The City
Man of His Dreams
February 16. The first dream Jaejoong had that started his career.
Darkness surrounded him, and everything around him were shades of grey. It was like a cold, rainy night, without the rain. So he wandered. He wandered and wandered, arms gripping each other while his teeth chattered every time the wind lashed out at him. Flyers flew by. One of them even attaching itself onto his head, but he couldn’t make out what it said. Jaejoong wandered the streets until his legs were sore and he couldn’t walk any more. So then a man ran passed him, latching on to his hand and dragging him in the direction he came. He had no idea where he was going.
The man never looked back. He never glanced behind him to see who he dragged along for the run. He never let go either, instead clenching harder when they made a turn in the empty streets. Jaejoong had no idea what they were running from, but he felt safe with this man. Warmth radiated from him, stretching to Jaejoong to pull him closer. Jaejoong ran faster, his body aching for the warmth he was so deprived of.
At last the man stopped, laced his fingers together and kneeled down beside the wall. Jaejoong was confused at first. What did he want him to do? The man glanced up, then back at his hands. It was there that Jaejoong saw the ladder going up, with the bottom rung a little higher than his leg could reach. But with the man’s help, he could. The ladder was rusty, and creaked with each foot pressing down. When Jaejoong glanced down, the man was right below him, staring at his own two feet. The two continued to climb, and when Jaejoong reach the top, he helped pull up the man.
From the rooftop, there was the sunrise. Deep reds and oranges stretched across the sky and towards them, changing to shades of pink and purple. Gold rays penetrated the darkness, and reached them, showering them in colors, and bleeding out the grey buildings. The man walked to the edge of the building, and leaned on the railing. Jaejoong stood for a moment, basking in the sunlight until an idea came to him. He held up his arms, framing a box with his fingers, and made sure to get the man within the box.
“Snapshot!”
Jaejoong’s eyes flung open, and confusion set in. Birds were actively chirping, and light passed through his curtains, flooding his messy room into brightness. The moment he realized what had happened, he flung the covers off of him, and crawled out of his bed. In a rush to get out, his foot got caught between the sheets, and he tripped, hitting his head on the floor, and scraping his arm against the metal bedpost. The injuries would have to wait until later.
Jaejoong ran to his easel, and his hands grabbed at air until they touched a pencil. His hands flew across the paper, drawing lines as he remembered them. Then he snatched his painting supplies, first dabbing them in red, and orange. He colored the lines as he remembered them, the sunrise blindingly bright to his eyes. Then he painted the buildings’ grey being washed out by the light. And hour later, he took a few steps back, admiring the larger piece of work. But something was missing. Something important.
Jaejoong gasped, mentally kicking himself for forgetting the very person who showed him the mesmerizing spot. He grabbed at the pencil again, quickly sketching a vaguely human figure before painting it in.
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