HEAVEN

FIVE

DAY FOUR: KWON JIHA³

"THIS WILL LOOK CUTE ON YOU!"

"All clothes look like trash on me, Hyuck," commented the female bitterly, on the other side of the store in the men's section. "Why are you over there? We need to get you new clothes."

Donghyuck walked over to the rack that was covering Jiha. "I don't need new clothes, Ji. i have plenty."

"Then why drag me here of all places!"

"I was going to pick out clothes for you."

"I —" jiha exhaled, her pointer finger and thumb pinching the bridge of her nose. "Donghyuck, take this seriously please."

"I am!" Donghyuck defended, hands raising as if to shield himself from Jiha's deadly stare. "I want you to have fun. If you aren't having fun then tell me what I should do."

"God, you make this whole thing look like a date."

"It could be."

"Yah! Shut up!" Jiha whispered, looking around if others heard. "If you aren't going to buy clothes then take me somewhere else. Somewhere that's pleasant." Donghyuck smiled at that, the beat of Shinhwa's Resolver booming through the speakers of the store.

"I KNOW JUST THE PLACE."

-

6.49pm

"What the fuck —"

"Hey! No cussing!" Donghyuck shushed.

"I-I don't understand? Where are we going?" Jiha was puzzled. The path they were taking was rocky and it was getting dark. She forgot to bring her glasses so Jiha was depending on Donghyuck's hand, gripping onto it for dear life.

They strayed away from the lights and the yelling old people — it was much quieter now, evening settling in their bones. The sky was turning blue with a swish of black. for some reason, Jiha felt warm in that exact moment, a familiar bubbling at the bottom of her stomach emerging.

This reminded her of the random escapes they had when she visited Donghyuck in Jeju every month. Sometimes they'd run away together with clasped hands and go to the marketplace and buy whatever food their parents forbid them from even looking at. They'd run away to the forest and find a safe, cool spot where they'll tell stories and wrestle each other for the last piece of meat pierced on the stick.

Tears started to form when they reached the beginning of a forest.

"This whole serenity reminds you of something, doesn't it?" Donghyuck whispered, stopping abruptly in his tracks.

"Y-yeah, actually."

"Remember when we were eight?" he was still whispering, his voice a soft melody against the air. Jiha felt a chill on her arm. "We'd always get in trouble for running away and coming back home late."

"I miss those times," Jiha confessed in one breath, exhaling it all out.

"Me too."

The soft chirps of birds could be heard if you listen closely enough. Small rustles of bushes and snaps of twigs made Jiha feel at ease, even though she would typically be scared.

"Donghyuck, I have to go back home soon."

"I know that," he faced her. He pulled her into a bone-crushing embrace and placed his head atop her shoulder. "I don't want you to leave me again..." Jiha felt a tear drop on her sleeve. "It's lonely being here, you know. even though I have fans and my friends with me, I miss being with you."

"I know, Hyuck," whispered Jiha ever so softly, hands wrapped around his slim waist, "but I really have to leave. Maybe in a few weeks. So I need to find someone for you before that happens. I don't want you feeling lonely. I-I promise I'll come back."

Donghyuck hummed a quiet 'okay'. He should be happy, right? He could be getting a girlfriend and he wouldn't feel so sad seeing his friends with theirs, that's why he called her here in the first place — but the thought of Jiha leaving, the thought of never seeing her again for another set of months on end of waiting, the thought of never saying it to her. It crushed his heart.

"Let's go home, hm?"

He hummed another response, and took hold of Jiha's small hand that led him to the brighter path.

OH, KWON JIHA. WHAT IF THAT SOMEONE IS YOU?