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A soft sigh escaped Renjun’s lips as he started packing up his work supplies for the day. He switched off his desktop and slung his messenger bag over his shoulder. Heading to the doors, he managed to escape the pink and red hearts that littered the building’s walls, much to his annoyance.
This irritation was caused by the fact that it had nearly been five years since Renjun had his heart broken. The sunny boy who he had fallen in love with during his final year of high school had left the country in search of another life. The distance between them felt like it grew further and further the longer the ray of sun had left Renjun’s side. Eventually, the two of them broke it off seeing this distance between them that had never been there before. Ever since then, the heartbroken boy had hated Valentine’s day.
Renjun had tried to get over the bright smiles and cozy nights that were tattooed in his memory, but he had ultimately failed.
No one could compare to Donghyuck.
After a long walk, Renjun returned home once again. The impending holiday seemed to continuously weigh on his mind no matter what he did. He wasn’t exactly sure why it was still there but it made him more annoyed than he already was.
Renjun groaned as he opened the fridge to see that he had forgotten to go to the store earlier that week. He knew full well that because of his negligence, he wouldn’t be able to escape the crowds of people that were bound to be littered throughout the city, buying last-minute presents for their partners. Reluctantly, he headed to his room to get changed out of his work clothes and into a plain yellow hoodie and jeans.
As the comfy boy headed to his local supermarket, the streets gradually flooded with assorted shades of pink and red. Renjun rolled his eyes at the colors that supposedly represented love to the general public. To him though, love was represented by bright shades of yellows and blues. The warm and cool colors clashed perfectly into each other and showed how he had always viewed love.
He took a deep breath, dreading the inevitable decorations and presents inside the store, but he powered through, deciding he could handle some lovey-dovey stuff rather than starve for the week. He took his usual route to grab food for the week ahead of him. As he finished collecting the items he needed, he came across the aisle that was full of gifts for the holiday of love and quickly glanced over the rows of gifts to see if there was anything he might want to give himself seeing as no one else would be giving him anything that year. Surprisingly, there was no one in the aisle so he thought there was no better time to find something cute that he liked.
Scanning the aisle, his eyes halted at the section that was filled to the brim with adorable plushies. A brilliant grin appeared on Renjun’s lips as he walked over to them. The boy had always been fond of plushies and he adored having his bed littered with them so he would always have one to cuddle with when he got lonely.
As he searched through the plushies, he eventually came across the perfect one to add to his collection. It was a small gray bunny with rosy cheeks, holding a star between its two fluffy paws. He cooed at the bunny as he plucked it out of the selection of other stuffed animals.
While Renjun was smiling at the cute bunny plushie, he felt a tap on his back. When he turned to see who was requiring his attention, the face that appeared in his vision was one he hadn’t expected to see ever again in his life. Renjun’s eyes grew wide as he felt like he was transported back to his years in high school. He stood there amongst the ray of sunshine that had appeared in his life once again.
Donghyuck stood there with the most brilliant smile gracing his rosy lips.
The sunny boy who had been claiming space in Renjun’s mind hadn’t changed all that much since their days in high school. His chocolate brown eyes still shone with the kindness that the shocked boy could still clearly recall from their time together. The constellations that graced his cheek remained just as present as ever. The one thing that did notably change was the color of the sun-kissed boy’s hair. Instead of it being the coffee color that had remained associated with the boy in Renjun’s mind, his hair was now a golden color that made his skin absolutely glow.
“Renjun!” Donghyuck’s smile grew just a little bit more, “I can’t believe I ran into you. It’s been forever!”
“Yeah, it has,” the elder said with a slight frown, “I didn’t know you moved back here.”
Donghyuck’s smiling face fell, “I tried to contact you to tell you I did but the number of yours I still had was no longer in use.”
“Oh my, I forgot to let you know that I lost my phone a few years back and I had to change my number because of it,” Renjun hit his head lightly as he realized his mistake.
“It’s alright, Jun,” the honey skinned boy placed a hand on the shorter boy’s shoulder causing him to look up at the other, “I’m just glad I was able to run into you today,” a soft smile started to form on the younger’s pretty lips as he took a step back from Renjun.
The almond-haired boy fiddled with the bunny that remained in his hands. He hadn’t been called that nickname for quite some time but hearing Donghyuck call him that once again just felt right. A smile made its way onto his face, “So why’d you move back here?”
A light laugh escaped from the younger’s lips, “It just couldn’t compare to home. Sure, college was fun out there but I just could never get used to living out there,” Donghyuck said, his soft smile still remained on his face as he spoke, “What are you up to nowadays?”
“Nothing much really, mostly just work and such,” Renjun shrugged, “what about you?”
“I’ve been working at my mom’s flower shop actually!” the smiley boy told Renjun excitedly, “I didn’t think I’d enjoy it as much as I do.”
The comfy boy stifled a laugh, “I remember how much you didn’t want to work there in high school.”
Donghyuck hummed as he went through his memories of the past, “It turned out that I just assumed it would be miserable because it was what I was constantly surrounded with as a child. Once I was able to escape and not do the odd jobs my mom would task me with around the shop, I realized I actually really missed helping her out there.”
“I’m glad that you are happy working there now,” the golden-haired boy smiled, “I always enjoyed spending time with you there.”
“You should visit it sometime! I’m sure mom would love to see you again,” Donghyuck suggested excitedly.
The elder smiled at the invitation, “I’d love to.”
“Anyways,” the boy with the golden hair started placing a hand in his blue hoodie pocket, “is that for your partner?”
Renjun laughed at the question. Once he calmed down he finally was able to answer, “No, this little guy is my gift to myself for Valentine’s Day.”
“Are you here shopping for your partner?”
The taller boy shook his head lightly. His head stilled and he lowered his eyes slightly to look into Renjun’s eyes. The smile the boy had been dawning had disappeared, but his eyes still remained full of kindness.
Confusion washed over Renjun as he studied the other’s face, trying to figure out why the bright and sunny boy’s features had suddenly become serious. In his worry, the elder was about to ask what was the matter, but a question slipped out of the other’s lips before Renjun could form his.
“Can we try again?”
The confusion morphed into shock as the words that had been spoken registered in the shorter boy’s brain. He was sure that Donghyuck had to have had a significant other after all these years. Renjun couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that the boy he had been heartbroken over for the past 5 years was once again standing in front of him and asking for his love again.
Before time could be drawn out for too long, Renjun was able to form some words to respond to the question he was asked, “Wait, you don’t have a partner?”
Donghyuck shook his head once again and a small smile appeared on his lips once again, “No I don’t, no one could compare to you, Renjun.”