A Wish Upon a Star | Yeonbin ✓

LXXIV

After a while Soobin and Kai returned to the table and the meal was eaten in a usual manner, the boys talking as though nothing out of ordinary had gone down. As soon as they'd come back, Kai had mouthed, "He's alright now" so the other boys had decided not to pry. The rest of the day too, went by enjoyably and it was soon forgotten that Soobin had had a breakdown in the restaurant during lunch.

Later at night, as Kai was scrolling through his phone, he heard a soft snoring coming from Soobin besides him and he looked at the older to see him asleep. Tucking the older in with a gentle smile, Kai whispered, "Goodnight, hyungie." Kai looked back at the other bed to see Taehyun and Beomgyu sound asleep too, Kai stretched with a yawn, knowing he should go to sleep as well.

Just then, Yeonjun walked out the bathroom from his shower humming a tune, Kai watched the older sit down in front of his bags as he did his skin care routine.

"Hyung, Yeonjun-hyung," Kai called out, not really looking at the older but at his own hands on the bed sheet instead.

"Hmm?" Yeonjun hummed, indifferent.

"Soobin-hyung is alright now so please don't worry..."

When the older didn't say anything and only just nodded, the same indifferent look on his face, Kai continued, "He only just felt a bit overwhelmed back at the restaurant because he was reminded of something not too pleasant. He's already better now so please try not to worry, even though I know this is quite intrusive of me..."

Yeonjun still didn't say anything so Kai slowly looked up at the older, only to see that the older was now facing him, looking at him, gray eyes glossy with tears.

"Yeonjun-hyung?"

"Kai you're such a sweetheart," Yeonjun smiled a sad smile as he walked to the younger, engulfing him in a hug.

Kai was confused but returned the hug, "Uh... thanks, hyung. I just thought you should know because you were looking so worried for Soobin-hyung all day and you know, I know you've known him the longest and all so yeah I just thought it would be fairer for you to know too so..."

"Thanks a lot, K-Kai," the elder's grip around him slightly tightened and Kai realized the older was crying.

"Hyung? Are you crying?"

Yeonjun quickly wiped the tears off and slowly pushed Kai away from the hug, "of course not! I'm just really happy."

"Happy?"

"Yeah, happy. Happy to know Binnie's fine and all."

Though at first the older had looked like he was trying to swallow his tears, Kai saw now that the older did seem genuinely glad.

"Oh and, Kai."

"Yes hyung?"

"Don't say things like I deserve to know, it doesn't matter who's known whom the longest. We're all friends no matter all that, right?"

"Oh of course, hyung. But you know..."

"What?"

"You've always been the closest to Bin-hyung... especially when Bin-hyung is in trouble of sorts..."

"Oh c'mon, that shouldn't matter. We're all equally precious to each other now."

Kai didn't know how to reply to that, he knew he shouldn't have mentioned about how Yeonjun deserved to know about Soobin or whatever in the first place. Though Yeonjun was also a dear friend to him, he had always felt a bit inferior to the older when it came to Soobin, and the inferiority the younger felt had slipped out.

Yeonjun went back to his cosmetics, quickly packing it back up and hopping into bed on Soobin's other side.

"Can you turn off the lights, Jun-hyung?"

"Sure, Kai."

After a while of just staring at the ceiling in the dark, Yeonjun whispered, "Kai? Are you awake?"

Kai had also been unable to sleep and so replied, "Yes, hyung?"

"Thank you."

"Thank you?"

"For being with Binnie today... for being so good to Binnie."

"Oh, it's my duty to, hyung. Bin-hyung is a precious person to me too."

"Thank you, not just for today but for all the time... for making Binnie a precious person to you too."

"Oh hyung, it's not something I need to get thanked for!"

"Yeah, I know, but..."

"But?"

"I'm still really grateful, Binnie deserves all the good things in the world, you know?"

"Yeah," Kai whispered, smiling to himself.

After that, the older didn't speak. Kai found the whole conversation a bit odd but didn't think too much about it and went to bed too, excited for the next day to come.