Hatching

Yunji Lykaios

August 3, 2017

Every day, since he got his learner's permit, he's been trying to sit in the passenger seat. Ha Eun had set a goal for him, which was sitting in the passenger seat for at least five minutes and Dawa has yet to be successful. Every time, he lasted about a minute, before he started to remember everything.

"I don't understand why I can't manage to do it. I've sat in cars before without freaking out."

"In the front?" Dawa's therapist questioned, eyeing him. He shook his head.

"I always sat in the back seats, next to the doors. You know, in case we had to stop if I was feeling queasy. And being next to an open window helped me feel like I wasn't in the car entirely."

Ha Eun gave him a reassuring smile. "It's okay to not be comfortable right away you know. This is going to take time and that's okay." Dawa nodded. Shoulders slumped he walked into the kitchen.

"Are you going to go horseback riding?" Do Hwan asked while adding seasoning to the soup he was making. Dawa stared at the boiling soup, unsure of what was in it. "You might not believe me now, but I'm going to be the future Gordam Ramsey."

"I will be going but not now, maybe later in the evening. Yeobo needs some rest from yesterday. In the meantime, I have some ideas about a song. Can you listen?" Dawa gave Do Hwan a hopeful look. His hair was slightly a mess but other than that, he looked pretty clean and well kept.

"Of course."

Dawa picked up his violin, which was on a stand behind him. He started plucking first, the same string, and then a different string. Over and over again. As if the sound was coming from a broken radio, the repeating of a plucked string again and again before the first note finished playing out he immediately played another one. As time went by, the notes held out longer. Now each plucked note lasted longer than the last, and lastly, he played a long note using the bow. Now the notes dragged out. Dawa played the melody and Do Hwan frowned.

In Do Hwan's ears, it felt heavy and panicked. Frantic and searching. Do Hwan was so focused on the music that he almost didn't realize Dawa had stopped playing.

"Was it bad?" Dawa set his violin down.

"No no, obviously not. It just carried me away. It was good. Great. What is it about?"

Dawa looked down at his hands. "Feeling stuck, going nowhere, doing the same things, and not getting any results. Going crazy."

Do Hwan was truly amazed at how Dawa easily Dawa could extract his feelings into sound, into music. Like this, Dawa was easy to connect to and understand, he was open and not so mysterious. Do Hwan realized, that music made Dawa vulnerable.

Dawa could feel Do Hwan's eyes on him, so quickly, that he let out a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Hyung, I think I'll figure it out." Do Hwan nodded, but didn't say anything. He couldn't, Dawa had already moved on to checking his phone.

"Oh bollocks, Essie called me a few days ago. Hyung, I'll be back." He walked off, phone to his ear.

"Hey, Stargirl!" He greeted. "How have you been?"

"Good, I have so much to tell you! You won't believe what I'm going to say." She shouted on the other end.

"What is it?"

"We have a new neighbor and there is a boy my age, his name is Sebastian, but I call him Bash. Anyway, you know how I like to read right? So he saw me walking with a book and I tripped and he helped me and that's how we met. Now we're really good friends, but that's not the best part. The best part is that he and I are going to start a youtube channel together! He's going to film me and edit and I'm going to be the one talking and stuff. And I'm going to be giving booktalks and giving viewers book recommendations."

"That's amazing! That's a wonderful idea, I love it. Tell me when you upload each video and I'll watch it."

"Really?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I?"

"Okay, you better also like and comment okay?"

"Okay. Anything for you, star." He chuckled. "I promise! How's mum?"

"Mum is good, the bakery is doing really well! The bakery is going to move to a bigger building and there's even going to be a place to sit and table for customers outside!"

"Oh, I miss the bakery! I miss mum's sweets."

"We miss you a lot, everytime Mum sees something related to Asia, she mentions you."

"Really?" Dawa was surprised but knowing this made him smile.

"Oh you know, you should read this book called, "Yours Truly," It's a book of poems and it's really good. It's by Yunji Lykaios."

The name struck a curiosity: Yunji was a Korean name but Lykaios was not. Plus, it was a pretty gender-neutral name. "Star, did they write any other books?"

"Yeah! They wrote a bunch! There is a book that's like a collection of their short stories. They usually write short stories, I think. But the thing is no one knows much about this author. Mum tried to do some research but she couldn't find anything except the books they'd written. No one knows their gender or age or anything! Very mystic, innit?"

"Oh, I have to go because I told Bash I'd come over now and he's here to pick me up. I told him I could walk down the hall myself but he was being stubborn so... Mum might call you later 'cause now, she's at the bakery!"

"Alright, have fun and stay safe okay? Don't get into trouble."

"I know! Love you Moonie!"

"Love you too, Star."

The second the phone call ended, Dawa went to Do Hwan. "Hyung! Can we go to the bookstore in town? Please?"

"Aren't you supposed to be horseback riding?"

"I'm supposed to be destressing and the bookstore will destress me. Please?" Dawa pleaded.

"Okay, fine. Let's go."

Do Hwan walked ahead, followed by Dawa. If Do Hwan had turned around, he would have seen a very rare sight. Dawa skipped from happiness, with a huge smile on his face.  

A/N

Hi! 

Sorry for not updating for a whole month! But I'm back! This is a short chapter and sort of a filler, but it's an important filler!

Also, I didn't realize I had readers from so many different places! It's so cool, thank you everyone for your support and encouragement! I'm so so so happy that so many people are enjoying this.

Question: What is your dream place to visit? 

~ da vinchen

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