Monochrome Part 1
Title: Monochrome
Author: samdek95
Genre: Romance
Rating: PG
Summary: In which Jongin has a final year project to do, and Sehun is a coffee worker who volunteers to be the centre of Jongin’s story (in more than one way).
“I hate this.” Jongin complained, planting his face heavily against the table in front. An arm encircled its way around Jongin’s back.
“You can do it Jongin, I know you can. You have always achieved great things. I still can’t believe you are top of the class!” The person next to sighed handing a glass of water to the complaining male.
“Yes, but this final year dissertation is going to kill me, I swear. I don’t even know what to do.” Jongin turned to the male next to him, staring at him hopefully.
“Don’t look at me, I have no clue what you even need to do. I am not that academically capable unlike you.” Jongin opened up his laptop, typing in the term ‘medical mysteries’ into the search engine. A list of results flashed on the screen and he glanced through the outcomes.
“I have to do an essay on a medical mystery, but it just seems impossible. There are so many different ones, which isn’t the problem. The issue is that there is pretty much no information about any of the diseases or infections because no one knows anything about them. How am I even meant to find anyone with the disease? There aren’t exactly many people with, I don’t know, a water allergy.” The other male laughed. Just because Jongin was the cleverest person in his class evidently did not correlate with common sense.
“I can’t believe you are being so naive Jongin, there is one medical mystery that is around everyone. It just a coincidence that we weren’t affected by it. Or maybe we are or will in the future. We don’t even know.”
Jongin stared blankly at the other male, trying to work out what he was talking about. “What?”
“Why don’t you do your final year dissertation on the Greyscale Pandemic?”
It began in the year 2000. They called it the Greyscale Pandemic. On a person’s seventeenth birthday, at the time they were born, would become colour blind and only see the world in black and white. However, this only affected a few people: about half of the population. The rest of society lived life normally with coloured vision.
That was until some people who had Greyscale was suddenly able to see the colours again whilst other people who had ordinary vision became colour blind all of a sudden.
It remained a medical mystery for many years.
The illness created problems. Many people who required coloured sight as part of their job lost their profession as they could not perform the appropriate tasks properly. Occupations included doctors, designers and teachers. Nowadays, before a person could go to university to do their chosen degree, they would had to take an extra test to see if they were affected by Greyscale.
Most people came accustomed to the illness with the assumption that everyone had it and it was part of the luck in whether they got affected by it or not. In a way, it helped with society being that everyone thought that if they were good to the culture, then they would be rewarded with normal sight when they became seventeen. Others just lived life to the fullest where they would try to achieve as much as possible before they reached the age.
It was the perfect topic for Jongin’s essay, really. He could try and find the cause of the disease or infection (whatever it was). He had been particularly lucky. For he was one of the fortunate people who did not get affected by it and was able to chase his dreams of becoming a doctor. Because of the lack of people passing the Greyscale test, Jongin was able to get into a respectable university to study the course of his dreams.
Jongin sat at the table on his own at a local coffee shop, pieces of paper sprawled out where he had written possible ideas of the causes of the illness. He was still waiting for his order to arrive, a caramel macchiato, but he could tell that the café was a little busy so he continued to focus on his work.
That was until some brown hot liquid spilt onto him and his work.
“Oh my goodness! I am so sorry! I honestly didn’t mean to. The café is really hectic right now and I just slipped as I tried to bring you your drink. Hang on let me get you some tissues.” Jongin stared at his work as the worker ran off. His pieces of paper with all of his work! What was he going to do!? He was certain that now he would probably fail this project and then fail university and live out the rest of his life on the streets.
A wad of tissues were thrown onto him and the table as the worker came back. “I hope this is okay and that I didn’t ruin anything. Oh my goodness, I am going to get fired. I really don’t want to get fired. I need the funds if I want to go to univers-”
“It’s okay.” Jongin smiled, inspecting the worker. Tall, probably taller than him, with a light shade of brown hair. He turned to the worker’s name badge: Sehun.
“Honestly, if you want me to do anything for you, I will do it. Do you want me to rewrite your notes for you?” Sehun asked, continuing to wipe the table with the tissues and throwing them away in a nearby bin.
Jongin lifted his damp notes, inspecting the damage. “My notes seem okay actually, there wasn’t a lot written on them and I had used biro ink so it hasn’t really smudged. It won’t take me too long to write them again anyway - they were just rough notes.”
“Are you sure? I mean, I finish work in about fifteen minutes, if you want, you can come round to my place and I can wash your clothes? I am not forcing you, only if you want to.”
Jongin smiled. “Sure, that sounds great.”
Sehun walked back to the table twenty minutes later. “I am sorry that I am slightly late, the manager had a rant at me for causing such a mess. I have been docked today’s wage, but at least I haven’t been fired.” Sehun smiled as he waited for Jongin to pack up his items. When Jongin was ready, Sehun led the tanned male out of the café and in the direction of his apartment.
“So how old are you Sehun ssi?”
“Well I am sixteen at the moment, but I am turning seventeen in a few weeks. How about you?” Jongin turned his head to face the younger male. Turning seventeen soon? It was going to be a big day for Sehun then as he will be finding out whether or not he has Greyscale.
“Well I am twenty one, currently at university. Are you excited for your big day then?”
“Kind of, but I think I am more nervous. I am not sure how I would cope if I lost the colour of the world. I also want to become a photographer and an artist so if I can’t see colour, I am in big trouble.” Sehun laughed slightly before turning to the older male. “What are you studying?”
“I am training to become a doctor, so yes, I am studying medicine. It is great fun and it is really interesting. I currently have my final year project where I have to do some an essay on a medical mystery, which is interesting, but also hard. There isn’t much information online so I think I am going to resort to handing out questionnaires for people to do.”
“That sounds really interesting, it would be really cool if you could find out the cause of a mystery illness. You would get a Nobel Prize and everything! You would be known as the hero for figuring the cause. And then you would have to find some sort of medicine to solve it. You would become world famous. Ah, we are home. Hang on.” Sehun stopped walking when they reached a block of flats before typing in a few numbers to allow himself into the building. The younger male opened the door, letting Jongin in before taking him up five flights of stairs to his house. Sehun opened his rucksack, rummaging through it to find the key and opened the door. “We are home, it isn’t anything too big, but make yourself at home while I get you some clothes to borrow.”
Sehun walked off to an adjacent room as Jongin stepped in, looking at the walls. He was in awe when he saw the array of pictures and drawings, some hung up on the wall and other canvases leant against it.
Jongin could only think of one thing: if Sehun had Greyscale, then the world would miss out.
“Here.” Jongin turned before realising that there was some clothes being thrown at him. He caught it with ease before standing up. “The bathroom is to your left, just give me your clothes when you are changed. I will also remake your caramel macchiato again, if you want.” Jongin smile and nodded before walking off to the bathroom.
When Jongin returned to the scent of the coffee, he headed towards the kitchen where he found Sehun smiling as he hummed along to nothing. “Ah, thanks, just in time, I have finished making your drink. I will put your clothes in the wash and then join you in the living room.” Sehun smiled as he handed the drink over.
“So, tell me more about your project?” Sehun asked when he returned, a soft whirring from the washing machine could be heard from the background.
“Well I have to do a project on a medical mystery, as you know, so I was thinking about doing a project on the Greyscale Pandemic. But I don’t really know what to do, and how to do it. A case study would be good, but most of the people I know have already passed the age and either are already affect by it or nothing happened. The worst thing about Greyscale is that you can still get it at any point in your life. I guess that is what is most scary about it, I could just wake up tomorrow and have lost the colour of my sight and I would get kicked off my course.” Jongin explained, taking a sip of his drink every now and then.
“I know what you should do. You should do your experiment on me.” Sehun smiled.
