A Wish Upon a Star | Yeonbin ✓

LXVIII

Soobin woke up happy. It was the day they would be leaving for the trip. The chilling dawn air hit Soobin as he got out of his bed and turned off his alarm which was mere minutes away from ringing.

Soobin quickly got ready, packing up his last minute things, and carefully lugged his duffel bag downstairs. Quietly, Soobin put his bags near the frontdoor as he went to the kitchen to get something to eat when he met his mum.

"Mum?"

"Good morning, Binnie," Soobin's mother ruffled his hair and gestured for him to sit.

"Good morning," Soobin smiled, "why are you up so early though?"

"You're leaving for your trip today, right?"

"Yeah."

"It's the first time you aren't skipping," she smiled warmly and Soobin could tell she was genuinely happy.

"Yeah," Soobin whispered softly.

"I hope you have a lot of fun with your friends."

"Thanks, mum."

His mum brought a plate of mini sandwiches and a cup of milk, setting it down next to him, "Here. You packed everything?"

"Thank you. Yes."

There was a settling comfortable silence as Soobin ate his breakfast and his mother fondly watched.

"I think I should be going," Soobin stood up.

"You've grown to to be such a lovely young man," Soobin's mum opened her arms out.

Slightly nervously, Soobin stepped into it, giving his mum an awkward but warm hug with a few pats on the back from each to the other.

"It's still a bit awkward, right?" His mum giggled.

"Yeah. Only just a bit though," Soobin chuckled along, "bye, mum."

"Bye son, have fun."

Soobin walked out and to the stop at the end of the street where the bus would be picking him up.

Kai was also in the same stop as he also lived close by and upon seeing the older, he frantically waved his arm and shouted out, "Good morning Soobinnie-hyung!"

"Hey, Kai!"

As Soobin reached Kai on the bench, he put his bag down.

Kai excitedly blabbered, "I'm so excited! I'm so excited!!! Hyungiee, do you know how excited I am? Oh my God!"

Kai pulled Soobin into a hug and jumped up and down in excitement, Soobin following with a laugh.

Soobin sat besides the younger, "I really didn't think you could get any more hyper than you already were."

"Hyung, this is a big deal. Don't damper my energy, I am rightfully pumped up for this as one should be," Kai replied in a matter-of-fact kind of way.

"Right."

"Listen, I couldn't go last year because I came down with the flu right before the trip and then the year before I was the classified school loner so I voluntarily didn't go, alright? This is as much of a first time for me as it is for you. Bet high school trips are so much better than middle school ones," Kai dreamily said.

"Wait, YOU were a loner?!"

The boys could now see the bus approaching.

"Yeah hyung, happens to the best of us," Kai said with a feigned sadness as he carried his bags and boarded the bus.

"Woah," Soobin breathed out, following the younger in.

"What woah?" Kai asked the Soobin who was now sitting next to him in the bus.

"It's just hard to imagine someone like you with no friends," Soobin replied as he looked around the bus to see it mostly empty.

"Beomie-hyung and Tae-hyung are at the stop after this one. Why's it so hard to imagine me as a loner anyway?"

"Oh. You know, what reasons would anyone have to not-be your friend?" Soobin sat back down.

"What reasons would people have to be my friend?"

"Dude, why wouldn't anyone be friends with you! You're literally one of the best people I know!"

Seeing Soobin get so overly animated, Kai laughed, "I mean, hyung it was mostly because I couldn't speak Korean so well and people didn't want to speak English because they feared they'd be bad at it and I'd judge them for it or something."

"Oh," Soobin breathed out with a small chuckle.

"But after a half-year or so, Beomgyu-hyung suddenly popped up with this slightly awkward but definitely more-grammatically-correct-than-mine English and started talking to me. Beomgyu-hyung apparently started taking English classes seriously after seeing me because he wanted to be friends. Since Beomgyu-hyung was there, Taehyun-hyung also came. He's better at English than Beomgyu-hyung but he's shy at first so."

Soobin smiled, "So they've been to you what you guys have been to me."

"Oh c'mon, hyung you're really keeping me on such a high pedestal here. What Beomgyu-hyung did for me is something I could've never been able to do for anyone else."

"No, for real though. You guys have really been like blessing a to me. Even if we don't have a language-barrier, I always thought it was just me being me which made people avoid me so I built my own barriers. But you guys have been so well to me..."

"Aw, hyungie," Kai tried his best to give Soobin a hug despite the bags on their laps and despite the fact that they were both sitting.

"I'm really so thankful to have met you guys."