peeking her head in, her eyes scan around for any sign of her old friend - a smile easily finding its way to her lips once she spots the familiar sight of his back. she makes sure to keep her steps light as she approaches him, fingers carefully clutched around a small bunch of forget me nots. hope he likes it. once she reaches him, soeun taps him lightly on the shoulder, “hey.” it was almost a whisper, as she was afraid of startling him - after all, it’s been a while since they saw each other.

“i haven’t forgotten about you.” she says with a smile as she hands him the flowers. 

he’s seen ghosts before, whether lingering in the periphery of his vision or mere breaths away. they’re always there in one form or another, faraway memories and would-be futures. fear, guilt, a grudge, a wish. in a way, he supposes everyone has seen a ghost--more often than anyone would believe--and some are haunted by more than others. which is why, when he turns and finds a familiar face with a bundle of tiny blue flowers, kyungsoo has no idea how to react. 

her touch, her voice, even the way she handles the flowers--it’s all so soft that kyungsoo almost thinks this is a dream. (it’s been so long.) but he feels the delicate stems against his fingertips, watches the petals shimmer almost periwinkle in the scattered sunlight, and he knows. mirroring her smile, he clutches the forget-me-nots close to his chest and replies just as softly, 

“there you are.” she says with a sigh, a little tired but she’s relieved more than anything – after what felt like hours of looking for kyungsoo, she finally finds him sitting on a scaffolding a few meters off the ground, with his legs hanging over the edge. she is looking up at him with this huge, silly grin – she never would have thought she would find him, especially when she had no idea where he’d be. but there he was, and she couldn’t be any happier despite the cold. soeun has always hated the cold, but it was christmas eve… and she wouldn’t allow this already lonely man to be alone on christmas, too.

“what’re you up to?” 

the wind chime dangling from his fingers titters quietly, swaying in the wind and creating the illusion of a dancing santa claus. the poorly painted grin stares back at him blankly, all clumsy curves and far more indicative of christmas-time capitalism than perhaps meant to do, and he begins to wonder why he even bought the thing in the first place. from across the store aisle, the wind chime seemed much more interesting than when he had finally held it in his hands, but he shelled out the last of his cash anyway to make the purchase. now, it just seems silly--childish, even--that he’d been hoping with all his heart and quivering soul that maybe, just maybe, if he wished hard enough, the man in the red suit would visit him once. 

( sms: 경수씨 ) [ ✉ ]  i’m sorry for replying this late.. but i did see it! [ ✉ ]  i was already out when i received your message, and planned to reply, but i must’ve been too absorbed in it that i forgot  ㅠ [ ✉ ]  i hope you took the time to share stories with her, though.. since they say she was the closest she’s ever been to us.