“I couldn’t possibly do that, I barely know you.”
“You barely know me, but you willingly followed me to my house and you are still here. And besides, I am turning seventeen soon so you can do experiments on me. Think of it as my way of apologising for spilling the drink all on you earlier.”
“Alright, I guess. But I mean, you will have to spend a lot of time with me as there is a lot of experiments that I need to perform before and after you turn seventeen.”
“Why don’t we start now then?” Sehun questioned. Jongin turned into his bag, before going through one of the plastic wallets. He picked up a piece of paper and handed it over to the younger male.
“This is just confidentiality stuff. I don’t really know how to explain it, just give it a read and sign it if you are happy. Obviously, if you don’t sign it, then I can’t do the experiments on you.” Jongin stated as Sehun read the information before standing up and returning with a pen and signing the confidentiality agreement form.
“Great, now I just want a few bits of information about you. I need to know your full name, your date of birth, contact and other medical information. Obviously, if you don’t know your blood type and stuff, then I can arrange for us to stop off by at the university hospital so I can take some blood samples. We will need to do it anyway later on.”
“If you have the form, I can just fill it in myself.” Jongin handed the piece of paper over to the younger male and watched as Sehun put all of his attention onto the questions. Jongin laughed slightly as he noticed the younger male’s tongue sticking out in concentration.
“Here you go.” Sehun said when he finished, handing back the piece of paper.
“Great, well I guess I should probably go now, it is getting a little late anyway. Thank you for helping me anyway. I will call you once I have checked over everything.” Jongin smiled as he gathered everything back into his bag. A light flash struck Jongin’s eyes and he stepped back.
“Sorry.” Sehun blushed as Jongin blinked to get rid of the blind spots from his eyes. “I am scared that if I lose colour from my sight, I will miss out on a lot, so I want to take many photos to remind me forever of the small things that happen in life.”
Jongin smiled. It was quite a nice thing to do as a way to remember the memories if a person with Greyscale was able to get their coloured vision back. “That’s okay, I will see you another day then. Probably tomorrow.”
“Wait, your clothes!”
“You can give it to me again another time. It isn’t like it is the last time we will be seeing each other anyway.” Jongin smiled before leaving the apartment. As he left the building, his phone went off. “Hey Luhan hyung, where are you?”
“That was why I was calling! I am waiting outside your apartment, why aren’t you home?”
“I am sorry, I didn’t realise that you were coming round and I met someone who wanted to take part in my experiment, so I was with him so that he could fill in some forms. I will be home soon.”
There was a pause before he received a response from the other end of the call. “Alright, I love you.”
“See you soon, Luhan hyung. I love you too.”
Jongin called Sehun the next day announcing that he required the younger male to go to the university hospital to do some health checks.
“So why do you need to take my blood pressure? I mean, surely everyone has relatively similar blood pressures, and I doubt Greyscale affects specific people with low or high blood pressure. And with weight, I thought the illness had affected people of all weight. I swear I saw an article that some of the morbidly obese people were affected as well as the skinnier people.”
“I know that, but I need to know about you. You are my case study after all. And anyway, if there is something wrong, I might need to diagnose you, and with this information, it will make the process much easier.” Jongin explained as he reached over to get some medical equipment from one of the shelves.
“Alright, whatever you say. I feel like you are interrogating in my life, having said that, I gave you permission. I guess I just want to know more about you. I don’t even think I know your surname.”
“Kim. Kim Jongin.” Sehun sighed in relief. He had realised that after Jongin had left his apartment, the older male hadn’t even given his name. “I am from Seoul, and I have never tried drinking alcohol, drugs or cigarettes.”
“Really, I guess we will have to change that later, won’t we. Hang on, let me take a picture of you in your doctor’s coat.” Sehun winked at the older male, bringing out his camera to take a quick snap of Jongin, before placing the camera down and stepping up onto the scales. “What do the readings say?”
“Well, it says you are in the lower end of the scale in terms of weight, but you are not anorexic or overly underweight. Nothing particularly exciting. You can get off now. I just need you to sit on the chair over there.” Jongin requested, waiting for the younger male to sit down before wrapping a piece of material around his arm. “This won’t hurt, but you need to relax for this to work. This will measure your blood pressure. And then afterwards, I will need to take a sample of your blood for analysis, alright?” Sehun stared at the older male, nodding weakly and waited for the machine to work.
“Jo-Jongin, we have a slight problem that I have a phobia of needles and I don’t feel so good now.” Sehun explained. Jongin inspected the younger male, noting down that he was looking particularly pale against his already white skin. The student stood up and excused himself as he left his room, returning with a glass of water and some cream in his hands.
“Let me put this against your vein, it will be cold and it will numb the pain when it happens. I can also get you to the bed if you think you will faint. Would that be better for you?” Sehun nodded, and stood up, his legs already feeling weak.
Once the younger male was laid down against the soft bed, Jongin turned Sehun’s head to face the wall before pressing down on the other side of his elbow to look for a suitable vein to pierce through. “Just remember, don’t move, alright?” Sehun nodded, his eyes closing in preparation for the blood test. “So tell me more about yourself. I noticed that you live alone, yet you are only sixteen.”
“My parents don’t really have time for me. They are researchers on Greyscale over in the States actually. They don’t really approve of my desire to become an artist and photographer because they are obviously successful scientists who are very academic, whilst I just like to draw thin- ouch! Get it out!” Sehun cried when the needle pierced the skin.
“Sehun ah, don’t move, if you get agitated, it will only make the blood test take longer.”
“I’m sorry, it just hurts so much.” Sehun crunched his eyes shut, trying to focus his attention away from the pain in his arm. And then everything went dark.
Sehun opened his eyes, the surroundings were blurry. He tried to work out where he was; he could see a bright light from in front of him along with a black figure that he couldn’t quite make out. “Sehun ah, are you okay?” Sehun sat up, everything seemed a bit hazy as he accepted the glass of water from Jongin’s hand.
“What, what happened?”
“You fainted, you scared me slightly. Though it isn’t uncommon to faint. We can finish today if you want. I am pretty certain I have finished with what I needed anyway. I can just pack up and then I can take you home. Does that sound good?” Sehun nodded, laying back down on the bed and using his hands to cover his eyes. His head was throbbing painfully and he just wanted to go to sleep.
“I don’t feel so good.” Sehun whispered, before Jongin held some pills in front of the younger male’s face.
“Here take these, it will help with the headache, and you look really tired now so I chose the ones with a bit of sleeping pills just so you don’t feel the pain as bad.” Sehun accepted the medicine and stood up to get the water before eating the pills. Jongin then grabbed the younger male and helped him out of the building and towards the car park where Jongin’s car was located.
Jongin drove up towards Sehun’s apartment block and parked in an adjacent road, and turned to see that the younger male had fallen asleep in the passenger seat next to him. He poked the other male lightly to try to wake him up but the latter responded with a “later mum” and turned around, his head leaning against the wall of the car.
“Shit.” Jongin whispered, remembering that to get into the building he would have to enter a code to access it. The older male turned the engine on once again and headed to the other side of the city.
Sehun woke up several hours later in an unfamiliar bed. He stared around the room, looking at the pictures on the dresser. It looked like Jongin with some other guy. A friend maybe? His head still hurt, but he sat up, looking for a glass of water. There was none in the room, so he exited the bedroom in search of the kitchen.
“You’re up.” Sehun turned to see Jongin smiling at him from the sofa. “Are you feeling better?”
Sehun nodded. “Much better thank you. Could I possibly have a glass of water please?” Jongin nodded and stood up, walking off to an adjacent room to what Sehun assumed to be the kitchen.
Jongin returned not long later with a glass of water and some biscuits. “I thought you might be a little bit hungry. It is now nine in the evening now. I can cook you a small meal instead if you want before you go home if you want.”
