The owner of a pair of expensive-looking shoes is walking his way to the nearest museum from their office. Despite the undeniably chilling wind that touched his face and whispered on his ears softly, the guy with black coat shrugged it off and kept his sculpted-like face up while looking straight at the museum's entrance.
His sharp-eyes that complemented by the bags of it wandered around the place, wondering if a familiar figure from his history might encounter his orbs, and light the others'. He continued his pace, not minding the unaligned lines of the street with the crowd surrounding him.
His footsteps halted as he reached the intersection, where he clearly witness how an ocean of people from the front will approach once the green light's on. He heaved a sigh before looking at his wristwatch, getting impatient since he really wanted to fasten his pace to see one thing: An oeuvre from his past that no painted canvass can replace when it comes to beauty.
The man composed himself when the crowd from the other side approaches him, but despite wanting to fasten his steps, something made him halt his overly fastened pace as his no-ordinary orbs met somebody's cerulean ones, and it made him stop, not just his steps but also his beats.
Not far from the museum, his gaze darted to the familiar figure from his front, meeting his sharp-eyes with the latter's smiling eyes. The brunette from the other side of the street near the intersection waved his hand to the man with his not-so-tight sleeves, an expensive rolex hanging on his wrist and the sharp-eyes from earlier softened as he gazes at the most beautiful oeuvre his eyes darted on.
"Hyunsuk hyung." He unconsciously mumbled the smiling boy's name from the intersection, slowly continued his pace and walk his way to the man with his casual street wear that the guy in coat expected, just like from his highschool days. The smiling boy really loves different styles, which was his total opposite since he prefer wearing suits and formal clothes, as a CEO of an entertainment near the intersection.
He eagerly fastened his steps, not letting his body bump to anyone as he kept his eyes on the prize: Hyunsuk.
The way the latter's eyes lightened up when he saw the guy in suit fastened his pace, plastering a smile on his lips as he watched the younger approach him with a small smile. "He looks so different from the last time I saw him, I guess puberty hits Jihoon hard to be this expensive looking, huh?"
The guy in sleeves which named as Jihoon, stopped as he create a thin line with his lips, facing the older guy which gave him a smile.
"It's been a while," Jihoon stated before looking straight at Hyunsuk's eyes. "Wanna see the museum one last time before they demolish it next month?"
A shade of jet black sadness can be seen on the older's eyes as Jihoon mentioned the last time they'll see the museum they grew up with. Hyunsuk slowly nodded before turning his head, but he stopped when the younger spoke.
"Stay right beside me or you'll get lost in the crowd, hyung."
The older guy couldn't help but to happily look at the younger before stepping beside Jihoon. They walk their way to the museum with anticipation and sadness knowing that the museum they always see each other in better days or worst ones, is now about to say goodbye to them.
They're about to past a whole crowd when suddenly Hyunsuk almost tripped caused him to hold tightly onto Jihoon's suit, and somehow, it made Jihoon feel the nervousness he was trying to conceal earlier that day.
"Ah, sorry." Hyunsuk nervously laughed before letting go of the younger's fabric. He was about to step forward when he felt Jihoon's hand on his head.
"I told you to stay beside me, clumsy smurf." Jihoon said before patting his head softly as they continue their pace with smiles on their faces, hoping the day will not end.
The entrance of the museum seems uncrowded, the guards are eyeing them while smiling which they did the same. One of the guards approach the two guys.
"Hyunsuk! Jihoon! It's been a long time since the last time I saw the both of you here, how are you?" The guard with a mole on his right cheek smiled at them. Hyunsuk's eyes lightened as he taps the guard's shoulder.
"We're good, Mr. Lee. Actually, we're here to see the museum before the management destroy it next month, might as well say goodbye, I guess?" Hyunsuk scratches his nape while smiling shyly at the guard, which gave him a meaningful smile.
"I'm glad I witnessed the both of you grew together," the guard looks at Jihoon while smiling still. "I hope the best for the both of you, and seems like you already achieved your dreams? Mr. CEO?"
Jihoon laughed at him before gazing at the older guy. "Yeah, we did. Seperately."
Mr. Lee's smile fades as he observed how Jihoon's smiles at Hyunsuk with sadness can be seen in his orbs. The guard smiled at Jihoon before tapping his shoulder, letting him know that he's there for the younger. "You did well all these years, Jihoon."
"Thank you, Mr. Lee. I'll go first, I'll ask something to the counter, I'll wait for you there, hyung." Jihoon said while tapping the guard's back before looking at Hyunsuk. He walks his way to the counter as Hyunsuk smiled at his fading back.
