a beauty with crimson eyes | Minsung

chapter one

The sun had begun to set behind the tall buildings, making the sky different shades of pink, orange and yellow. The mix of these colours was so pretty and complimentary - it was all like paint blended on a canvas. 

Jisung, in his favourite white hoodie with checked sleeves and wired headphones, snapped shots of the beautiful city life at sunset. He took many pictures on his polaroid camera. he captured images of the pastel sky, the tall buildings, the trees and the surrounding shops.

It was fair to say that photography and music were an easy escape route for Jisung. He could just put on his headphones and enter a world where only the rhythms and melodies of the song were audible.

Tomorrow was Wednesday and the first day of school - first day of junior year to be precise. Something about that felt so surreal to Jisung because in just one year, he'd be a senior and...it'll all be over. School would be finished.

That was a thought that Jisung loathed to think about. The future for him was so vague - he didn't even know what he wanted to do after school and if he'd be with someone.

The boy continued strolling through the streets, that weren't very busy so he didn't focus on his surroundings and kept his eye on the eyepiece of his camera. Going forward, he felt himself banging into someone. Jisung fell back and landed on the ground with a grunt, dropping his camera. For a split second, he felt kinda mad and was gonna snap at the stranger for bumping into him but then he remembered that he was the one who walked into him so he didn't say anything. Before he made contact with the ground, he heard a phone land on the pavement and Jisung was really worried if he broke the stranger's phone.

Begrudgingly, Jisung looked up in shame at the stranger who had begun to stand up. Jisung opened his mouth to apologise, but when he made eye contact with the boy in front of him, he was stunned.

He's so...pretty Jisung thought.

This boy seemed to be Jisung's age. But something about him was so familiar - had he seen him before? He had fair, flawless skin, dark brown hair almost concealing his eyes. Those eyes could easily be perceived as a dark shade of brown but since there was a beam of light shining on the two boys, it illuminated the older boy's deep crimson eyes. Jisung also noticed his small pink lips that were partly open but his attention immediately went to the necklace around the stranger's neck. It was a necklace of a dark metal with a small padlock with a heart engraved on it, and attached to that chain was a small key, also engraved with a small heart.

Jisung seemed to be in a trance for an unknown time interval, just admiring the gorgeous boy in front of him. The older boy broke the silence "You should watch where you're going, you know?" and picked up his phone.

That snapped Jisung out of his thoughts and he immediately stared at the stranger with an embarrassed expression. "S-sorry. I didn't see you when I was walking with my camera." That struck Jisung a little. His camera was directed to the ground, but he didn't see anyone's figure or shadow through the lens but he instantly brushed that feeling off. "Is your phone broken?" Jisung quietly asked as he picked up his own camera from the ground that wasn't cracked. Thank god.

"Nah, it's fine. Just watch where you're going in the future, okay?" The older boy wasn't at all angry at him but his tone was quite cold, but nonetheless, Jisung nodded. The smaller boy stared at the stranger one last time while he was making his way up from the ground. While clutching his camera, he looked into the stranger's eyes for one second and then walked away. Even though, he'd do anything to stare into those gorgeous crimson eyes again.

Later at home, Jisung was in his room, getting his uniform out for the next day and placing his bag by his door. While grabbing his tie and placing it on the chair near his bed, he heard his phone ping.