Hadn’t the shadow always been there?
Wherever you venture, he will always be of company.
No matter how hard you try to deny,
No matter how far you move away,
He will always be back to be by your side,
Striking when you least expect,
Instilling fear as you wander in the vast ocean,
An unending sea filled with your own vacant loneliness…

          

“Hyung, you’re still here? What about your lover? It’s already past lunch hour…”

Feeling someone tapping my shoulder lightly, I jerked awake.

Ah, it’s only Taemin.

I turned back to face my laptop, Taemin having turned me to face him in order to wake me up properly. It’s not that I was angry or anything. Nobody, and I repeat, nobody, can be mad at Taemin, the adorable boy that had become my best friend here in campus. Don’t ask me why, but his tendencies of just being that pure and clueless made me more comfortable with him than with any other, even though he had accidentally mentioned that person a couple of times … Hahh, whatever… even thinking about it makes me tired…

“Ani… Just let me stay here Taemin-ah, I still haven’t done that assignment from Mr. Jung…”

Taemin let out a little worried sigh, sending a pang of guilt through my chest. “You’re too serious sometimes, hyung,” I heard him sit down behind me on the bed. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with going out on dates with your boyfriend sometimes between all this busy… college stuff.”

He stood, walking around and pulling a chair to sit beside me. He pouted, seemingly annoyed at my refusal to look at him face-to-face, before he started to rant about the importance of dating.

“Taemin,” I tried to smile as natural as possible. “We have known each other our entire lives that our parents had even planned our wedding together. The dates that you did with Minho yesterday at the canteen, lovingly hand-feeding each other without worrying about other people’s eyes, is not part of us anymore, alright?”

Taemin’s pout turned into a full-blown one, with arms crossed and eyes refusing to focus on mine. “You’re a jerk, hyung, you know? You should just announce that on the campus speakers.”

I smiled at him. How cute… Various shades of red covered his face, making it almost as red as his cherry-colored lips that I’m sure is the reason that always made Minho want to kiss him, anytime, anywhere. By the way, where is the frog anyways? It’s rare to see him leave his princess to wander like this.

“Where’s Minho?”

“Ah, he’s taking care of his soccer team, so I figured, instead of me not understanding anything and just sitting there like a mindless idiot, I’ll meet him later in the lobby.”

Oh, that’s right. Apart from having a hobby of kissing Taemin, Frog-face is also a soccer maniac.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, so I reached for it and opened the message.

From: Nae Kim
Appa asked if we can have bibimbap for dinner?
He’ll go with you to the supermarket later.

That’s it? Huh…

I lazily texted back.

To: Nae Kim
Ne~

I slipped my handheld in my pocket, closed my laptop, then started on the books scattered across my desk.

“Where are you going hyung?”

“To the library. You coming, Taemin?”

“Library? Hyung, you know I’m allergic to libraries. Nah, I’ll stay here.”

His arms went to the back of his head in a ‘relaxing’ pose.

“Fine, I asked. When you’re all alone and bored here, don’t come running to me okay? Don’t follow me!”

I closed the door behind me and leaned back on the wall opposite.

3…

2…

1…

“Yaaaaahh! Don’t leave me!!! I’m coming, I’m coming! Kibum-hyung so meeeaaan!!!”

Taemin slammed the door open, his bag slung over his shoulder hastily. As soon as he zeroed in on me, he clung to my arm childishly, afraid to be left alone. Haah, so cute…

@@@

“This bibimbap is delicious! Lucky you’re my son-in-law, Kibum-ah! You are really the fitting companion for this idiot Jonghyun who can’t do anything but play that music of his.”

“Yah! From who do you think I got my mannerism from huh?”

“Hey! How there you talk back to your own father you good-for-nothing fool!”

Kibum stifled a chuckle behind his palm. Everyday, the Kim dining table is full of laughter. The petty fights between the father-son duo, Kangin and Jonghyun, actually makes Kim Jonghyun and Kim Kibum’s family dinners much warmer and more inviting. The meal arranged to discuss the engagement of the two was so far so good, they started with the wedding date, and brushed other preparations, and there seemed to be no complications whatsoever.

Now, the fathers were busy talking in the living room, and the mothers offered to clean the remnants of their dinner while gossiping without a care in the world, while Amber and Minzy, Jonghyun and Kibum’s sisters respectively, had been gone to their room doing who-knows-what ever since dinner ended.