"I never thought the both of you will go in your respective lives seperately. I mean, you were inseparable since high school. I saw the both of you grew older beside one another, I'm curious but I won't ask. I'm happy for the both of you, Hyunsuk-ah." Mr. Lee looks at the younger with saddened eyes, but Hyunsuk kept the genuine smile on his lips.
"Neither I," he looks at the direction Jihoon took earlier. "Everything has changed, Mr. Lee."
"He's a good guy," The statement made the younger look at the older guy. "Last week, he came here to ask the management to extend the visiting hours."
Last week? Hyunsuk thought.
"I heard that he really wanted someone to see the museum with him before they close this next month. So, I thought it would be you, and I was right." The guard pats Hyunsuk's head softly. "He knows exactly how to make you happy, right?"
The younger one froze when he heard the old man's words. He heard last week that early this week, the museum will be closed permanently and he was really sad. But when Jihoon asked him to visit the place, he was really confused. So that's why the visiting hours were extended? Jihoon asked for it?
"He never failed to visit this place ever since he got the job from the entertainment near here," the old man happily stated as he looks at Jihoon's back. "He always visits this place alone, after his work hours."
The younger's heart somehow felt a little sting. Jihoon never failed to visit their favorite place since they were teens, how can his heart not stung with that?
He's still being the good guy he always is. Hyunsuk mumbled in his head.
"Ah, have you heard the rumors about Jihoon?"
Hyunsuk's forehead automatically creased as he darted his gaze at the old man. "Rumors?"
"Oh, you haven't?" Mr. Lee's eyes widened at the younger's reaction. "It was all over the news, and I guess it didn't reach you since you weren't here."
"Huh?" Hyunsuk asked, fiddling his fingers out of nowhere.
"He beat up a guy from their entertainment, a stockholder to be exact. The stockholder was accused to be planning an assault to Jihoon's one of closest friends out of envy because Jihoon was chosen to be the CEO," the old man look for the newspaper from the guard house, as he found it, he let the younger guy see it.
Executive Director Park beat up a drug addict stockholder from the same label.
"Everyone thought it was gonna be Jihoon's downfall, but they sort things out months ago, I'm glad they did." Mr. Lee's eyes perked up as he smile. "You got yourself a good guy."
Hyunsuk fell silent. His mind couldn't take the statement from the old man, as he read the headline for the tenth time. Jihoon, the most patient person he ever met, did all of these? For whom? One of his closest friends? Is it Junkyu?
"Hyung! Let's go!" His thoughts were interrupted by the younger guy approaching to their way. Hyunsuk examined the guy's features as he sadly mumbled something.
You did well, Jihoon-ah.
"Mr. Lee, I'll get going," he gave the news paper back at the old man whose lips curved into a smile. "Thank you for everything."
"Enjoy roaming around, kids." He laughed Mr. Lee's addressed name to them as he walk his way to Jihoon who patiently waiting for the older guy.
"What did the two of you talk about?" A little curiosity can be seen on the latter's eyes, which made Hyunsuk smile.
"Nothing, he told me how bad your eye sight is." Hyunsuk laughed before continuing his pace, and his statement made the younger scowl at him.
"Says by the guy who has low standards when it comes to men." Jihoon fired back, and Hyunsuk looked at him with shock expression.
"I've dated you once, have you forgotten about it, Mr. Low standards?" Hyunsuk scowled as he unbelievably looks at Jihoon. Jihoon grinned at him as he fastened his steps to left the older guy.
"I wish I do, by the way." Like whispering the answer to Hyunsuk's question earlier. He heard Hyunsuk's ranting how fast Jihoon's steps. "Go grow faster to achieve more big steps, smurf. Stop blaming me for being this big when you are not."
Hyunsuk's reaction was priceless and it made Jihoon laugh loudly. He felt Hyunsuk's hand poking his back softly, trying to make him stop from laughing loudly. "Stop making fun of my height, I swear, Park Jihoon."
Jihoon surrendered before slowing his pace, lining his steps to Hyunsuk's. The silence between them was not awkward, but more of a soothing vibe they missed for years since their separation. It was calming, tread around their favorite place of all time as a whole, making their disconsolate thoughts fades as their eyes wanders around the place full of different art piece. This kind of moment makes Jihoon's phantasm go away amidst the problems he is facing at the moment. But now, it was different. Years of visiting the museum endlessly, he knows exactly what every paintings size and their respective places are, but his heart all these years, felt alone.
