A Wish Upon a Star | Yeonbin ✓

LIV

After his mum left to run some errands, Soobin looked at the clock on his wall too see that it was well past noon already.

He opened his phone and checked for messages to see that Yeonjun had left him some and that their group chat with all five of them had been talking.

11:59 am
C. Yeonjun: Good Morningg!~

12:00 pm
C. Yeonjun: Good Afternoon***
C. Yeonjun: Oops:p

1:15 pm
C. Yeonjun: Got you some coffee and pastry while getting mine!
C. Yeonjun: I hope you enjoy it! <333

Soobin smiled at the older's texts and sent a thankful reply before going to the group chat to witness Kai and Beomgyu having a dumb argument while Yeonjun weighed their points out and Taehyun dissed Kai.

Soobin joined the conversation and started supporting Kai because he felt bad for the two lovebirds ganging up on him while the oldest just munched on his popcorn and fueled the fire.

It was a fun conversation to take part in and much of Soobin's evening passed by just like that. When dinner time rolled around he went to the dining table and sat down as the rest of his family too joined him.

"Good evening," Soobin greeted his mother and stepfather and gave brief nods of hello to his stepbrothers.

"Good evening," Soobin's mum smiled.

"Good evening," His stepfather replied with an acknowledging nod.

During dinner it was mainly just his stepbrothers and his stepfather talking about sports and school while Soobin quietly ate his meal before quickly excusing himself.

But after dinner, when Soobin was about to get ready for bed, he heard a knock on his door.

Soobin opened the door to see his stepfather, "Hey kid."

"Hello," Soobin gave a small bow.

Soobin just looked at his stepfather who was carrying a carton box.

"Can I come in?"

Soobin was slightly taken aback but nodded, "of course."

As Soobin's stepfather put the box on the floor with a soft thud, he spoke, "Your grandad- step grandad passed away a few days ago."

"Yes," Soobin solemnly nodded.

"I went to clear out his house today."

Soobin quietly nodded, not understanding why his stepdad was telling him all of that.

His stepfather sat on the chair near his study desk, his eyes going through the novels propped up on the shelf on one of the walls, "My dad, your step grandad, he loved to read too."

Soobin just nodded.

His stepfather pointed to the box, "Those are some of the books I found in his old study, maybe you'd like to keep them?"

Soobin was surprised, between school and keeping up with his friends, he didn't really get the time to read as much as he used to. But once in a while, he loved to curl up with a good piece of fiction for peace of mind, and he absolutely loved collecting books too.

"Oh, can I really keep them?"

"Yeah, he wrote in his will that it was for his step grandson who loved to read but who he got a chance to properly talk to."

"Oh," Soobin gave an awkward smile.

"My dad thought you were his best grandchild, even if technically you're not blood related to him. He was more of a quiet type, you know, so he was disappointed when his one grandson turned out to be loud and rowdy like me."

Soobin didn't know what to say but seeing that his stepfather had a soft smile on his face, he smiled back.

"It's sad I never got to talk to him or anything," Soobin softly said.

"It's alright, he wasn't close to either of my boys either. He liked to just silently observe you guys and tell me how I should be raising you guys," Soobin's stepfather said with a fond smile.

"Anyway, I assume you're going to keep the books?" He got up and walked to the door, about to leave.

"Yes, thank you very much for the books," Soobin bowed daintily with a small smile.

"Yeah, it's alright. Hey you know you don't have to bow to me like that. I know I was never much a guardian, much less a father to you but you know, now that you're older, I hope we can at least be a bit more like friends."

Soobin was surprised and with a bigger smile replied, "Oh of course, thank you."

"It would make your mum very happy to see us get along. Anyway, goodnight."

"Goodnight to you too."