A/N: LONG SHOT! ....

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His fingers didn’t tremble once as he the match; lighting up the midnight sky with the small amber against the charcoal pigmented sky. He drops it carelessly upon the gasoline soaked grassy yard trailing off towards the target. Ruthlessly, the night fires up into a silent rage that compliments the ruthless revenge burning in his violent gaze. He turns around slowly and lifts his black hood over his head—covering all but the sly devilish smirk plastered upon his face. Slowly, he walks away from the crime scene. Little by little, a lone shadow glides down the neighbourhood as the fire behind him outlines just the creases of his apparel.

Mission accomplished.

He did what he felt he should do…the only thing he believed he could do. Possessed with the ghost of the devil, he did what he knew later on deep down; he would regret one way or another…somehow.  

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He was once cheerful as the brightest star. His eyes once twinkled like the constellation upon the backdrop of the darkened black sky in the night.  He lived with full emotion and a heart that cared for everything…because of her.

But he changed; he was indifferent from everything that he once was. So there he was again, returning back to where it all began. On the verge of losing humanity, he finds himself facing the meaning of life once more.

“Juh jigyo…excuse me.”

Her voice is the exact copy of the one which would whisper sweetly in his ears before.

“Uh-uh-uh…neh?”

His voice comes out in a tangle. It’s a hallucination he continuously tries to convince himself. ‘She’ died years ago. The woman before him is nothing but his mere imagination taking the toll on him. Words cannot escape his mouth, nor can proper sentences form in his thoughts.

“Mianhae, but we’re closing soon.”

“…”

“You’re going to have to leave…”

Hours of watching her from a close distance, the longing time filtered the hazing sun to just a solemn golden shimmer now starting to diminish in the horizon. Just how long did this familiar face, yet unknown person occupy his line of vision?

‘It’s not her…it’s not…’

He reminds himself once more, but the voice in his head isn’t enough for him to walk away.

“How about I wait for you until you’re finished and we can both head out together?”

He responds back with a few drops of sarcasm—one in which he often found the answer in the form of a slap across his face…all except one.

The girl donned in the body hugging dress observes him from head to toe as he did the same. Standing at a few inches taller than the average, she possessed all the more of seductively promiscuity. Scheming little thoughts in her head ran enthusiastically as a malice yet contradicting warm smile tilted up at her alluring lips. She pulls down the rubber band that once held her hair up neatly in a pony tail, entangling her soft luscious locks down draping upon her exposed shoulders.

Leaning forward upon the bar she whispers, “…and if I say no?”

“The answer is simple. Your loss...miss---”

“Summer. Choi Summer.”

“Taeyeon-ah! I’m heading out early today.” She screams out towards the back before returning her gaze into his eyes. It’s ridiculous how the glimmer in her eyes matched that of the one he loved.

“Are you coming or not? I’m going to kick you out of this place either way~”

Playfully she nudges him at his side, undoubtedly seeking to be chased. She motions to him her finger to follow her as she pushes the pub door open and slowly her figure falls further into the distance.

Quickly drowning the last of his alcohol down, he messily wipes the remains from the corners of his mouth and draws himself into the spell she casts on him.

Although she may not be ‘her’, this Summer character provided him with a company that oozed out a luminous ray of light in his all too long dim lit world. After countless years of living in the dark, he slowly sees the crack of brightness calling for his reach.

--

During the day they often met up with as much time life granted them. They exchanged details upon the normal daily activities they experienced. While she complained about the drunken customers that ended up collapsing at the bar, he’d throw in sarcastic remarks of how Sooyoung should never seduce any of them the way she did to him. When the last tints of sunlight start to disappear, he’d wait for her by the entrance ready to relieve her stress from work. Leaning on the stone walls of the bar, he’d often that she no longer resembled the majestically possessed being that once threatened to kick him out. When the opportunity arises, they’d gather around the corner coffee shop, sharing one delicious cup of caffeine. As their lips would grace the rim of the cups often so did their lips press delicately upon each others. To accompany this warmth traveling inside them, their daily routine would end in the form of a couple selca…preserving the memories that lasted.   

Like their first day together, the duo’s journey into friendship and quickly then into a relationship flowed effortlessly like they’ve been down the path before.

While he grew accustomed to her witty verbal energy which was frequently expended, Summer was fond of his rather mysterious cold alter ego which at times surfaced. It was these trivial small things that steered them to the point that they were now at.

A small ceremony…that’s what they both agreed upon. The faces of their family and a handful of friends were enough to fulfill the needs of a crowd in the small ceremony to be placed in her family’s traditional home.

Summer  stares at herself in the full length mirror. Dressed in soft coral white with an off the shoulder corset bodice that flows into a ruffled bottom half with a endlessly long lace train, she embodied the spitting image of the line of beautiful women in her family. Her nervous hands trace the delicate fabric she wears until they end up encircling the finger which will soon officially announce her position as being his to hold and keep forever.

 He straightens the black tie snugly upon his neck, his Adam’s apple performing somersaults out of nervousness. His fingers tremble as he fixes his silver cufflinks that Summer presented him with not too long ago. Staring at his reflection in the mirror, he takes a deep breath in of the life that lay ahead. The definition of happiness is the aura that he bestows at that moment.

Smiling happily--a feat which has felt so normal these past few years--travels to his face as he steps back, embracing the feeling. He clumsily knocks into the side dresser. Along with an album, a velvet case falls gracefully down. The caramel brown coloured leather wrapped photo book falls onto the hardwood floors. The impact of the sudden hard object falling leaves a small tremble. He kneels down to pick the scattered lifeless pictures off the ground, but then suddenly becomes motionless.

While one hand holds a simple old picture, the other cradles the velvet case.

Unknowingly like a natural instinct, the genuine innocent smile fades away as if it never did happen. 

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FLASHBACK