But at this very moment, he knew exactly why his heart dances along with the beats and butterflies.
His sharp-eyes looks at the smaller guy's wandering sparkly eyes, wanting those to meet his with the same feeling he feels at this moment.
Euphoria.
"The museum looks different now, what 'ya think?" His thoughts were interrupted by the older guy. "Jihoon?"
"Yeah, yeah. They renovated this whole area, but the place where the guernica's copy placed haven't changed." Jihoon gushed as he pointed where the guernica's copy placed. Hyunsuk's eyes glistened as he happily approaches the area, which earned a pure smile from the younger.
“Thank you for visiting this place for years, I owe you an apology for not doing the same, Jihoon.” With that, the older ran away from the area with a smile as if he's about to go in the place where always feel like home.
"He still loves Picasso's piece, doesn't he?" Jihoon muttered as he tailed the older guy.
They were greeted with nostalgic vibe once they stepped inside the area where most of their happy moments started. This place was the safest place for their love. The area where the Guernica by Pablo Picasso's copy were placed, and that painting peaks their interest since then.
"How come this place didn't change?" Hyunsuk exclaimed before tilting his head to the painting. "Wow, this still looks-"
"Complicated?" Jihoon said, and it made the older guy gaze at him.
"Yeah," Hyunsuk whispered while looking at Jihoon straight. "Complicated as ever."
Jihoon smiled at his last statement before looking at the painting. "It will always represent tragedies of wars, and this will always be your favorite oeuvre, right?"
The older guy nodded being enthusiastic he always is when it comes to his favorite master pieces. He elbowed Jihoon which made the latter look at him in confusion.
"How about you? What's your favorite piece?"
Jihoon froze, when he heard the question from Hyunsuk, he instantly thought about someone's face. Was it wrong when he answers the latter's question with a person's name?
Because in the first place, his favorite oeuvre was Hyunsuk's existence. No painted canvass can compare the man's alluring eye smiles and angel-like laughs sent by the heaven. No colored walls can replace the wa his heart dances when he sees the older's sculpted features, nor his small proportions that he can hug everytime his spinal cord shakes. Not even Picasso's piece can fight with Hyunsuk's unframed happiness.
Nothing can compare to his own favorite oeuvre: Choi Hyunsuk.
"Will it sound so weird if I say somebody's name?" Jihoon blurted out of nowhere, making the whole vibe of the area be nothing but silence.
Jihoon turned his eyes to the older's, looks at him intently with a small smile on his lips. The older froze, and couldn't say anything since he was hypnotized by Jihoon's stares.
"Who?" He might sound desperate, but when Jihoon said those, his curiosity levels up. He's curious, he wants to know if Jihoon has special someone at this moment. And he wants the best for the younger since Jihoon is the best. He deserves nothing but best things.
Jihoon grinned at the older guy, slightly poking the latter's side with his elbow. "Are you curious?"
Hyunsuk panicked, and that made the younger laugh loudly. "N-No, I mean, technically speaking, y-yes but-"
"I haven't seen another art piece that can be more beautiful than my previous one which is you, if you're curious, by the way." Jihoon stated, interrupting the older's stuttering moment.
Jihoon's words made Hyunsuk stop, eyes on Jihoon's side profile. His mouth parted open, he couldn't take the younger's words. Jihoon innocently looking at the painting in front of them, not taking the other's eye contact, not wanting to see Hyunsuk's reaction with his words. Well, it's the truth.
Hyunsuk is the oeuvre any other master piece can never replace when it comes to gentleness and painted emotions.
The both of them fell silent, as they both look at the same art piece in front of them, not wanting to break the comfortable silence between them.
"Jihoon, can I ask something?"
Jihoon jumped a little when he was interrupted from his thoughts by Hyunsuk. The older tapped his shoulder softly before giving a weak smile, and it made Jihoon crease his head. What's with the weak smile? "Go on, ask me anything but not my net worth. I'm still poor, Mr. Choi."
Hyunsuk laughed at him before heaving a sigh, and it made Jihoon more curious from what's bothering the smaller guy.
"I heard from Mr. Lee about the rumor months ago, I just want to ask if the friend that almost got assaulted and you were talking about is alright. Is it Junkyu? I'm kinda worried-"
"It was you."
Hyunsuk's eyes widened when he heard the latter's answer. "M-Me?"
