It was a stormy night in the town.

The thunder was cackling and drew series of white lines in the dark blue sky.

People were rushing to their homes, if not, to a safe place where they won’t be hit by the rampaging thunderstorm. Except for a certain red-haired boy named Kim Junmyeon.

He was rushing to the rooftop of his former school—to their meeting place.

After a few steps he made at the rooftop, his knees gave up and knelt down; feeling the rain drop furiously at his body, giving his hair a faint glow of red despite the darkness.

The rain and the wind grew stronger as Junmyeon cried harder than ever, tears harmonizing perfectly with the drops of water.

“I-I… can’t take it anymore!” Junmyeon shouted at the top of his lungs while he was sobbing.

Maybe this time… he’ll allow me to hug him, to touch him, to feel him. Just this once.

Thunder crackled dangerously loud, Junmyeon knew Jongdae was now at his presence.

“J-Jongdae,” Junmyeon sobbed. He attempted to go near Jongdae but the latter stepped back.

“N-no, d-don’t cry…” Chen said shakily, and his knees seem that they were in sync with his words.

But Junmyeon did the opposite; his cries were louder and more pleading.

Jongdae had to think of something...

“Do you remember when we first met?” Jongdae managed to ask without stuttering.

Junmyeon’s cries stopped and looked at Jongdae’s eyes. The taller boy was staring at him, as if he was taking Junmyeon back in time, where they had first met in this exact place.

---

Ten years ago, a young boy, about the age of eight, was skipping merrily towards his home.

“Mom, look what I made you!” the milky-skinned boy proudly showed her mother a ring made out of celandines(*). The boy roamed his hands to feel where her mother’s pinky finger was.

“Mom, this ring is your promise that you will never leave me, arachi? Even if no one would befriend me or other kids tend to bully me, as long as you’re here, mom, I’m content,” the boy smiled happily, while his mother smiled weakly.

‘I’m so sorry, Junmyeon…’

“M-mom, you’re not going to leave me like dad left us, right?” Junmyeon tried to smile, but his tears say otherwise. His mother noticed that the clouds were getting darker by the minute.

Junmyeon’s mother hugged him close and caressed his hair. “No, Junmyeonnie, I promise, mother will never leave you…”

It was a promise, but promises were meant to be broken, even if we didn’t mean to.

Two years passed and everything went smoothly for Junmyeon... if your definition of smooth is being a garbage can, being a punching bag, and being other things you wouldn't wish to be, then sure, it was pretty smooth for him.

But as long as his mother was there to comfort him, he’ll be content for all his life. But he isn't naïve enough to not know that no one would live eternally. His face has been slapped by reality hard since the age of five.

He can’t do anything, so he continued being—pretending—to be a normal boy.

During lunches, his feet would naturally take him to the rooftop. It seems like a weird force makes his feet go there. He doesn’t worry since he’s gotten the school’s floor plan memorized. Even if he was blind, his intelligence quotient was very high and he had no problems going two flights of stairs.

Cold air hit his face the moment he stepped outside the door leading to the rooftop.

‘It’s going to rain,’ Junmyeon cringed when he heard lightning roar inside his mind.

"N-no, appa, d-don't leave us!"

"Let go of me you useless trash!"

"I will never, ever, come back here. I don't want to see your face."

"You. Are. A. Disgrace."

Junmyeon was hearing the voices again.

He shook his head harshly to remove the painful past out of his head. He may have not seen it; but he heard it, felt it.

He felt a pang of pain, both in his heart and his eyes; crying wasn't good for his eyes, but it was better than to keep strong outside when his heart was already crumbling to pieces.

He heard the sky grumble as lightning was threatening to come out of the gray clouds.

“N-no… P-please…” his head throbbed from all the memories that visualized inside his mind.

He was getting more and more afraid.

But a loud voice which came from the speakers suddenly boomed throughout the whole school.

“The news had said that there will be a forthcoming thunderstorm, so students from pre-school to high school will be required to go home for their safety. That is all, thank you.”

He sighed in relief when he heard the announcement. Somehow, the voices have left him for a while, which he hoped was forever.

'At least I'll be able to be with my mother when the storm comes, and lightning strikes.'

Junmyeon skipped happily to his home, only to hear his uncle Heechul’s voice full of sorrow.

“Junmyeon-sshi, your mother is waiting for you inside…” his uncle Heechul said.

Junmyeon complied with what his uncle said and hurriedly went to their room.

“J-Junmyeon,” his mother sat up and hugged him very tight. He felt warm liquid being absorbed by the cloth of his shirt as his mother kept on crying. “I-I’m very s-sorry, I-I didn’t want to leave you, I-I thought my illness was long gone…but I was wrong.” Junmyeon’s mother said, sadness evident in her voice.

Tears were forming at the side of his eyes as soon as he heard his mother's voice, incredibly weak and fragile.

Junmyeon hugged back carefully, as if her mother was a butterfly, fragile and easy to be crushed.

He can’t explain what he felt; he can’t be angry at his mother; and he can’t be sad for himself. The only thing he can do is be strong.

“D-Don’t worry, Junmyeonnie, just because I’m not here with you physically, doesn’t mean I’m not with you. There’s always one way you can find me,” his mother pointed at his chest, where his heart was located, “and it’s here…”

His mother smiled halfheartedly, “Two words, you’re special. So don’t be sad, okay? Because mommy will be sad up in the heavens and I will cry, causing it to rain.”

But Junmyeon didn’t believe her, he was too scared, and he wasn’t naïve not to believe her. He was scared of believing and ending up being disappointed. It was what ruined his childhood, when the blindfolds of care-freeness happy endings are removed from his face and has to see—no, feel what reality is.

“And these three words, just for you,” his mother cupped his cheeks and kissed his forehead gently, “I love you…”

After saying the last words uttered by her mother, her body paled, and the smile on her face was the only thing that Junmyeon felt and really wanted to see.

As if on cue, the rain had poured very hard. The small roars of thunder can be heard. But there he was, broken and unable.

His feet suddenly felt tingly and had unconsciously taken him to the rooftop of his school.

That was where he decided to pour his feelings out.

“AGH! Why does this have to happen to me? What did I do to deserve this wicked fate?” his usually calm voice was now raging throughout the campus.

His knees finally gave up and buried his face in his hands while sobbing. The rain poured harder and the skies grew darker every minute; the grumbling of the thunder was more audible that it rung through Junmyeon’s heart.

“Hi there!” a cheery voice suddenly spoke up, which frightened the crying boy.

Junmyeon turned to where the sound came from.“Wh-what are you doing here? And who are you?”

“I’m Jongdae! And I'm the thunder prince!”

~~~

*celandines - meaning "joy to come" in floriography.

I decided that this will be a two-shot.