Sehun shook his head. “No I shouldn’t. I would feel bad for you if I ate all of your food.”
“That is okay, I haven’t cooked dinner for myself yet either, so it would be no hassle. Come, you can help me if that would make you feel happier.” Sehun followed Jongin to the kitchen and sat at one of the stools. “I am not one of the most competent cooks. Luhan hyung often cooks for me which has made it easier for me and it allowed me to focus on my academics a lot, but I can cook some udon if you want. We can add some vegetables and meat too.” Sehun nodded and smiled. “Well, I don’t have a lot, but I have some luncheon meat and broccoli. Yes that will do I guess.” Sehun watched as Jongin turned on the kettle and added the meat to a pan. “Come on, Sehun ah, you can look after the meat while I sort out the noodles and vegetables.”
Sehun stood up, walking to the cooker and moved the slices of luncheon meat around the pan to allow it to cook on both sides. He turned down the heat slightly when he noticed that Jongin still had not put the vegetables in the saucepan yet.
“Here, put the meat on top of everything, then we can carry them over to the dining table in the living room.” Jongin said, once the vegetables and noodles were cooked, moving them over to some glass bowls. Sehun nodded, turning off the cooker and using some chopsticks to move an equal number of luncheon slices to each bowl.
He then handed one bowl to the older male and picked the other one up for himself and followed Jongin out of the room and to the table. He took out his camera, snapping a picture of Jongin carrying his bowl of noodles.
They both sat down and opposite ends of the table and began eating. “Who is Luhan? I saw a few pictures of him in your bedroom.”
“Luhan hyung? He is my boyfriend. We met back in high school, we were both in the same year and then became best friends. Our relationship grew from then and we have been together for just over five years now. It has been a long time, I know.” Jongin laughed.
“Wow that is a long time. Are you going to propose to him any time soon?”
“Hmm, I am not sure, I mean I really do love him, but we are both really young. The thought of getting married in my early twenties is kind of scary. Plus, I need to focus on my studies. Luhan is really supportive though and helps me a lot. Sometimes, I feel guilty because I think I am pulling him back, but he just smiles and says it is okay. I think he is going back to China in a month anyway so that he can visit his family and do some studying over in Beijing. It will be good for him to finally go out and do what he wants. I guess I will have to improve my cooking before then because I will have to cook by myself for the time he has gone, haha!”
“That is cute, he must be really linguistic to be able to speak in so many languages. Goodness, I feel so un-academic in comparison.”
“Of course not, even though you choose not to study the more academic subjects, art is necessary in the world. I don’t do it anymore, but I really enjoyed dancing. If it hadn’t been for my interest in medicine and if I had been affected by Greyscale, then I probably would have gone into dance. Ballet in particular.”
“That sounds really cool! Show me some of your dancing!” Sehun requested, pushing Jongin out from his chair.
“I can’t. I have just eaten, I don’t particularly want stomach ache from forcing myself into strenuous activity.” Sehun laughed. “It is! Especially when I haven’t done it in such a long time.”
“Alright, next time then. Besides, I think it is best if I go now, it is getting late. Thank you for looking after me. We can meet up again another day. And we will need to meet up on my birthday so that you can find out if I have Greyscale or note.” Sehun stood up, seeing that his coat was by the door and walked towards it.
“I can drive you home if you want.”
“No it fine, I can catch the bus home. I’ll see you. Thank you for dinner.” Sehun smiled, walking out of the door and waving at his new friend.
Two weeks passed really quickly as the two males continued to meet up, regardless of whether it was for Jongin’s project, or just because they wanted to go to a nearby coffee shop to chat. The older male noticed that Sehun would take photos of him every time they met, whether it be one of Jongin with a drink, or just standing on the side of the road. Jongin had to take Sehun to the opticians at one point (where Sehun took another photo of him) so that he could have his eye checked for any problems, which came out negative. Soon, it was almost Sehun’s birthday, and the younger male got more and more nervous of the event.
“Don’t worry, I am sure you will not get affected by it. And anyway, you will still be the same Sehun as before, the cheerful one who likes to take photos spontaneously. And if you do lose the colour of sight, we will figure a way so that you can still go to university to study art. As long as you are passionate, I know you can achieve anything.”
Jongin’s phone rang. “Sehun ah, happy birthday! Have you received anything nice?” Jongin didn’t hear a response other than some sounds that sounded somewhat like sniffles. “Sehun ah, I am coming round right now; stay where you are.”
The medical student ran out of his apartment and into his car. Twenty minutes later, he arrived outside of the building where Sehun lived. He pressed the buzzer and waited for the younger male to allow him inside. Once he was in, he ran up the stair to Sehun’s flat, pressing the doorbell once. The door opened, revealing the younger male, in his pyjamas, covering his face to hide his tears.
“J-Jongin, I can’t see colours anymore.” Sehun cried rushing forward and enveloping the older male in a hug. And Jongin’s only thought was to comfort the younger male.
He led the crying male to the sofa, setting him down before hugging him tightly whilst whispering sweet words in Sehun’s ear. As much as he wanted to, he knew it was wrong to get Sehun to stand up and let him take tests to figure out what caused Sehun to become colour blind.
Soft snores could be heard and Jongin knew that Sehun had fallen asleep. He let the younger male go and walked to his bag to pick up some paper and a pen. He wrote down several facts and ideas that could have possibly have been the cause. He also thought about how he could help Sehun achieve his dream to study art.
When Sehun awoke, Jongin noted how the younger male blinked several times as if he was trying to adjust himself to this new way of living. “I have had a thought, I think I know how you can study art at university.”
“I don’t want to do it anymore.” Sehun stared blankly at Jongin, no happiness evident in his eyes.
“I know how you can do it though.”
“Just get out, Jongin, I want to be alone.” Sehun cried, wrapping his arms around his legs.
Jongin stood up, placing a piece of paper on the table before walking to the door. “Alright, but when you are feeling better, just read what I have written on the piece of paper in front of you.” Jongin left with a heavy heart, closing the door slowly as he spent as long time as possible to stare at the crying boy.
It was probably an hour before Sehun’s tears ran dry. He sat up, looking around at the world, and how different it seemed. He saw the piece of paper in front of him, like Jongin had said, and he picked it up, reading the words on the page.
The piece of paper dropped from his grasp as a fresh wave of tears came over him, along with a new sense of determination and hope.
Sehun ah,
You don’t need to be sad, you are still perfect the way you are and as long as you are passionate about what you do, you can achieve anything. I have an idea on how you can incorporate it to your work. Why don’t you try painting something with what you can see now? With the shades of black, grey and white. It will definitely show that you have a different perspective. I can come round if you are feeling better, just give me a call and we can try together to let you live your dreams!
Hwaiting!
Kim Jongin
“Jongin ssi, I am ready for you to do the tests on me.” Jongin was surprised. He only left Sehun’s apartment around an hour ago and Sehun was already ready to continue to help him with his project. Maybe Sehun was just really determined to help Jongin, and even try to help himself get the colour in his vision again. Jongin ran back to the younger male’s apartment, having only stayed at a nearby café in case Sehun was in trouble at any point.
When he arrived, Sehun opened the door. He was already changed and ready to go, so Jongin grabbed the younger male’s hand and they walked out towards the university hospital. “Are you sure you are feeling okay? We don’t have to do anything too taxing if you don’t feel like it.” Sehun shook his head. “Alright, I will take you to the opticians to see if your vision has changed. I doubt it has though.”
Jongin led the younger male to a room on the right, before calling the same person who checked Sehun’s eyes before. He entered the room a little later and requested for the younger male to take a seat at one of the machines. “Alright, just to remind you, there are lots of spots on the screens, I need you to cover your right eye and then tell me how many dots you can see that light up.” Sehun nodded and responded accordingly. Jongin noticed the younger male scrunch up his face in concentration as if he found it difficult to see the different colours.