Jihoon formed a little smile, before tilting his head down and stare at the floor. "I heard from Yoshi that somebody from your institute was eyeing you and it alarmed me, knowing that somebody from our company is some kind of asshole and a shitty person who loves nothing but power. His jealousy took him to some damned vengeance he came up from months ago."
"The guy from your institute was a member of his stupid fanclub-like-wait, was it fraternity? I don't know but some kind of group of people with mental health problems." Jihoon stopped momentarily, thinking the right term to describe those bastards who dared to touch Hyunsuk.
Busy thinking, Jihoon never felt the gaze from his side. Hyunsuk's eyes got a little shady, knowing that the guy he broke up with, his first heartbreak and his ex-boyfriend, were protecting him from his back.
"Why are you..." Jihoon stopped from blabbering stuffs, before looking at Hyunsuk's frustrated expression. "Why are you doing these?"
Jihoon's brows furrowed. "What?"
"These! I-I heard from Mr. Lee that you talked personally with the owner of this place to extend the visiting hours until this week because you wanted to see this place with someone one last time, and now you're telling me that you protected me from some kind of crazy ass people without me knowing?" Hyunsuk asked with his widened eyes. "I-I mean, it's not necessary to do those when we already separated-"
"I'm just making sure you'll not gonna get hurt again, like how I hurt you." Jihoon sighed, not wanting to look at the older's eyes. "I'm making sure that nobody will ever hurt you, or use you like how I did."
"I don't want you to experience things I made you feel twice, you doesn't deserve those."
They fell silent when Jihoon finally said the words that crawls in his mind every night. He wanted to make sure Hyunsuk won't gonna get hurt again. He wants the best for the guy because he is the best, he is more than the best. Every night, misery have been accompanying him to sleep. His deepest vices couldn't help him run away from despondency.
Jihoon laughed, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I used to say how much I hate the phrase, 'I'll die if I lose you', right? Like how come you could die when somebody just walked away from your life without looking back? What kind of exaggeration was that?"
"Funny how I can actually feel like dying knowing that I lost something no other expensive paintings can replace. I shouldn't have laughed, I shouldn't have hated those." He bitterly hissed, before closing his eyes.
"I realized, I hadn't lost you when you said we're over," an almost whisper statement from the younger. "I lost you after I realized I could never see good things the way you saw them in me, and it wasn't even your fault. It will never be."
He felt Hyunsuk's hand, patting his back and showing assurance which made the younger look at him.
And there he saw, the only variable he'll constantly take. As if an abstract of love disguised into something beautiful and astonishing like Hyunsuk. He is Jihoon's disguised love and the one who deserves all the best in this world could offer.
And it wasn't Jihoon.
Hyunsuk observed the way Jihoon's orbs looks at him in admiration and concern, and it made him smile.
It was already enough to remind him that he still owns Jihoon's heart.
“You know, I didn't get to ask you another chance despite wanting to give it a shot once again, but I'm not scared, Suk.” Jihoon let his hand run on Hyunsuk's palm. “I just know that you've had enough of me, and rescinding back to the old us was never the option.”
“Meet me again when you already found someone you can actually call your favorite oeuvre, I'll be waiting here, at this exact museum, this place where I met the most complicated yet a beautiful disaster called,” he held the older's hands before flashing his eye smile. “You.”
“Be happy. I always got your back. I'll be protecting you silently, not out of vices and conscience, but rather love, for I love you and hurting you was my biggest mistake,” the younger held the latter's hand tightly before examining and memorizing Hyunsuk features as if it is his last. “So don't you ever blame yourself, you are not a mistake, love. Grab every opportunity to be happy, find a man who can love you and your every flaw and traits, anybody who can keep up with your mood swings, the one who can make you genuinely happy without fail.”
“A man that is not me.”
Like how Medusa suffered from other people's darkness, Hyunsuk felt a pang in his chest as if his heart wanted to shout at the younger to take him back. To take Hyunsuk back at him. Who can forget Jihoon's smiles in just a snap? Not Hyunsuk.
He can never forget his comfort person's smiles.
“Yoshi's a good guy, I know he can make you happy, hyung.”
And if love were to have a face, it would be Jihoon's for he is fragile and pure, and deserves nothing but the best.
If love were to have a face, it would have the most lethal eye smiles and talking orbs.
But that love is not in Hyunsuk's grasp anymore.
He is Hyunsuk's untitled story of year, 2017.
He forgot to say that Pablo Picasso's Guernica is no longer his favorite oeuvre.
It's Jihoon, it will always be Jihoon.
fin.