Seventeen One-shots

The boy next door - Meanie(1)

One can hate people who are rude to them, or whose views don't match with them or there had been some fight in the past that had caused a rift. But it is utterly strange to hate the boy whose house is literally attached to yours and who has basically grown up with you. It might seem like some weird level of immaturity but that was exactly what Wonwoo felt for Mingyu. 

Based on a very lovely street in the outskirts of Busan is a beautiful neighborhood where both the boys have spent their childhood. Their families got along with each other so well that they met almost everyday whether it is to celebrate something or to share a random Thursday dinner. They even went on outings together most of the times. On top of that, Mingyu and Wonwoo went to the same primary school and secondary school and even graduated from the same high school and college. Everyone knew about them being familiar to each other but somehow they never exchanged any words. Well mostly Wonwoo.

Wonwoo was the typical silent kid you see in class. He wasn't particularly rude, but was definitely shy and not so confident. He was good academically but didn't have many people to socialize with. He was mostly friends with people younger or elder to him, including Seungkwan who went to the same baking class as him and Jun who was a Chinese exchange student and immediately took liking in the younger which Wonwoo didn't mind.

They hung out together along with Minghao because he was Chinese and Jun found comfort in him and Vernon because Seungkwan had a little crush on the Korean-American boy. Vernon and Minghao were the same level of shy as Wonwoo so it was mostly Jun and Seungkwan creating chaos and the three just sitting and smiling. It was perfect. He loved his friends. But somehow he could never become friends with Mingyu.

Mingyu wasn't essentially rude to the elder. He was a literal ball of sunshine and would actually try to befriend Wonwoo in every chance he got despite the elder being reluctant. It was just the fact that Wonwoo never understood how the boy was so happy to go lucky and it weirdly annoyed him. He was someone who appreciated silence most of the times and Mingyu was definitely the hurricane disrupting his peaceful life. 

Mingyu was social. Everyone was his friend. He was part of the basketball team and that's why had many admirers and friends. He would hold large get togethers in his house and that always gave a headache to Wonwoo. He would talk with everyone, joke around, be all bubbly. There was not a single day you will find Mingyu gloomy. He would probably laugh even if he failed a test but guess what? Mingyu was an excellent student. He was good in his studies despite him  always joking around and maybe just maybe it made Wonwoo a tad bit jealous.

***

School life however passed in a haze and now it has been 3 years since Wonwoo has left home. He stays in New York for work and rarely gets any holidays. Life's busy, but he is content. He wakes up early in the morning, goes for a walk in the nearby park and then eats his homemade breakfast and walks to his office building. He works as a software engineer there. His work ends around 9 pm and he goes to his favorite Korean restaurant or buys groceries and cooks dinner for himself. Its almost like a schedule that he has kept fixed for the past 3 years.

The only thing he misses is his home. Its tough when you haven't spend time with your family for so long. His wishes though somehow came true when he got a wedding invitation of one of his cousins and since he was hardworking, the letter for leave was easily accepted by the company. He was finally going home. 

It was a fine Sunday morning when his flight landed. The wedding was supposed to take place in a venue that was very close to their house which was good. He hated being late to places. He collected his luggage from the counter and immediately got a call from his mother.