One | Tiny, Little Thing

Pastel Heart: The First Chapter

 

Jongdae played with the hem of his shirt while resting his back against the wall. His head was tilted to the right and he closed his eyes before he opened it when he could hear the sound of door cracking open.

“Hey,” Kyungsoo said, in his arms was a bouquet of red roses and Jongdae wrinkled his nose. “I got roses for you.”

Jongdae, despite being displeased by the bouquet of flowers, extended his arms to take the bouquet when Kyungsoo handed it to him. “Roses,” Jongdae looked at the bright red roses in his arm. “What a nice choice.”

Kyungsoo groaned before he grabbed a chair, pulling it closer to Jongdae’s bed before he settled comfortably on the chair. His usual black sweater, which he wore every time no matter what season he was experiencing, was hanging loosely on his small frame. The sweats on his forehead told Jongdae that he was probably sprinting to be there now.

“How are you?” Kyungsoo asked while brushing his bangs. “Did the doctor say anything?”

Jongdae plucked a petal from one of the roses, and he stopped half-way from plucking another when he saw the glare Kyungsoo was giving him. Jongdae feigned a pout before he put the bouquet on the nightstand beside him. “I’m fine and the doctor hasn’t said anything. He said something about needing a guardian to sign something- honestly I have no idea.”

Kyungsoo finally snatched the bouquet from the nightstand when he noticed how Jongdae’s fingers always had a way to pluck the roses’ petals. “Stay still, and just relax,” he said. “How much caffeine did you take?”

Jongdae grunted before he refined his position on his bed. He swore that his own bed at home was much better than this hospital bed. “Not much,” he replied, and he chuckled when he saw the doubts on Kyungsoo’s face. “I’m speaking the truth, Manager Do.”

“Funny,” Kyungsoo hissed softly before he stood up, Jongdae giving him a questioning look. Kyungsoo made his way to a vase which was placed perfectly beside the window and then he unwrapped the roses from the bouquet carefully. He didn’t want the beautiful structure of those roses to be ruined. “They look pretty, don’t they?” he asked proudly after he put the roses in the vase. He glanced at Jongdae to see the singer’s expression, and he grinned when he saw the horror on the singer’s face.

“You’re giving me head ache,” Jongdae commented. “I can’t believe that you actually believe that red roses are appropriate.”

Kyungsoo frowned, “They’re not from me, though.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo said while walking towards the chair near Jongdae’s bed.

“The last time you convinced me about that, I ended up finding out that you wrote several fan letters to me.” Kyungsoo was about to speak, when Jongdae continued talking, “I don’t want you to pity me, stop doing that.”

The cheerful atmosphere in the room was fading, and it was replaced by the intense gaze from Jongdae and the guilt on Kyungsoo’s face. Jongdae didn’t remove his eyes from staring at Kyungsoo, and when he saw how miserable Kyungsoo was, he knew that he had done something terrible. His clenched fists were slowly loosening up, and his fingers finally let go of the grip from his blanket.

Kyungsoo had always been with him, yet he was treating Kyungsoo this way. Jongdae still remembered how determined Kyungsoo was when the CEO of their company arranged for Jongdae to have Kyungsoo as his manager. Despite being the younger of the two, Kyungsoo was surprisingly very good at handling things, including the things that Jongdae never seemed to be able to overcome alone.

Jongdae had released three albums, yet all of them had flopped on music charts. He had a very small circle of fans, and the rejection from the public wasn’t helping him at all. There were times when he expected Kyungsoo to leave him and go to pursue the other idols instead, but Kyungsoo’s loyalty always astonished him. There are always gonna be next time, Kyungsoo always said whenever he caught him being sad.

Sometimes, Jongdae wondered why the people never gave him a chance. Was it because his voice wasn’t good enough? Was his voice too annoying that people refuse to listen to it? Or was it because his vocal technique was nowhere near decent? Jongdae averted his gaze from Kyungsoo’s face, and he inched a bit farther from the guy. Kyungsoo noticed that, and the miseries on his face transformed into worries.

“Jongdae,” Kyungsoo muttered his name softly.

Kyungsoo was probably the only one who stood by his side, no matter how many failures he had brought.

“I’m sorry,” Jongdae said, every syllable came out like a lump of bitterness. “I shouldn’t say that.”

“There are always gonna be next time,” Kyungsoo said while intertwining their fingers, “I believe you.”

“How come you always say that?”

Kyungsoo met Jongdae’s eyes, and then he smiled, “Would you like to hear that there’s no next time instead?”

Jongdae playfully pushed Kyungsoo away, “Way to ruin the mood, Manager Do.”

Kyungsoo narrowed his eyes, “You always call me Manager Do to spite me. It’s getting old.”

“It’s a classic for me,” Jongdae winked, and Kyungsoo cringed in disgust. “You told me to call you Mana-“

“Right, okay I remember that,” Kyungsoo said while covering Jongdae’s mouth using his right hand. “By the way- I forgot to inform you about this, I’ve got good news,” Kyungsoo’s eyes sparkled in glee and Jongdae felt like he knew what was coming next. 

