A Wish Upon a Star | Yeonbin ✓

LXII

After the first few rounds, Taeho didn't press the "continue to next" button and instead relaxed back into his chair, "You know, I kind of owe you an apology."

"You do?" Soobin turned his gaze to his stepbrother.

"You don't think I do?" Taeho pressed the "continue" button and Soobin looked back at the screen, preparing for the next round but his attention still at the conversation at hand.

"I mean..."

"We don't exactly get along, right?"

Soobin chuckled, thinking about all the times Taeho had bullied him as a kid, hiding Soobin's favorite toys and always calling him names, "Right."

"I mean, it's mostly my fault so you know, I do think I should be apologizing."

"Mostly?"

"Oh c'mon, I know I haven't been the nicest to you but..."

"But?"

"I don't know, it was... circumstantial, you know."

Soobin didn't say anything, he didn't know he was supposed to be saying to that.

"I was a kid, okay? You get it, right?"

"I mean, kind of."

"Kind of?"

"We were both dealing with having to share our parents and all so... you know, as kids we didn't know any better."

"Exactly, that's what I was getting at."

"But I didn't bully you!"

"It's because you were scared of me."

"No, I wasn't!" Soobin overtook Taeho's cart in the game.

"Yes, you were! You hid behind mum when you first met me!" Taeho retorted, hitting Soobin's cart with a turtle shell and going ahead of him.

"I was shy! Not scared!"

There was an awkward silence as both boys quietly played on.

"Yess!" Soobin cheered as he reached ahead of Taeho in the last second and won.

"I'm sorry," Taeho blurted out.

Soobin turned to look at his stepbrother to see that he was looking down, most likely, in shame.

"What?"

"You know, being the same age and stuff, we could've been friends."

"I mean, we were both kids dealing with change and stuff so."

"But I shouldn't have bullied you."

"Yeah, you really shouldn't have."

There was a silence as both boys just looked at the screen which was replaying the game.

"But you know, you didn't know any better... as a kid," Soobin reached out to awkwardly pat Taeho's shoulder.

"Thanks for being understanding," Taeho said with a tight smile, reaching for Soobin's hand on his shoulder and squeezing it before letting it go.

"Well, I guess I'll go now," Soobin awkwardly said as he stood up.

"Got some plans with your friends?"

"Yeah."

"Let's be friends too, okay?"

"Sure... uhh bye?"

"Yeah, bye. Have fun!"

Soobin gave a nod before he closed the door and walked to back to his room.

Soobin closed just door behind him and let out a relieved sigh, he felt drained but happy.

Soobin checked the time to see that it was already 2 pm and wondered when Yeonjun would be coming. Soobin remembered that the older had said "evening" so technically there was still time left because of 2 was merely still afternoon, right?

Soobin opened his phone and played some games as well as checked his social media for some time until he realized that two hours had passed and it was now 4.

Soobin peeked out of his window and stared at the front gate of his house, wondering when he'd see Yeonjun. 4 was definitely evening, right?

As Soobin continued staring out of the window and got lost in his thoughts, suddenly a familiar voice called out to him.

"Hey, Hyung. What's up?"