In the mean time, those two were walking around the Kim family’s back garden, admiring its beauty.

Kibum, in particular, had always enjoyed every subtle sound he hears when he has the time to visit the place.

The light splashes of the pond filled with carp fishes collected by the lady of the house, the gentle rustling of leaves when they rub against each other in the evening wind, as well as the faint sounds of jazz music flowing softly from inside the house, all blended beautifully together. It makes Kibum all the more unwilling to break the silence built between Jonghyun and himself.

“Key,” Jonghyun said, after 10 minutes had passed with them just sitting quietly on a bench with nothing but their own separate thoughts.

“Eum, wae Jjong?” Kibum’s eyes were still closed towards the stars above, as he enjoyed the cool breeze on his slender neck.

“Aren’t you tired? Always pretending that our relationship is all fine and dandy everytime we’er in front of Umma and Appa?”

Kibu opened his eyes and stared at him in confusion. Not because he didn’t understand what he was saying, no. He was confused of why Jonghyun would suddenly bring up something that they both had realized, long ago, but had never talked about. Because they are one, a shadow in the shade of another. Always there, never disappearing.

Tired? Of course he was. But it’s not as if he wasn’t used to it. Hooked together before they were even fully inside their respective mothers’ womb. From birth, to college. They were both used to having each other by their sides, no?

“We’ve talked about this, Jjong,” answered Kibum, while he took a deep breath. He was shy with the same question, and the same answers. “Tired, yes. But we’ve gone too far. What can we do? We’re but shadows already merged together.” He went back to his earlier position, sliding his eyeslids back closed while leaning his head back to the sky.

“I’ve found my Sun.”

Hmm?

It was not a common fact that Jonghyun and himself had ever made a promise to each other. If they had found each their own ‘Sun’, the sun that can and will create a shadow so dark it will erase the shadow left by another, they would part ways; taking the risk that they will have to face from both family clans, just for their Sun.

Jjong found his Sun, huh? Then… what about me?

“But, I’m not leaving you Key. The promise was if we both found our Suns. As long as you haven’t found yours, I will continue to stay by your side, as one. Because… because you… are me.” He felt Jonghyun’s hand his hair.

Yes… Kibum is Jonghyun, Jonghyun is Kibum. How could he leave the other half of him behind, facing their family without his other Sun beside him? Of course. Jonghyun would let go of his Sun, his source of happiness, for him. For Kibum. Kim Kibum.

He smiled wide. Jonghyun, his Jjong is not going to leave him – no, not yet –, he’s still going to be there for him. Even though they’re not based on that feeling of ‘love’, anymore, they’re still together. After all, it’s too late; they’ve come together, become one. Losing the other, or even being apart, well… that would be… it’s better not to think about it.

“So,” he said with a smile. “How is this Sun like?”

Kibum’s eyes were twinkling. He was actually excited, asking about love, something he had never had the pleasure of experiencing first-hand. Jonghyun laughed seeing Kibum’s enthusiasm, which was irresistible adorable in his eyes as he ruffled his hair. Cheerfully describing every single detail of his Sun; how they met and how he knew that he was ‘the one’.

@@@

Kibum walked around the garden, getting some fresh air after persevering all afternoon with never-ending tasks.

While clearing his mind of the menial (in his eyes)jobs he will have to go back to later, he turned over his memory of the conversation he had with Jonghyun last night.

Hmm… It must feel great having a Sun all to yourself. I wonder when I will meet mine?

A sound not normally heard reached his ears, making him stop and listen in concentration.

A few moments passed with nothing else, before, quite out of nowhere, a blur ran past from the bushes in front of him. Something small, and fast, leaves feathers behind and… squawking?

Huh? A chicken… in Seoul?

Peering over his shoulder, his gaze locked in on the chicken still half-running frantically, beating its wings to get a few inches off the ground every few seconds or so. He was so focused on watching its movements that Kibum didn’t notice the handsome boy with slightly chubby cheeks and crescent-shaped eyes, running on full speed towards him.

“My darling chicken~!! Come back……~~~!!!”

...The hell?

---

Okay, as you have probably known by now, I didn't read this over credits go to VieVIP, once again, for her original work in writing this piece.

Now, I must go to bed, as it is late and my mom is breathing down my neck (I didn't go to school today because I was sick. And I was, for your information!)