It was astonishing to note that those at the museum still hadn’t noticed the print, but it wasn’t safe for them to hold it for too long. It would be disgraceful if his parents or other family members ever found out about any of it. He had a place of his own, obviously, but he wasn’t even in a position to take Jinki there. It wouldn’t be fair to Jinki if he kept lying to him, and honestly, it would be even worse if he kept hiding the person he loved from everyone who knew him. As per Jinki, he was just a thief, and there was nothing he could do to change that opinion.

Jinki had noticed how weird Jonghyun had been acting, he seemed uncharacteristically jumpy whenever he mentioned the painting they had just stolen. Something just wasn’t adding up, and he was more than determined to find out what it was. At times, Jonghyun kept acting as though he had a lot more to hide than his so-called hobby of stealing anything and everything that struck his fancy. After all that they had been through together, Jinki honestly felt more than a little hurt that he was hiding things. It may be just the nerves since this was the most expensive item that he had even stolen, but Jinki was still sure he could help him loosen up. Noticing the furrowed brows on Jonghyun’s face, Jinki ruffled his hair before kissing his forehead, thereby breaking him out of his reverie.

“You’re really in outer space today, Jonghyun. What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing important”

“What’s with you? You’ve been acting really weird lately”

“Can’t you just leave me alone for a while, Jinki? I have a lot to think about”

Seeing that his presence was no longer deemed necessary, Jinki walked away without so much as a word. Never in his wildest dreams had anyone even raised their voice at him, and his first time didn’t feel good at all. His ego had been well and truly pricked, and he certainly didn’t feel bad for just storming out like that. Failing to calm himself down, Jinki drove home and stood under the shower just contemplating the changes he had begun to notice. Should he actually able to put up with Jonghyun’s mood swings, just because somewhere, someone had decided that they were supposed to be together? As he looked at his grey reflection in the mirror, Jinki noticed how sullen his face looked. The sparkle in his eyes when he was by Jonghyun’s side was missing, and he really missed that. It felt as though all of his happiness had been out of him when he walked out.

Jonghyun wasn’t feeling very happy about his actions either. By mistake, he had chosen to push away the one person whom he really wanted in his life. Without Jinki beside him, he felt like an empty sky that missed the sun. This was how everything had become to him. Empty and meaningless. How could he have just stood right there and said nothing? If anyone ever asked him what the biggest mistake in his life was, it was the moment he had let Jinki walk away from him. Although it seemed so, Jonghyun knew that it was never too late to run after him and apologize. Not knowing where Jinki actually lived, Jonghyun used his connections to find out where he was usually found. He really didn’t want to stalk him at his workplace as he had, the first time. Instead of that, he decided to wait for him at the bar where he was known to frequent. After having waited for three hours, Jonghyun was just about to give up and leave, when he felt his heart begin to beat faster. Although he hadn’t heard anything, he was certain that Jinki had reached.

Knowing that he had to clear his head before he saw Jonghyun again, Jinki had planned to down all his stress in the form of a few hard drinks. All this while, he had become so used to seeing in colours, which made his current vision all the more unbearable. Knowing that it wasn’t safe to drive while inebriated, he had chosen to walk to the bar. Although it had been quite a while since he had actually had something to drink, the comparatively silent bar was a perfect place for him to spend some time in solitude, away from the stressors in his life. As he was about to enter, a yellow butterfly floated almost in front of his face. In elementary school, he had learned that a yellow butterfly symbolized joy and hope, but everything had only been grey to him. Smiling to himself as he wondered what joy was in store for him, Jinki stopped as he realized what he had just seen. The butterfly wasn’t wrong. If he had seen the colour of its wings, it certainly meant that Jonghyun was really close by. As he placed his hand on the gilt coloured doorknob, he felt a warmth seep through his body. Smiling despite his sour mood, Jinki now knew that the calming sense of moonlight was back into his life. Walking right in, he spotted Jonghyun immediately, who was sitting with his back to him. Wrapping his arms around his shoulder from behind, Jinki lowered his head to rest on Jonghyun’s.

“I’m so sorry, Jinki. I never meant to offend you”

“I’ll never leave you, I know how important you are to me”

“I’m sorry for acting strange, but there was something I didn’t want you to know”

“Whatever it is, I promise that it doesn’t matter. All that matters to me is you”

At that point, Jonghyun knew that it was futile to keep worrying about his little secret. After all, it might not make any difference to either of them anymore. Feeling a sense of dread creep up his spine, Jonghyun managed to keep a straight face as he looked at Jinki with stars in his eyes.

“I want to be completely honest with you, but please promise that you won’t hate me”

How could he ever hate this face? Jinki smiled and nodded.

“I can never hate you, my love”

“So my confession is...I didn’t need to steal anything, I just….do it”

“Yes, rich boy, I already knew about it”

“How?”

“I do own a tv, you know. I watched your interview with your parents a few weeks ago ”

There was no need for him to have felt so guilty about hiding his family since Jinki had known about it for quite some time now. There was nothing more to hide from the person whom he belonged with. From now until forever. All this while, he stole because he wanted some thrill in his life. Now, with Jinki, he knew that every single day was going to give him something new, and they had a whole lifetime of adventures to look forward to.

BONUS:

Now that they were fully moved into their new house, Jinki spent most of his free time just staring at the beautiful rainbows being cast when the sunlight hit the crystal chandelier. After spending more than half of his life with shades of grey, this was a whole new world for him.

“So, now you know the curse that had been put on my town. I was a kid when it happened so I already knew about the basic colours, but what on Earth is this one? I’ve never seen it before”

Jinki looked at the wallpaper of their kitchen in utter confusion, as he had never seen any colour that resembled the one in front of his eyes. It wasn’t brown. It wasn’t purple either.

“It’s called mauve”

“It’s such an odd colour”

“It’s unique, just like you”