“Aww, that necklace is so pretty!” Seungyeon exclaimed as she pointed at a gold necklace with a heart-shaped locket that was displayed at a shop window.

Hearing no response, she turned around, and laughed when she saw my boyfriend staring at her from afar. He was smiling goofily, like a little kid that just won a prize.

-

I sit on my bed; silently the necklace which he bought me a week after I showed interest in it. It’s so small, yet so expensive.

He bought it for me on my birthday, I note.

And I smile.

-

Seungyeon heard a knock on her apartment door. She immediately stood up; expecting it to be the nagging landlady. After all, she hadn’t paid the bills yet.

She answered the door, and was ready to make a speech on how “hard it was to get money these days”, but stopped short when she saw a familiar face.

“Jinki?” she said in shock, “What are you doing here?”

He put a finger to his lips and indicated her to be quiet, before grabbing her and wrapping a blindfold over her eyes.

“Yah! What are you doing!?”

Minutes later, she felt the sun on her skin. Wearing only a sleeveless T-shirt and a pair of shorts, she yelped in alarm and claimed that she hadn’t worn sunscreen. He sighed in return and only pulled on her hand tighter as he led her towards a nearby park even faster.

Onew told her to sit and she did, because she couldn’t stand losing her sense of sight. And frankly, she was scared.

“Seungyeon-noona,” she heard his voice and answered timidly with a, “Yes?”

He untied the blindfold which was wrapped around her eyes, and stayed in that close proximity. He stared at her with unblinking eyes; no eye smiles, no winks, just his usual stare.

He smiled a little before backing away and searching for something in his jeans’ pocket.

“Seungyeon, do you remember the necklace which you saw at the mall last week?”

She nodded and tried to picture it clearly, “It was a gold necklace with a heart-shaped locket,” she sighs, “Ah, it was so lovely~”.

He smiled at her before going behind her.

“Happy Birthday, my love,” he says breathily into her right ear as he clicks the necklace into place.

-

I stand up and look at myself in the mirror; sighing seconds after.

It was as if a tornado had hit me.

I shrug and remind myself that no one would care anyway. I put on a simple hooded shirt and a pair of jeans. I carefully place the necklace onto my neck and click it into place.

“Gyuri,” I call out and I hear plates clattering in the kitchen. I walk towards the kitchen and stare at my oldest friend washing the dishes. I bite my lip and say, “I’m going out.”

She turns to me and exclaims, “While wearing that?” and shakes her head disapprovingly.

“Why? It’s not like we have to worry about what we wear now. We’re not idols anymore,” I say in defiance.

“Fine,” she sighs. “Where are you going, though?” she calls out as I head towards the door.

I shrug in response and quietly answer, “Just going out for a walk,” before putting on my sneakers.

“But it looks like it’s going to rain soon.”

“Then I’ll walk in the rain.”

-

“Guess who!” she heard a male voice exclaim in delight.

“Jinki,” she answered blankly, but smiled ever-so-slightly which went unnoticed by her counterpart. He pouted cutely at her and claimed that she was “no fun”.

They stared at each other seriously before bursting into peals of laughter.

Soon enough, they stopped and decided to go for a walk in the park. They spent some much-needed quality time and talked about various things with laughter here and there.

As they walked, she thought that he was the only one who ever managed to make her feel this way and smiled at the thought. He, on the other hand, thought of how lucky he was and cherished every moment with her; often wondering how they ever came to be.

They were now over-looking the sunset from a hill; his ‘secret’ hill. He claimed that no one besides him knew, not even his former group members, and she believed him whole-heartedly. They sat side-by-side in silence.

Suddenly, Onew leaned towards Seungyeon and kissed her on the cheek. She gasped. He merely grinned and exclaimed, “You were too cute not to kiss!” in his defense.

She blushed in response before letting out a small giggle. She laid her head on his shoulder and thought of how perfect her relationship was – even if he was a year younger than her.

-

I enter the park which we used to go to.

Of course, because it’s raining - Gyuri’s prediction was right -, there’s nobody there. I sigh and continue walking on the cement path; looking at my surroundings ever-so-often.

Nothing much has changed, I note.

I head to our ‘secret’ hill, to see if anything has changed, but stop when I see a man standing there.

I shake my head, believing that I was only seeing things. No one else knew about this hill, after all. I walk closer towards the hill and the man is still there.

Shakily, I say, “Hello?”

The man turns towards me and I gasp in shock. He smiles warmly at me and says, “It’s been awhile, Seungyeon-noona.”

