The Project 'Buddy'

~34~

"Jungwon-ah!"

Jungwon popped his head from around the corner of the kitchen in the Nishimuras house. Mrs Nishimura, who was cooking dinner, smiled when he approached her.

"Could you help set the table? My kids are all, 'busy with their own things'," she drawled loudly enough for her three children, who were lounging in the living room, to hear.

At this, three heads snapped and peeked out from behind the sofa cushions, glaring at their mother while they all yelled in unison, "Hey!!"

"We were busy!" Konon, Niki's older sister, defended.

"Yeah!" Niki and Misola, the second and third Nishimura, agreed along with their sister. Their mother just chuckled and rolled her eyes while Jungwon tried his best not to laugh, keeping it bottled up in his cheeks. He went ahead and set the table while the Nishimuras got ready to eat.

Niki's dad joined them and they all sat down to eat. The food was amazing, and Jungwon couldn't be more grateful. He looked up from his plate and took in the scene. Mr Nishimura was feeding his wife, Niki and his sister were gagging at the scene and kept playing with each other's hair.

Jungwon smiled. The Nishimuras had took him in 3 and half years ago, and he was extremely grateful for their hospitality. Throughout these years he had grown, physically and mentally. He no longer wore glasses, grown a few inches and much much more mature. Maybe independent life helped him more than he thought it would.

Still, he missed his friends. Even though they celebrated birthdays and called each other via FaceTime, it wasn't the same. And it was weird without that one person.

Jungwon hadn't contacted Jay at all, just like he promised he wouldn't.
But part of him always lingered and wondered how Jay was doing. None of his close friends knew much as well, so they were no help.

"Jungwon?"

Jungwon snapped out of his thoughts and faced the source of the voice, Mrs Nishimura. The table had gone slightly quieter, expect Niki and Konon bickering softly.

"O-oh, I'm sorry, were you saying something?" Jungwon asked.

"I was asking if you ever planned on heading back to Korea," Niki's mum told him, causing a few hairs to stand on the back of Jungwon's neck.

"To..I don't know? See your friends? Your mum?"

Jungwon did miss his mum a lot. He was planning to head back one day but...none of them had seem right.

"I'm..I miss them, yeah," Jungwon just replied, smiling sadly, taking a bite of his food.

Silence surrounded the table now as everyone gave him a pitying look. Then Niki proceeded to say, "we can always go back, Hyung."
Jungwon met his eyes, and the latter took in the message, nodding slowly.

Jungwon..he wasn't ready or sure if he was ready...to face Jay again. Like, what if they did meet? But then again, he could be at America or somewhere for all he knew...

The Nishimuras know about the drama back at Seoul, so they didn't question anything. But they knew how much it affected Jungwon. Mrs Nishimura stood up, walked over to him and placed a warm hand on his shoulder.

"Jungwon, dear, look at me," Mrs Nishimura cooed tilting his chin up, "I know you're nervous, but you've been away for so long. I bet your friends and family miss you too! They'd be delighted to see you again. Niki will go with you." She turned to face her son and Niki nodded eagerly.

Jungwon sighed and thought for a while. He chewed on his lip as he processed all the possible wrong outcomes from this decision.

No, he needed to think positive. Be an optimist. Think like Jake Hyung.