HIM.

xv.

xv. COLORFUL

SHE was sitting at a bus bench when Hoseok saw her. He himself was out on a night run, because he couldn't sit still and had a hard time falling asleep.

Why was Mari out so late?

It didn't take long for him to realize that she still worked a job as a bartender. He could never imagine having that kind of life. Being associated with the mafia on the down low, being a college student in the daytime, and working at a dodgy bar in the late evenings. Her days seemed to sound exhausting at the thought of it.

Why was Hoseok even sympathizing with her in the first place? She was just an...

An acquaintance? A co-worker? A girl he knew?

She seemed to be in deep thought, but Mari's conscious form was aware of his presence even before he noticed her. She had a lot on her mind.

"What are you doing here?" She questioned, back slouched leniently against the bus bench, staring at the road across from them. She paid attention to the flickering lamppost, the low bass coming from Seokjin's bar in the distance, and even the soft patter of Jae's shoes.

He shrugged back at her, taking a seat on the bench at the far end, needing a small breather. "I went out for a run."

Mari snorted under her breath. "That's a first. You gave me a straightforward answer for once."

He turned his chin slightly to look at her, and noted how she was now peering up at the sky, sitting at the edge of the seat.
"Oh."

Mari abruptly turned her head to look at him for a second, then stared back up at the dark sky above them.

"How much longer do you think this arrangement will last?" She was implying the supposed cover-up she was to them. Hoseok shrugged again.

"I don't know. Knowing Jin hyung, it could be a while. Or it could end right now, within a few days. Soon people might be able to put a face to the name of the murders, and we don't want to get anyone into any unnecessary trouble. So hopefully, not for much longer."

It might've sounded like Hoseok was trying to get rid of her, but in all honesty, that wasn't his intent with his words.

"You want to get rid of me?" Mari responded, a small smile spreading across her lips. "That wouldn't be the first time I heard that."

He blinked, looking away from her and down at his shoes. Hoseok wasn't one who was best at interpreting his own psychological nature. His didn't like to, because sometimes that would allow weakness to show, and he had a reputation for not having any. But right now all he could process was a bunch of colors.

He felt colorful, like purple, pink, blue, green, all of them. Cool and happy, he didn't really understand why. Hoseok wasn't super restless like how he was whenever he was alone with only him and himself.

It had to be Mari. Jae wasn't one to sugarcoat things, especially to himself, and it had to be her that made him feel like that. Colorful. It's like he could see fireflies in his eyes now. And flowers bloomed whenever he saw her.

Hoseok didn't understand what it was about her, maybe it was that they were very similar and very different. He hardly knew much about her, because she was hiding something. But it was definitely past the superficial attraction to her pretty face.

"You don't drive?"

"I do," Mari tucked in her legs. "I just don't have the money to afford a car right now."

Xiaoling felt thorns inside her. Coiling and wrapping itself around a fist-like object at the center of her chest. From each thistle and thorn bloomed a red or white petallike blossom, encasing herself in a sweet perfume which Mari found hard to get rid of. In her ears, she'd hear the different breezes whistle through, in harmony and synchronization that sounded like a thousand violins performing in the largest orchestra.

Every time she saw him.