SUNDAY

The wind blew softly, transporting the delicate scent from the fresh flowers on Hongjoong's hands to his nostrills and he breathed in, letting it wash over his mind, calming him down.

He looked up at the blue sky above him, carefully decorated with white clouds, and took another deep breath.

The chilly breeze kept blowing and tugging at his blonde locks while the rays of sunlight warmed up his skin. A contrasting, but delightful sensation.

Has the weather outside been this beautiful all this time? He wondered to himself, thinking of how much time he had spent stuck in his own mind, self-loathing. Nonetheless, he was glad that he already felt open to the world again after what happened yesterday.

It really was exactly what he needed, and for him to be able to come all the way here was a miracle.

He looked down, staring at the picture of the one he's loved the most in his entire life, his eyes shifting to read the engraved name and epitaph there, as he was standing in front of Mingi's grave.

And he felt something he hasn't felt ever since Mingi passed away, as much as the reality still stung, for the first time in months, today, he was finally able to look up and see the colors in the sky.

Hope.

He had found hope.

While his heart still ached, and there were still many more tears to be shed, he felt free.

"Hey, Mingi..." he smiled at his lover's portrait, as he bent down to place the flowers down for him. "It's me, Hongjoong... I brought you these, red has always suited you the best."

A lump formed in his throat, but he swallowed it down. "I'm sorry it took me forever to come see you here... It really wasn't easy for me to cope with your loss, you should know. You know how much I loved you, and I still do..." He paused, giving himself time to process and gather his own thoughts. There was just too much he wanted to say. "I came here because I wanted to apologize, above all, for not coming here to see you all this time, and for being weak, so much that I ended up hurting myself and our memories together. Thinking I could artificially recreate your essence. Of course that didn't work. It really is impossible to recreate the sweetest jerk on earth's essence, at least I've come to find that out." he snickered and chuckled to himself.

"You would be ashamed if you could've seen me then, I wasn't the strong man you used to love. But I'm here now, Mingi. And I hope you can forgive me."

A strong wind blew past him, interrupting his serious speech and messing up his hair. The blonde chuckled softly.

Mingi would totally have poked fun at him if he had seen that.

His heart squeezed as he wished he could hear Mingi's big loud laugh just one more time.

"I miss you, Min..." he trailed off, his gaze flying around as he tried his best not to cry. "I miss you so much... But I want you to know, that I'll never forget you. I'll carry you with me, in my mind, and in my heart, forever. And I'm ready to move on, I won't waste any more time, I'll enjoy the days I have left on earth for both me and you."

As Hongjoong finished the main part of his speech, what he really needed to tell Mingi more than anything, he felt himself relax more and more, as he started now to talk about all and give him an update of all his past life events ever since Mingi had left his side.

Hongjoong had completely lost track of time in his conversation with Mingi in the quiet graveyard, when he suddenly shivered from the chilly wind. The sun had already fully set. As he used his both hands to rub his arms in an attempt to warm up his body, he looked up and saw stars already peeking through sky, even though it wasn't completely dark yet.

"Do you remember when you once said, that the stars were like me?" He said softly, smiling at the memory. "You said you could look at them forever. But now, I'm the one who's down here all by myself, just like the night sky. Covered in loneliness and darkness. I'm sorry I can't be your star anymore, but you can be mine. So please, shine down on me, and make my dark and lonely days sparkle like the night sky, Mingi."

Hongjoong closed his eyes and exhaled a long sigh, before opening them up again and staring at one specific star in the sky, that shone brighter than the others.

"You will forever be my star."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A YEAR LATER

Hongjoong crosses the street quickly, holding three big old books in his arms, when his phone rings. He continues to walk as he struggles to shift all the books so he can carry the three with one arm only, as the other reaches for his phone.

Whose number is this? Hongjoong wonders and starts to slow down his pace until he completely halts. Who could it be? He lowers his head down to try and meet his ear with the phone, awkwardly trying not to let any of his books fall.

Until something, someone, bumps into him from behind. He stumbles forward and lets out a surprised gasp, but before he could regain his balance, him, his phone and the books were on the floor.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry!" A deep caring voice exclaimed, and as Hongjoong looked up, still on his knees on the floor, he sees a man kneel down in front of him. Pitch black hair, prominent cheek bones, sharp facial features, a pair of beautiful concerned eyes, and slim body. He couldn't help being a little taken aback by how good the man looked. "Hey, are you okay? I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention, l-let me help you."

Hongjoong stood still and waited as the man promptly started to carefully gather his things from the floor one by one. "You don't have to, I'm okay, really..."

"Oh, please, I insist," the man got up after grabbing everything on the floor, helping Hongjoong up as well on the way. "Here it is."

Hongjoong blushed when he took in the man's looks once more, now that he was standing there right in front of him, he could take a better look at his standing figure, he was taller than Hongjoong himself, the sun making his entire face lit up and his dark hair glow.

"T-thank you..." As he started to get his things situated back in his arms one by one, on the last book, as he tried pulling it from the stranger's hand, the man held it in place, not letting it go. Hongjoong frowned looking up to face a weird look on the man's face.

"This book... Are you reading it?" The handsome stranger looked up from the book to meet Hongjoong's curious eyes. He had this smile on his face, that surprised the blonde, even more because apparently he knew this book as well, which wasn't common at this day and age.

"Not really," Hongjoong cleared his throat. "This is one of my all time favorites, I've been looking for this version for a while and I've finally found it."

"Oh, that is so cool!" The man beamed and turned to reach for something on his bag, Hongjoong jumped a little, startled by the sudden reaction, as he waited politely to see what the man was trying to do. "I also have one! It's hard to find them these days, isn't it? I'm sure you must be happy you've found one."

Hongjoong's mouth fell open, impressed by how the book looked fresh as if it had just gotten out of a bookstore, which didn't exist anymore, and haven't existed for decades now. "Oh wow, it's in perfect condition!"

"Yes!" The man laughed softly and his chest inflated with joy and pride. "I renovated it! It's also one of my favorites, but I have renovated all the ones in my collection with just as much dedication!"

"D-did you?" Hongjoong asked, still shocked that he had just had someone bumping into him, turning out to be a book lover like he was, and despite the fact that he also renovated his books, the quality of his weren't nearly as good as the stranger's, clearly. "How did you do it? It looks perfect, I could never get mine to look this good..."

"Oh, you have a collection too? I'd love to see it!" The man let out, startling Hongjoong with his excitement once again, which apparently he himself had noticed as his cheeks turned a sheer shade of pink as he cleared his throat. "S-sorry, books are really a passion of mine, I tend to get overly excited because of them... But I mean, I could show you mine as well, if you'd like to see it..."

"Only if you give me some renovation tips while we're at it, uhm..." Hongjoong paused waiting for the other to complete his sentence and smiled at him, stretching out a greeting hand to the man.

"Seonghwa." The man smiled back, taking Hongjoong's hand into his and shaking it politely.

"Nice to meet you, Seonghwa. I'm Hongjoong."

~~~~~~~~~~THE END.

A/N: Oh I can't believe this is over *cries in a corner*. I had so much fun writing it! I'm so proud of how it came out and I hope you reading this also enjoyed it!

Thank you for reading it all until the very end, and I hope to see you on my next ones!!

Xoxo, vecafe_latte. <3