A bottle of stardust (SVT)

Blackboard

There was a classroom that Hansol and Minghao loved to go to. Abandoned, due to the shrinking population of their school. A dusty blackboard hung on the wall, metal and plastic desks and chairs were strewn around the place, a stack of wilting worksheets still sitting on the teacher's table. They stumbled across it by accident, wandering around the school in an attempt to avoid the school's bullies. It was tucked away, behind a corridor, if you didn't look closely you'd never guess there was a whole room of wonder there.

The reason why they were bullied the most was most probably due to the fact that they were transfers from international schools, being the only two foreigners in the institution. Picked on due to their small frame and inability to fight back, Minghao and Hansol had to learn to defend themselves, or at least run. So they did, and they were eternally grateful for doing so.

They found the classroom on a hot summer's day, a pack of bullies on their tails, before they had ducked behind the rusty old door. As they heard the footsteps disappear, they heaved sighs of relief. "That...that was close," Minghao panted out. Hansol rested his hands on his knees as he bent down, "Indeed." Straightening to study the place, Minghao remarked, "I never knew there was a classroom here."

"Yeah," Hansol frowned, "That's strange."

And then they spent forever there. Gone were the days of running and lonely recesses. They had a place to hide in, a sanctuary. They were at so much peace. They never felt so happy. The classroom was always filled with smiles and laughter.

Then Hansol had to leave.

His family was moving away, back to America, to take care of a sickly relative. They promised to keep in touch and everything, Minghao simply nodding along absently, but he knew that wasn't possible. The time differences were too great, unless Minghao was to waste away his precious nights for sleeping.

It was as if the fairytale, their fairytale had ended. The classroom never felt so empty. And Minghao was all alone. He slowly walked up to the blackboard, which he never really paid much attention to. There were scratches on them all over, no, not scratches-words.

Hansol had left behind words.

There were so many messages and letters and some just short phrases or simply a word. With dates, Minghao counted, almost everyday since they found the classroom.

Aish, I failed my math test. But you, Mr A star, you got full marks. How I envy you.-February 12

You fell asleep today in class, Hao. The teacher nearly scolded you but I told him you had period cramps, and the damn idiot actually believed me. -March 29

Lovely.-April 5

Before I die, I want to spend my life with the best friend I ever had.-May 18

"You, only you, will have stars that can laugh!"-June 7

Winnie the Pooh said, "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."-July 23

July 23. That was a day before Hansol left.

Beside that was a message: Hey Minghao. Sorry I'm leaving so abruptly. I know it'll be tough to maintain contact, so I thought I could leave behind some part of me, so that you feel less alone.

Minghao felt an unquellable ache in his heart, but he couldn't stop his smile either.

Thank you, Hansol.

Until I see you again, please be well.