look at the stars | sunsun

sixteen.

The procedure doesn't take long, Sunghoon is out of the operating theatre within the hour; it's the recovery process that stretches over months. Sunghoon is a miracle case ─ the doctors at the hospital have never seen one quite like it, and they work carefully with him. The lack of precedence makes him a volatile patient.

His body accepts the corneal transplant without any issue. Vision returns to him slowly, over days, over weeks. Eventually there comes a day, five months after his surgery, a morning where he wakes up and Sunoo's face is beside his, still asleep on the pillow beside him.

Was it even possible for the most beautiful person he'd ever met to become so much more beautiful in the time he'd been gone?

Probably not, he continues. Maybe I'm sleeping and this is all a dream and I'm still blind.

He isn't. Sunghoon doesn't know who to thank for giving him someone who makes every day worth living for, but he is, nevertheless, always grateful.

─

"Come on, hurry! We're going to miss it!"

"The sun has just set, Sunoo. We are not going to miss anything," Sunghoon balances on one leg to pull his boot on as Sunoo yanks enthusiastically on his hand. "Why are you like a dog excited to go on a walk."

"What!" Sunoo immediately stops yanking. "You are horrible. Do you want me to push you down the stairs?"

They make their way to the observation rooftop of the Lotte World Tower, the tallest building in the city. The news has anticipated the coming meteor shower for weeks now, and Sunoo is as excited as every other five-year-old at the observation deck that night.

"Sunghoon, look! It's starting!"

Sunoo's eyes light up with the most beautiful expression Sunghoon could ever imagine as the first streaks of light cut through the darkness.

Sunghoon takes him softly by the chin and turns the younger boy to face him.

"Look at you all excited about the meteors. You never look at me like that."

Sunoo's eyes disappear into lines as he smiles. "I looked at you like that every single day for the past three years. You didn't see it, that's all."

"'Didn't'? Can't you at least say 'couldn't'?" Sunghoon complains. "You're making it sound like I purposely looked away or something."

Sunoo remains unbothered by the older boy's nattering. "Make a wish!"

Shooting stars and meteors are not the same thing, and Sunghoon know this. But he supposes he can forget it for today.

I wish for your happiness. Forever and always.

He imagines a meteor receiving his wish and carrying it away, far, far away. A goodbye letter to the stars he once called home.

Sunghoon doesn't need the stars anymore. He is home, right here on earth, under the endless sky next to the person he loves most in the world.

─

Their journey home is quiet; a comfortable silence that neither of them feel the need to fill with mindless chatter. Sunoo looks up as they exit the train station closest to their apartment.

"Look at the stars, Sunghoon." The stars are dazzling that night, like the finale of the meteor shower lingering in the night air. "Look how they shine for you."

Sunghoon brings their interlocked hands up to point at the sky. "Look how they shine for us."