Another Fairy Tale /Ateez

Chapter 40 - Welcome Home

Is anyone out there? can you hear me?
Can you hear my loneliness whispering? 
Oh, please, tell me the answer
The reason why I can't escape alone

- Not too late, Ateez

"I hate this.", Rory whispered to Changbin, who gave her an encouraging smile. 

"It's gonna be over sooner than you think. Trust me." 

Rory had a feeling this would definitely feel like infinity. The whole village had come together at the memorial and dressed up especially this night. Despite Rory's protests, Changbin had dragged her out of the house, not caring if she went there in her pyjamas. 

Luckily Rory had convinced him to let her at least change into something else, so now she was wearing a shorter, black dress, perfectly for the warm weather. For the first time in a while Rory openly showed her scars and didn't feel embarrassed by it, not even when the people eyed them curiously. 

The whole park had been decorated for the party and Rory had never seen it this beautiful. The chains of lights reminded Rory of her first date with Yunho on the ship and a small smile made its way onto her lips as she searched for him in the crowd. Thanks to his height it was easy to spot him, and Rory stopped breathing when she saw him. He had taken of his jacket and pulled up the sleeves of his suit. But Rory couldn't concentrate long on his looks as she noticed his eyes nervously looking around, visibly feeling uncomfortable in the crowd. 

As Rory already wanted to go to him, the principal went to the memorial, a microphone in his hands. "Ladies and Gentlemen, let me start this feast with a few words.  First of all, welcome back home to our boys and I wish all of you to heal soon. Second of all, this is not only a celebration for the survivors, it's also a reminder of those we lost a few months ago. We remember them in our hearts as students, friends, family, partners even. Let's raise our glasses to them as they will always be a part of us, whether they're here or not." 

When Rory looked around she saw the people raising their glasses, many of  them with teary eyes and she took a sip of her own wine. The principal went back into the crowd and then one after another families went to the memorial, placing pictures or flowers in front of it. 

As Yunho watched the families, he felt a strange peace inside of him. The crowd was silent as they paid their last respects to the dead. He looked around and saw the faces of his best friends and the tears streaming down their cheeks. When he turned to the memorial again he watched Haknyeon and his friends doing a full bow in front of it. Then Yeonjun stepped to it and one could see how hard it was for him. Yunho watched as Rory went to him and placed a hand onto his shoulder, to show him he wasn't alone anymore. Despite the weird feeling in Yunho's chest, he was glad Yeonjun had someone to lean onto. 

Then Yunho heard footsteps behind him and watched Seonghwa go to the front as well. He fixed his tie and gripped the rose in his hands tighter as he knelt down in front of it. Slowly he placed the single rose to the other flowers and looked down onto the bracelet on his wrist. With tearful eyes Seonghwa returned to the group and let his mother pat his back in comfort. 

The ceremony lasted about half an hour. For some it felt like a second funeral, to others it was like finally being able to deal with the pain and to go on. Afterwards the mood went up and people got themselves drinks and snacks. The whole park was filled with people and children were playing around. It didn't seem like a sad event anymore, now it really was like a celebration. 

The boys sat down on a large blanket while their parents were chatting with each other. At first no one dared to break the silence as everyone was in their own thoughts, but then they started talking and joking around, ignoring the curious looks of other people.