hello

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the tables had turned.

whatever jeongguk had
previously thought that
taehyung had thought
about him was utterly
unture. in fact, the
intrigued glint in his
eye said quite the opposite.
he did care.
and it made jeongguk's
fragile teenage heart swell
with happiness.

he wanted to know
about anne lister?
jeongguk could write three
whole essays about her,
they wouldn't be very good,
mind you. he was an artist,
not a literature student.
but the extent of his perception
was near enough
infinite. there hadn't been a
day in his life, ever since his
grandfather's passing, where
he'd dismissed the woman.

every single brush stroke
was carved into his mind,
he could replicate her
work with his eyes closed.
could tell her tale for a century.

"she was a wonderful woman."
jeongguk spoke quietly above
the whispering wind, weaving
it's way through his soft locks.

"i'm sure she was." taehyung
smiled from beside him. the duo
were sat on a park bench
outside of the gallery, the smaller
clutching his milkshake with
dear life to stop himself from
dropping it under taheyung's
deep, dark gaze, burning holes
into the side of his head.

their proximity was dangerously
close, a few inches forward and
taheyung's chest would brush
his shoulder, his heart was already
hammering in overdrive with how
close they always seemed to be.
as though taheyung didn't care
about distancing or whatever,
it didn't exist in his eyes.
the latter certainly wasn't
complaining.

jeongguk tried
to stay calm and not let
himself squeal at the fact that
taehyung was indirectly
embracing him. he had his
long arm thrown behind
jeongguk's seat, fingers
ever-so gently grazing
his shoulder on the
other side.

all the younger
had to do was turn his
head and he'd be kissing
him.

the teen fished his phone
out of his pocket and
began flicking through
his camera roll. he finally
came to the picture he
had downloaded from
google images. (photography
was still prohibited in the
gallery.) with his little fingers,
he zoomed in on the painting.

leaning in even
further now, close enough
that jeongguk got a wiff
of whatever expensive
cologne the man had on,
taehyung's eyes flickered
over the small screen, taking
in the painting that
was so dear to jeongguk.
it was then that the boy's
breath halted as he couldn't
help but notice the
deep dip of taehyung's collar
bone, at the richness of his
glowing honey skin,
gleaming from the sun light.
how warm it would be
to touch, how soft, how badly
he needed to, how badly he
had the urge to place his
tiny hand on the nape
of his neck and kiss him.
just to forget about everything
in the world and focus for
once. to let his thoughts
sweep him off his feet away
from the bleakness of reality
and into a utopia
where he could smile,
ear to ear from
dusk till dawn.

reality was painful.

"um, to anyone that sees
this for the first time, they'd
see a woman sitting at her
table dressed in black with
a letter ripped open on her
lap, gazing out of her small
window, lonely." jeongguk
spoke, his fingers zoomed
in on her pale face, her
cracked complexion, the
fragile brush strokes that
brought her intricate
features to life. he saw past
the surface, past the pigments
and the emotion in her face.
there was so much more
to this painting than she let
on, perhaps that's why
jeongguk adored it so much.

jeongguk saw so, so
much more than that.

taehyung remained
silent next to him, listening
in to every word that came
from the younger's mouth,
gaze fixated.

"if you look closer, you can
see a story in every detail
she paints." he licked his chapped
lips in the cool air.
"she lost her husband in
the second world war."

taehyung hummed beside
him, jeongguk could practically
hear the gears turning in his head.

he wondered if he saw things
the way jeongguk did. vivid and
bold hidden between the paint,
the emotions that the paintings
bore. the stories they carried
through eras to come.

they'd never fade, these tales.
they'd stay true and silent
and untold, hanging lifelessly
on infinite walls. all it would
take was for someone to look
a little closer, look a little
further. give the slightest bit
of attention and appreciation
and once forgotten
stories blossomed to life
before your very eyes,
breathtaking in every shape,
every form.
they showed history, families,
thoughts, flourishing
emotions and power and
dignity that that words
could not always bring.
they showed raw, true talent,
grief, love. everything jeongguk
saw, he felt just as much.

"why is she dressed as though
she's in the 18th century then?"
the man whispered beside him.
he had a valid point, and
jeongguk had a valid reason.

he giggled.

"i thought the same thing
for a while. what would the
use be? she looks like a
corpse bride." it was true,
her pitch black outfit
did nothing for her frame,
her figure concealed in its
entirety. it made little sense
for her to be all dressed up
like that, there had to be
some other answer.
jeongguk had never been one
to just scan a painting and
leave it etched in his brain
for the rest of his life. he would
do that. but he'd also find
out everything that the world
had to offer him about a
piece that he liked. "at
first i'd thought
it was for modesty. made
sense really. then i started
to notice some strange things."

this painting was peculiar.
it's aims were all over the place,
difficult to decipher and piece
together. it took him a while.

but the teen eventually
figured it out.

