This Friend | Yeonbin

50

Soobin P.O.V

Yeonjun and I are sitting on a bench in front of the path to the beach. There isn't a cloud in sight.

It's been another perfect day.

I don't want to leave.

I don't want to go back to Florida.

I'd stay here forever if I could.

We're listening to his playlist, with one earbud each, and he has his arm around me. His songs are all fast-paced and electronic. So, not my usual thing, but I'm into it, because he likes it.

He smells like salt, and he's so warm. I can feel it even through his shirt. His stare is fixed on the horizon.

He rubs my arm. I nestle against him.

It's time.

Or, it's close enough for me. The song we were listening to ends.

I notice he's shaking.

"Hey," I say. "What's up?"

"I think I'm going to be sick."

I move a little away from him. "Like, actually, or..."

He leans forward, and starts breathing deeply. He's hunched over, and his shoulders are raised.

I don't know what to do.

He turns to face me. He's gone so pale. "Listen, Soobin."

"Yeah?"

"I know you said you were going to talk about your family."

Oh no.

Something is clearly very wrong.

"Yeah?"

"You can't. Look at me, you can't tell me anything about them."

His eyes are wide.

"What? Why?"

He looks like he's in pain.

"What's going on?" I ask.

He pulls his shirt down a little.

In the middle of his chest, nearly invisible, is something that looks like a plastic circle.

He obviously wasn't wearing it before; I would've noticed it. I think back, and he left for a little while before to go to the public bathroom. He took his backpack. He must've put it on then, before we came here.

Oh no.

I think I know what it is.

And why he wouldn't let me tell him about my family until we got here.

"What's that?" I ask. I need to know for sure.

There's horror in my voice.

He peels it off his skin, wincing as he does. It looked like it was stuck tight. There's now a red circle on his chest where it had been.

"It's a wire," he says. "It's new tech."

He tries scrunching it up in his hands, but that doesn't work, it's too flexible. So he pinches it, and rips it in half. Inside, I can see tiny wires, glinting in the sunlight.

I don't know what to say.

"So I was right?" I ask. "You are still trying to learn my family secrets."

"Yeah, I am. But it's not what you think."

I feel like I could be sick.

"I'm not who you think I am," he says.

I scoff. "You're right about that."

I'm only just managing to keep it together. I always had this fear, and it's because it was founded. Yeonjun was pretending. He was still trying to learn the secrets about my family so he could tell his.

The scariest part is I was about to tell him everything. I was seconds away from doing it.

But he stopped me.

Why?

"Soobin, my name it isn't Yeonjun." (:pretend to be so shock-:)

"What?"

"It was just a cover. If we got caught, we were told to tell you fake names, to throw you off the scent. My mum thought your hatred of them would blind you to the truth."

"What truth?"

"About who we are. About who I really work for."

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. He swipes through and then turns it to show it to me.

It's a photo of Yeonjun standing with a female cop. She's wearing the full uniform. The badge gleams against her chest. I look closer, and see the similarities. They have the same face shape, the same hair colour, and even the same nose.

This can't be happening.

"I'm not Yeonjun," he says. "My name is Daniel." (:I hope this is a good idea:)

I look at the woman again.

His mum.

Yeonjun isn't who he said he is.

He's the son of a cop.