Midnight Train | Sookai ✔

Midnight Train

The midnight train is late.

Soobin wraps his arms around himself, helpless against the bitter cold. The wind sweeps through the deserted station and bites at his exposed fingertips, gnawing off the edges of his thin black jacket. Next to him, Yeonjun puffs pink bangs off his forehead, his breath fogging wisps of grey smoke in the icy air.

"This is stupid," Soobin mumbles. He can't feel his legs, or his arms, or...anything, really. He's pretty sure he'd lost all sensation after the first fifteen minutes of waiting or so. "How's this stupid superstition going to work if the midnight train doesn't even come at midnight?"

Yeonjun eagerly consults his phone---he's been glued to it ever since he'd read about this legend. "Apparently, we have a higher chance of seeing the boy if the train is late. At least, that's what Reddit says." Blue light illuminates his face in an artificial glow, revealing a flash of straight teeth set in a gleeful grin. Soobin realises, a little too late, that his best friend is actually enjoying himself.

A groan escapes Soobin's lips as he rests his head against the wall behind him, the seats littering the train station almost menacing in the dim silence. The red rose in his pocket, crumpled from nervous fingers---Soobin's a skeptic, but some part of him's still scared---shivers in the chilly breeze.

Midnight is cold.

"Why am I friends with you?" Soobin mutters.

"Hey, at least you've got something to spend your Saturday night on," Yeonjun remarks brightly.

"I already have things to spend my Saturday night on."

"Like what? Texting Choi Beomgyu until he finally gives up and blocks you?"

It hits a little too close to home, mainly because Soobin knows Yeonjun is right. And maybe he does have a slight (slight is an understatement, really) obsession with Choi Beomgyu, but he does try to keep himself in check. Sometimes. When he's not texting Beomgyu like he's a lower-class divorcee trying to get child support. (Honestly, he's surprised he hasn't gotten a restraining order slapped on him yet.)

"Trust me, if this works out, it'll solve your Beomgyu problem," Yeonjun insists. "They say the boy's so pretty you'll never even look at anyone else again."

"No one's that pretty." Not even strange boys in train stations who only appear on the midnight train.

"Maybe he is." Yeonjun laughs, though his eyes don't leave his phone. Soobin suspects he's progressed from reading through his conspiracy theory threads to texting his very hot girlfriend.

"Where would that leave you? You already have Yeji."

"I'm not here for the ghost. I'm just here to help you solve your Beomgyu issue."

"And because you're nosy as hell and want to see if the boy actually exists?"

Yeonjun grins. "You know me too well." He fishes out the broken watch from his pocket and tosses it to Soobin. "Here, you hold it. My source said the person wanting to see the boy has to be holding both the rose and the watch."

"You sure a normal watch won't do the trick?" Soobin questions, glancing at his own watch, the pearl face strapped over his left wrist.

"Nope. Won't work. Has to be broken. Make sure you give it back to me in one piece after you've seen him, though. It's a family heirloom."

Soobin chooses not to comment on how willing Yeonjun is to sacrifice a family heirloom for the sake of a stupid conspiracy theory. Instead, he squints at the empty tracks, brushing his dark hair out of his face. "Who's your source, anyway? Some guy on Reddit?"