyojong work, mature, live was inspiring to Hui. Since the day they have met until they debuted, started walking on the same path closer and closer together and beyond those precious moments to the point where they are now, simply continuing, reaching for more – Hui watched the innocent flower boy in love with nature, sun, fresh air, animals, music and dance grow, not losing that free spirit that pushed him to learn how to fly.

When it came to anything other than music or dance the younger one would always be labeled as the passive one, the laid back one, usually not very interested in things going on beyond his bed or room. Sometimes, however, he would crave for nature’s touch and would excitedly pull Hui out to bask in the trees, the sunlight and bright blue sky, spreading his wings and taking a deep breath, filling his whole body with magical energy the nature provided. And in moments like that Hui wouldn’t be able to look away from the ephemeral beauty of a child of nature running back into his mother’s arms to be taken care of, to be loved.

Hyojong was a hippie free soul covered in colorful soft petals of flowers and nature he was drawn to so much. Selflessly, he showered the people around him with those petals too, sometimes gently, other times teasingly throwing them when they’d least expected, but every time with pure love. They came in form of beats and melodies, usually lonely until Hui or someone else would join in to create beautiful harmonies, setting the nature free to grow into something even more precious.

The blond haired boy stood up and moved swiftly from one member of his family to another, placing beautiful flowers into their hands or hair. Sign of affection and, more importantly, connection. Hyojong’s natural shyness wouldn’t allow him to easily express just how much he loved his family – not with words at least. He was working on it and he was a hard worker, so the progress was evident. He still preferred gestures, gentle touches and actions. They were more meaningful, more natural.

Finally, he approached the leader and placed two flowers in his warm hands. The older boy looked at him in question, but Hyojong just smiled – that soft smile that reached his eyes, making him look like that innocent flower boy from not so distant past, from the day Hui had met him.

Hyojong didn’t say anything, but Hui understood. It was only natural for their flowers to be together.