“Alright, now if you sit at this machine, I will take pictures of your eyes and see if there is anything wrong with your eyes. I warn you, there will be a bright flash.” The optician took the photos and Sehun pulled back, trying to blink the bright spots away from his eyes. ”Right, looking at the images right now. I can’t see anything wrong with your eyes, they look like they are in the same condition as they were before your birthday. I noticed you were having difficulty counting the number dots on screen, however, I think it is because the colour of the dots are quite similar to the background and so your brain is just having difficult with you only seeing everything in varying degrees of grey.”
“Thank you, if you could, please could you just write down that information and then send it to me.” Jongin smiled, bowing and then pulling the younger male out of the room. “Come on, let’s take you home. I want to give you your birthday present.”
When they arrived at Sehun’s house, Jongin produced a small bag. Sehun gratefully opened the gift and noted that there was two types of paint and from what he could tell, one was black, and the other one was white. “I know it isn’t very big or particularly thoughtful, but I want you to paint something now with what you can see with your current vision. I know it will be amazing. You can mix the paint together to get different shades of grey and stuff. I just think it will help with you reaching your dream. I bought it when you sent me out of your house earlier.”
“Thanks.” Sehun smiled. “I actually really like it. How about you write up your notes from today on the dining table and I will get my paintbrushes?” Jongin nodded, walking to the table and opening his book.
They worked respectively in silence for several hours with the sound of Jongin tapping into his laptop being the only thing that resonated in the room. “How is it going?” Jongin asked, standing up to walk towards Sehun who was focussing on painting.
“Don’t come near! Stay where you are, I want to show you when I have finished, and so don’t dare come over and look!” Sehun cried, continuing to focus on his work. Jongin noticed Sehun’s tongue sticking out in concentration.
“Alright.” Jongin replied, walking back to his seat. His phone rang and he picked it up. “Hello. How are you? Yes I am good thanks. Why did you call? Oh you want me to spend the next few days with you? I guess that is reasonable since you are going to China. I have a few last tests to run with through with Sehun but I am pretty much free after that. How about I come round to your house the day after tomorrow? Alright, I will get you a present so that you remember me forever. I will see you soon then. I love you. Bye”
“Who was that?” Sehun asked once Jongin had ended the call.
“Luhan hyung. He is going to China next week and I haven’t spent much time with him. He wants to spend his remaining days with me which I guess is reasonable. I need to arrange a load of activities to do with him. I hear a funfair is coming to the city soon so I will take him to that.”
“Yeah you should, take lots of pictures and then you can make him a photo album so that he remembers you. Oh, you can come now, I have just about finished it.” Sehun smiled, waving his arm to get the older male to walk over to him.
What Jongin saw, shocked him. It was a painting, rather abstract but mind blowing. Next to the canvas was a picture of him, in his doctor’s suit. It was a photo Sehun had taken the day Jongin was taking all the tests on the younger man. And on the canvas, was a black and white representation of the same picture. Jongin was lost for words. Of all things, Sehun chose Jongin to draw. “I drew you because you were the one who gave me the idea to draw what I see in black and white. What do you think?”
“It… it is amazing. You really should chase your dreams you know.”
“You think so? I wasn’t sure I would still have it in me. I guess it feels a bit weird because I am seeing things from a different perspective. I might use the paintings that I have already done and make a copy of it by painting it again in black and white. I could use it in my portfolio.”
“That sounds like a brilliant idea. You should do that. I know that you will impress the professors with it.” Jongin looked at his watch. “Goodness, is that the time? Shall we go out to a restaurant? I don’t feel like cooking and I am sure you don’t either.” Sehun nodded.
“Let me just wash the paintbrushes and tidy up. It will only take a few minutes.” Sehun came back a little later, wearing clean clothes. “Come on, let’s go.” Sehun grabbed Jongin’s wrist, pulling the older male out of the apartment. “I know this cute restaurant we can go to, the ajumma is really lovely and the food is delicious.” Jongin nodded, allowing the younger male to pull him along.
The restaurant was small, nothing really big, but it looked cosy. Sehun chose a seat in the corner of the diner, and handed a menu to the older male. “If we order a couple of dishes then we can just share whatever is in the centre.” Jongin nodded, looking at the options.
“Is there anything you want in particular?”
“I would like some Samgyeopsal and some rice. Ajumma will bring us a grill which we can cook it on.”
“Yeah that sounds good. We can ask for some vegetables to go with it too. How does that sound?” Sehun nodded before notifying the worker that they were ready to order. Jongin placed the order. “Do you feel better now that you are still have a chance of achieving your dreams?”
Sehun nodded happily. “I think it was more of a shock at first. It was quite hard to comprehend the world in shades of grey. It still is a bit weird, but I think I am slowly becoming accustomed to it. I mean, I might as well continue with life now. There is no point in moping about the negative things in life. I should just focus on making the most of having Greyscale.”
“That is really good that you have a positive attitude to it. I know it is hard. I have been thinking about it, and I don’t think this it is a disease of an infection. I mean, I have been looking at your test results and there is nothing wrong with you. Your eyesight is still perfect and your health is still the same as three weeks ago. I actually think it is something to do with the brain, maybe some hardwiring in the brain? I mean, it isn’t an illness as you evidently are not ill. I still haven’t worked it out yet, I need to do more research but I am concerned that it will come out with nothing because I don’t think there is an external factor causing it.”
“That sounds really confusing. How is your paper going?”
“Hard, I mean, I have written some of it, but I am concerned that I won’t be able to end it or anything. Maybe if I did a survey to find out about all different people to see about their circumstances such as their social situation, their family income and see if I can find any correlation.”
“That could work. We can hand them out at my work for them to do while they drink their coffee.”
The worker came over with the food and the grill. “Thank you. And yes that would be good. We can write the questionnaire tomorrow after I have done a few more tests on you.” Jongin moved some of the meat on to the grill, letting it sizzle for a while.
“What are you going to do when Luhan leaves for China?”
“Hmm, I am not sure. We are going to do a long distance relationship because he isn’t going to be in China for too long. I know I am going to cry when he leaves because I will miss him. But we will try to make it easier by Skyping a lot. I will try to fly over to China as well. It shouldn’t be too bad because China is just a little bit off in terms of time zones.” Jongin explained, picking up the meat and placing one slice onto Sehun’s plate and the other one on his own.
“I think it is good that even though you love Luhan, you are letting him go off and do what he wants. I have heard of people who completely changed because of the other person. They slotted themselves into the person’s life and sort of do everything together.”
“Well I mean, I already feel like I am holding back and he wants the opportunity, I don’t want to hold him back anymore. Shall we get ajumma to bring the bill over now?” Sehun nodded as he finished his last bite. The ajumma came over with a piece of paper with the price. Jongin brought out his wallet, getting ready to pay.
“Stop, Jongin hyung, let me pay.” Jongin ignored Sehun and handed the appropriate amount of cash to the ajumma.
“No can do, mister. It is still your birthday after all. Think of it as your birthday present.” Sehun sighed in defeat. He knew that there was no way Jongin would let him pay. He would have to repay the older male another day.
“Fine, but next time, I am going to be paying. Alright? But thank you Jongin hyung, I had a really nice birthday, even if it did turn out that I have Greyscale.” Jongin stood up, extending his hand out to the younger male.
“Alright, come on, let me walk you home.” The walk home was silent as they thought about their respective things. When they arrived, Jongin walked Sehun up to his door. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Jongin smiled, leaning in to give the younger male a hug. The surroundings became stuffy and he wasn’t sure what to do. He placed his lips on Sehun’s pale ones, pulling back almost immediately. “I- I am so sorry, I better go.” Jongin left the building without turning his head back once.
