CHOCOLATES IN MONSOON | HRK

02 | windows and butterflies

CHAPTER TWO ;; HARUTO
windows and butterflies

Cancer of the dick (which will kill me in one year because it has spread) - Haruto liked calling it.

Terminal Penile Cancer (which will eventually kill the patient because its second stage infection) - his father and doctor persisted.

To be honest, he was okay with neither but he didn't exactly have a say in some weird bug eating up his balls and he knew that. Call it what you would. At the end of the day, it was still just cancer.

Cancer.

The word appeared to follow him around everywhere he went. Even now, as he lay in the backseat of their rental car -

his parents finally arriving after another hour's strenuous wait,

he heard his father tune in to the local radio.

"Let's discuss the booming industry revolving around support groups throughout the country especially in this small, lack lustre town. Comfort has ways of implanting itself in the strangest of places I dare say !" , the host said cheerfully. His voice dulled out amidst the continuous drum of rain on the car roof, disturbing Haruto's peace of mind.

Not that he cared anyways. He had his earphones plugged - Khalid on repeat and a bottle of water. The air freshener fixed on the dashboard had a pleasant smell and he found himself staring dazedly out at the lush green trees zipping past his eyes in strips of green. The moisture creeping up the rolled up window forming clear, transparent streaks where the rain drops slid down. It was dark outside too. The clouds downtown were darker and thunder rumbled in the distance.

Not a comforting thing to notice. He liked the dark. He liked the night time but he disliked the cold.

He abominated the cold.

...and the wet.

Looking outside at the limited diversity and the dark grey cement of the road made his mind wander inevitably back to the airport guy. Junkyu...had he said? Yes it had to be.

(i am junkyu kim you know?)

Whoever he was, he had been kinda bright. A little sunshine perhaps in this wet town. Maybe that was his job. Being something different in this monotonous humdrum. Him in his red hoodie, him with his white headphones. Him with his

glitter shoes.

Haruto smiled at this - it was a comforting thought.

Which was strange. He rarely had comforting thoughts. And glitter shoes weren't supposed to be comforting. They were supposed to be abominated.

Abominated. Wrapped up in plastic and thrown into the waste bins.

Nonetheless, the guy had worn it. Maybe they weren't that bad after all.

"What are you smiling at kid? You like this town? See ! I told you you would ! ", his father called from the front, asking his own questions and reaching his own conclusions as always. His smile immediately straightened to a line and he merely nodded, going back to resting his head against the window and seeing the rain.

Another forty minutes of silent driving later, his father finally pulled up in front of a probable white house - he wasn't sure - the rain made everything appear blurry, made him feel sick to the stomach. Not that he wanted to know though. Living in a new home in a new town for a support group was no incentive for curiosity. Nonetheless he got off the car with his umbrella out, aware of a gentle throb in his lower region. Those rotten cells tended to act up after a while and Haruto hated talking about it with his dad.