❝𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗪𝗕𝗘𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗘𝗦 & 𝗖𝗜𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗦. ── 𝗠.𝗬𝗚✔️

xviii

↳ ❝🍓 [chapter 18] ¡! ❞🚬

"SOO, WHY DO THE STARS DISAPPEAR IN THE DAYTIME?" Yoongi asked his older brother as they sit on the roof of their home. They spent their many nights together on this roof, looking up at the stats and contemplating whether their lives truly meant anything . The moon looked like a pale spotlight, making the already pallid brothers look like ghosts in the night.

Yeonsoo looked at the 12-year-old boy with sharp, cat-like eyes. It was one of the few features they shared. Yoongi got his likeness from their mother while Yeonsoo more resembled their father. They only looked vaguely related, their age gap didn't help. They looked more like cousins than anything.

He reached over and nudged the small boy who sat drowning in the thick leather fabric of Yeonsoo's jacket. "Haven't you been paying attention in school?" The man chuckled, shaking his head. You could always tell they were brothers through their smiles. They had just the same one, more pink gums than anything. "It's because the sun's light drowns the rest of them out."

Yoongi looked back out at the sky, the endless night which would soon break into dawn. He pulled his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around himself.

"I don't like that." He decided like his opinion would change all science and logic known to man. "The world looks a lot prettier at night. Why only see one star when you can see millions all at the same time?"

The sound of Yeonsoo's deep chuckle takes Yoongi's attention. He's grinning now, wide and fond of his baby brother. Slowly, he begins to nod. "I think I agree." He shuffles closer to Yoongi and lets his heavy arm weigh on the little boy's shoulders. "How about we choose a star...it'll be our star, yeah?"

They both look out, looking for a star that will be their star.

"That one." Yoongi points to Polaris, a part of the Little Dipper.

"The Guiding Star." Yeonsoo hums thoughtfully. "Yeah, that will be our star. Whenever we're lost, all we have to do is follow the star and we'll find each other again."

Yoongi doesn't really remember much from that following day, just choppy bits and pieces. He remembers a police officer coming to his door, murmured voices, and the heartbroken sobs of his mother and father. No one ever told him what actually happened, just that Yeonsoo wasn't going to come home. His funeral was close-casket. After that night, Yoongi never got to see his brother again.

All Yoongi really knew for sure was that he had changed. He was quiet after that, temperamental, recluse. Any little thing could set him off, his anxiety grew worse than it had ever been, and panic attacks were no stranger to him. His parents became distant as well. They didn't speak at dinner. They never talked about anything of real substance.