stardust | park seonghwa - Chapter 18: Chapter 18
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"SEONGHWA!" I call.
The man clicks his phone off before facing me and I feel myself almost flying off to Mars when he sends me a bedazzling smile.
Seonghwa amazes me every time I see him, and it's no different now. Over the couple of weeks he was away, he's changed his dirty blonde locks into dark shade of brown, so dark it was like black in the shadows. I almost feel under dressed seeing him in his typical 'Seonghwa clothes'; a long black padded jacket, an almost worn out red coloured band t-shirt tucked into his usual black jeans and his pair of these apparently expensive black runners he's saved his money on. A brown paper bag is hung from his arm and he lets his phone slip in there.
"I thought you were still out of town?" I ask as I approach him, rubbing my arm to warm myself as a gust of wind blows. I unlock the gate, swinging it open to let him in. Seonghwa happily strides past the gates, grinning boyishly.
"Surprise?" he says.
I roll my eyes, turning back to close the gate back shut. Seonghwa hums disapprovingly from behind me. "You don't have a jacket on?" he asks, "it's cold out here!"
I scoff. "Yeosang kicked me out of the house," I tell him, "he acts as if he owns it sometimes."
"Anyways, let's go inside before I freeze," I say, urging him to follow me inside the house.
Seonghwa complies, saying how my place is nice seeing as it's his first time here. I laugh, waiting for him by the door as he slips his shoes off.
"Maybe because my apartment is messier?" Seonghwa chuckles at that.
"Probably," he replies, "I even help you clean it from time to time."
"Yes, you life saver! It would've turned into a pig sty by now, if you hadn't come in," I tell him, placing my hand on the door knob, twisting it to find that it's still locked. "Just a moment," I say, rounding the house to see if the side door leading to the backyard was open - it was not.
Sighing exasperatedly, I knock rapidly on the door. "Yeosang!" I call out, peeping through the windows to find no one on the other side. "Hyekyung..!?"
Seonghwa laughs behind me and I shoot him an annoyed glance. "Did he lock you out?" he chortles, resulting in a pinch on his arm.
Not long after, though, I hear a series of small rapid steps and I can tell in an instant that the person running to the door was Hyekyung. I can hear her pants as she drags the small stool placed next to the door closer to the knob, stepping on it. She fiddles with the lock for a while and after hearing a familiar click, the door swings open and there stood Hyekyung, arms on her hips.
"Eonnie, Yeoyeo is -" and she let her sentence pause, looking up slowly. "Ddeonghwa!"
My little sister hops off the stool, a huge smile on her face and crashes into Seonghwa's legs tp wrap them in a warm hug. "Kyungie missed you!" she blabs when Seonghwa lifts her up into his arms, and she hugs his neck excitedly. Rolling my eyes, I push the both of them inside the house and close the door shut as another gust of chilly wind blows.
"I miss you too, Kyung," Seonghwa tells her, ruffling her hair.
"You didn't come for yeaaaallss...!!" she sighs dramatically, looking at Seonghwa with her bottom lip stuck out, "I like Uyoung and San but I like you mowe!"
The male laughs, booping her nose with his. "I'll be sure to come more often, then."
In conclusion, everyone loves Jeon Hyekyung.
As she tells Seonghwa about her new toys, the boy looks past her and smiles at me with an apologising look. "Sorry," he mouths, "she's too adorable." I shake my head and ask if he needs help with the paper bag he's still carrying to which he shrugs at, saying it's fine.
Yeosang comes out of the living room seconds later with his hair tied into two little stumps on the top of his head, one of them flopping to the side. He didn't look too happy with how the sparkly green elastics tangled into his hair. He sees Hyekyung resting on Seonghwa's hips and crosses his arms.
"Oh, hi Seonghwa hyung," he says quickly, giving acknowledgement to the older boy before giving his attention to Hyekyung. "Young lady! What did you do, I can't take it off!" he tugs at his hair and the little plastic bands getting tangled in them.
