Memento
kyuhyun/sooyoung
angst, romance2134 words
; dug up the beginning in one of the files in my laptop, haven't touched it until now lol. hope you guys like it!He always found her rather intriguing, that girl he often found himself staring at from his seat in the corner of class. The fact that she always had a smile on her face puzzled him. He was a person of very few words, his face barely portraying any expression at all other than a dark blank expression that sent the eyes of girls in his school to land on him, their breath hitching up a notch whenever he passed by. Boys looked at him, their eyes green with envy as they watched their most desired girls throw themselves at him. He was quite sick of it actually, sick of those shallow headed females sitting on his table with their legs crossed over hanging off the edge, their tank tops too low a cut to be found appealing in his opinion. He never liked being around people, to be quite frank, he wasn't even sure if he liked people in general considering the fact that he was slowly starting to hate himself anyways. But he couldn't seem to figure out what he thought of her. He just...found her rather different.
Hae Ran opened the wooden door as it let out a merciless rusty creak. Her creative writing class demanded a perfect A+ essay that she would normally be capable of, but this time her spiral notepad lay empty and untouched on the kitchen table and her mind was blank, completely dry of ideas and inspiration. She figured that looking through some old photo albums would rekindle that spark in her, give her some pointers on where to start. She switched on her flashlight and walked deep into the huge underground attic, amazed that her parents (well mainly her mother) had managed to find enough extra stuff to stash into the huge room. She ran her flashlight around the room, searching for the torn cardboard box containing the countless photo albums that they had kept from the time when they met until the time her younger brother was born. But she found herself stopping in her tracks when the ray of light landed on a engraved metal container. Hae Ran found it rather majestic, wrapped in a gold encrusted chain that was loose enough for her to untangle, and varnished wit a coat of black engraved vines twisting from the bottom of the container all the way to the lid. She ran her fingers lightly across the lid, taking in the smooth texture before whispering out "This is what I've been looking for."
Up the stairs he went, his long legs carrying him up the steps so lightly that the rotting wooden planks barely made a sound. The rooftop of the town hall was his favourite place to be. The alone time was precious, and he treasured every second of it, because he didn't know when he would have enough of all the pain and just snap, taking himself away from this place that he loved so much. Taking himself away from this nature that he swore had broken him down to the smallest of all things. As he reached the top step, he couldn't help but notice something different about the plain cement space. There was a girl there. He walked closer to her, his slightly trembling fingers stuffed into the front pockets of his jeans. "Excuse me." he said, as gently as he possibly could; which came out only a tinge less harsh than how he normally sounded like. The girl turned around, her damp eyes widening for a second when she realized who he was, but she turned back, her legs still swinging off the edge, down towards the busy road 38 floors below her. He knew who she was; it was that girl from class. The girl he had never seen without wearing a dazzling smile on her face. But here she was, 2 steps away from a fall that could kill her in an instant. "Excuse me but I think you should sit somewhere far away from that ledge." She ignored him, scooting herself closer towards the edge. "Please just get down from there." And as she attempted to move a tad bit closer, she found herself swept off the legde with her shaking feet set gently onto the ground. "I'm sorry but a suicide incident here would only mean that this place would get closed down by the police and I can't have that happening, you see, cause this is the only place I have left." he said calmly, leaning against the row of water filters. His eyes trailed her up and down. She was looking out towards to the fleet of buildings crowding up the view, she was barefoot, her skinnies hugging her slender legs perfectly and a worn out hockey shirt hanging losely around her body, her brown hair tied up into a lose bun. She was beautiful, and he couldn't help but realize that. He watched her as she walked towards to the stairs. "I'm Kyuhyun by the way." he called to her. "I know. And I'm sure you know who I am too." she said loud enough for him to hear, her eyes still hard and dark before walking down the stairs. "Sooyoung. I know." he mumbled to himself.
The metal container lay empty at it's place in the storeroom. It's contents were now laid out on the floor of Hae Ran's room. Journals. She flipped though the battered coffee stained pages of a journal labeled back to the year 2004. 26 years ago, she thought. The intense emotions of the writer had certainly conveyed into her writing, and it had pulled Hae Ran into a virtual world of pain, sufferings and love. Now she was ready to start her piece.