Part 2
Author: samdek95
Genre: Romance
Rating: PG
Summary: In which Jongin has a final year project to do, and Sehun is a coffee worker who volunteers to be the centre of Jongin’s story (in more than one way).
“I hate this.” Jongin complained, planting his face heavily against the table in front. An arm encircled its way around Jongin’s back.
“You can do it Jongin, I know you can. You have always achieved great things. I still can’t believe you are top of the class!” The person next to sighed handing a glass of water to the complaining male.
“Yes, but this final year dissertation is going to kill me, I swear. I don’t even know what to do.” Jongin turned to the male next to him, staring at him hopefully.
“Don’t look at me, I have no clue what you even need to do. I am not that academically capable unlike you.” Jongin opened up his laptop, typing in the term ‘medical mysteries’ into the search engine. A list of results flashed on the screen and he glanced through the outcomes.
“I have to do an essay on a medical mystery, but it just seems impossible. There are so many different ones, which isn’t the problem. The issue is that there is pretty much no information about any of the diseases or infections because no one knows anything about them. How am I even meant to find anyone with the disease? There aren’t exactly many people with, I don’t know, a water allergy.” The other male laughed. Just because Jongin was the cleverest person in his class evidently did not correlate with common sense.
“I can’t believe you are being so naive Jongin, there is one medical mystery that is around everyone. It just a coincidence that we weren’t affected by it. Or maybe we are or will in the future. We don’t even know.”
Jongin stared blankly at the other male, trying to work out what he was talking about. “What?”
“Why don’t you do your final year dissertation on the Greyscale Pandemic?”
It began in the year 2000. They called it the Greyscale Pandemic. On a person’s seventeenth birthday, at the time they were born, would become colour blind and only see the world in black and white. However, this only affected a few people: about half of the population. The rest of society lived life normally with coloured vision.
That was until some people who had Greyscale was suddenly able to see the colours again whilst other people who had ordinary vision became colour blind all of a sudden.
It remained a medical mystery for many years.
The illness created problems. Many people who required coloured sight as part of their job lost their profession as they could not perform the appropriate tasks properly. Occupations included doctors, designers and teachers. Nowadays, before a person could go to university to do their chosen degree, they would had to take an extra test to see if they were affected by Greyscale.
Most people came accustomed to the illness with the assumption that everyone had it and it was part of the luck in whether they got affected by it or not. In a way, it helped with society being that everyone thought that if they were good to the culture, then they would be rewarded with normal sight when they became seventeen. Others just lived life to the fullest where they would try to achieve as much as possible before they reached the age.
It was the perfect topic for Jongin’s essay, really. He could try and find the cause of the disease or infection (whatever it was). He had been particularly lucky. For he was one of the fortunate people who did not get affected by it and was able to chase his dreams of becoming a doctor. Because of the lack of people passing the Greyscale test, Jongin was able to get into a respectable university to study the course of his dreams.
Jongin sat at the table on his own at a local coffee shop, pieces of paper sprawled out where he had written possible ideas of the causes of the illness. He was still waiting for his order to arrive, a caramel macchiato, but he could tell that the café was a little busy so he continued to focus on his work.
That was until some brown hot liquid spilt onto him and his work.
“Oh my goodness! I am so sorry! I honestly didn’t mean to. The café is really hectic right now and I just slipped as I tried to bring you your drink. Hang on let me get you some tissues.” Jongin stared at his work as the worker ran off. His pieces of paper with all of his work! What was he going to do!? He was certain that now he would probably fail this project and then fail university and live out the rest of his life on the streets.
A wad of tissues were thrown onto him and the table as the worker came back. “I hope this is okay and that I didn’t ruin anything. Oh my goodness, I am going to get fired. I really don’t want to get fired. I need the funds if I want to go to univers-”
“It’s okay.” Jongin smiled, inspecting the worker. Tall, probably taller than him, with a light shade of brown hair. He turned to the worker’s name badge: Sehun.
“Honestly, if you want me to do anything for you, I will do it. Do you want me to rewrite your notes for you?” Sehun asked, continuing to wipe the table with the tissues and throwing them away in a nearby bin.
Jongin lifted his damp notes, inspecting the damage. “My notes seem okay actually, there wasn’t a lot written on them and I had used biro ink so it hasn’t really smudged. It won’t take me too long to write them again anyway - they were just rough notes.”
“Are you sure? I mean, I finish work in about fifteen minutes, if you want, you can come round to my place and I can wash your clothes? I am not forcing you, only if you want to.”
Jongin smiled. “Sure, that sounds great.”
Sehun walked back to the table twenty minutes later. “I am sorry that I am slightly late, the manager had a rant at me for causing such a mess. I have been docked today’s wage, but at least I haven’t been fired.” Sehun smiled as he waited for Jongin to pack up his items. When Jongin was ready, Sehun led the tanned male out of the café and in the direction of his apartment.
“So how old are you Sehun ssi?”
“Well I am sixteen at the moment, but I am turning seventeen in a few weeks. How about you?” Jongin turned his head to face the younger male. Turning seventeen soon? It was going to be a big day for Sehun then as he will be finding out whether or not he has Greyscale.
“Well I am twenty one, currently at university. Are you excited for your big day then?”
“Kind of, but I think I am more nervous. I am not sure how I would cope if I lost the colour of the world. I also want to become a photographer and an artist so if I can’t see colour, I am in big trouble.” Sehun laughed slightly before turning to the older male. “What are you studying?”
“I am training to become a doctor, so yes, I am studying medicine. It is great fun and it is really interesting. I currently have my final year project where I have to do some an essay on a medical mystery, which is interesting, but also hard. There isn’t much information online so I think I am going to resort to handing out questionnaires for people to do.”
“That sounds really interesting, it would be really cool if you could find out the cause of a mystery illness. You would get a Nobel Prize and everything! You would be known as the hero for figuring the cause. And then you would have to find some sort of medicine to solve it. You would become world famous. Ah, we are home. Hang on.” Sehun stopped walking when they reached a block of flats before typing in a few numbers to allow himself into the building. The younger male opened the door, letting Jongin in before taking him up five flights of stairs to his house. Sehun opened his rucksack, rummaging through it to find the key and opened the door. “We are home, it isn’t anything too big, but make yourself at home while I get you some clothes to borrow.”
Sehun walked off to an adjacent room as Jongin stepped in, looking at the walls. He was in awe when he saw the array of pictures and drawings, some hung up on the wall and other canvases leant against it.
Jongin could only think of one thing: if Sehun had Greyscale, then the world would miss out.
“Here.” Jongin turned before realising that there was some clothes being thrown at him. He caught it with ease before standing up. “The bathroom is to your left, just give me your clothes when you are changed. I will also remake your caramel macchiato again, if you want.” Jongin smile and nodded before walking off to the bathroom.
When Jongin returned to the scent of the coffee, he headed towards the kitchen where he found Sehun smiling as he hummed along to nothing. “Ah, thanks, just in time, I have finished making your drink. I will put your clothes in the wash and then join you in the living room.” Sehun smiled as he handed the drink over.
“So, tell me more about your project?” Sehun asked when he returned, a soft whirring from the washing machine could be heard from the background.
“Well I have to do a project on a medical mystery, as you know, so I was thinking about doing a project on the Greyscale Pandemic. But I don’t really know what to do, and how to do it. A case study would be good, but most of the people I know have already passed the age and either are already affect by it or nothing happened. The worst thing about Greyscale is that you can still get it at any point in your life. I guess that is what is most scary about it, I could just wake up tomorrow and have lost the colour of my sight and I would get kicked off my course.” Jongin explained, taking a sip of his drink every now and then.
“I know what you should do. You should do your experiment on me.” Sehun smiled.
“I couldn’t possibly do that, I barely know you.”
