LEMONS / 𝗺𝗹𝗺 (✓)

6: where he leaves

CHAPTER SIX
where he leaves

Hwan almost felt dull next to Kalen.

Kalen, who wore clothes in the color of snow-covered mountains and flowers in parks and a weird looking sculpture in the middle of a pedestrian street. The first time Hwan had seen him, he thought he had looked ridiculous — almost like a clown, but without the makeup and scary smile.

Now, Hwan looked at the man who stood in a different aisle than him, looking through different varieties of cup noodles, and thought that he reminded him more of a watercolor palette, than a clown.

A watercolor palette with a stupid smile and crooked teeth and a ton of rings on his fingers and Hwan wondered if Kalen even owned more than one pair of black pants.

He probably didn't and Hwan couldn't help himself from feeling naked whenever he talked with or stood beside Kalen, with his black... everything.

He wore pink eyeshadow because he had always done so (it was Rose's fault, really. She was the one who told him he looked good when he had done it as a joke in high school). His tattoos were permanent colors he would always carry with him, but his shirts were black and so were his jeans, jacket, and shoes.

His earrings were silver, but did they really count when he had someone around who wore screaming red shoes?

Seriously. Red shoes?

Hwan felt dull, so maybe that was why he had bought nail polish in the color of waves and mom-jeans and sticky notes and worn it the day he was going to see Kalen.

Maybe that was why, he kept wearing it.

The color didn't match anything, really. He didn't have any blue eyeshadow he could connect it with, he didn't think he could ever pull off blue jeans like Kalen always did and the diamond in his silver earring that hung from his right ear wasn't blue, but white.

So, the nail polish didn't match anything.

Except Kalen's jacket.

And Kalen seemed to really like that.

Hwan had already witnessed him, proudly showing off Hwan's nails to Joe as if it was him who had made them. As if there was something special about them and they weren't just painted in one plain color.

Joe had seemed confused to the excitement in Kalen's eyes before he had leaned forward to get closer to Hwan and gestured to his jacket and Hwan's fingers that were curled around a drink (something that tasted like strawberries. He had seen Ria drink something alike at some point).

And Kalen was just leaning a tiny bit closer to Hwan, but wow, he smelled really good and his hair wasn't just black but had a little bit of brown to it and his skin was like porcelain except for that one acne spot on his cheek—

"I see it, you're matching," Joe had commented and smiled as if it was the cutest thing, she had seen all day.

And Kalen had nodded. "We are." And then he had talked with her about the color that connected the two of them and how it reminded him of the month July.

Now, Kalen was standing in the aisle right across from Hwan and was looking through varieties of cup noodles and Hwan caught himself staring.

It wasn't a lot of times Hwan would spot Kalen, before the said male spotted him and excitedly called out his name (no matter how many times it happened, it would always be just as excited as the first time). He would call his name as if they hadn't seen each other in years and Kalen couldn't wait to hear about everything he had missed in Hwan's life.