Strings - Minsung

01

it was about 9 pm on a thursday night. street lights and store LEDs making way for minho down the street. he has successfully covered his frost red ears with a hood, but the same could not be said about his equally red nose.

"I fucking hate overtime." the venom in his voice could be heard through the whisper. his cold fingers untangling the wired headphones with a little struggle. he did eventually reach his goal, stuffing the white plastic into his ears.

a softer playlist of his started playing, starting with Seventeens 'Heavens Cloud'. his feet began walking to the beat, a little skip to his step and a hum from his slightly chopped lips. the dry skin made them feel uncomfortable, but he did little to fix it. his eyes followed the brick street in front of him; not focusing on anything yet aware of everything.

the people. the places. smells. buildings. feelings. they were there yesterday, are here today, and will continue being there tomorrow and even the day after. these walks made him realize- life didn't matter. if there was an end to entirety of everything existing, right now would be the time.

everyone made their way around the man who walked with purpose; although the had none. minho was never the one to persuade. Changing peoples opinion of him wasn't his responsibility.

staying overtime wasn't uncommon for him, but definitely not his favorite thing in the world. although the longer digits did look rather pleasant on an otherwise bland paycheck, it wasn't always worth it.

like now, he was walking through the busy streets of itaewon. the cold making his body hurt and shiver uncomfortably whenever he bumped into people. he tried to avoid crowds. getting lost in them was easier than dropping a sock off of a full laundry basket- especially with his feel of direction. to be frank, he had none.

"you've got to be kidding me."

the white vapor came out of his mouth as he whispered the next few curses. in front of him, on a late night itaewon, was a crowd. the only thing keeping him and them apart was a street he had to cross in order to get home.

he told himself to man up. to suck it up and grow a pair. but man, the mere thought of having to push through all these people made him cringe. he let out a cry of help, looking up at the sky as if it would give him wings or at least a little confidence in himself. to save you the anticipation, it did nothing.

fuck it, were his last thoughts. he pushed his hands deep into the pockets of his puffer jacket, hand clutching the phone inside. his head hung low, more for protection than anything. he started pushing through the crowd, ignoring the grunts and words of dissatisfaction coming from others. the deeper he made it in the harder it was to break through. he felt people pushing him from side to side, accidentally stepping on his shoes and what not. some were nice enough to at least try to make way for him, but most wanted him gone out of the way.

he started to grow impatient, and rather angry. at the crowd, at himself, at the street, at the world. how did his peaceful night turn into this?!

In the middle of his self venting he felt himself being showed. a force harder than all the previous ones made him stumble, accidentally pushing his headphones straight out of his ears with force.

"i'm so sorry!" the person who pushed him apologized. seeing that it was nothing more but a result of the hazard they were currently in, minho brushed them off. focusing more on getting his earphones back into his ears.

however he stopped. no, not just him, but the whole world. minho was so sure of it. the words of the song flew into his ears like sand through a sandglass. a voice with the taste of honey and hazelnut made minho stop breathing for a second. earphones long forgotten, the songs on his playlist couldn't ever compete with what he was hearing right now. it was calming, sad, yet comfortable. it had a feeling of something real; life.