Legend [YEONBIN] ✓

sixty ; yeonjun

I wasn’t quite sure why I was wandering the streets at 3:00 A.M. I’d woken in a sweat, choking on my own breath like I’d actually been drowning. It was all still so clear in my mind. The hallway, Ara’s unconscious form, the flooding bathroom. And I knew now that it was probably not just a dream. With the bead inside of me, I knew I was connected to Soobin.

This probably meant all of those damned dreams where I begged Soobin to return hadn’t been me alone. Had he seen me then? At my most vulnerable? It made my head hurt to wonder.

This dream made me worry about Soobin despite myself. The residual anxiety made it impossible to fall asleep again. So I’d taken a walk to calm my racing heart and ended up by the old neighborhood playground. The trees beyond looked like gray statues, guarding the abandoned swing set.

Soobin sat on the roundabout. I should have been more surprised, but it was almost as if I knew I’d find him here.

“Yeonjun-ah!” he slurred out, gripping a bottle of soju. Another green bottle already lay empty beside him.

Soobin squeezed one eye closed in an effort to more accurately pour into a plastic cup. His tongue stuck out the side of his mouth as he concentrated on the task.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“Couldn’t sleep. Bad dreams.” He threw back the soju in one perfect gulp.

“Where did you get that?” I eyed the extra bottle sitting in a plastic bag with more cups.

“At the CU Mart. That smarmy guy made me promise not to tell anyone he sold me this. I think he has a crush on me. Pyopyo or something.” He gave me a drunken grin.

I would have laughed at Pyojoo’s butchered name, but I was too worried Soobin would pitch off the side of the ride.

“You look like you’ve been enjoying yourself.” I sat on the edge of the roundabout, dragging my feet on the ground to stop it.

“I’ll pour you a glass.” Soobin tipped the bottle against a second cup. Most spilled over the side.

“I’m good.”

“Nonsense!” He raised his cup. “We’re teenagers. We’re supposed to do thoughtless things. Now that I have a father, I should make up all the lost time defying him. Drink,” Soobin said—actually demanded—with expectant eyes. I sighed and raised the cup. He clumsily tapped his to mine. “Geonbae!”

As he tilted his head back to drink in one shot, I poured his out.

“Kaaah.” He let out the throaty noise in appreciation, or perhaps because he’d heard it on one too many dramas, then held his cup out. When I didn’t move, he shook his hand at me.

“Haven’t you heard it’s good manners to pour for each other?”

I still didn’t move and he sighed, grabbing the bottle himself.

“Fine!” He poured so fast he spilled half the bottle to the dirt below. I counted it as a blessing that he had less to drink now. “I never used to be so impatient. Maybe because I had all the time in the world.”

He let out another laugh, his eyes already blurry and unfocused.

“Do you know what it’s like to live forever?” he slurred out. That last cup had definitely tipped him over the edge.

I realized he was staring at me, expecting an answer. “No.”

“Well, I was supposed to.” I poured another cup. “And when you think you’re going to live forever, things aren’t as serious. Missing fathers, strict mothers. People constantly hating you for no good reason. I mean except the fact that I could suck the life out of them.” Soobin chuckled at his own morbid joke.