Hyekyung giggles, "you look pwetty, Yeoyeo!"
She then wiggles out of Seonghwa's arms and drags Yeosang back into the living room, saying that he should've left it and not touch it if he didn't want it to get tangled. Before they disappear, Yeosang looks back and flash us a grin.
"She's grown up so much," Seonghwa comments, gushing about her as he cracks his neck. "Her pronunciation is getting better too! Soon enough she'll be in first grade, and then she'll be in secondary school, then high school and oh my God! What happens when she gets a boyfriend?"
The horror in his eyes is hilarious, making me smack his arm lightly. "I haven't even thought about it that far, relax a little, Hwa," I say, "...so.... what made you come?"
"Just because," he answers, shrugging, "I hope I'm not disturbing anything."
"Nah, dinner will still be a while so you're good," I tell him as we walk through my hallway, "and besides, you can join in if you want. I'm sure mum won't mind another person, she usually cooks a lot."
Seonghwa grits his teeth nervously. "To be honest, I've never really known what to reply when someone asks me that."
"Just say yes?"
"Okay," he giggles.
"Hold on, let me just grab my blanket, I'll be back in a second and we can talk in the back foyer?"
"Sure!"
With fast steps, I quickly climb the stairs and close my room shut. I find myself grinning like an idiot as I lean on my door, still processing what's happening. Seonghwa's here! Even though he said he'll still be away! All the somewhat happy feeling in me bursts and I let out a silent scream. Trust me, I'm not always like this but...
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Breathe.
Sucking a breath in, I slap myself lightly on the cheek for getting too excited and snatch a thin blanket off my bed before wrapping it around my shoulders, skipping back down the stairs. Yeosang was peeping out of the living room, snickering at how I almost tripped over a stair and I swear to God, I will land him a punch when Seonghwa leaves.
When I got to where I left Seonghwa, mum is having a conversation with him and in her hands are two new bottles of chardonnay. From here, I can't tell what they're saying and all I can see is that mum seems to be enjoying whatever they're talking about. Seonghwa looks as if he's liking it too, judging by how he looks comfortable and relaxed. But trying to keep her from saying anything embarrassing, I quickly snatch him away from her and give her a half apologetic smile.
"What- Shin! We were just getting to the best part..!" I hear her from the hallway after pushing Seonghwa out of the door and into the back foyer.
"Save the best for never!" I call back, shutting the door behind me.
Seonghwa watches me with an amused smirk, arms crossed, and I turn back on my heels to face him. "What did she tell you?" I ask him whilst turning on the outdoor heater we have, motioning for him to sit down on one of our benches.
"It was a small talk, she didn't say anything, don't worry," he answers, "although, you should've gone longer... the tea was getting pretty hot."
I flash him a disgusted look.
"Anyways!" Seonghwa claps his hands and then hands me the brown paper bag he's been holding. "It's not much but... merry Christmas!"
I blink. "For me?"
Honestly, I thought the two bottles of wine were all that was in there and when Seonghwa unclasps my fisted fingers to pass the bag into my hand, I was just a bit surprised. The man nods at the bag, urging for me to open it. So I pull the rectangular item inside, wrapped in sparkly maroon gift paper. It wasn't as light as I thought it would be, but it's not heavy either, so I bring it up to my ear and shake it.
My heartbeat jolts when I feel Seonghwa's hand on mine, lowering my arm with a small whine. "Open it..!" he shakes my arm impatiently, a pout forming on his lips.
I push his face away in mock disgust and he laughs. "Hurry up then!" he exclaims, "or I'll open it myself!"
"Okay, okay, okay!" I cry out, huffing. "Impatient old boomer," I add under my breath, snickering when Seonghwa doesn't miss my comment and I receive a light shove.
