A Song of Stars and Shadows - Choi Soobin

Chapter One: The Stars That Linger

Nobody asks how stories begin. Well, not most of the people. We once have a story that we think is the best story of our lives but then, we realize it is just our mind. Only great stories live in our imagination because life is so boring that no one can save us from our unfortunate way of living. Or, that was what I was thinking. Sometimes we need someone who reminds us that what we have lived has been wonderful. That we are survivors of our destiny and somehow, we have created a path only us can live. That our past is wonderful and we should cherish it because it made us who we are. I wish I hadn't meet that person. 

And yet, I am thankful I can dream again because of that. 

I had never known a place could taste so much like magic. The air in Neverland was thick with it, sweet and strange, tinged with something elusive that lingered on her tongue like spun sugar and the faintest trace of sorrow. I hadn't wanted to believe in this world again—not since it had once claimed my memories, leaving me  with only fragments of a forgotten dream. Yet here I was, drawn back by something she couldn't name, something that pulsed with both wonder and danger.

The night sky stretched above, impossibly vast, each star sharper and brighter than I remembered. They winked like secrets, like they were watching me, reminding of the stories I'd once whispered to myself. Stories of pirates, of lost boys, of shadows that danced just beyond reach. Stories of a boy who'd once saved my life. But Neverland was different now. I could feel it in my bones. The forest was denser, shadows pooling between the trees like ink, and the wind carried whispers that felt like warnings. It was as if the island itself had a pulse, a heartbeat that thrummed beneath my feet, wild and untamed.

I took a step forward, my fingers brushing against the leaves that glowed faintly under the moonlight, each one shimmering with a life of its own. I wasn't sure where I was going, or even why I was here. All I knew was that the memories once buried deep were stirring, resurfacing with every step I took.

And then, I wasn't alone for long.

From the shadows, a figure emerged, tall and slender, his eyes gleaming like dark jewels under the starlit sky. He wore an expression that hovered between surprise and something else, something softer, as if he were seeing a ghost.

"Soobin?" I whispered, my voice catching in my throat.

He looked different from how I remembered. His face was sharper, etched with a maturity that had not been there before, but his gaze held that same, inexplicable warmth. He took a slow step closer, as if I might vanish if he moved too quickly.

"Luna," he murmured, and it fell from his lips like a spell, grounding me in this strange, surreal moment. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

There was something fractured in his voice, something hidden beneath layers of quiet restraint. I wondered if he, too, had memories that haunted him, memories that Neverland had refused to let fade.

"I... I wasn't sure if this place was even real," I replied, trying to hold his gaze, even as my heart twisted with memories I couldn't quite remember. "But here you are. Here we are."

A strange silence settled between them, filled with all the things they didn't know how to say. I wanted to ask him so many things—how he had ended up here, why he had stayed, if he remembered our fleeting past—but the words stuck in her throat. So instead, I just looked at him, and he looked at me, and the world around us seemed to hold its breath.

Finally, Soobin spoke, his voice barely a whisper, as if he were confessing something he'd kept locked away. "I thought... maybe you'd forgotten about this place."

I shook my head, feeling the weight of the island settle over my shoulders like a cloak. "It's hard to forget something you never truly understood. It's like a piece of me has always been here, waiting."

Soobin's gaze softened, his expression shifting to something unreadable, something that made my heart ache with a feeling I couldn't name. "Sometimes, we're brought back to the things we need to remember," he said softly, as if speaking to himself as much as he was speaking to me.

A rustle in the trees broke the fragile spell, and Luna turned, catching sight of a familiar figure watching us from the shadows. Yeonjun. He looked at me with a mixture of surprise and something darker, his expression shadowed and tense. I felt a pang of something—guilt, maybe? Or fear?—but I pushed it aside, focusing on the boy I'd once called friend.

Yeonjun's gaze flickered from me to Soobin, and the tension between us was almost palpable, an invisible line that connected the three of us in ways I didn't yet understand. I swallowed, my heart pounding as the memories began to unravel, the past and present colliding in ways I couldn't control.

In that moment, standing between two boys who each held pieces of my heart in their own way, I realized that her journey in Neverland was only beginning—and that the secrets I thought I had buried were about to resurface, one by one.