radiance | baekhyun

40

too bright for him; so bright, blazing. too much to handle.

cold. heat. life.

red.

another cracking sound. like a definitive denouement to something that was just beginning. felt himself being flung forward. all of them travelling in opposite directions.

end of an era.

hurtling through space and time and all dimensions.

landed with a thud.

then,

darkness.

and,

a blank canvas of nothing.

black closed in around his visibility.

light gone.

//

Seoul. 16:10.

january 30th 2012.

a pleasant phase of sky had welcomed the modern city, despite the wintery month bringing near-freezing temperatures and heavy, white snow that came up to your knees. the sky's milky complexion of pale, timid hues allowed the sun, hanging low in the sky, to settle amongst the plentiful clouds.

it was cold. very cold. the kind of cold that made your lips dry and chapped, and that possessed a wind which cut past your exposed skin and chilled you down to your bones. the kind that turned your cheeks a cherry-red and made you wrap your coat tightly around you.

baekhyun almost slipped as he rounded a corner, the ice on the ground almost knocking him over. he managed to grip hold of the wall adjacent to his fumbling stance, keeping him upright. he subconsciously looked around him, glad that no-one saw.

his jacket was nowhere near warm enough. baekhyun shoved his hands into his pockets, zipping his jacket up to the top. skin felt frozen; the sharpness of the january gales hit his face like hundreds of small knives.

trainers scraped across the concrete ground. his steps were very careful not to fall again.

he sighed deeply, his breath fogging against the blue air.

baekhyun was tired from studying all day. exhausted, really, his eyelids drooping, the cold only accentuating his over-worked attitude. he'd just left his final lecture, his notes an incomprehensible mess as he hadn't been paying attention properly. fuck, he thought to himself. he needed to pass his next exam otherwise he'd be in so much trouble.

brought back to reality by his phone vibrating loudly in his jacket pocket. scared him momentarily. he stopped at the traffic lights, the crossroads busy with cars rushing, all of them driving slightly slower to avoid accidents.

he pulled out his phone.

it was from junmyeon.

baekhyun held it up to his hear, his breath bated.

"um, hey," he greeted, finding it difficult to mask his fatigue with a cheerful façade.

"hey, baekhyun," junmyeon replied, pausing slightly. the only sound being baekhyun's laden breathing. baekhyun could feel his worry transmitting through the receiver. "hey, are you okay?"

baekhyun gulped. yawned quietly.

"oh, um, yeah. yeah, i'm good. just had loads of work and shit to do today, that's all," he answered back. it kind of wasn't all, but baekhyun didn't particularly feel like going into detail.