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The wind blew softly through the branches of a tree. Within the foliage of the towering plant were bright white fruits gathered in clusters, reflecting the sunlight in just the right way to appear as though they were glowing. It was a beautiful sight to see, but as such, the world will find a way to destroy all that is good.
A young boy, couldn’t be much older than fifteen years old, sat by his bedroom window. His eyes were fixated on the figure of another boy, a resident of the family that lived in the other dwelling of their doublex. The Kim family, he believed. The Kim boy was outside, playing, living in his own world, his name was Taehyung. The one who admired him from the confines of four cold, hateful walls was named Jeongguk.
Jeongguk longed for the presence of the other boy, he hadn’t yet even the proper greeting. Though he wasn’t even sure of the boy’s name, he had been admiring him from afar from the safety of his bedroom. Was it lust he felt? Infatuation? Maybe it was just his immense loneliness nagging at him to go out and make friends, and who better candidate than the boy next door? Jeongguk got up from his seat by the window and made his way down the stairs. He was going to talk to the boy, maybe get his name, and see if he will at least be friends with him, if not his lover.
The door opened, and Taehyung’s attention was suddenly ripped from his isolated bubble. His eyes landed on Jeongguk, standing like a deer in headlights on his front doorstep. The former smiled, and approached Jeongguk.
“Hello!” he greeted enthusiastically, giving a curt bow to the boy before offering a hand. Jeongguk escaped his daze, and mirrored Taehyung’s smile.
“Hello,” he replied politely, bowing in return, and accepted the other boy’s hand. “My name is Jeon Jeongguk.”
“Kim Taehyung,” said the other, his tone never losing it’s chipper tone.
The two conversed happily. Taehyung brought Jeongguk to the grass in front of their doublex to play with him, and to which Jeongguk joyously complied. After their time of play, they sat next to each other on the grass. They had clicked together like puzzle pieces immediately, and Jeongguk felt whole.
“I think I’m in love with you, Kim Taehyung.”
The other boy was at a loss for words. As the silence drew on after his words for longer, the more Jeongguk began to dread his choice to voice his thoughts aloud. What he got in return, however, was a smile. One that was warmer, more fond than the ones Jeongguk had received before from Taehyung. Then a laugh came, a cute, childish chuckle.
“You’re silly, Jeon Jeongguk. We just met. We can talk more, though.”
Jeongguk looked down at his lap, nervous hands wringing together and cheeks heating up, gaining an embarrassed red hue. Taehyung wrapped an arm around his shoulder and nuzzled his nose fondly against Jeongguk’s temple. That only made Jeongguk flush darker, turning his head away from Taehyung.
“When can we see each other again?” he asks in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Any time you want, Jeongguk-ah. If you want to play together again tomorrow, or next week, month, year, so be it.”
They met again the next day, and the day after that, and after that, all by Jeongguk’s request. Jeongguk was in love with Taehyung and his presence. He had this aura about him that left an addictive taste on Jeongguk’s tongue. Taehyung would be lying if he claimed to not return similar feelings. After Jeongguk’s initial confession the first day, neither spoke a word of romance. Only words of friendship, and platonic words of praise. Then the time came again, weeks later.
“Taehyung-hyung,” Jeongguk started, his arm pressed against Taehyung’s ribcage. The other boy lay beside him in the grass, both arms propping his head up as he stared absentmindedly at the sky.
“Yeah?”
“Do you love me too?”
Taehyung pondered the thought for a moment, pursing his lips. Jeongguk stared at the older boy’s profile, his dark eyes wide with anticipation. Taehyung turned his head to meet Jeongguk’s gaze, flashing him a warm smile. Jeongguk blushed, and averted his gaze, unable to hold eye contact with Taehyung.
“Of course,” the latter replied matter of factly, and Jeongguk flushed more. Taehyung snickered at Jeongguk’s reaction, and pinched his nose gently to tease him, to which Jeongguk snarled a little. Taehyung pouted.
“Is that not the answer you were looking for, Gukkie? Should I have said something else?” Taehyung asked, though asking was futile because he already knew the answer. He leaned closer to Jeongguk’s face, searching for the younger’s eyes. Jeongguk refused eye contact, to which Taehyung was forced to lean in even closer and turn Jeongguk’s head toward him. Jeongguk let out a quiet yelp. He felt small under Taehyung’s heated gaze, and the latter seemed to not notice the situation they were in. How their faces were mere centimeters apart.
Taehyung’s eyes darted across Jeongguk’s face, but always finding their way back to his eyes. He saw the nervousness in Jeongguk’s expression, and though it took him a moment, he finally concluded why. A smirk crept across his features, and without warning, he closed the gap between his and the younger’s lips. Jeongguk yelped again, a yelp that died off in his throat and never found life as Taehyung’s lips on his own swallowed any noise that could have escaped. His eyes as wide as moons, he gave his brain a moment to register all the sensations he was feeling at once. Shock, desire, pleasure, embarrassment. His eyes fell shut, and he returned the kiss. Though awkward, neither cared. Their lips parted, and Taehyung smiled innocently, beet-faced Jeongguk returning his gaze reluctantly.
“Good?” Taehyung asked, only getting a sheepish nod in reply.
