stardust | park seonghwa ✓

02

"I'M telling you, Kang Yeosang, I touched him!" I cry into my phone that night. "Or her, I don't know their gender but point is, we touched!"

It was already the night before Monday and I'm having one of my pre-Monday breakdowns and somehow, this had weaved its way into it and making it more stressful. As always, Kang Yeosang was on speed dial and was ready to answer my call with a "go get yourself some ice cream" before I could even say hello.

So here I am, with myself spread on my bed with a tub of ice cream next to me and lifting one spoon into my mouth before I continue my next sentence.

"There were lots of people this morning, bro, it could've been anyone!" I exclaim after another spoon, "I mean, it couldn't be the roastery lady, could it?"

Yeosang lets out a snort as if he's trying to hold back his laughter.

My lips pout when my best friend fail to contain his cackling, stabbing the spoon in my hand deep into the small tub of Neapolitan ice cream.

"Look, I'm not sure if I could head over to your apartment tonight because I have a shit ton to do," the boy over the phone line says after calming down, "but sometimes, Hyeshin, we don't even know who we share our stars with."

When Yeosang finishes his sentence, I suddenly remember what happened nearly three years ago, back when we were seventeen and fighting our way in order to survive high school. Yeosang and I were just finishing up school for the day and as per usual, I waited for Yeosang by the lockers. That day was nothing special at first, until we almost missed the bus for our route home. Yeosang had sprained his ankle during P.E. three
days before and so I was the one who had to chase the bus down so it would stop for us. The vehicle was crowded but it was our only choice as it was the last one for another hour and unless we wanted to only start heading home after dark, we somehow made it work.

The next day, Yeosang had come rushing to my door in such urgency and he slid the left side of the collar of his uniform down, showing me a mark on the back of his shoulder blade that I knew for sure wasn't there the day before. There was a faint shade of purple nebula clouds and a single blue star in the middle, a small yet delicate cursive writing at the bottom reading 'amare' decorating the masterpiece.

No doubt, it was one of the most beautiful thing I've seen engraved on someone before. My parents had one similar but of a different star in perhaps a completely different galaxy - but 'amare' all the same.

Yeosang's stern voice cuts me off from my thoughts, as if reading my mind, he tells me: "please don't think about what happened to me, I'm just saying that there are a lot of other people out there who aren't so lucky."

Amare - meaning 'love'.

How could someone like Yeosang let go of that so easily?

"Now, Hyeshin, this is about you and how you are going to find him," Yeosang tells me, "so finish your ice cream and forget about my mark, okay?"

"But Yeosang -"

"Yeah okay I'm hanging up..." he threatens and although I know that he wouldn't, I still cry in protest and I can literally hear him grin. Like, really.

"You do this every single time," I say, sighing in defeat.

"It's been years, Shin-ah," and I can almost see his face engraved with a small saddened smile, "it's really okay. But you, my dear friend, yours is fresh and literally the hot tea right now and not to mention that I haven't even seen it which means I have to go to your place as soon as I can get this done which could probably late tonight but you don't mind right? Oh and ..."