“You barely know me, but you willingly followed me to my house and you are still here. And besides, I am turning seventeen soon so you can do experiments on me. Think of it as my way of apologising for spilling the drink all on you earlier.”
“Alright, I guess. But I mean, you will have to spend a lot of time with me as there is a lot of experiments that I need to perform before and after you turn seventeen.”
“Why don’t we start now then?” Sehun questioned. Jongin turned into his bag, before going through one of the plastic wallets. He picked up a piece of paper and handed it over to the younger male.
“This is just confidentiality stuff. I don’t really know how to explain it, just give it a read and sign it if you are happy. Obviously, if you don’t sign it, then I can’t do the experiments on you.” Jongin stated as Sehun read the information before standing up and returning with a pen and signing the confidentiality agreement form.
“Great, now I just want a few bits of information about you. I need to know your full name, your date of birth, contact and other medical information. Obviously, if you don’t know your blood type and stuff, then I can arrange for us to stop off by at the university hospital so I can take some blood samples. We will need to do it anyway later on.”
“If you have the form, I can just fill it in myself.” Jongin handed the piece of paper over to the younger male and watched as Sehun put all of his attention onto the questions. Jongin laughed slightly as he noticed the younger male’s tongue sticking out in concentration.
“Here you go.” Sehun said when he finished, handing back the piece of paper.
“Great, well I guess I should probably go now, it is getting a little late anyway. Thank you for helping me anyway. I will call you once I have checked over everything.” Jongin smiled as he gathered everything back into his bag. A light flash struck Jongin’s eyes and he stepped back.
“Sorry.” Sehun blushed as Jongin blinked to get rid of the blind spots from his eyes. “I am scared that if I lose colour from my sight, I will miss out on a lot, so I want to take many photos to remind me forever of the small things that happen in life.”
Jongin smiled. It was quite a nice thing to do as a way to remember the memories if a person with Greyscale was able to get their coloured vision back. “That’s okay, I will see you another day then. Probably tomorrow.”
“Wait, your clothes!”
“You can give it to me again another time. It isn’t like it is the last time we will be seeing each other anyway.” Jongin smiled before leaving the apartment. As he left the building, his phone went off. “Hey Luhan hyung, where are you?”
“That was why I was calling! I am waiting outside your apartment, why aren’t you home?”
“I am sorry, I didn’t realise that you were coming round and I met someone who wanted to take part in my experiment, so I was with him so that he could fill in some forms. I will be home soon.”
There was a pause before he received a response from the other end of the call. “Alright, I love you.”
“See you soon, Luhan hyung. I love you too.”
Jongin called Sehun the next day announcing that he required the younger male to go to the university hospital to do some health checks.
“So why do you need to take my blood pressure? I mean, surely everyone has relatively similar blood pressures, and I doubt Greyscale affects specific people with low or high blood pressure. And with weight, I thought the illness had affected people of all weight. I swear I saw an article that some of the morbidly obese people were affected as well as the skinnier people.”
“I know that, but I need to know about you. You are my case study after all. And anyway, if there is something wrong, I might need to diagnose you, and with this information, it will make the process much easier.” Jongin explained as he reached over to get some medical equipment from one of the shelves.
“Alright, whatever you say. I feel like you are interrogating in my life, having said that, I gave you permission. I guess I just want to know more about you. I don’t even think I know your surname.”
“Kim. Kim Jongin.” Sehun sighed in relief. He had realised that after Jongin had left his apartment, the older male hadn’t even given his name. “I am from Seoul, and I have never tried drinking alcohol, drugs or cigarettes.”
“Really, I guess we will have to change that later, won’t we. Hang on, let me take a picture of you in your doctor’s coat.” Sehun winked at the older male, bringing out his camera to take a quick snap of Jongin, before placing the camera down and stepping up onto the scales. “What do the readings say?”
“Well, it says you are in the lower end of the scale in terms of weight, but you are not anorexic or overly underweight. Nothing particularly exciting. You can get off now. I just need you to sit on the chair over there.” Jongin requested, waiting for the younger male to sit down before wrapping a piece of material around his arm. “This won’t hurt, but you need to relax for this to work. This will measure your blood pressure. And then afterwards, I will need to take a sample of your blood for analysis, alright?” Sehun stared at the older male, nodding weakly and waited for the machine to work.
“Jo-Jongin, we have a slight problem that I have a phobia of needles and I don’t feel so good now.” Sehun explained. Jongin inspected the younger male, noting down that he was looking particularly pale against his already white skin. The student stood up and excused himself as he left his room, returning with a glass of water and some cream in his hands.
“Let me put this against your vein, it will be cold and it will numb the pain when it happens. I can also get you to the bed if you think you will faint. Would that be better for you?” Sehun nodded, and stood up, his legs already feeling weak.
Once the younger male was laid down against the soft bed, Jongin turned Sehun’s head to face the wall before pressing down on the other side of his elbow to look for a suitable vein to pierce through. “Just remember, don’t move, alright?” Sehun nodded, his eyes closing in preparation for the blood test. “So tell me more about yourself. I noticed that you live alone, yet you are only sixteen.”
“My parents don’t really have time for me. They are researchers on Greyscale over in the States actually. They don’t really approve of my desire to become an artist and photographer because they are obviously successful scientists who are very academic, whilst I just like to draw thin- ouch! Get it out!” Sehun cried when the needle pierced the skin.
“Sehun ah, don’t move, if you get agitated, it will only make the blood test take longer.”
“I’m sorry, it just hurts so much.” Sehun crunched his eyes shut, trying to focus his attention away from the pain in his arm. And then everything went dark.
Sehun opened his eyes, the surroundings were blurry. He tried to work out where he was; he could see a bright light from in front of him along with a black figure that he couldn’t quite make out. “Sehun ah, are you okay?” Sehun sat up, everything seemed a bit hazy as he accepted the glass of water from Jongin’s hand.
“What, what happened?”
“You fainted, you scared me slightly. Though it isn’t uncommon to faint. We can finish today if you want. I am pretty certain I have finished with what I needed anyway. I can just pack up and then I can take you home. Does that sound good?” Sehun nodded, laying back down on the bed and using his hands to cover his eyes. His head was throbbing painfully and he just wanted to go to sleep.
“I don’t feel so good.” Sehun whispered, before Jongin held some pills in front of the younger male’s face.
“Here take these, it will help with the headache, and you look really tired now so I chose the ones with a bit of sleeping pills just so you don’t feel the pain as bad.” Sehun accepted the medicine and stood up to get the water before eating the pills. Jongin then grabbed the younger male and helped him out of the building and towards the car park where Jongin’s car was located.
Jongin drove up towards Sehun’s apartment block and parked in an adjacent road, and turned to see that the younger male had fallen asleep in the passenger seat next to him. He poked the other male lightly to try to wake him up but the latter responded with a “later mum” and turned around, his head leaning against the wall of the car.
“Shit.” Jongin whispered, remembering that to get into the building he would have to enter a code to access it. The older male turned the engine on once again and headed to the other side of the city.
Sehun woke up several hours later in an unfamiliar bed. He stared around the room, looking at the pictures on the dresser. It looked like Jongin with some other guy. A friend maybe? His head still hurt, but he sat up, looking for a glass of water. There was none in the room, so he exited the bedroom in search of the kitchen.
“You’re up.” Sehun turned to see Jongin smiling at him from the sofa. “Are you feeling better?”
Sehun nodded. “Much better thank you. Could I possibly have a glass of water please?” Jongin nodded and stood up, walking off to an adjacent room to what Sehun assumed to be the kitchen.
Jongin returned not long later with a glass of water and some biscuits. “I thought you might be a little bit hungry. It is now nine in the evening now. I can cook you a small meal instead if you want before you go home if you want.”
