nightingale ↜ hhj

final ☾

3 years went by, and each winter night, Hyunjin was reminded of her. He would always wait, as if he could hear her voice for the last time.

Her burial was the part where he cried his heart out although he tried his best to cover it from Minho. The thought of never seeing her again was painful, he hated this fate. However, he was happy that she was not suffering anymore.

Each time winter arrived, the cold wind at night would always remind him of their little rendezvous. He missed her a lot, the only thing he had to remind him of Maru was his small nightingale sculpture. It hurt him that he couldn't hold her any longer.

He'd visit her almost every day provided he wasn't busy with the small business he and his father were running, he'd clean the place up and replace the flowers so she won't feel lonely. "If only I can see you again." He would always repeat those words.

"Hey, there pal. Looking gloomy as ever."

Hyunjin looked up from his hands and was met with a friend. He gave him a small smile and approached the male. "What can I get you, Felix?" Hyunjin repeated the chant whenever someone comes to their small stall in the market.

"It's my little sister's birthday and I don't know what to give her. I thought of one of your sculptures but here I am and I still have no clue what to choose." Felix flashed a cheeky smile.

"Well, what does she like?" Hyunjin asked, Felix's family was new in the village. They moved in this year around autumn but they were quite secretive, or at least that was what the villagers believed. Hyunjin thought the opposite, they were new anyway, they needed time to get use to other people.

Furthermore, Hyunjin and Felix became friends rather quick than he expected. Felix was really friendly and helpful. His father was a goldsmith, and Felix followed his footsteps so both of them taught one another about their specialities.

"She loves to sing," Felix paused for a while as he busied thinking. Hyunjin looked down on the table in front of him, trying to find anything that fits his sister's interest or character but he just couldn't find the perfect one.

"She has a nickname, nightingale."

Hyunjin almost stopped breathing, he stared blankly at the sculptures on the table before darting his eyes towards Felix. The male in front of him noticed the sudden change in his friend's expression. He couldn't help but to wave his hand in front of Hyunjin's face to see if he was awake.

"Hyunjin?" The named male blinked a few times before fixing his gaze on his friend again. "Sorry, what did you say?" Hyunjin asked. "Do you have a sculpture of a nightingale? Or any bird? I can lie to her and tell her it's a nightingale, she had never seen one anyway." Felix shrugged his shoulders and chuckled.

"Actually we do, but it's not quite finished yet. I'll send it over to your house before dusk." Hyunjin said, for some reasons his heart was beating awfully fast at the thought of making another nightingale but it wasn't a dreadful feeling, it was rather exciting.

"Really? Woah, you're the best. Thanks!" Felix patted Hyunjin on the shoulders before leaving the stall.

Hyunjin hurried himself to the back and immediately starting to work on his sculpture. He didn't have much time like before, and he wanted it to turn out nice as it was a birthday present anyway. He was far too excited to even noticed he kept tapping his foot.