estranged

[beijingaccent9]

Title: estranged
Prompt: Minseok was a sun, and Lu Han was just a lonely flower.
A/N: unbeta'ed; re-posted from lj

A rose. Lu Han was a rose, whose color reminded other flowers of a fire that had burnt their own kind on a bright sunny day of a summer a year ago. It had thorns that pricked countless of fingers. Lu Han was beautiful, but had its shortcomings. 

"You're just unlucky." Baekhyun, a tulip in front of Lu Han, said talking about its flaws. 

Every flower had its own set of flaws, but why was Lu Han the only flower to be put under such strict scrutiny? 

"It's cursed." Another flower begged to differ; a yellow bell whose name is Junmyeon.

Lu Han was not the only flower in the garden, but not a single flower could be treated as a friend. It was ostracized, and lonely. Minseok wanted to reach out and make Lu Han smile.



Beauty has its price; the day Lu Han bloomed in to a beautiful rose, it had already started paying for it. Maybe Baekhyun was right; Lu Han's luck ran out and it turned out to be a rose, full of thorns, negativity surrounding such beauty.

Lu Han could have been a daffodil, a baby's breath, or a carnation instead. It wanted to be one of those; to be less problematic and not be the center of every flowers' ridicules.

What Junmyeon had said could be right too. Maybe when the garden fairy had scattered cursed pixie dust, Lu Han had caught all of them unintentionally (not that it wanted to) and none was left for the others. 

"If that's the case, am i still beautiful?" Lu Han, whose confidence was smothered by more fortunate flowers, had started doubting itself.

Only the sun, Minseok, would not falter as to its views of Lu Han's innate beauty.



Minseok was the sun that helped Lu Han and the other flowers grew strong and beautiful; something so vital and relevant to every living beings' existence.

"You're beautiful, Lu Han." Minseok said, in its warm (literally) voice, after seeing the flower in a slump. 

Lu Han frowned, not believing what the sun had just complimented it with. "How can you say that?"

The sun didn't answer, telling itself that it had only said the truth and there was no point in explaining and going on & on about some words uttered in all honesty. 

Lu Han didn't like the sun, Minseok.



Minseok never stopped trying to make the lonely flower happy, though Lu Han probably never appreciated any of its effort. Lu Han could be kind of stubborn, and it needed constant reassurance that it was indeed as beautiful as the sun had told it.

"If you were sincere with your words, you'd come up at night and--" 

Minseok giggled, not intending to mock Lu Han's innocent words. "As much as I'd love to, but I can't." 

"Then you're not sincere enough."

Lu Han still didn't like the sun, maybe.



The days were happier, filled with the sun's dry jokes and the flower's small laughters. Only if its nights were as fulfilling as its days, then there was no need for the loneliness to seep back in and ruin everything. 

One day, darkness enveloped the sky and Minseok was nowhere to be seen. Lu Han waited, and waited, and waited. Only raindrops appeared. That was not what Lu Han wanted to see. 

"Minseok, you can come out now." Lu Han said, voice trembling as it felt cold from the sudden change of weather.

Lu Han shivered, wanting the Sun to keep itself warm. The flower was longing and hoping for warmth that only Minseok could perfectly give.

The thunder scared Lu Han, hoping it was Minseok's voice instead. The lightning provided light, though not as bright as Minseok's was. Nothing can be at par with the sun.

"Where are you?" 

Lu Han had started to like Minseok, maybe. Or maybe, it had started to get used to the idea of Minseok being there, constantly making it happy.



Minseok came back, telling Lu Han how much it missed the beautiful flower's company. Lu Han brought its body back up and asked, "Really?". The flower glowed as it savored everything that the Sun provided. 

Lu Han loved asking the obvious because it knew, the Sun was not the kind who lies. Asking the Sun so many questions meant hearing nice words spoken without a single lie attached to it.

"Why were you gone?" Lu Han didn't know a lot of things. 

"Rudeness is something the storm cannot tolerate." The Flower didn't really get what that meant. 

"We are two different things that cannot co-exist, like me and the moon."

"You and I are two different beings, but why do we co-exist?"

Minseok just smiled and Lu Han never really knew what that meant. The Sun always gave the Flower complicated answers anyway. There was nothing new about it.

Lu Han didn't know what it felt for the Sun.



Minseok wanted Lu Han to understand that there would come a time, it would not be there to reassure and make its friend happy. It had to tend to other flowers, and Lu Han was just one of the flowers he had needed to tend. 

Lu Han knew that the 'time' came when Minseok was physically present, but would not take time to even peek or say hi like how it usually did before. Some things were not meant to last. Everything that grows, eventually dies. Everything that starts, would eventually meet their end.

The loneliness creeped back in, slowly and painfully like it was before Lu Han had started engaging with the Sun. It had always been like this, getting emotionally invested to things that would eventually make their way out of its life. 

"So, am I just one of the flowers you needed to tend?"

"Maybe you were." Minseok could only sigh. "But I was telling the truth. You are as beautiful as I told you were."

Lu Han didn't really hate the Sun. It hated itself.



As the loneliness seeped in from the roots, to the leaves, stems, and every part of its being; Lu Han contemplated a lot of things and came up with a thought.


While I was getting emotionally invested, Minseok had only been doing its job as the Sun. I was not a special case- but only an unfortunate flower that became an unprecedented job for the Sun.


Lu Han was just a lonely flower, and Minseok was just a Sun. Those were what they originally were, anyway.