Sehun shook his head. “No I shouldn’t. I would feel bad for you if I ate all of your food.”
“That is okay, I haven’t cooked dinner for myself yet either, so it would be no hassle. Come, you can help me if that would make you feel happier.” Sehun followed Jongin to the kitchen and sat at one of the stools. “I am not one of the most competent cooks. Luhan hyung often cooks for me which has made it easier for me and it allowed me to focus on my academics a lot, but I can cook some udon if you want. We can add some vegetables and meat too.” Sehun nodded and smiled. “Well, I don’t have a lot, but I have some luncheon meat and broccoli. Yes that will do I guess.” Sehun watched as Jongin turned on the kettle and added the meat to a pan. “Come on, Sehun ah, you can look after the meat while I sort out the noodles and vegetables.”
Sehun stood up, walking to the cooker and moved the slices of luncheon meat around the pan to allow it to cook on both sides. He turned down the heat slightly when he noticed that Jongin still had not put the vegetables in the saucepan yet.
“Here, put the meat on top of everything, then we can carry them over to the dining table in the living room.” Jongin said, once the vegetables and noodles were cooked, moving them over to some glass bowls. Sehun nodded, turning off the cooker and using some chopsticks to move an equal number of luncheon slices to each bowl.
He then handed one bowl to the older male and picked the other one up for himself and followed Jongin out of the room and to the table. He took out his camera, snapping a picture of Jongin carrying his bowl of noodles.
They both sat down and opposite ends of the table and began eating. “Who is Luhan? I saw a few pictures of him in your bedroom.”
“Luhan hyung? He is my boyfriend. We met back in high school, we were both in the same year and then became best friends. Our relationship grew from then and we have been together for just over five years now. It has been a long time, I know.” Jongin laughed.
“Wow that is a long time. Are you going to propose to him any time soon?”
“Hmm, I am not sure, I mean I really do love him, but we are both really young. The thought of getting married in my early twenties is kind of scary. Plus, I need to focus on my studies. Luhan is really supportive though and helps me a lot. Sometimes, I feel guilty because I think I am pulling him back, but he just smiles and says it is okay. I think he is going back to China in a month anyway so that he can visit his family and do some studying over in Beijing. It will be good for him to finally go out and do what he wants. I guess I will have to improve my cooking before then because I will have to cook by myself for the time he has gone, haha!”
“That is cute, he must be really linguistic to be able to speak in so many languages. Goodness, I feel so un-academic in comparison.”
“Of course not, even though you choose not to study the more academic subjects, art is necessary in the world. I don’t do it anymore, but I really enjoyed dancing. If it hadn’t been for my interest in medicine and if I had been affected by Greyscale, then I probably would have gone into dance. Ballet in particular.”
“That sounds really cool! Show me some of your dancing!” Sehun requested, pushing Jongin out from his chair.
“I can’t. I have just eaten, I don’t particularly want stomach ache from forcing myself into strenuous activity.” Sehun laughed. “It is! Especially when I haven’t done it in such a long time.”
“Alright, next time then. Besides, I think it is best if I go now, it is getting late. Thank you for looking after me. We can meet up again another day. And we will need to meet up on my birthday so that you can find out if I have Greyscale or note.” Sehun stood up, seeing that his coat was by the door and walked towards it.
“I can drive you home if you want.”
“No it fine, I can catch the bus home. I’ll see you. Thank you for dinner.” Sehun smiled, walking out of the door and waving at his new friend.
Two weeks passed really quickly as the two males continued to meet up, regardless of whether it was for Jongin’s project, or just because they wanted to go to a nearby coffee shop to chat. The older male noticed that Sehun would take photos of him every time they met, whether it be one of Jongin with a drink, or just standing on the side of the road. Jongin had to take Sehun to the opticians at one point (where Sehun took another photo of him) so that he could have his eye checked for any problems, which came out negative. Soon, it was almost Sehun’s birthday, and the younger male got more and more nervous of the event.
“Don’t worry, I am sure you will not get affected by it. And anyway, you will still be the same Sehun as before, the cheerful one who likes to take photos spontaneously. And if you do lose the colour of sight, we will figure a way so that you can still go to university to study art. As long as you are passionate, I know you can achieve anything.”
Jongin’s phone rang. “Sehun ah, happy birthday! Have you received anything nice?” Jongin didn’t hear a response other than some sounds that sounded somewhat like sniffles. “Sehun ah, I am coming round right now; stay where you are.”
The medical student ran out of his apartment and into his car. Twenty minutes later, he arrived outside of the building where Sehun lived. He pressed the buzzer and waited for the younger male to allow him inside. Once he was in, he ran up the stair to Sehun’s flat, pressing the doorbell once. The door opened, revealing the younger male, in his pyjamas, covering his face to hide his tears.
“J-Jongin, I can’t see colours anymore.” Sehun cried rushing forward and enveloping the older male in a hug. And Jongin’s only thought was to comfort the younger male.
He led the crying male to the sofa, setting him down before hugging him tightly whilst whispering sweet words in Sehun’s ear. As much as he wanted to, he knew it was wrong to get Sehun to stand up and let him take tests to figure out what caused Sehun to become colour blind.
Soft snores could be heard and Jongin knew that Sehun had fallen asleep. He let the younger male go and walked to his bag to pick up some paper and a pen. He wrote down several facts and ideas that could have possibly have been the cause. He also thought about how he could help Sehun achieve his dream to study art.
When Sehun awoke, Jongin noted how the younger male blinked several times as if he was trying to adjust himself to this new way of living. “I have had a thought, I think I know how you can study art at university.”
“I don’t want to do it anymore.” Sehun stared blankly at Jongin, no happiness evident in his eyes.
“I know how you can do it though.”
“Just get out, Jongin, I want to be alone.” Sehun cried, wrapping his arms around his legs.
Jongin stood up, placing a piece of paper on the table before walking to the door. “Alright, but when you are feeling better, just read what I have written on the piece of paper in front of you.” Jongin left with a heavy heart, closing the door slowly as he spent as long time as possible to stare at the crying boy.
It was probably an hour before Sehun’s tears ran dry. He sat up, looking around at the world, and how different it seemed. He saw the piece of paper in front of him, like Jongin had said, and he picked it up, reading the words on the page.
The piece of paper dropped from his grasp as a fresh wave of tears came over him, along with a new sense of determination and hope.
Sehun ah,
You don’t need to be sad, you are still perfect the way you are and as long as you are passionate about what you do, you can achieve anything. I have an idea on how you can incorporate it to your work. Why don’t you try painting something with what you can see now? With the shades of black, grey and white. It will definitely show that you have a different perspective. I can come round if you are feeling better, just give me a call and we can try together to let you live your dreams!
Hwaiting!
Kim Jongin
“Jongin ssi, I am ready for you to do the tests on me.” Jongin was surprised. He only left Sehun’s apartment around an hour ago and Sehun was already ready to continue to help him with his project. Maybe Sehun was just really determined to help Jongin, and even try to help himself get the colour in his vision again. Jongin ran back to the younger male’s apartment, having only stayed at a nearby café in case Sehun was in trouble at any point.
When he arrived, Sehun opened the door. He was already changed and ready to go, so Jongin grabbed the younger male’s hand and they walked out towards the university hospital. “Are you sure you are feeling okay? We don’t have to do anything too taxing if you don’t feel like it.” Sehun shook his head. “Alright, I will take you to the opticians to see if your vision has changed. I doubt it has though.”
Jongin led the younger male to a room on the right, before calling the same person who checked Sehun’s eyes before. He entered the room a little later and requested for the younger male to take a seat at one of the machines. “Alright, just to remind you, there are lots of spots on the screens, I need you to cover your right eye and then tell me how many dots you can see that light up.” Sehun nodded and responded accordingly. Jongin noticed the younger male scrunch up his face in concentration as if he found it difficult to see the different colours.