I stand as still as a statue with my mouth opening and closing every few seconds; like a fish out of water. “You—“

He takes my hands and I note that it’s ice cold. He brushes his thumb against my fingers, and I can feel the tears forming in my eyes.

“Why—,” I take in a sharp breath before continuing my sentence, “Why are you here?”

My tears mix with the rain as I stare at the man before me.

He smiles at me pityingly before enveloping me in a hug, and I could only cry harder.

He shushes me and kisses me on the top of my head. He assures me that it’s going to be alright, and I want to believe him so badly.

We stayed in that embrace for such a long time; it felt like hours passed by.

I break away from the embrace and face him with sadness in my eyes.

“Why did you leave me?” I say quietly.

He looks down and stays silent; avoiding my gaze.

“Why? Answer me!” I scream at him; desperation evident in my voice.

Jinki opens his mouth to answer but immediately closes it again.

I look at him desperately, wanting to hear his explanation. But it never came.

“Fine then,” I say, and turn to leave. I stop; expecting him to say or do anything to stop me, but he never did.

So I ran.

-

Seungyeon hummed idly to herself as she waited for her boyfriend to call her. She was lying on her friend’s bed and flipping through pages of a book that she just bought the day before. There was a knock on the door.

“Come in,” Seungyeon called out as she continued to flip through pages absentmindedly, and sat up when she saw her friend come in.

“Oh, hey, thanks for letting me sleep over,” Seungyeon said as she scratched her head in embarrassment, “Mina-ahjumma was really getting on my nerves,” she added sheepishly. The landlady had just kicked her out of her rented apartment, saying that she was only allowed to stay if she paid up.

Gyuri smiled in response and said that it was no big deal.

Suddenly, her smile vanished and she sat down on the bed in front of Seungyeon.

“Did you hear?”

“Hear about what?” Seungyeon said innocently as she stared at Gyuri

They stared at each other in silence.

Seungyeon sighed, “Well, what is it?”

“It’s... Onew.”

“Oh! Did he call you? Well, he told me he’d call me after he made a withdrawal from the bank, but he didn’t. Maybe my phone didn’t receive his call,” Seungyeon stopped and giggled to herself.

“I guess I really do need a new phone. But I love this phone because Jinki gave it to me and—“

Gyuri closed her eyes and semi-shouted, “He’s dead, Seungyeon.”

“What?”

“Onew, he’s...” Gyuri took a deep breath and stared at her oldest friend in the eye, “Onew’s dead.”

-

My knees began to ache as I run from street to street. I slow down to a halt and gasp for air as I clutch my chest to stop my fast-paced heartbeats.

Questions and what-ifs continuously fill my head, and I just couldn't take it anymore.

I clutch my head in pain and scream.

-

“Former SHINee member, Lee Jinki, previously known as Onew, was one of many involved in a massive car crash in front of the Bank of Korea in Seoul. Lee Jinki was rushed to the nearest hospital and was treated immediately. Doctors did not manage to save him. He died at 9:00p.m., local time.”


-x-x-x-x-x-


Three years later


I stand as still as a statue as I look at my ex-boyfriend’s grave.

Tears fill my eyes as I stare at the engraved words. I don’t want to believe that he’s dead.

He was only 32.

“Seungyeon-nie? Are you okay?”

I turn around and look at my current boyfriend. He’s a respectable man and a former idol; just like Jinki and I.

“Is that... Onew’s grave?” he asks me with concern. He knows of our past and has comforted me multiple times. I could only nod with a feeling of remorse.

He walks over to me and embraces me. He my hair lovingly and I grip his shirt; tightening my hold as time ticks away. Tears fall from my eyes and land on his shirt, but he doesn’t mind, he says.

Time passes by, and when he lets go of me all of a sudden, I stand there in a daze.

“Are you all right now?” he says as he crouches ever-so-slightly so that he’s at my eye level.

I wipe away the remaining tears and give him my best smile.

“Thanks, Youngsaeng-oppa.”

He smiles back at me and stands normally. He holds out his hand and winks at me, “Come on, I think some ice cream will do you good.”

I laugh and say, “Ice cream? But that’s for little kids!” and get a pout in return. He claims that ice cream is for all-ages and I laugh once again.

I smile and hold onto his inviting hand. “Fine,” I say.

And I think that maybe, just maybe, this was all meant to be.



-X-X-X-

A/N: okay... please comment... you can visit the page where lisa110 original post it. it is at here.