There's a feeling of anticipation as I peel away the edges of the wrapping paper carefully, undoing every sticky tape and carefully creasing them once the folds are undone. Something was encased inside, its framed black and sleek and after long moments of debating whether or not I should do it, I rip the paper open.
My eyes are wide.
"Seonghwa..."
A smile appears on my face as I look over the framed work. Pictures of the both of us border the sides; some taken a several days since we met, some others were of my close ups that I took silently on his phone, one of us annoying Hongjoong at his KFC and another one of me sleeping on a couch at the music studio Seonghwa locks himself into often. My eyes dart to the piece of paper it frames, jaw dropping at what it says.
CERTIFICATE OF ADOPTION
THIS CERTIFIES THAT A STAR HAS BEEN ADOPTED FOR
. . . JEON HYESHIN . . .
UNDER THE NAME OF
. . . HYEHWA . . .
declination: +40° 44′ 21″
"You adopted a star!?" I yelp and letting my blanker drop on the floor, getting out of my seat in mere disbelief to which Seonghwa shrugs at.
"I thought it was cool," he simply answers as he picks my blanket back up, "I've always wanted a star - it could be ours! That's why I named it 'HyeHwa', cool right?"
"Still! A star!?"
"Yeah, you're welcome, Hyeshin, I appreciate your appreciation."
Plonking myself back down next to him, I feel a slight tingle on my fingertips as I run them along the edges of the frame. No, Seonghwa, it's not 'just cool'. My head spins, thinking about this star somewhere far away, one that he's chosen that's now technically my child. Considering the past months that have passed, stars mean a lot to me and now...
"OH! And that's not all!" Seonghwa finally says after leaving me to admire the certificate in my hands. He pulls out his phone from his pocket before opening an app. He gestures for me to hand him over the frame, patting the space in between him and I for me to shuffle closer.
"Look at this," he points his phone at a QR code that I've missed, a small one on the bottom corner.
I pay attention to the screen of his phone as it opens up to a playlist on his phone music app. On the top of the playlist was the title, 'Aldebaran'. I tilt my head at the name.
"It's the brightest star in the Taurus constellation," Seonghwa tells me, "it's not the one I got for you but the name is kinda cool, don't you think? And I made it so it's only accessible from this QR code - I have one of my own at home."
I nod slowly.
That's when I start to notice that all of the album covers on the songs he put on the list were pictures of me, the word 'Aldebaran' written in blocky letters in the middle of the thumbnail. All five of them had that, and the songs listed aren't ones I'm familiar with. So my eyes read over them and when I start getting to the bottom, I bite my lip to hold back a grin.
"What the fuck..." I gush out under my breath, scrolling up and down the screen as I read 'Park Seonghwa' as artist.
"Ta-dah!"
"You made a whole EP album?" I exclaim, still in disbelief. My finger presses on the very first track on the list - 'Aristocracy' - and let its tunes play, hanging in the cold crisp air.
Seonghwa rubs the back of his nape, "yeah well, it was part of something I had to do for my final assignments... but that's a whole different one. Might as well make one of you - for you. It's too good of an opportunity to miss."
I was still in awe when Seonghwa leans forward on his seat so that his arms would rest on his knees, head tilting up to look at me with a soft smile. "I hope you like it."
"Wow, Hwa, I -"
"- I really do like it, a lot," I say after a small pause, "I didn't expect anything, you know. Not for now, at least, since I thought you were still away but..."
"What the actual fuck, Seonghwa, you got me a star and my very own album, how can I not like it?"
All I want to do now is to record his giggly voice as I engulf him in a hug, not really wanting to let go from his embrace when he rocks the both of us back and forth. Nice warm feelings wrap around me despite it being ridiculously cold out here. It beats the waves of warmth from the heater which is now just a mere flash of hot air coming and going every now and then. With 'Aristocracy' still playing, I snuggle into Seonghwa a little more and brace myself.
Because man, if he doesn't stop being like this soon, I'll be in too deep.
