Treasure tales

Jaehyuk #22: My Treasure

"There is one thing I'd like to ask you, though," Jaehyuk said to me a few weeks after that. "Where do you plan to go after results day? Do you plan on going overseas to study?"

"I have to migrate, Jaehyuk. That has been an enduring dream of mine," I said after a short pause. "I cannot be stuck in this place anymore. I feel repressed. You see, it's not as if I'm obsessed with prestige or good grades. I studied because I needed to get away from this place, from this country."

"Even after meeting us? You won't stay for us?" Jaehyuk asked helplessly. 

"Nothing changes," I confirmed. "All my life I have been dreaming and dreaming. I've got to get away and see the world for myself. The world is too big for such a small human like me. I need to see as much as I can."

I stayed silent as Jaehyuk looked downwards, unable to say a word.

"I was happy, Jaehyuk," I said after a while. "You guys saved me in many ways. I loved and craved being in your company. In Treasure's company."

"What about you?" I asked. "What are your plans?"

"I don't know yet," Jaehyuk admitted, still not meeting my eyes. "I'll try to finish college first and see what I end up with. I'm thinking of pursuing teaching. I really like to help others, you see. I'd love to be in a job where I can help people grow."

"That's a nice dream," I nodded. "I'd love to see you succeed in that. You'll be an amazing teacher. I'm sure of it."

Jaehyuk shook his head, still looking depressed. "I'd have liked you to be there with me," he admitted. "All of you. But..."

He was silent. I knew why. The truth was, the members of Treasure had drifted recently. Perhaps it was because of life. Everyone had to live their own separate lives, after all. They did not have a real reason to keep gathering anymore, like they used to. More likely, it simply felt too weird to be together without Junghwan around. After a while the members simply drifted.

"It's okay, Jaehyuk," I comforted him. "It'll be okay."

The truth was, behind his back, I was already secretly planning to throw a party. It did not matter what it celebrated. I wasn't the only one who had noticed Jaehyuk's recent depressive mood, so I collaborated with the rest of the Treasure members to throw a surprise party to cheer him up. It was also the perfect opportunity for everybody to gather again, after such a long time.

I lied to Jaehyuk and told him that I went to visit the building where the members used to train their powers(because it was just such a grand and lavish place), but we were attacked by a burglar. He innocently believed it and ran to the place, only to have gallons of party streamers thrown at his face.

"Surprise!" Everybody shouted.

"W-what is this for?" Jaehyuk stuttered in surprise. He collapsed onto the floor in shock.

"Cheer up, bro," Jeongwoo said cheerfully as he passed Jaehyuk a slice of chocolate cake. "What did I tell you back then? Don't keep your sadness to yourself. We're here for you."

"I didn't want to bother all of you," he murmured. "I know that everybody is still getting over the...the maknae."

"It's all right," Hyunsuk said with a smile. He reached out to pat Jaehyuk's head. I thought to myself the irony of the situation, since everybody expected Hyunsuk to be the worst off at his self-perceived failure as a leader to protect the maknae. "We miss him, but you're just as important to us as he is."

"Junghwan was an integral part of our lives," Jihoon agreed. "But we'll live on. For his sake as well."

Jaehyuk's eyes turned red.

"Some of us will inevitably leave in search of a better life," I continued. "Not just me. But true friendships will stand the test of time and space. You guys have lost what made you come together, your powers. But you have gained invaluable friendships as well. We won't ever stop being friends, Jaehyuk. Let's make sure of that. We promise."

"We promise," the other members said in unison. 

"No matter where life takes us," Junkyu assured him.

Jaehyuk nodded. He brushed his pants and stood up. "Thank you everybody," he said with tears in his eyes. "Thank you. I love you. All of you, so much."

Later on during the party I noticed Hyunsuk going off onto the roof by himself. He had been acting weirdly, so I reckoned I should follow him. I wanted to know why he got over the loss of Junghwan so easily, and what's up with all his talk about it 'no longer being our fight'. I thought it had to be something important, some secret that he had been keeping to himself. 

After I had a talk with Hyunsuk I came back down. The Treasure members and I had lots of fun at the party, playing games, watching shows and doing all sorts of things. Finally, night fell and we decided to go home. Jaehyuk and I, however, decided to go see the stars together.

"It's been a long time since we last came here," Jaehyuk said happily, watching the beautiful stars above. 

"Look! It's the Orion belt," I said excitedly. "That's Rigel, and Betelguese..."

"Nevermind that," Jaehyuk interrupted me. He giggled nervously. "I'm not a nerd, man. I don't care for the names of stars. But looking at it' does make me ponder over the future ahead of us. I wonder what it holds?"

"I'm sure it would be rough," I said. "But hey, we went through all that. We can get through this too. And now, we even have each other, and we have Treasure as well. There's a long future waiting for us. We're still so young, too."

Jaehyuk reached over and ruffled my hair with his big hands. I relished the comfortable feeling of him running his hands through my hair.

"I'll miss you," he said. "When you leave. But we don't know what the future holds. It may hold something really really promising. Maybe you'll come back, or I'll go with you. Or we'll meet up just once in a while like old friends do. Or maybe other things will happen. Who knows what the future holds? All I know is that I found an amazing friend in you, one that stayed by me through all these tough times.

So I really want to say, thank you, Rin. Thank you for always believing in me. Thank you for always being there. I was only able to find myself again because you were always there. And I am truly thankful for it."

"You don't know, Jaehyuk," I laughed. "It's only fair, because your presence was a blessing to me as well. In so many more ways than one. The future is so uncertain, so let's go into the future together, shall we?"

Hello, so here concludes Jaehyuk's arc! It has certainly been a journey, hehe. At the end of every arc I will place a music video by Treasure themselves that serves as the ending song for that particular arc. In this case I chose 'My Treasure' because Jaehyuk's arc involves him coming to terms with his own insecurities and growing as a person. So I felt that the lyrics of the song sums the arc very well.

There will be 1-2 more chapters before the next arc begins serving as the interlude between this arc and the next arc. One of them is kind of an epilogue to Jaehyuk's arc and will cover what Hyunsuk and Rin discussed during the party, which I did not cover here. I intentionally set it up like this because their conversation will involve a major plot point that's more appropriate to address later on.

Hope y'all had fun! I'm very thankful to all my readers who have made it this far with me in the story. I certainly had tons of fun writing this. I can't believe I managed to complete my first arc! Well, there's still 11 arcs left to go, so welp. Can y'all guess which Treasure member is gonna be the star of the next arc?