the stars aligned for us | sunsun

6

song: hold tight  –ab6ix

6| lunchbox

sunoo gently pushed open the metal gates, entering the rooftop garden. he quietly walked around, immersing in the serene and quiet environment. the slight wind caressed his hair, making some strands fall on his face.

his hands hovered over the white tulips, hesitantly touching them.

"guess your taste in flowers is the only thing that hasn't changed about you?"

sunoo tensed ever so unnoticeably, his body stiffening slightly. sunoo had expected it to happen sooner or later, he knew he couldn't pretend for long but he hoped it was a problem he'd have to deal with later.

"you shouldn't have brought that lunchbox, it gave you away in a millisecond," sunghoon chuckled as he stepped forward.

that stupid lunchbox.

it was sunoo's fifth birthday.

sunghoon had come over to sunoo's house.

"sit down sunghoon-ah~" sunoo's grandmother kindly ushered him to sit down on the floor as she served food on the short table.

"hyung, it might not be much–"

"you know i don't care about that," sunghoon cut him off with a reassuring smile as he stuffed his face with more rice.

sunoo and his grandmother lived together, next door to sunghoon's family. they were living off the money his late parents had left behind and the pension his grandmother received.

sunghoon passed the kimchi his mother had packed for him to his grandmother. as sunoo's grandmother left the room, sunghoon placed a box in front of him.

sunoo eagerly unwrapped it to find a cute lunch box with some small sketches on it. his eyes twinkled with thankfulness as he mauled sunghoon with a bear hug.

"i know how you bring food in wax paper everyday so i saved up to get you a thermos lunch box to keep your food warm," sunghoon scratched his head, a slight red tint flushing his nape.

"hyung, i love it." the sincere whisper in his ear was all sunghoon needed as he held the small boy in his arms.

sunoo sighed. jay had forced him to sit with heeseung, the senior he met on one of his advanced course modules. he was reluctant but he wasn't completely opposed to it as long as he could keep to his own bubble.

though he hadn't given a slightest thought about the possibility of sunghoon, whom he had actively avoided, being there too.

what are the odds that sunghoon was friends with heeseung too? literally impossible with more than 27,000 people in seoul national university.

"what do you want?" sunoo asked.

"yah kim sunoo. do i mean nothing to you? you left without a word five years ago and now when you come back you ignore me and treat me like a scum. what's wrong with you? i'm losing my mind over you!" sunghoon asked frustrated, his fingers tugging at his hair.

sunoo scoffed. obviously, sunghoon would blame it all on him, as if he hasn't made sunoo hurt enough.

"you may have meant something to me in the past but now you mean nothing at all."

sunghoon's eyes saw red. he grabbed sunoo by the collar, forcing the younger to look him in the eyes.

"say that again while looking at me," sunghoon whispered.

"you mean nothing to me, park sunghoon. get that into your thick skull." sunoo spat out, as he shoved sunghoon away from him.

he felt like the younger dug out his heart, threw it on the ground and stomped on it. he felt his knees wobble slightly as he tried to regain his balance.

sunoo was different. he was unrecognisable and sunghoon couldn't accept it.

he fervently searched for something, anything in sunoo's eyes. at least a slight twinge of guilt, but all he could see was a reflection of himself.

all those years, sharing their happiness and sadness together, bearing their souls to each other, healing the wound in their hearts together, sharing fond memories with each other, their petty squabbles.

it was as if nearly fifteen years of knowing each other just became worthless. all the time they had spent together had became insignificant. his best friend just wasn't that anymore and sunghoon didn't know how to accept it.

he had been in denial for the past five years since sunoo just packed up and left. now, that sunoo is spitting it right at his face, sunghoon just couldn't accept it anymore.

his heart ached. with shaky hands, he gently pushed the gates open as sunghoon retreated from the rooftop garden.

there had always been a slight throbbing in his heart but seeing sunoo just intensified it and in that moment he knew. his heart had just been longing for his best friend.

he wanted sunoo back. he will not let their lives run parallel ever again.

not again.

– L