“Alright, now if you sit at this machine, I will take pictures of your eyes and see if there is anything wrong with your eyes. I warn you, there will be a bright flash.” The optician took the photos and Sehun pulled back, trying to blink the bright spots away from his eyes. ”Right, looking at the images right now. I can’t see anything wrong with your eyes, they look like they are in the same condition as they were before your birthday. I noticed you were having difficulty counting the number dots on screen, however, I think it is because the colour of the dots are quite similar to the background and so your brain is just having difficult with you only seeing everything in varying degrees of grey.”
“Thank you, if you could, please could you just write down that information and then send it to me.” Jongin smiled, bowing and then pulling the younger male out of the room. “Come on, let’s take you home. I want to give you your birthday present.”
When they arrived at Sehun’s house, Jongin produced a small bag. Sehun gratefully opened the gift and noted that there was two types of paint and from what he could tell, one was black, and the other one was white. “I know it isn’t very big or particularly thoughtful, but I want you to paint something now with what you can see with your current vision. I know it will be amazing. You can mix the paint together to get different shades of grey and stuff. I just think it will help with you reaching your dream. I bought it when you sent me out of your house earlier.”
“Thanks.” Sehun smiled. “I actually really like it. How about you write up your notes from today on the dining table and I will get my paintbrushes?” Jongin nodded, walking to the table and opening his book.
They worked respectively in silence for several hours with the sound of Jongin tapping into his laptop being the only thing that resonated in the room. “How is it going?” Jongin asked, standing up to walk towards Sehun who was focussing on painting.
“Don’t come near! Stay where you are, I want to show you when I have finished, and so don’t dare come over and look!” Sehun cried, continuing to focus on his work. Jongin noticed Sehun’s tongue sticking out in concentration.
“Alright.” Jongin replied, walking back to his seat. His phone rang and he picked it up. “Hello. How are you? Yes I am good thanks. Why did you call? Oh you want me to spend the next few days with you? I guess that is reasonable since you are going to China. I have a few last tests to run with through with Sehun but I am pretty much free after that. How about I come round to your house the day after tomorrow? Alright, I will get you a present so that you remember me forever. I will see you soon then. I love you. Bye”
“Who was that?” Sehun asked once Jongin had ended the call.
“Luhan hyung. He is going to China next week and I haven’t spent much time with him. He wants to spend his remaining days with me which I guess is reasonable. I need to arrange a load of activities to do with him. I hear a funfair is coming to the city soon so I will take him to that.”
“Yeah you should, take lots of pictures and then you can make him a photo album so that he remembers you. Oh, you can come now, I have just about finished it.” Sehun smiled, waving his arm to get the older male to walk over to him.
What Jongin saw, shocked him. It was a painting, rather abstract but mind blowing. Next to the canvas was a picture of him, in his doctor’s suit. It was a photo Sehun had taken the day Jongin was taking all the tests on the younger man. And on the canvas, was a black and white representation of the same picture. Jongin was lost for words. Of all things, Sehun chose Jongin to draw. “I drew you because you were the one who gave me the idea to draw what I see in black and white. What do you think?”
“It… it is amazing. You really should chase your dreams you know.”
“You think so? I wasn’t sure I would still have it in me. I guess it feels a bit weird because I am seeing things from a different perspective. I might use the paintings that I have already done and make a copy of it by painting it again in black and white. I could use it in my portfolio.”
“That sounds like a brilliant idea. You should do that. I know that you will impress the professors with it.” Jongin looked at his watch. “Goodness, is that the time? Shall we go out to a restaurant? I don’t feel like cooking and I am sure you don’t either.” Sehun nodded.
“Let me just wash the paintbrushes and tidy up. It will only take a few minutes.” Sehun came back a little later, wearing clean clothes. “Come on, let’s go.” Sehun grabbed Jongin’s wrist, pulling the older male out of the apartment. “I know this cute restaurant we can go to, the ajumma is really lovely and the food is delicious.” Jongin nodded, allowing the younger male to pull him along.
The restaurant was small, nothing really big, but it looked cosy. Sehun chose a seat in the corner of the diner, and handed a menu to the older male. “If we order a couple of dishes then we can just share whatever is in the centre.” Jongin nodded, looking at the options.
“Is there anything you want in particular?”
“I would like some Samgyeopsal and some rice. Ajumma will bring us a grill which we can cook it on.”
“Yeah that sounds good. We can ask for some vegetables to go with it too. How does that sound?” Sehun nodded before notifying the worker that they were ready to order. Jongin placed the order. “Do you feel better now that you are still have a chance of achieving your dreams?”
Sehun nodded happily. “I think it was more of a shock at first. It was quite hard to comprehend the world in shades of grey. It still is a bit weird, but I think I am slowly becoming accustomed to it. I mean, I might as well continue with life now. There is no point in moping about the negative things in life. I should just focus on making the most of having Greyscale.”
“That is really good that you have a positive attitude to it. I know it is hard. I have been thinking about it, and I don’t think this it is a disease of an infection. I mean, I have been looking at your test results and there is nothing wrong with you. Your eyesight is still perfect and your health is still the same as three weeks ago. I actually think it is something to do with the brain, maybe some hardwiring in the brain? I mean, it isn’t an illness as you evidently are not ill. I still haven’t worked it out yet, I need to do more research but I am concerned that it will come out with nothing because I don’t think there is an external factor causing it.”
“That sounds really confusing. How is your paper going?”
“Hard, I mean, I have written some of it, but I am concerned that I won’t be able to end it or anything. Maybe if I did a survey to find out about all different people to see about their circumstances such as their social situation, their family income and see if I can find any correlation.”
“That could work. We can hand them out at my work for them to do while they drink their coffee.”
The worker came over with the food and the grill. “Thank you. And yes that would be good. We can write the questionnaire tomorrow after I have done a few more tests on you.” Jongin moved some of the meat on to the grill, letting it sizzle for a while.
“What are you going to do when Luhan leaves for China?”
“Hmm, I am not sure. We are going to do a long distance relationship because he isn’t going to be in China for too long. I know I am going to cry when he leaves because I will miss him. But we will try to make it easier by Skyping a lot. I will try to fly over to China as well. It shouldn’t be too bad because China is just a little bit off in terms of time zones.” Jongin explained, picking up the meat and placing one slice onto Sehun’s plate and the other one on his own.
“I think it is good that even though you love Luhan, you are letting him go off and do what he wants. I have heard of people who completely changed because of the other person. They slotted themselves into the person’s life and sort of do everything together.”
“Well I mean, I already feel like I am holding back and he wants the opportunity, I don’t want to hold him back anymore. Shall we get ajumma to bring the bill over now?” Sehun nodded as he finished his last bite. The ajumma came over with a piece of paper with the price. Jongin brought out his wallet, getting ready to pay.
“Stop, Jongin hyung, let me pay.” Jongin ignored Sehun and handed the appropriate amount of cash to the ajumma.
“No can do, mister. It is still your birthday after all. Think of it as your birthday present.” Sehun sighed in defeat. He knew that there was no way Jongin would let him pay. He would have to repay the older male another day.
“Fine, but next time, I am going to be paying. Alright? But thank you Jongin hyung, I had a really nice birthday, even if it did turn out that I have Greyscale.” Jongin stood up, extending his hand out to the younger male.
“Alright, come on, let me walk you home.” The walk home was silent as they thought about their respective things. When they arrived, Jongin walked Sehun up to his door. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Jongin smiled, leaning in to give the younger male a hug. The surroundings became stuffy and he wasn’t sure what to do. He placed his lips on Sehun’s pale ones, pulling back almost immediately. “I- I am so sorry, I better go.” Jongin left the building without turning his head back once.
Part 2