Twilight | ATEEZ

Chapter Twenty-Four

Yeosang remains lying face down in his bed as he hears the front door close
and lock behind his parents, signaling they've finally left for work.

Eunsang would've gone down to the kitchen and ate breakfast with them, even when he was on Fall break like Yeosang is now. Eunsang would wake Yeosang up, still, and insist he join in on breakfast. Even ten years ago, Yeosang never was much of a breakfast person - it made his stomach sick - but he'd go down for Eunsang.

His elder brother's demeanor did that to people, made them fall in love with him and do anything for his approval. Needless to say, Eunsang was far from the loner type -- in fact, he was rather popular at SNU during the two years he'd been enrolled. His only two years, of course...

Yeosang tries to uncurl his body and roll over, only to still lie there staring up at his ceiling that was littered with glow-in-the-dark stars he'd put up with Eunsang. He never took them down. Eunsang had the same ones on the ceiling in his room, but Yeosang knows that their dad was probably the one that helped him put them up.

The stars were something that Eunsang often talked about, saying how each one of them held different paths for our lives. He would talk about how meaningful wishing upon one of them is, how the star wished upon would stick by you. Yeosang remembers asking him 'what if you pick the wrong star?' and Eunsang's reply stuck with him way more than any star had.

"There isn't a wrong star, Yeo-Yeo. The stars hold much more power than we may think, aligning to create a beautiful life for each one of us. I have a particular star that I wished upon, and not once has it led me wrong. Some things that we may consider 'wrong' aren't all that sinister. There's a reason for everything, little bro. All the 'wrong' things that happen in the world happen for a reason, and we can't dwell on the pain that those things could bring. We have to look ahead and keep moving. It's what the stars would want because in the end, we all become one of them."

Yeosang knows that Eunsang was likely saying all of those things to try and help him think happier thoughts in a time of sadness, for their grandfather had just passed, but lying here in bed ten years later... Yeosang wonders if Eunsang was simply manifesting his own future... Or lack thereof.

"Yeo-Yeo, get up, you can't miss breakfast!"

Yeosang shoots up in his bed, his eyes hazy and blurred from concentrating so heavily on the ceiling. He looks around, but Eunsang is nowhere to be seen. The air doesn't have the scent of eggs and bacon being cooked from downstairs.

The house is completely empty.

Yeosang looks down at his hands, seeing how terribly they're shaking, so he clenches his fists and makes another attempt to get up from bed.

How long has he been laying there...?

10:45 AM

His parents left for work nearly three hours ago. Where did all the time go?

Yeosang can't get the thoughts of Eunsang to stop coursing through his mind. He hates this time of year. He hates this month. He hates Fall break.

Just as he can't control his thoughts, he can't seem to control his feet either because Yeosang is now standing right outside Eunsang's bedroom door, hand on door handle, and before he knew it, there he was, staring into the time capsule that was his brother's bedroom.

It's the same as always, the same as it is every year he goes into it, the same it's been for ten years. His parents never touched it, wanting to leave it exactly as Eunsang had.