A Wish Upon a Star | Yeonbin ✓

XLVIII

That evening, Soobin called Yeonjun up as soon as he reached home.

"Binnie?"

"Hey, Hyung."

"Hey."

"I reached home safely. You wanted me to call, right?"

"Oh yeah, thanks Binnie..."

There was a silence, Soobin wondered what he could say to further fuel conversation, Yeonjun wondered whether it'd be a better decision to continue or to cut the call.

"I guess I'll go now then, Hyung."

"Oh yeah, alright."

"Goodnight, Hyung."

"Goodnight, Binnie..."

"Bye, Hyung. See you at school tomorrow."

"Bye, Binnie. I love you too," Yeonjun hung up.

After hearing the words from the older, Soobin was ecstatic. He had been able to feel the sincerity in the older's voice and smiled, the warmth spreading on his heart.

That night, Soobin slept soundly, with a big smile on his face.

The next morning, Soobin woke up to see that the bruise had considerably healed, the blue was almost gone and what was left was a faint yellow. Soobin touched his bruise slowly, realizing that it didn't hurt. Soobin didn't know much about bruises but was shocked to see how fast it had healed up.

"Maybe God is sending blessings to me for once," Soobin thought to himself as he got ready for school and got out of his house, on the way to school.

This day turned out better for the boy, not that good but definitely an improvement from the day before. He kept a low profile and shook it off when people would purposefully bump into him.

Early in the morning, someone had shouted, "Here comes Choi Uglybin! Where'd the pretty bruise go? Wearing makeup to cover it, huh? Why don't you cover the rest of yourself too?"

At this, Beomgyu had punched the dude, making him fall to the ground. When the dude had tried to get Beomgyu by the collar, Taehyun had slapped his hand away, threatening the dude, "Don't say or do shit to my friends, you little brat."

After this, nobody dared to directly say anything to Soobin, at least not in front of his friends. His friends too, made sure not to leave him alone, at least not until the issue died down a bit.

Soobin felt bad for making his friends worry about him and decided to voice it out on the way back home from school.

"Guys, you guys didn't have to do all that..."

"Do what?" Kai asked.

"You know, standing up for me and protecting me and all," Soobin felt awkward.

"Hyung, we're only doing it because we want to. We want to be here for you," Beomgyu said.

"Yeah, Hyung. You being safe keeps us happy," Kai gushed.

"R-Really?"

"Yeah!" Beomgyu and Kai answered, leaving a smile on Soobin's face.

While the three were walking in the front, Yeonjun and Taehyun were trailing behind. This made Soobin worry about the the elder who always chose to walk with him but decided to give the elder some space.

"Hyung, you alright?" Taehyun asked.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know. It's weird to see you not over there with Soobin-hyung."

Yeonjun gave a nod, acknowledging the younger but having no idea what to say.

"Are you distancing yourself because you're worried about him?"

"Maybe. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, Tae. What do you think?"

"Hyung, I understand that Soobin-hyung is important to you and that you want to keep him happy and all but..."

"But?"

"I don't know how to say this without sounding pretentious..."

"Just say it, Tae. You know I won't take it badly, right?"

"Yeah, hyung..."

"So what is it?"

"Soobin-hyung is important too but..."

"But?"

"I understand that you have a person you like and you never want to see them suffer and anything but like, like....uhhh I really don't know how to say this..."

"C'mon, if it's advice from you, I know it's going to be worth the listen."

"I'm just trying to say that maybe you should live for yourself."

"Live for myself?"

"Yeah. I mean, you always say things like 'Binnie would like that' 'Binnie would want that' but Hyung, even if Soobin-hyung is important, you yourself should be the most important person to you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. Rather than thinking about what Soobin-hyung would want, you should think about what you want, how you'd like things to be."

"How I'd like it to be...?"

"Yeah..."

Taehyun looked at the older who seemed to be blinking back tears.

"Hyung?"

"Oh nothing, I'm alright."

"I'm so sorry, Hyung. I know it's not my place to talk to you like tha-"

"No no, I needed that. You're right, I should do that... Li-Live for myself. Do what I want..."

"That's just how I think it should be, actually. It's only what I think. I'm not necessarily right-"

"No, you have a point, Tae."

The older stopped in his tracks and put his hands on the younger's shoulders. Pulling the younger into a hug, Yeonjun said, "Thanks a lot, Tae. You're a great friend. I'm glad I can count on you."

Taehyun smiled warmly, "You're welcome, Hyung."

"What're you two doing? Hurry up!" Beomgyu called out to the two from ahead. Yeonjun and Taehyun noticed that they'd strayed faraway from the three and ran to catch up with them. This time Yeonjun walked alongside Soobin, flashing the younger a smile. Soobin smiled to himself at the older's actions, feeling his initial worry about the older, drain away.