A Wish Upon a Star | Yeonbin ✓

LVIII

"I'm opening the box, alright?"

"Okay, mum."

As his mum slowly opened the flap, Soobin curiously peered in to see that there were some photo albums, a few toys and the teddy bear he used to sleep with as a child.

Before Soobin could stop himself, he had the one of the photo albums in his hand. Soobin slowly opened it to see the first picture, it was dated to his fifth birthday. There was tiny Soobin with a cake in front of him while both his parents were besides him, however far from each other.

Soobin's mum peered at the picture from over her son's shoulder. "This was the last album," she softly whispered with a nostalgic smile.

Soobin felt his eyes grow prickly and so forced himself to turn the page. In the next picture, it was Soobin wearing his elementary school uniform for the first day of school in front of their old house, the tiny boy was clutching his mother's hand and looking on the floor while his mother was looking at the camera with a perfect smile, though forced.

"That was your very first day of school," Soobin's mum pointed out.

"I look sad," Soobin commented, touching the boy in the picture.

"Mmm."

Soobin turned the page to see another picture, this time it was Soobin and his dad, sitting in some restaurant with big plates of curry in front of them. There was another plate of curry in the picture but the chair behind that one was empty, it's must have been his mum's seat.

"Why aren't you in this picture, mum?"

"Oh it's because I clicked it."

Soobin nodded, they could've asked one of the staff members of the place to click it for them... Soobin peered at himself, he looked sad in this one too.

Soobin quickly ruffled through the next few pages, he appeared to be down in each one and there were no pictures with both of the parents in the same frame.

Finally Soobin saw a picture where he was smiling. Soobin saw that he was standing with a peace sign while there was another boy next to him, kneeling on the ground and tying his shoelaces so his face wasn't visible.

"That's your friend," Soobin's mum pointed at the tiny boy who seemed to be fiddling with his shoes.

"Friend?"

"The friend you used to play with at the old park."

"Ah.."

Soobin turned the page to see if there were any more pictures of the boy, there was one more. This time the boy's face was clearly visible and he had his arm around Soobin's shoulders, grinning at the camera and throwing a peace sign.

"Do you know his name, mum?"

"Hmmm, I think I did but I forgot."

"Can you try to remember?"

"Something like Yunchoen..."

Soobin bit his lip, he knew the boy in the picture was Yeonjun, it had to be.

"C'mon mum, what kind of name is Yuncheon? It must've been something else," Soobin pressed.

"His speech was still developing back then so he had a bit of lisp, I remember he used to call you Choobin," Soobin's mum said with a small laugh.

Soobin only nodded, though it was kind of cute it wasn't the answer he had wanted to hear.

"What did I call him?"

"Jun."

"Jun? I thought you said his name was Yuncheon..."

"That's what he introduced himself to me as. Maybe it was Yunjun."

"Yunjun? C'mon mum maybe it's slightly different? What kind of name is Yunjun?"

"Soobin honey, that was more than ten years ago, I don't remember."

Soobin frowned, he knew it wasn't his mother's fault.

Soobin's mother suddenly took the photo album from him and took out the picture. His mother flipped the picture to see something written at the back of it.

"Soobin and his friend, Yeonjun," Soobin's mother read out.

Soobin stared, "Woah..."

"There you go now, the name of your precious friend."

"Mum, do you remember my friend who came by this morning?"

"Of course I do, he brought you coffee."

"Yeah," Soobin softly whispered, "His name is Yeonjun too."

"Wow, what a sweet coincidence! Maybe my baby was meant to befriend all the Yeonjuns in the world!"

"No, it's the same person, mum."

Soobin's mum awkwardly looked at her son's face, Soobin could tell that she was debating over something inside her head.

"What happened, mum?"

Soobin's mum took a deep breath, "Honey, it's most likely a different Yeonjun."

Soobin narrowed his eyes in confusion, "Why do you think so?"