It was an unexpected relationship, something that they couldn't even conjure up in their wildest imaginations. Sooyoung waited across the road from the chicken delivery shop that he worked at until she finally saw him walk out, trying to avoid a conversation with his boss 12 years his senior who fancied him quite a bit. Sooyoung found her disgusting. "I hate this place." he grumbled, taking her hand in his as they walked down the street. "I can feel your boss staring." she said bluntly; you couldn't blame her for hating the woman. "Maybe now she'll realize that she should just stick to her husband." She smiled when she caught him smirking at his own joke. They walked hand in hand until they reached the corner of the park where they normally spent a few hours before he took her home. Kyuhyun leaned against an oak tree, pulling her onto his lap and rocking her in his arms. "When was the last time you cried?" she suddenly asked, slumping her head against his chest. "It's been 14 years since I've shed a tear." he said, snickering. She lifted her head to look at him, "You haven't cried since you were 5? Liar!" "I would if you leave me though." he said, brushing her cheek with his thumb. "Then I don't think you'll ever cry again." He smiled and kissed her lips gently. "I love you." he whispered in her ear.
She jumped when she heard a knock at the door. She couldn't tell her father about what she had found, not until she was done with her work. "Hae Ran-ah, you've been in your room the whole day. Is anything wrong?" her father's voice bellowed through the cracks. Her mind stumbled to find the right excuse. "Cramps! It's my time of the month!' she shouted out , knowing how her dad would react. "Oh my god!" she heard her dad's hurried footsteps down the stairs. She giggled, His humor never left.
"She won't make it." Sooyoung's mother wailed out, holding onto him tightly, the tears never ending as it streamed down her face. He felt his world burn down around him, he couldn't move, neither could he speak. Her father pried his wife off Kyuhyun's shaking body. "Go see her. She needs you." he said, trying hard to give him an encouraging smile, but it didn't take much for anyone to notice the shattered pieces behind it. His hands were shaking as he walked into the room. Seeing her laying helplessly on that hospital bed was a blow big enough to send him sinking on the floor crying his heart out, but he stood on his feet, telling himself that maybe if he stayed strong - she would gather that strength too. Maybe she''ll be fine after all. Maybe she wouldn't have to leave, and he would get that happiness back again, that happiness that he hasn't felt until she came into his life. Her lips were blue, her hair dry and flat, her face was so pale that it blended in with the dead white colour off the wall. Even like this, while the doctors and nurses looked at her with sympathy; wondering what had become of that beautiful girl that had walked in 7 months ago with no suspicion of what was going wrong inside her, he still saw her as the most beautiful person he had ever laid his eyes on. She smiled when he came in. He sat beside her bed, intertwining his fingers with hers, his eyes red and tired from staying up the the whole night before, crying, hoping. She looked at him, taking in his expression. "Do I look that scary?" she added laughing slightly. He brought his hand up to cup her face, brushing his thumb along her cheek. "You look beautiful as always." he said, smiling as much as he could. Sooyoung couldn't help but let the tears fall now. He wrapped his arms around her, her face buried in the crook of his neck. "Take care of Seohyun for me will you? She's the most fragile thing I've ever seen, and you know how much I love her, she's like a sister to me. She was shaking so much when she came in just now and it...killed me more. Take care of her, please." She felt him nod. "and--you--you find a girl that loves you, love her with all your heart, start a family like what you've always wanted and give her the world--like how you loved me." Her throat hurt from suppressing the tears, and it was her turn to hold him, as he cried 15 years worth of tears in that one embrace.
"She has the journals." Seohyun gently told her husband. Kyuhyun stopped in his tracks, he hadn't thought of those journals in the longest time, especially since Hae Ran and Hyun Ki were born. "Take them back. And tell her never to step into the attic again." he said, continuing to trim the hedges of the bushes, only more jagged this time. Seohyun lay a hand on his arm, stopping him. "There's nothing wrong with her knowing, it won't hurt her. You just--you just don't want to be reminded of it." she said looking at him. Those chapters in their lives were far behind them, but it left a scar so deep and so wide, that the only way to erase it was to move on. "I miss her." she whispered. Kyuhyun wrapped her in his arms and kissed her forehead. "Me too."
Seohyun found him crying beside the lake at the corner of the park. She knew this was where she would find him. Sooyoung always told her about their dates at the park, how they would lean against that oak tree right over there, and they would look at the stars in each other's embrace. He turned around when he heard the footsteps behind him, and found the dark haired girl walking towards him. She had grown so thin, her cheek bones becoming so visible that it would have killed Sooyoung to see it. If she was here to see it. "She said you never cried." "I told her that I'll cry if she ever leaves me." he said glancing at his feet. "Funny. I told her the exact same thing." He glanced up at her. She was looking out towards the lake, but the moonlight bounced against her tears and made them shimmer visibly on her face. He held her close to him. And they stayed like that for a while. Their pain easing slightly but not yet erased. Kyuhyun stroked her hair as he felt her cry harder than before. I'll protect her. I'll protect her for you.
Written by,
Cho Hae Ran
She wiped the tears that had unconsciously pooled at her eyes and she placed the three journals under her bed. Each belonging to Cho Kyuhyun, Seo Joo Hyun and Choi Sooyoung. I would have loved to meet you Aunty Sooyoung.