COLOR RUSH || TAEGYU

CHAPTER XIII

Taehyun had barely been able to sleep. He had woken up at every hour and took a long time to fall back asleep. Once he had given up on sleep entirely, it was just past noon. He went out into the living room, where Yeonjun was passed out on the couch. A few bottles of soju were on the floor, surrounding him.

Taehyun moved quietly, careful not to wake the older as he cleaned up the bottles. He left a glass of water and some aspirin on the table for his brother when he woke up to relieve his hangover. Yeonjun rarely drank, but when he did, he drank a lot.

Taehyun quickly brushed his teeth and put on a hoodie over his shirt. The wind nipped his skin as he stepped outside and he shivered. He could see his breath form in the air. He walked along the sidewalk, cars passing by him as he did. The cool wind helped wake him up.

It felt nice.

He enjoyed these afternoons he spent alone, just thinking as he walked. His mind quickly drifted towards Beomgyu, as it always did these days. He couldn't stop himself. He kept thinking about how warm he felt whenever he was near the older, how despite his attempt at putting on a cold face, Beomgyu managed to break down his walls. He suddenly wondered if he hadn't said yes when Beomgyu asked to hang out that day, less than two weeks ago. But he was glad he did.

They managed to get so close in such a short span of time.

Were they truly fated to be together, as a Mono and a Probe?

Taehyun smiled to himself.

He made his way to a bridge with a small stream underneath it. He rested his arms on the railing of the bridge, watching the water move. He found himself lost in one of his earliest memories, when his mother had taken him and Yeonjun to this very bridge for the first time when they were five and ten.

His mother had been standing on the bridge with him and Yeonjun standing on either side of her. Taehyun remembered that he hadn't been tall enough to reach the railing just yet, so he had just held his mother's hand, staying close to her.

"This is where I met your father."

"How?" Yeonjun asked.

"I was looking at the river because it looks so much clearer on sunny days."

Indeed, that day, the water had been sparkling under the sun.

"And then what?" Taehyun's curiosity got the better of him.

She ruffled Taehyun's hair and kneeled down, meeting her sons' gazes with a gentle smile.

"Your dad was sitting on that bench." She gestured to the bench behind them. "He was painting the fish in the river. I told him that he did a good job because the fish looked exactly the same."

"Then did Dad look at you?" Taehyun asked. Jiwon smiled again and nodded.

"And that's when I experienced my first color rush."

Taehyun remembered how romantic she had made it seem. But as he got older, more people started talking about how dangerous Monos were and he realized how important it was to keep it a secret that he was one, even though it was rare for Monos to even meet their Probes. That was why he dismissed the idea of ever meeting his Probe until he saw Beomgyu.

He sighed and stared back at the water. The water wasn't sparkling today. His eyes then landed on his scraped knuckles. He examined his hands carefully.

He couldn't remember how they had gotten like that.

A stabbing pain suddenly filled his chest. He let out a sharp gasp and his legs collapsed underneath him, causing him to fall on his knees. His head started pounding so hard, his eyes began to sting with tears. His heart was beating so fast, he could barely breathe.