The man clicks his phone off before facing me and I feel myself almost flying off to Mars when he sends me a bedazzling smile.
Seonghwa amazes me every time I see him, and it's no different now. Over the couple of weeks he was away, he's changed his dirty blonde locks into dark shade of brown, so dark it was like black in the shadows. I almost feel under dressed seeing him in his typical 'Seonghwa clothes'; a long black padded jacket, an almost worn out red coloured band t-shirt tucked into his usual black jeans and his pair of these apparently expensive black runners he's saved his money on. A brown paper bag is hung from his arm and he lets his phone slip in there.
"I thought you were still out of town?" I ask as I approach him, rubbing my arm to warm myself as a gust of wind blows. I unlock the gate, swinging it open to let him in. Seonghwa happily strides past the gates, grinning boyishly.
"Surprise?" he says.
I roll my eyes, turning back to close the gate back shut. Seonghwa hums disapprovingly from behind me. "You don't have a jacket on?" he asks, "it's cold out here!"
I scoff. "Yeosang kicked me out of the house," I tell him, "he acts as if he owns it sometimes."
"Anyways, let's go inside before I freeze," I say, urging him to follow me inside the house.
Seonghwa complies, saying how my place is nice seeing as it's his first time here. I laugh, waiting for him by the door as he slips his shoes off.
"Maybe because my apartment is messier?" Seonghwa chuckles at that.
"Probably," he replies, "I even help you clean it from time to time."
"Yes, you life saver! It would've turned into a pig sty by now, if you hadn't come in," I tell him, placing my hand on the door knob, twisting it to find that it's still locked. "Just a moment," I say, rounding the house to see if the side door leading to the backyard was open - it was not.
Sighing exasperatedly, I knock rapidly on the door. "Yeosang!" I call out, peeping through the windows to find no one on the other side. "Hyekyung..!?"
Seonghwa laughs behind me and I shoot him an annoyed glance. "Did he lock you out?" he chortles, resulting in a pinch on his arm.
Not long after, though, I hear a series of small rapid steps and I can tell in an instant that the person running to the door was Hyekyung. I can hear her pants as she drags the small stool placed next to the door closer to the knob, stepping on it. She fiddles with the lock for a while and after hearing a familiar click, the door swings open and there stood Hyekyung, arms on her hips.
"Eonnie, Yeoyeo is -" and she let her sentence pause, looking up slowly. "Ddeonghwa!"
My little sister hops off the stool, a huge smile on her face and crashes into Seonghwa's legs tp wrap them in a warm hug. "Kyungie missed you!" she blabs when Seonghwa lifts her up into his arms, and she hugs his neck excitedly. Rolling my eyes, I push the both of them inside the house and close the door shut as another gust of chilly wind blows.
"I miss you too, Kyung," Seonghwa tells her, ruffling her hair.
"You didn't come for yeaaaallss...!!" she sighs dramatically, looking at Seonghwa with her bottom lip stuck out, "I like Uyoung and San but I like you mowe!"
The male laughs, booping her nose with his. "I'll be sure to come more often, then."
In conclusion, everyone loves Jeon Hyekyung.
As she tells Seonghwa about her new toys, the boy looks past her and smiles at me with an apologising look. "Sorry," he mouths, "she's too adorable." I shake my head and ask if he needs help with the paper bag he's still carrying to which he shrugs at, saying it's fine.
Yeosang comes out of the living room seconds later with his hair tied into two little stumps on the top of his head, one of them flopping to the side. He didn't look too happy with how the sparkly green elastics tangled into his hair. He sees Hyekyung resting on Seonghwa's hips and crosses his arms.
"Oh, hi Seonghwa hyung," he says quickly, giving acknowledgement to the older boy before giving his attention to Hyekyung. "Young lady! What did you do, I can't take it off!" he tugs at his hair and the little plastic bands getting tangled in them.
Hyekyung giggles, "you look pwetty, Yeoyeo!"
