poems by the shore

o1

the smell of egg fills the air as his mother prepares breakfast for her two sons and herself. jisung rushes into the kitchen, slipping his socks on and fixing his hair by running his fingers through.

"where's your brother?" she asks him as he pours three glasses of water. the boy shrugs, trying to hurry the morning by. "go call him or he's not eating breakfast." jisung huffs and shouts for his brother.

his mother smacks the back of his head, sucking air through her teeth. "go to his room and get him, lazy," she scolds him. jisung groans and runs off to get his brother who opens his bedroom door quickly. the two rush back and finish before another minute passes.

the three say their goodbyes and head on their ways to work and school. jisung boards the bus, nearly out of breath as usual, and combs his fingers through his hair once more.

trees slip by, people walking hurriedly and leisurely along the sidewalks. he traces a finger along the rims of his phone case until the bus reaches his stop. stepping off, the trees' leaves brush against each other, and students make their way to the school building for their last day before summer break.

he gets passed the teacher at the front gate checking uniforms with his shirt untucked and tie hanging loosely. it isn't until his homeroom teacher walks into class that jisung fixes his uniform, almost being put to kneel with his fists in the air once again.

the class greets their teacher, announcements are told, and the bell rings soon after. classes begin and end monotonously until the clock strikes four pm, and students gather their things to leave for break. 

jisung might have been the quickest if his friend hadn't shown up at his homeroom door a minute before he stood from his seat. the two hurry out together, racing it to the bus stop then to jisung's a few minutes or so away.

"bet you don't even know the code!" jisung laughs, stilling trying to get there first. his friend chuckles mischievously, "want to bet money?" he goes bug eyed. "wait! how many times have you been over when i'm gone!" the boy simply bares his teeth and runs faster.

"felix, what the fuck!"

his friend laughs proudly, knowing the boy wouldn't do anything but laugh about it in a couple weeks. felix types the code and slips in before jisung reaches his floor. he types in the code when he gets to his door and heads to his room to toss his bag in the corner.

upon entering the kitchen, he finds felix rummaging through the fridge. "what're you looking for?" he asks. the boy mumbles, "strawberries and yogurt." he stands up and glances over at jisung, "the one time i come over with someone actually here and you guys don't have my favorite yogurt. i'm hurt."

jisung scoffs. " 'the one time', you've come over when i'm home before. shut up," he chuckles. felix smiles and closes the fridge. they go to jisung's room and sit on his bed and desk chair, talking about anything that comes to mind.

when his phone buzzes with a reminder, jisung sighs. "what's wrong?" felix asks. the boy shakes his head, wanting to ignore having to pack soon. "jisung," his friend hums.

"i have to pack for tomorrow."

"pack for what? what's tomorrow?"

"i'm going to my dad's for the summer."

felix's brows rise and he whines, "wait, really? i thought we were supposed to hang out all break! you said we were, every day until school starts again."

the boy says his parents already told him he'd leave tomorrow morning; his father would pick him up. "plus, we have other breaks before we go off to college. and, it's not like you won't come over every day after school anyway. don't worry, felix."

his friend sighs and pouts, as if the boy hadn't said anything in reply.

"you're not leaving until tomorrow, right?"

jisung nods.

"then, can i sleep over?"

he smiles and nods again.

the rest of the night, the two play video games, watch movies, eat bag after bag of snacks, and talk until the crack of dawn before jisung's dad comes and picks him up.

◌

felix helps with packing his bag, the process going quicker though they wished it would go slower. a phone rings, jisung's mom answering and calling for him. he looks to his friend with disheveled hair and smiles.

"see you in a week," he smiles, his friend mimicking the look. they wave before jisung goes to his dad standing at the car waiting outside the complex. felix stands behind the boy's mom and the two wave at him leaving.

he smiles and does the same as he loads his bag in the trunk of the taxi and himself in the back seat. his dad tells the driver to drop them off off at the train station, then they board a three hour ride to busan.

the car ride goes silently, but the trip in the train is filled with endless conversations. jisung brings up the most frivolous things as does his dad. to say he was excited to visit his dad for the summer is a bit of an overstatement.

he's missed his father, but he had his summer weeks with felix planned out. they planned to go out to karaoke and pc rooms; they'd visit the city and stop by cafes as they usually did on sundays when they were supposed to attend their study groups.

it was all set, everything going according to schedule until his dad called his mom yesterday. he'd asked for jisung to spend his summer break with him in busan, so they can spend quality time before jisung's final year of high school; entrance and class exams before college.

now, he's left with a beach and city he's never met before and his father who works from the early morning till late evening. these next few weeks are going to be all to him.

or perhaps they'll be to him and someone else.