Portraits

CHAPTER 8

Next day, while Minho was eating breakfast, he went to check the group chat with his friends and was flooded with selfies and gifs of his friends saying goodluck. Their messages were from two hours ago, just right before class time. He also received a private message from Hyunjin along with a selfie of him winking and doing a finger heart. "Goodluck, you can do it!" They must be having their 2nd subject now. He replies a thank you despite knowing they won't be seeing it until the end of class. He also saves Hyunjin's photo for encouraging purposes. "Minho? Finish up so we can go with your aunt." "Yes mom, just give me 5 minutes to put these in the sink and brush my teeth." Luckily, Minho's aunt lives in Japan along with her husband and son. If does transfer to Japan, he'll be living with his aunt's family.

One down, another to go! He had just finished taking the written exam and will be having the interview tomorrow, so he's free for the afternoon. His cousin suggested that they get lunch at an outdoor restaurant then plan on what they should do for the remaining time that Minho and his mom have. When they arrived at the restaurant, he was astonished at the flowers designed indoors. Hyunjin would love this place, he thought. After lunch, they planned to go shopping. The mall they went to was near a flower shop and had a rooftop garden. Oh, why are there so many plants? Everything reminds him of Hyunjin. While he was in the clothing aisle, he picked out a purple hoodie with a design of a cat wearing a beanie and holding a paint palette. "Here, I want you to take this. This is my favorite perfume brand and I think this scent would suit you." Minho's cousin, Kento takes Minho's wrist and sprays the perfume on him. "This smells really good! Sort of flowery scented, actually." "Oh, yes. They're known for their fragrance collection. You got a flower in mind? They probably have it." If Minho knew what Hyunjin's favorite flower was at the time, he would have bought, but Hyunjin hasn't mentioned a specific flower yet. With a pout, he says, "I wish I did, but as of now I got nothing." "Hey, it's okay. There's definitely gonna be a next time." Kento puts his arms around Minho's shoulder for support as they go to their moms with their items.

"Everyone's there? I thought Hyunjin was going alone." "I thought so too, but they wanted to come along." Minho is facetiming with his friends who are located at his house's living room. He was expecting just Hyunjin but right after Hyunjin's line was open, he was greeted by 8 heads and a cat. "We're your friends too! We didn't even get to call you the other day and didn't hear any news from you except Hyunjin. So we decided to go with Hyunjin. And we also wanted to visit Daffi." Changbin explains while petting Daffi. Daffi was lying down on Hyunjin's lap, purring while receiving pets from the boys. In Hyunjin's lap, Daffi looked so at peace which made Minho glad since he wasn't there to put her to sleep. If Daffi had a second favorite, it would be Hyunjin. "It's only been 2 days but we already miss you, Minho! Did you get anything for us?" Jisung asks innocently. Jisung's 2nd sentence made the other boys look straight at the camera with innocent eyes. He knows exactly what the boys have in mind. "My day was great! Thank you for asking, Jisung. I even went shopping and bought some stuff." Their smile went wider. "-for myself." Minho adds. Their wide smile dropped. "You wound us, Minho. After all these years? You dare not bring us anything from Japan?" Chan leans back on Jeongin and puts a hand on his forehead as if he were fainting. "Relax, guys. Of course I got you something. Just wait when I arrive. Where's dad?" "Dad's just left to get take out. We'll be staying till he arrives." Changbin stated. In their group, they call each other's parents like their own, so it's not unusual for him to hear his friends call his parents by mom and dad, since he does the same. "How was the test?" Hyunjin speaks, inching closer while carefully trying not to disturb Daffi's sleep. "Everything I studied for was all in the test so now all I gotta worry about is the interview. What if they ask me questions in japanese? I can barely speak basic japanese, and I know that because Kento tried to teach me some words. Kento's my cousin by the way. I'll introduce him to you guys someday." "You can learn japanese after you get in. And besides, they know you're not from Japan. They'll probably interview you in english." Seungmin reassured. "Other than that, there's nothing I'm worried about. I actually feel like I'm very close to reaching my dream." "We all know you'll reach that dream of yours, Minho. It's good to see you getting confident about yourself, too." Felix smiles at the camera. "The mood is great but let's not get too soft now. Minho still has to focus on his interview and I don't want to go home crying." They all laugh at Jeongin's comment. It's true, they were all starting to get a little dewy-eyed for their friend on the screen. They've seen Minho doubt himself when it comes to his art and they remind him every time how good he is. Seeing their friend being sure of himself made them feel proud at how he's slowly seeing his own excellence. "Thanks, guys. I don't think I really thanked you enough but I'm grateful I spent my time with people who believed in me." "Isn't that what friends are for? Let's not forget how we supported Jisung to join journalism and now he's become the school's representative for international competitions along with Seungmin." Hyunjin said. "If someone told 12 year old me that I'd end up doing a lot of written works, I would have cried because I surely did not like writing back then and all I did was scribble." Jisung adds. "If you think about it, we've all become who we are because of each other's support. We did things we thought we couldn't do and persevered. So let's clap our hands for us!" Hyunjin cheerily says. He did not want to be nostalgic right now. "See you on Sunday, Minho! We love you! The boys formed a group hug and went closer to the camera. "Love you guys! See you all on sunday." Minho hugs his own screen and ends the call. He'll have to face his last challenge tomorrow before he finally sees his family.