She then wiggles out of Seonghwa's arms and drags Yeosang back into the living room, saying that he should've left it and not touch it if he didn't want it to get tangled. Before they disappear, Yeosang looks back and flash us a grin.
"She's grown up so much," Seonghwa comments, gushing about her as he cracks his neck. "Her pronunciation is getting better too! Soon enough she'll be in first grade, and then she'll be in secondary school, then high school and oh my God! What happens when she gets a boyfriend?"
The horror in his eyes is hilarious, making me smack his arm lightly. "I haven't even thought about it that far, relax a little, Hwa," I say, "...so.... what made you come?"
"Just because," he answers, shrugging, "I hope I'm not disturbing anything."
"Nah, dinner will still be a while so you're good," I tell him as we walk through my hallway, "and besides, you can join in if you want. I'm sure mum won't mind another person, she usually cooks a lot."
Seonghwa grits his teeth nervously. "To be honest, I've never really known what to reply when someone asks me that."
"Just say yes?"
"Okay," he giggles.
"Hold on, let me just grab my blanket, I'll be back in a second and we can talk in the back foyer?"
"Sure!"
With fast steps, I quickly climb the stairs and close my room shut. I find myself grinning like an idiot as I lean on my door, still processing what's happening. Seonghwa's here! Even though he said he'll still be away! All the somewhat happy feeling in me bursts and I let out a silent scream. Trust me, I'm not always like this but...
Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Breathe.
Sucking a breath in, I slap myself lightly on the cheek for getting too excited and snatch a thin blanket off my bed before wrapping it around my shoulders, skipping back down the stairs. Yeosang was peeping out of the living room, snickering at how I almost tripped over a stair and I swear to God, I will land him a punch when Seonghwa leaves.
When I got to where I left Seonghwa, mum is having a conversation with him and in her hands are two new bottles of chardonnay. From here, I can't tell what they're saying and all I can see is that mum seems to be enjoying whatever they're talking about. Seonghwa looks as if he's liking it too, judging by how he looks comfortable and relaxed. But trying to keep her from saying anything embarrassing, I quickly snatch him away from her and give her a half apologetic smile.
"What- Shin! We were just getting to the best part..!" I hear her from the hallway after pushing Seonghwa out of the door and into the back foyer.
"Save the best for never!" I call back, shutting the door behind me.
Seonghwa watches me with an amused smirk, arms crossed, and I turn back on my heels to face him. "What did she tell you?" I ask him whilst turning on the outdoor heater we have, motioning for him to sit down on one of our benches.
"It was a small talk, she didn't say anything, don't worry," he answers, "although, you should've gone longer... the tea was getting pretty hot."
I flash him a disgusted look.
"Anyways!" Seonghwa claps his hands and then hands me the brown paper bag he's been holding. "It's not much but... merry Christmas!"
I blink. "For me?"
Honestly, I thought the two bottles of wine were all that was in there and when Seonghwa unclasps my fisted fingers to pass the bag into my hand, I was just a bit surprised. The man nods at the bag, urging for me to open it. So I pull the rectangular item inside, wrapped in sparkly maroon gift paper. It wasn't as light as I thought it would be, but it's not heavy either, so I bring it up to my ear and shake it.
My heartbeat jolts when I feel Seonghwa's hand on mine, lowering my arm with a small whine. "Open it..!" he shakes my arm impatiently, a pout forming on his lips.
I push his face away in mock disgust and he laughs. "Hurry up then!" he exclaims, "or I'll open it myself!"
"Okay, okay, okay!" I cry out, huffing. "Impatient old boomer," I add under my breath, snickering when Seonghwa doesn't miss my comment and I receive a light shove.
There's a feeling of anticipation as I peel away the edges of the wrapping paper carefully, undoing every sticky tape and carefully creasing them once the folds are undone. Something was encased inside, its framed black and sleek and after long moments of debating whether or not I should do it, I rip the paper open.
