Scarlet Snow ✔

𝕊ℂ𝔸ℝ𝕃𝔼𝕋 𝕊ℕ𝕆𝕎

Numb.

That's how Taehyung felt.

Sitting on top of the snow-covered Gwanaksan Mountain, he couldn't even feel the tiniest bit of cold in this freezing weather. His heart had frozen over, the same as the land around him, and all he could do was stare at the view in front of him.

He could see the city from up here; the brightly lit streets and the residents full of life. Even though the people looked no bigger than the tiniest specks of dust from the distance, he knew they were enjoying their life to the fullest. They were aware of how short life could be, and they had decided to not let a moment of it go to waste.

He used to be like those people.
Taehyung once had a smile that could melt anybody's heart in an instant. It would start out slow, the corners of his lips would turn down into a smirk before stretching into a beautiful rectangle, and his eyes would reduce to the smallest of crescents—to the point where tiny wrinkles would appear when he laughed too hard.

It had been months since anybody last saw that smile.

Growing up, he rarely had a reason to smile at all. Before they came along, that is. It all changed when they came into his life, filling the void in his heart like a key to a lock. The perfect match.

But as fate would have it, once again, he had been robbed of all joy.

He never understood why the threads of his life were woven this way. No matter how long his ecstasy lasted, it was never permanent. Even before any of this happened he hadn't been happy for a long time. But right now, it was worse than ever.

Because he missed them.
He missed how Hoseok would always have a solution for everything; the perfect advice.

"I don't know what to do anymore." Taehyung sank lower into the chair, bringing both hands to his head and tugging at his hair in frustration. Things had been getting worse.

Hoseok just smiled, plopping down next to him. "You know you're just overthinking, Tae. Everyone's still the same... just in a different situation. You'll see that; it's gonna take a while, but you'll get there. Just don't do anything rash. We're worried about you."

The older man's words had never failed to calm Taehyung. He could be a mess of emotions but Hoseok would somehow always find a way to make him feel better.

"Time is the key. Be patient," he had said.

And Taehyung had listened. Like every other time, Taehyung had believed his friend's words. For countless days he had been patient, waiting for things to go back to normal. He had forced himself to smile, thinking that if he did it enough maybe he would start believing it was real. That his happiness was real.

But for the first time... Hoseok had been wrong. Nothing would ever be the same again.

Unlike the stillness of the air around him, Taehyung's mind was in a state of complete chaos, flooding with memories of their early days. He couldn't remember the exact moment they had all befriended each other, but it was like the universe had just placed them together.