lc's oneshots

epistles of connection

by :: bellzy

'When was writing a letter so hard?'

With a soft, quiet sigh, Yeonjun stared blankly out of his house window. The sunlight was the only thing that seemed eager to gain his attention, shining in his eyes in greeting while Yeonjun tried to let his mind tick like clockwork.

'So, I remembered that you...no, that doesn't work!'

'Did you manage to finish that...hmm, that doesn't seem right either!'

'I should just do this tomorrow, because I'm sure Monday will give me so much enthusiasm and drive, huh?'

'Why on Earth am I thinking sarcastically?'

Eyes droopy, the young man felt his head lean onto the wall beside his windowsill. The pencil in Yeonjun's right hand threatened to fall out, and the paper beneath him crinkled in warning, close to falling off the wooden table-top of his desk.

"I've written to him so many times, so why can't I write a single word just this once?"

Yeonjun muttered to himself, almost scolding his own conscious and thoughts. Slowly stretching, he decided to step out of his room and house to take a breather, more figuratively than literally.

Checking the time on his watch which read closest to seven in the evening, the silent rustle of tree leaves helped Yeonjun with the emptiness of thoughts rushing through his mind. However, this let memories flood in, but with Yeonjun's luck they were the sweet ones in the bittersweet basket.

"I'll never understand how a 'secret' pen-pal friendship works, even if you continue to explain it, mum!"

"It's not too complicated, Yeonjun honey! You just write like you're pretending to talk to a good friend or someone you'd like to know better, then hand the envelope with the letter in it over to me!

I make sure it gets delivered appropriately, but I ultimately have no control as to who receives your letter. That's how it works, dear; everyone has a secret pen-pal. Even I have one, and that person is your father now!"

"Mum, does that mean your pen-pal friend will be your lover for sure?"

"Hmm...well, I know lots of others who met their pen-pals and had already known them quite well, so they just became what we call 'soulmates'. Platonically, of course; there wasn't any crazy romance between those pairs!"

"And...are we allowed to exchange names?"

"Well, rumour has it if pen-pals tell one another their names, bad luck falls on them, so you best avoid that, young Yeonjun!"

Placing his hands behind his head, Yeonjun wistfully reminisced his thirteen year-old self, reminding each word his mother had said in more detail than he originally realised.

This memory had cleared the path for multiple ideas for his pen-pal.

When Yeonjun could finally count the number of subjects he wanted to write to his secret pen-pal on his fingers, a small, content smile fell on his face. Pushing the messy hair out of his eyes, he took one last glance at the now-setting sun, and went to walk inside to start the letter.

"Hey, Yeonjun, nice to see you!"

Yeonjun almost flew onto the roof of his house, spinning around before calming himself down.

"S-Soobin? Don't you live in Ansan? What brings you to Seongnam City?"

Yeonjun's close childhood friend let out a breathy laugh, laying his hand on Yeonjun's shoulder.

"Ah, well, I decided to take a visit here to talk to you! It's been too long, so I'd love to chat and hang out with you this week!"

"Uh, well, good to see you too! I'm still rather shocked that it's actually you, since i haven't met up with you for...almost five years now? How time has flown, huh?"

Yeonjun grinned sheepishly, still slightly worried about the letter waiting patiently for his thoughts to be written on it.

"Mhm! Some days seem like minutes, I swear!"

Soobin's enthusiasm rivalled a dog's; they both oozed excitement and joy.

"But anyway...want to grab some ice-cream?"

"Soobin—Soobin. You want to eat ice-cream at seven o'clock at night, in Autumn? Go figure, I guess. Never change, this is the type of thinking I look for in a friend."

Yeonjun couldn't help but roll his eyes at the boy next to him while beckoning him to walk with him to their favourite ice-cream shop down the street. His body betrayed his sarcastically annoyed look, eyes full of enjoyment.

"Let's get that ice-cream, Soobin."

━━━

'Dear my pen-friend,

Today I got to meet up with one of my closest buddies that I haven't seen for years! I'm so glad that he came down to see me, he made me smile and laugh, and what more can you ask for in a friend?

But in all seriousness, it felt good to see him. I don't think it's right to name names, but I like to refer to him as the 'jumpy puppy' a lot!

By the looks of things, my friend has grown really tall and almost towers over everyone! It was especially funny how when we went to buy ice-cream the cashier could only look up to his chest, he was that tall. I wish I was as tall as him!

I think that the best part about today was his visit. It was unexpected, but a welcomed surprise, and I cannot express how grateful I am to have seen him again. He even managed to give me the motivation to write this letter!

Anyway, I hope you've had a wonderful week. It's been difficult to write since my mind has been slacking off as per usual, but hey, the credit all goes to my puppy friend who made this letter a thing at all, so thank him, not me!

Hope to hear from you soon, have a lovely day!

Yours sincerely,

Your secret pen-friend.'

Soobin huffed out a laugh at his pen-pal's obvious child-like behaviour, almost everything having exclamation marks near the end of the sentence.

"My pen-friend reminds me of myself when I hang out with friends; he must have been taught by Yeonjun or something, they're too similar at times..."

A week had passed since Soobin's encounter with the blue-haired friend, but for both of them, their meet-up seemed to last for split seconds.

Sitting in thought, Soobin decided to grab out his favourite pen (with a mini-carton of almond milk on the top used as a rubber) and a page of paper to reply to his pen-pal's letter.

"I wonder if I'll get to meet my pen-pal at all one day? Probably not, but there's hope, I guess."

Little did Soobin know that Yeonjun was thinking the exact same thing, sitting at his very own desk as well, lost in thought.

The latter had wanted to tell someone about their messages between his pen-pal, but Yeonjun did not want to be graced with the curse of bad luck.

"If only there was a way to meet them one day without saying a word..."

As both boys simultaneously had a thought, the answer was right in front of them.

How sad that it was hidden from view.

That was, until that day, on the twenty-fifth.

— part one; end.