My eyes are wide.
"Seonghwa..."
A smile appears on my face as I look over the framed work. Pictures of the both of us border the sides; some taken a several days since we met, some others were of my close ups that I took silently on his phone, one of us annoying Hongjoong at his KFC and another one of me sleeping on a couch at the music studio Seonghwa locks himself into often. My eyes dart to the piece of paper it frames, jaw dropping at what it says.
CERTIFICATE OF ADOPTION
THIS CERTIFIES THAT A STAR HAS BEEN ADOPTED FOR
. . . JEON HYESHIN . . .
UNDER THE NAME OF
. . . HYEHWA . . .
declination: +40° 44′ 21″
"You adopted a star!?" I yelp and letting my blanker drop on the floor, getting out of my seat in mere disbelief to which Seonghwa shrugs at.
"I thought it was cool," he simply answers as he picks my blanket back up, "I've always wanted a star - it could be ours! That's why I named it 'HyeHwa', cool right?"
"Still! A star!?"
"Yeah, you're welcome, Hyeshin, I appreciate your appreciation."
Plonking myself back down next to him, I feel a slight tingle on my fingertips as I run them along the edges of the frame. No, Seonghwa, it's not 'just cool'. My head spins, thinking about this star somewhere far away, one that he's chosen that's now technically my child. Considering the past months that have passed, stars mean a lot to me and now...
"OH! And that's not all!" Seonghwa finally says after leaving me to admire the certificate in my hands. He pulls out his phone from his pocket before opening an app. He gestures for me to hand him over the frame, patting the space in between him and I for me to shuffle closer.
"Look at this," he points his phone at a QR code that I've missed, a small one on the bottom corner.
I pay attention to the screen of his phone as it opens up to a playlist on his phone music app. On the top of the playlist was the title, 'Aldebaran'. I tilt my head at the name.
"It's the brightest star in the Taurus constellation," Seonghwa tells me, "it's not the one I got for you but the name is kinda cool, don't you think? And I made it so it's only accessible from this QR code - I have one of my own at home."
I nod slowly.
That's when I start to notice that all of the album covers on the songs he put on the list were pictures of me, the word 'Aldebaran' written in blocky letters in the middle of the thumbnail. All five of them had that, and the songs listed aren't ones I'm familiar with. So my eyes read over them and when I start getting to the bottom, I bite my lip to hold back a grin.
"What the fuck..." I gush out under my breath, scrolling up and down the screen as I read 'Park Seonghwa' as artist.
"Ta-dah!"
"You made a whole EP album?" I exclaim, still in disbelief. My finger presses on the very first track on the list - 'Aristocracy' - and let its tunes play, hanging in the cold crisp air.
Seonghwa rubs the back of his nape, "yeah well, it was part of something I had to do for my final assignments... but that's a whole different one. Might as well make one of you - for you. It's too good of an opportunity to miss."
I was still in awe when Seonghwa leans forward on his seat so that his arms would rest on his knees, head tilting up to look at me with a soft smile. "I hope you like it."
"Wow, Hwa, I -"
"- I really do like it, a lot," I say after a small pause, "I didn't expect anything, you know. Not for now, at least, since I thought you were still away but..."
"What the actual fuck, Seonghwa, you got me a star and my very own album, how can I not like it?"
All I want to do now is to record his giggly voice as I engulf him in a hug, not really wanting to let go from his embrace when he rocks the both of us back and forth. Nice warm feelings wrap around me despite it being ridiculously cold out here. It beats the waves of warmth from the heater which is now just a mere flash of hot air coming and going every now and then. With 'Aristocracy' still playing, I snuggle into Seonghwa a little more and brace myself.
Because man, if he doesn't stop being like this soon, I'll be in too deep.
End of stardust | park seonghwa Chapter 18. Continue reading Chapter 19 or return to stardust | park seonghwa book page.