“Again?” Jeongguk whispered. Taehyung nodded, and they kissed again.
Unbeknownst to the two new lovers sharing kisses happily on the grass in front of their doublex, their parents, deeply religious and very strict for the both of them, had seen enough of the scene to come to a decision. Neither boy shall see each other again.
The two boys parted ways, sharing words of affection and promises of seeing each other again, they found their way home to either side of the wall in the center of their doublex. Jeongguk was met with a very stern look from his mother. Without the woman uttering a word, Jeongguk knew he had done wrong. He was confined to his room once again. The walls have never seemed so cold.
Taehyung fared no better, and was refused dinner that night, locked in his own room. The two boys sat on either side of a wall that they would soon grow to hate, their bedrooms on each side. Late one night, Jeongguk found himself picking at his bedroom wall. White powder fell with each swipe of his fingernail against the structure. A fairly sized hole had formed, and when he stopped tearing at the drywall, Jeongguk heard soft scratching coming from the other side of the wall.
Taehyung had done the same thing to his own bedroom wall. Not even the stubbornness of their parents could tame the flame burning in their hearts, and they found a way to each other. Each day for hours on end they would whisper sweet nothings through the holes they had dug in the wall. Jeongguk pressed his lips to the wall, and Taehyung did the same. The wall was cold against Jeongguk’s lips, contrasting the warmth he felt when he had Taehyung’s lips against his.
“I hate this wall, so stubborn as our parents, and cold,” Jeongguk whispered through his hole. Taehyung’s eager, waiting ears heard everything the younger had to say.
“Then forget the wall,” Taehyung whispered back to Jeongguk. Jeongguk paused. He didn’t know what Taehyung meant. Try as he might, he couldn’t think of a logical conclusion.
“How?” he asked the older.
“We sneak out at night,” Taehyung stated, though his tone was quiet, Jeongguk could hear the fire that was burning in his heart and his eyes.
“Are you crazy? We’d get in even deeper trouble than we already are,” Jeongguk hissed. Ignoring the logical side, some part of his brain considered doing it. His eyes begun to sting with tears that are begging to escape. He missed Taehyung so much, too much. Somehow Taehyung had known that Jeongguk was thinking about it. Jeongguk got no reply, and he was forced to speak again.
“Fine. When?”
“Tonight. We can leave the city, venture a little ways out to a park I know of, right on the edge of the city. You’ll know it when you see it.”
“Okay,” Jeongguk responded, a little choked up from his racing heart and the whirlpool of emotions that wanted to fall from his eyes.
“We can meet by the mulberry tree.”
“Okay,” Jeongguk agreed one last time. Taehyung was insane, but he was desperate enough to see Taehyung again, feel his warmth again, that he’d do anything.
Late at night, Jeongguk snuck out of the house silently as he could. He carried nothing with him but the jacket he wore on his back, despite how dangerous it was for someone to travel at night alone. Taehyung, who had ventured out later than Jeongguk had, was a little wiser, and carried with him a knife for defense.
Jeongguk arrived at the park quicker than he had expected. He sat under the mulberry tree, the white clusters of fruit glistening beautifully under the silver moonlight. Taehyung was yet to arrive, and he was alone. He shed his jacket, enjoying the cool night breeze brushing against his skin. He basked in the feeling for a little while, the moonlight streaming on his face through the branches of the mulberry tree. He wasn’t able to relax for long, when he heard a bark, the bark of a wild canine. He jumped to his feet, his first instinct to flee. As the sounds of approaching footsteps drew louder, he bolted. He had disregarded his jacket, and didn’t bother to stick around to see what the wild animal would do with his article of clothing.
Taehyung arrived not too soon after the animal had fled as well, all that was left in the meeting site was the tattered fabric of Jeongguk’s jacket, stained by the bloody jaws of wolf or coyote. Too quick to jump to conclusions, Taehyung had assumed the animal had attacked Jeongguk. The boy left without protection would certainly not have survived. Taehyung blamed himself for it. It was his fault that Jeongguk was gone, probably in pain, probably dead.
Without second thought, he turned his knife that he had brought for protection on himself. Pressing kiss after kiss to the fabric of Jeongguk’s disregarded jacket, tears staining the fabric, he plunged the knife into his stomach. Blood tainted the white color of the mulberries. Taehyung collapsed.
Jeongguk didn’t want to leave his love waiting. He turned back in search of the white fruit. When he found the mulberry tree, his eyes weren’t met with glistening white fruit, but instead a gruesome red. On the ground, he found the writhing body of Kim Taehyung.
“ Tae!! ” he shouted, rushing over to the boy. He pat down Taehyung’s body frantically, his hand eventually falling upon the knife in his stomach. The older boy’s body had fallen still, and with it, tears fall from Jeongguk’s eyes. He held Taehyung’s limp hand and continued to cry above him, uttering useless apologies. He leaned down and pressed his lips to the lips of the other. His lips were cold, like the wall he had dreaded so. His last action was to remove the knife from his lover’s stomach, and plunge it into his own. To be with his love. The color of the mulberries were tinted darker, richer. Jeongguk fell atop Taehyung. They were together, even with their flames extinguished. It was a beautiful sight to see, and the world hates everything that’s beautiful.