my yellow | yungi

15

Yunho's mother makes ice cream shakes for Yunho and mingi, and she gives them a tour of all the plants and flowers in her garden. Since she spends most of her time at home, she decided to grow her own fruits, vegetables and flowers to use or sell. She teaches the boys how to plant the seeds.

While watching them, she says: "Mingi, Yunho has shown me pictures of your neighbourhood. It must be lovely to live in a place surrounded by so much nature."

"It is nice. I made a lot of memories playing in nature as a child. Now that I'm older, not so much," mingi says with a fake laugh. He in fact, misses catching small fishes in the lakes, and cycling through forested areas with his family. When you're young, there is a new adventure everyday.

"Life is short, make the most of your youth because once you get old like my age, you won't be able to play however you like. Look at me now. All because of a little accident, I've ended up like this for the rest of my life, and I'm only in my 40s."

"Eomma, please don't scare mingi," Yunho chirps in. She apologises, then continues to share about her days as a young girl living in the village.

On the porch, the family's CD player is running. When yunho hears the next song, he jumps up happily, flinging bits of soil everywhere.

"Yunho-ya, be careful!" His mom echoes, then turning to mingi, she explains: "your friend here loves Westlife so much, particularly Written In The Stars because we used to listen to it all the time whenever I drove him to school."

"Eomma it's been ages since we've done that...can't we just enjoy the moment?"

"When was the last time?" Mingi suddenly asks.

Yunho's mom replies: "Last year in December when yunho and I went to see the Geminids meteor shower. That day we discovered that our Westlife CD was getting faulty, so I went to buy a new one the next day. Where we live there are barely any record stores, so I had to hunt for one, and finally, I found a shop that sold the CD."

"I used to work part time at a record store in Jewelstreet. That's where my family's restaurant is too." Mingi informs, prodding the soil with a shovel.

"Jewelstreet? Then it must've been where I bought the CD, and The Script vinyl for Yunho's Christmas present. And family restaurant, you say? Sounds exciting, I hope to visit there one day."

"Sure, you and Yunho are welcomed any day," mingi says with a smile.

Once all the seeds are planted, Yunho helps his mom clean up while mingi waits for him in his room. He secretly takes a few selfies of himself in Yunho's bed so he can print them out and stick them in his diary.

Yunho walks in shortly after. He tumbles into the bed next to mingi, draping one arm over his waist to snuggle in. Mingi can tell that Yunho just needs some quiet time, so he doesn't say anything. He glances at the paper ring on his finger, a little wet from when he took it out to wash his hands earlier. When he hears Yunho's soft snores, he silently kisses the ring, before giving one to Yunho's forehead. Then he slowly drifts off into a deep sleep.

They're woken up at dusk by the sound of two people arguing outside the bedroom. The sun has already set, leaving little light in the room.

Yunho immediately slips off the bed to listen to his parents. They hear something along the lines of: "Yunho's favourite food", "don't know your own son", and "useless father." Mingi's heart drops to his stomach as he sees the look on Yunho's tired face. He cannot imagine the number of times Yunho has heard their arguments behind his bedroom door.

"Hey, let's stay in here for a while more. Give them time to cool down, then we can go out and have dinner," mingi suggests, holding on to Yunho's hand. He looks into Yunho's teary eyes, and his heart breaks. No child deserves to hear their parents say things like that. And there's nothing mingi can do to help. He can only hold Yunho in his arms and tell him that they don't mean it, that behind those words of hatred, there is a glimmer of hope and love, even though he's not convinced himself.