“I love it when the sky is in this colour.” She tells him. “At first you think it’s just all black but when you look closer, it is anything but.”

He squints to get a better look. “The sky is still black, noona.”

“You’re not looking well enough.”

                The chilly wind silently brushed past, sending countless of loose hair strands floating towards the direction it went. A light shiver ran up and down his spine; the black trench coat soon being tightened around his frame. Kim Jongin absently rested his hands on the cold railings of the balcony of the hotel room, around the cylindrical metal. His body is leaning slightly forward as he surveyed the view presented to him; of tall buildings, numerous flashing lights and the midnight blue sky.

It was when the sky is in this colour that he missed her most.

“You’re the younger brother I never got to have, Kai.” She smiles brightly at him and he was, needless to say, fascinated at how she shone so brightly to him.

He fights the disappointed frown that threatens to mar his handsome face, choosing instead to focus on the fact that she used the nickname she thought for him. “It’s only a four year age difference, noona.”

“I know.” A thoughtful look crosses her face as she closes her eyes and the wind tickles her face. He can’t help but be mesmerized yet again. “You’re getting it.”

“Getting what, noona?”

Her soulful chocolate brown eyes opened and looked ahead at the vast midnight blue sky. He follows his gaze and understands.

A ghost of a small, melancholic smile graces his face as he stared at the same sky.

                At first glance, it seemed like all he was staring at was the unlimited expanse of the absence of colour. But underneath it was that deeper, darker shade of blue, almost blending with the darkness, and when he finally saw it back then, he understood why the colour fascinated her. It was the captivating beauty not everyone could see, not everyone could appreciate. It was the spell-binding truth of life, finding the good – the magical – in the midst of darkness.

                Kai knew that when she told him that night that he was finally getting the whole meaning behind the midnight blue sky, she knew he loved her. It was the proverbial beauty hidden amongst the darkness. She knew that he saw past her four year seniority over him and merely saw it as a number. The fact that she saw it and recognized it gave him the hope that maybe, just maybe, she loved him too.

Kai closed his eyes, only to open it again to be greeted by the limitless darkness.

He knew that her – no, their – midnight blue sky was still there yet it was slowly getting harder and harder to see it.

Like the ounce of hope he was holding on was slowly and slowly dying.

She saw it and recognized his figurative midnight blue sky… but still, she wasn’t by his side.

“Kai…”

“Don’t.” Kai in a sharp breath, holding up a hand that clearly tells her to not move any closer to him. He won’t be able to take it if she did, not when she was going to take herself away from him very soon. “Just, don’t. Please, noona.”

“Please understand…” She implores; tears threatening to fill from her eyes that he loves so much. “I can’t stay here.”

“It’s you who doesn’t understand!” The sudden raise in his tone had her jumping in surprise. “Noona, I know your family is suffocating you. I know you want to live. But why didn’t you come to me? You know I’m always here for you – that I’m wrapped around your finger. Just say the word and I’ll do it for you.”

Her shoulders tremble as the tears finally spilled. “I don’t want to be a burden, Kai. This is something I have to do for myself. I need to go… because I want to be the Choi Sooyoung that you and I know that I can be.”

“I wanted to be your midnight blue sky, noona.” He whispers so brokenly that she sobs louder. “Why do I feel like I’m part of the darkness you’re running away from?”

“I knew you aren’t one who gives up so easily… but I wasn’t quite expecting this.”

The voice he hadn’t heard in two excruciatingly long years snapped his attention away from the sky. He turned, finding her standing in the doorway leading to the balcony. Her arms were crossed over her chest and a look resembling surprise and disbelief found its way to her face. She looked just like she did two years ago except with her dark brown haired already past her shoulders. She was still absolutely beautiful and she still – like she always did – took his breath away.

 “How did you find me?”

“You do know that Heechul hyung doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut, right?”

To his surprise, pearling laughter escaped her lips. “All he knows is that I’m in Malaysia. Malaysia’s pretty big, you know. How did you even get in my hotel room?”

“Well, it wasn’t hard to tell the front desk that I’m your husband and you misplaced your keycard.” The corner of his lips twitched in amusement. “Especially since you’re registered as Kim Sooyoung. I wonder whose last name is that.”

“Even if we do get married, I’m still going to stay as Choi Sooyoung.” She stuck her tongue out at him as maturely as she could.

Kai rolled his eyes. “Well, I said we got married in the United States and you had your name legally changed.”

                The woman he loved all this time simply shook her head at him, stepping away from the doorway and into the balcony. Kai stiffened slightly, anticipating that she would keep her distance from him what with all that happened between them. They were technically strangers to each other now, missing two years’ worth of memories, conversations, laughter and what have you. He had anticipated that she would lash out on him for whatever reason she could think of; for invading the privacy her life had become. Instead, she moved until she was barely a few inches in front of him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her on his chest.

He in a sharp breath, mentally yelling at himself to keep calm. “I’m sorry I was so selfish back then.”

“No, I’m sorry.” Sooyoung whispered. “We were both selfish that night… but you were the one that let me go even if you didn’t want to. You were the selfless one.”

Hesitantly, his arms wrapped themselves around her shoulders and he pulled her closer to him. “Are you the Choi Sooyoung you want to be now, noona? Now that you’re free, got to go around the world and all that?”

She looked up; her chin the only part of her face pressed against his chest. Kai couldn’t help but blink at the proximity of their faces. “Yeah…”

“Who are you now then, noona?”

The tall brunette raises her face to press her lips on his briefly. “I can be your midnight blue sky now, Kai.”

                Kai smiled the brilliant way she had yearned to see all this time; his hands moving to cup her face and his lips descending on hers soon after. Their eyes simultaneously closed and their lips melded together; her arms similarly leaving his waist to find their place around his neck. Effortlessly so, he lifted her up in his arms; her long lower limbs wrapped around his waist. Blindly but carefully, he walked back inside the bedroom with her in his arms; one hand leaving her waist temporarily to slide the glass door shut.

The midnight blue sky looked even more beautiful that night.