“Go on,” Jongdae said, and he finally could breathe freely when Kyungsoo removed his hand from his mouth.

Kyungsoo rubbed his right hand on his pants before he spoke, “You’re going to record a new album, and it’s titled ‘Moon’.”

Jongdae refrained himself from interrupting Kyungsoo’s explanation, and when the latter finished talking, he couldn’t help but to let his wall crumbling down. “It’s worthless. It’s going to flop, as always.”

Kyungsoo tapped the back of Jongdae’s hand, “We’re gonna make it this time.”

“You told me that when I was recording the previous three albums,” Jongdae retorted.

“Jongdae,” Kyungsoo said, his voice a bit stern and adamant. Jongdae probably failed to realize it, but Kyungsoo’s wall was collapsing as well. Kyungsoo sighed, “It’s fine,” he said to himself, and Jongdae frowned in guilt when he heard that. “Let’s walk around this hospital for a while, you’re probably already suffocated since I already feel like my head’s gonna explode soon,” Kyungsoo said, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Jongdae just hoped that Kyungsoo was truly pressured because of the hospital room instead of him, “Okay,” he said, “but let me make myself presentable first. You don’t want me to go around with this patient robe, right?”

“Just wear that,” Kyungsoo insisted. “You’re not allowed to take it off.”

“But Kyung-“

“Jongdae.”

Jongdae got up furiously from his bed, his feet touching the cold floor before he slipped them into his pair of flip flops. He brushed his robe which fortunately looked like a normal pyjama before he followed Kyungsoo out from the room through the door.

“So, where are we going? I don’t think that hospital has an interesting place,” Jongdae said while following behind Kyungsoo. He glanced through the opened doors of the other rooms to peek inside. There were times when he felt down, especially when he saw the patient’s family visiting the patient. But he quickly shook the feeling off when he realized that Kyungsoo was already far ahead.

“You left me,” Jongdae remarked, “and I don’t enjoy that.”

“Whatever,” Kyungsoo replied lazily as he headed towards a vending machine. “No coffee for you,” he didn’t forget to say and Jongdae glared at him.

Kyungsoo ended up picking two cans of fruit juices for the both of them. Jongdae sulkily accepted the fruit juice when Kyungsoo handed it to him. He looked at the label, and he got even sulkier when he realized that Kyungsoo had picked no other but carrot juice.

“I dislike this,” Jongdae emphasized, and Kyungsoo acted as if he hadn’t heard anything. “Kyungsoo,” Jongdae tugged the sleeve of Kyungsoo’s sweater, “I hate this drink.”

Kyungsoo was gulping down his beverage when he got annoyed by Jongdae’s continuous complaint about his juice, “Can you stop glorifying your beloved coffee?”

“I hope that you’re always sweet towards me,” Jongdae said as he forced himself to take a sip of his carrot juice.

“I’m your manager.”

“Yes, Mana-“

“Shut up.”

“Kyung-“

“Just drink your juice,” Kyungsoo replied, his own juice was already finished. His eyes were searching for a trash can when he felt Jongdae pulling his arm. “Jong-“

“Listen first, Manager Do,” Jongdae demanded. “Just listen,” Jongdae repeated.

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened and his body trembled in joy. People might take it as a very small thing, but this kind of thing had always made him happy. “They’re playing your songs. Not just a song, but your songs.”

“I don’t know,” Jongdae said, fingers still tugging Kyungsoo’s sleeve. He looked at a boy, who looked like he was in his high school years. His brown hair was dishevelled and the patient robe he was wearing looked good on his lanky body. Jongdae chuckled when he heard a few lines of his song being sung by the boy, “But I do know that he can’t sing.”

Their attention on the boy was quickly transferred to the immediate sound of shattering glasses from another direction in the hospital. They saw a woman, who looked angered, standing beside a shattered vase and a young woman looking blankly at the woman.

“Get your treatment or just go away,” the woman said loudly, and the young woman’s face started to show a bit emotion: anger, but she quickly brushed it away.

“Mom,” surprisingly, the young woman’s voice was soft. Though, both Kyungsoo and Jongdae could hear the reply properly.

“What is it?” the woman asked spitefully, the feeling of victory pooling in her heart. She had always known that she could win the young woman by this method.

“Fine, I will get the treatment,” the young woman answered. There was something beneath her soft voice, yet Jongdae wasn’t able to figure it out.

The woman smiled, and he gestured at the two guys beside her, who Jongdae guessed as her guards, “Call this hospital’s director and tell him that I’ll pay for this.” Both of the guards bowed, lips sealed, before they left.

Jongdae managed to catch a glimpse of the young woman’s face, and he was sure that he felt something but nonchalance.

 

 

Author’s Note

I don’t know, but I feel like this is more of a chensoo than a chenxoc lol. So uhh, yeah, Kyungsoo is Chen’s manager, just in case you failed to catch that. OH BTW KYUNGSOO’S SOLO OST OMG. I’m updating this because I’m kinda lost with the plots of my other stories lol. I’ve left them long enough that even though as the author of those stories, I forgot all of the crucial points lmao. I really need to re-read them xD

Words count: 1.774 K                                      

Written on 04^th November 2014