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"So what's your plan?"
Jackson was perched on top of a broken fence made of wooden blocks enclosing some livestock behind it. They had no idea whose farm it was but they were hanging in the compound anyway.
"I am going to Seoul hyung. Audition for some company and hopefully talent scouts might notice me," Youngjae mused, sitting down at the foot of a decaying tree.
"They better notice you Youngjae. You are too talented to rot here," Jackson boosted his confidence.
Jinyoung looked at Yugyeom who had been quietly listening all along.
"Where are you going Gyeomie?" Jinyoung asked.
"Back to school I guess. Start over. Wish me luck," Yugyeom announced hesitantly.
"Aish, you don't need luck, you are already a genius. Who else can catch a bucket load of fish by himself in less than an hour?" Jackson said getting himself back on the ground at which Yugyeom's face had turned a visible shade of red.
"What about you Jinyoung hyung? You didn't say anything about your future plans," Yugyeom complained and Jackson answered for him.
"Our Jinyoungie is going to become a shrink then treat lunatics like us."
"To be exact I am aspiring to be a cardiac surgeon and they don't treat lunatics like you," Jinyoung muffled a laugh.
Days flew by like dandelions riding the wind and Jinyoung kept crossing the dates off the calendar, getting closer and closer to finally escape everything he had to endure. Everything including his parent's divorce, the high school, the wretched classmates, the shitty town and definitely Jaebum.
He had been surprised by Jaebum's behavior lately, after the asshole had not acted upon his threat. Jinyoung's explicit pictures were not flying around the hallways of his high school or social media, which was strange. Jinyoung would wake up every morning, fully bracing himself to face the pending humiliation which never came.
Jaebum gradually became a layer of dust he had removed from his life. He couldn't care less about his pictures either because that was Jaebum's only weapon against him. Once he had thrown out the picture to the world, he would have to let go of the last hold on Jinyoung. No doubt Jaebum was expecting Jinyoung to fall for his plan.
Jinyoung never went back to his bed.
Jinyoung saw Jaebum at the graduation ceremony, not looking dashing as usual and maintaining a distance from Jinah which felt odd to Jinyoung. He went back home to spend the last week with his three friends and his father.
And it was finally the night before his departure to medical school. Jinyoung's mother definitely didn't sleep just like him, eager to start her new life along with her son. As much as Jinyoung was enthusiastic about moving to a bigger city, a fluttering nervousness worked inside him. But he was confident that his life out there would be much better than what his life was in the small town.
He crumpled some useless bits of paper from his desk, had opened his bedroom window to toss them out and thats when he saw the most unusual thing of the day.
Jaebum stood under the single birch tree, hands in his pocket, a strange shadow casted over his shrunken face. His eyes were directed towards Jinyoung's window, hoping to find him perhaps.
Jinyoung didn't know how to react to it. The last thing he had expected was to see Jaebum at his doorsteps and not the other way round. Torn between the idea of closing his curtains and entertaining him, Jinyoung chose the later and hated his decision immediately. As if Jaebum was expecting him to show up anyway and there is a faint smile on his lips but Jinyoung can tell that it was forced or maybe a facade to cover up something else.
"How are you?"
If Jinyoung could cringe to death, he probably would.
"Okay I guess," he had replied blandly even though he wanted to thank Jaebum with all the sarcasm he could muster for successfully ruining the last years of his teenage life.
Jaebum hesitates to speak, takes too much time to find right words. Maybe its the partial darkness or the ambience light dripping in from the posts of the street but Jinyoung had never seen Jaebum look so sickly pale.
"Are you leaving tomorrow?"
"Yes."
"Will you come back in holidays?"
"There is nothing to come back to."
A brief silence fell between them until Jaebum spoke again.
"I deleted your pictures."
Jinyoung cocked a brow, crossing arms accross his chest.
"It doesn't matter Jaebum. Nothing matters anymore. Goodnight. I have a flight early in the morning."
"Wait."
Jinyoung had turned on his heels ready to walk away any time but Jaebum's voice had stopped him.
"I will miss you Jinyoung. It's not a lie."
"And I won't miss you. It isn't a lie either. Now if you can excuse me."
"You will miss me Jinyoung, no matter what."
"Are you done?"
There was another round of uncomfortable silence and then Jaebum had caught him by his wrist with Jinyoung's resistance unwillingly melting away. As much as he hated that bubbling sentiments resurfacing within him, he couldn't deny that there was a change in the usual Jaebum he knew.
"Okay I'll leave. Look I don't know what to say Jinyoung but atleast take this."
And a paper neatly folded into a square was thrust into his palms. Jaebum had some balls to show up at Jinyoung's house after all he had done and he was standing like they didn't share a brutal history with one another. But Jinyoung's mind reeled at the whole scene unfolding in front if him. It was way too unnatural.
Jaebum had hurt him in countless different ways, treated him like sediment, crushed his hopes and heart the only time Jinyoung dared to ask if Jaebum loved him. Jaebum had tied him to the bedpost that night when he was supposed to be camping with his non existing friends and when it was all done, Jinyoung had asked Jaebum the most crucial question. In response, he was quickly shoved out into the porch at 3am, shivering in cold and pain.
Jaebum had hurt Jinyoung in a countless different ways but what he felt holding the paper was a new kind of pain which had no name.
Jaebum didn't say anything else, just gave him one of those half hearted smiles, bowed his head down and started to walk away in silence.
"Aren't you going to music school?"
Out of no particular reason, Jinyoung had felt like asking. Jaebum was a musical prodigy after all, there was no way he wasn't leaving the town to seek a brighter future.
Jaebum is seemingly surprised to find Jinyoung questioning him.
"I don't know. Maybe I'll stay right here, in this town, forever. Don't really feel like leaving."
Jinyoung was confused but he prevented himself from asking more questions. Whatever Jaebum did was none of his business. To be exact, he didn't want to see that face ever again.
"Have a good life Jinyoung."
That was the last he sees and hears from Im Jaebum before the boy drives off in his beat up Cadillac, leaving behind a piece of paper and a cloud of exhaust with Jinyoung.