"how so?" taehyung shifted
beside him, tilting his head
to see what the younger saw,
his dark eyes stared at the
phone in comprehension.

"the clock on her wall
reads 1:05pm, we know
this from the sun shining
blindly through her curtain."
jeongguk have a moment
of silence for taehyung
to absorb what he was saying.
there were little things that
came together that told
the whole story. when jeongguk
had researched about the
woman, he'd found that
she was rather quiet and
reserved, just like him.
he didn't like to share his
problems.

taehyung already seemed
to be ahead
of the game.

"the clock in her
kitchen that we
can vaguely make out
in the background
reads 19:16pm.
obviously it is analogue
so it'd be wrong to
assume anything
from this without
solid evidence, but
the difference in time
shows that she has lost
track of it over the death
of her loved one. time
no longer matters to
her where she sits,
wallowing in her grief."

"and you think there's
something significant
about the numbers?"
taehyung scanned his
face, trying to read him.
he was doing a pretty
good job of it so far.

"i certainly thought so,
at the time. but then i
looked at them and
struggled to see any direct
correlation. 105. 1916. it
made no sense. why
would she use those
specific dates?" jeongguk
smiled. he couldn't
believe that taehyung was
still listening intently, it
warmed his heart.

he could watch him all
day, see his silver
hair brush across his
glistening skin, eyes
iridescent in the setting
sun that bled to a tranquil
death in the calm sky.
reds and golds and
fuchsias merged
together in an
ocean of striking
hues, tinged with
hope. taehyung's skin
glowed with it. glowed with
that very hope.

"it was then that i
noticed the blood on
her carpet." jeongguk
said quietly.

the older's eyes widened
as he averted his gaze
back to the screen, and towards
the woman's feet.

he seemed just as shocked
as jeongguk had been.

but.. there was something
else there that he
couldn't quite put his
finger on.

on the red carpet, or
what seemed to be the
red carpet, was in fact
splotches of crimson at her
feet, pooling out as a
puddle, soaked up by
the thin floor. it stretched
across the expanse of her
living room, if jeongguk
hadn't looked into this,
he would have missed
it. would have missed every
other tiny thing that was there,
every minescule detail.
it'd be such a waste of a
masterpiece if someone
or other didn't see it.

"her husband died at war.
we know this for sure."
the boy deadpanned.
"but she doesn't talk about
him here at all."

taehyung's eyes narrowed
at the screen.

"anne lister lost her
grandfather in the battle
of the somme. 105th battalion,
august 14th, 1916." the smaller
boy took a small sip of his
milkshake, waiting for
taehyung to say something.
"105. 1916."

"the blood." taehyung breathed.
"the blood. the blood shed-
of course. how could- how could
I not have seen that?
she isn't mourning." the
older furrowed his brows
together in disbelief, running a large
hand through his hair as he took
it all in.

"she's sending a political
message." taehyung's eyes
cleared.

the teen's heart raced as he
watched him decipher it.
watched him come to his
conclusion.

"she was angry. she'd
already lost one loved one
to the war, and a few years
later, once she had married and
put her troubles aside, she
was stripped of love entirely.
her grandfather grew up in this
very town. went to war with
his friends; they called them
'pals battalions' because there
was a sense of belonging and
togetherness, men enjoyed
the exhilaration, of what war
would bring for them. victory
on their plates was what
they thought, or what
they'd been convinced to think.
patriarchy that was difficult
to dispute with." jeongguk
watched as a stray leaf
tumbled across the
street, flowing freely in
the breeze.

it was caught beneath a
rock.

"but they were
betrayed by their leaders.
general douglas haig
was heavily criticized for
the major loss of life incurred
with his tactics." jeongguk
swallowed as he thought about
what those brave, selfless
men had to go through.
"they did nothing
for the stalemate. did nothing
for the soldiers that endured
so much in such a dire time,
their lives were wasted away
in vain, men died on the front
lines for months on end."

"women were left widowed,
children without fathers.
people slumped into
poverty and it was all on the
government to blame. all
of those 120,000 lives lost.
it left the country to crumble.
she shows her hatred towards
them, shows how betrayed
they felt that they'd
taken so much from people
who had so very little. she
shows how her anger never
faded, even after the second
blow. it was always there."
jeongguk exhaled, staring
at the tiny pebbles on the
pavement. "raging in
her heart."

her artwork meant
so much to him.

"incredible." taehyung
was staring at him.

"it was. she was-"

"no." the man shook
his head softly, his
locks dancing amid
his dark eyes. "you."

"me?" what-

"you're incredible."

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I liked this chapter bro

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