*wheeze*

Hello everyone!

I realized I haven't updated in over a month im so sorry ;-; school has been kicking me where the sun don't shine and I can't even fight it lmao I hate the public education system. Sigh. 

But youre not hear to listen to me weep about AP courses, so I'm not going to talk any more than I have lol don't worry I didn't forget about this! I never will. 

But please have a happy Halloween and stay safe! I love you all 💜

___
The time was 4:20 pm, and Park Jimin just had a ground-splitting revelation.

"OH MY GOODNESS!" His short fingers grazed his open mouth in surprise.

Two pairs of eyes stared out at him in concern, both contemplating if his surprise was that of good or bad.

"Our names!" Jimin exclaimed, walking a few dainty steps ahead of them, his walking stick creating a sub-melody to his footsteps, "they all end with 'in'!"

His smile fell when Chaerin and Seokjin passed nervous glances to each other back and forth. He could tell from the silence—and the slight brushing sound of their hair as their head tilted—that they failed to see his brilliancy on the matter.

"C'mon, guys! Don't you see the potential?" He waved his walking stick around.

After yet more undisclosed questioning stares, Jimin huffed.

He pointed at Seokjin, "Jin."

Then at himself, "Min."

And lastly, at Chaerin, "Rin."

"Jinminrin."

And thus, a new nickname was born.

...But only one wanted the baby.

"Your gears must be rusty if you think I'm calling you 'Min'." Came Chaerin's reply.

"Yeah, Disney's gonna come for you since it might allude to their famous character." Seokjin agreed.

"Besides, it's too much of a tongue-twister."

"Sounds like a corny band-name."

"And we'd write songs about being anxious on the first day of school."

Every remark was salt on the wound for poor Jimin.

Dejected, he headed toward his street by himself, bag slung clumsily over his shoulder.

Nervous glances were passed between Chaerin and Seokjin's, wondering if they took it too far.

Jimin kept walking.

Until a voice stopped him.

"Yah!"

He turned to where the sound was.

"Tomorrow at the library, 4:22 sharp," Seokjin grinned and prepared to resist a cringe, "don't be late, Minnie."

"Bring snacks with you, 'Min!" Chaerin yelled out, not bothering to hide her flinch.

But seeing Park Jimin's smiling crescent eyes tinted by the afternoon sun was worth it.

__

The pale moon peeked out from the midnight clouds, tossing and turning against the ageless sky until it finally nestled under the covers again.

Phone in hand, Seokjin reflected back on his conversation with Chaerin only a few hours ago.

-

"Oh, is this where you live?" She inquired after he pulled out his keys in front of the apartment.

"Yeah," came the reply, "I live here alone."

She thought better than to pry him for questions. A tired look rested on his handsome face, creased lines and weary edges on paper. She instead directed her gaze onto the street name, reading WWH69.

"Well, I'll get going then—"

"Wait!" He stopped her and fished out his phone, "call me if you run into trouble."

They gladly swapped numbers.

And only when the silhouette of her faded into the night, did Seokjin shove his keys back into his pockets and head into another direction.

-

What he told her wasn't necessarily a lie.

In fact, it wasn't a lie at all.

But as the sounds of Chaerin's footsteps sounded through his phone, Seokjin couldn't help but feel guilty for what he said.

It was the truth masquerading a beautiful, innocent lie.

Against better thought, he began to think of all the other possible answers he could've told. Not intentional ones, but what promises would turn into if he failed to fulfill them.

If he knew he wasn't going to be able to fulfill a promise, would that make it a lie?

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts.

'Now isn't the time to be worried about that.'

But he vowed to never renege his promise to Chaerin. Someone's life depended on it.

Staring at the phone still in his hands, he quickly pressed the newly made contact and put it up to his ear, staring at the moon while waiting for her to pick up.

"Hello? Seokjin?"

Jin smiled when he heard her voice.

"Yah, Chaerin," he announced to her and the idyllic night, "look outside."

"I'm already outside, dumbass. In case you couldn't tell by the horny crickets screaming."

...Seokjin didn't know what he expected. His handsome face was unreadable. Meanwhile, Chaerin quietly mulled over her words in regret, wondering if she actually angered him.

"...Apologies, good madam," he traced his eyes over the millions of stars bearing wishes, "I couldn't discern your horny crickets from that of my own."

"Really?" Came the dubious reply, "your horny crickets? I can't hear them."

Seokjin stiffened in front of the white building, footsteps ceasing. He looked around for any sign of trees nesting crickets but found none.

The hospital chose a place with seldom plants so that the children victim to terminal illnesses could make their wishes to stars.

"...Well, the crickets saw the most beautiful speciman on the planet so they stopped."

"Ew...You better not have a cricket fetish."

"We're getting off-topic!"

Seokjin rubbed the side of his svelte fingers with his thumb, mustering up the courage to say his original intentions.

"Chaerin...the stars...aren't they pretty?"

Immediately, he cursed himself for uttering such an awkward sentence. He didn't know why, but suddenly, when it came to Chaerin, his usually crafted words tripped and stumbled.

Chaerin found it quite adorable.

"...Yeah. They are."

Two figures on the opposite side of town, gazing at the same night sky.

"...Chaerin?"

"Yeah?"

He hesitated, taking his soft lips between his teeth, "...What color is the sky tonight...?"

On the other end of the phone, the girl took in the view of diamond stars and velvet sky, recalling the colors she saw after notes of her favorite songs. Something optimistic enough to enjoy this view, yet something calm and melodic enough to fit the serene air.

A classical piece?

If so, then orchestra or solo? And which instrument?

Chaerin tilted her head, deep in thought.

A classical piece to mirror the stars.

Within Chaerin's tiny folder dedicated to classical music in her mind, she managed to find the piece suited for this ephemeral night. She parted her lips to inhale a breath, praying her voice wouldn't betray her, all to sing a song.

A song of purple, blue, and white.

The famed melodies of Chopin's nocturnes.

Seokjin must've recognized them, for he, too, began to sing. His soft, melodic voice paired up with Chaerin's, giving the universe a concert no one knew they needed until now. Their voices carried over the horizon, turning the romantic piece into a lullaby. It comforted the heartbroken, it lulled the sleep-deprived, and it healed invisible wounds.

The crickets disappeared, Chaerin's window disappeared, and the white building Seokjin stood in front of vanished as well.

At this moment, two figures were the only ones in the world.

Two figures, with opposite conditions, with opposite views on life, loving the same piece.

Staring at the same wish-speckled sky.

And when it ended, when both Seokjin and Chaerin ran out of breath from dragging the notes out too long, the world seemed just a bit more colorful.

__

"Ah, Mr. Kim," a nurse greeted him from her seat behind the counter, "here for another checkup?"

Seokjin wished his visits weren't so late in the day. For all the nurses and secretaries were tired, too tired to hide the saccharine from their voice. Her starched uniform and the walls of the hospital burned Seokjin's retinas.

But when his eyes landed on a pinkish lily in the corner, the only gray thing in this room, things seemed okay again.

"Yes," he said, smiling at the lily, "yes I am."