stardust | park seonghwa ✓

― end; silent thoughts, secret wishes

then.

AT first, Yeosang was scared. There was no one in the house but him and his parents weren't going to return until later in the night. So why did he hear the gates of his house creak open? There was no one in his mind that would come and visit him at this hour. It could be Hyeshin, his best friend, but she'd always tell him when she's coming over. Moreover, Hyeshin had been under the radar for quite a while so he doubted it'll be her.

Yeosang peeked out from behind his curtains. He was surprised to find that, walking across his lawn whilst looking for (assumingly) the key was someone so familiar yet so distant. Kang Donghoon pulled it from his back pocket, a single gold-coloured key, before twirling it around his pointer finger.

"What's he doing here?" Yeosang muttered under his breath. He visibly frowned, suspicions growing inside him as he heard the distant click of the front door being unlocked and pushed open.

"Hello?" Donghoon's voice called out, "mum? Dad?"

Yeosang froze.

"Yeo?" the said boy could hear his brother's footsteps march up the stairs, "Yeosang? You awake?"

Immediately, he dove for his bed, not caring that he jumped on with his slippers on and covered his body with his blanket just in time as his bedroom door was being knocked on. When Yeosang didn't answer, the door creaked open and from under his sheets, Yeosang saw his brother poke his head into the room.

"He's asleep already, gosh, can't even greet his own brother coming home," Donghoon scoffed, quietly closing the door again and Yeosang heard his footsteps run back down the stairs.

"Well that's rich," Yeosang found himself mutter under his breath, pushing his covers away from his body. He clambered off his bed, hands tretched out to reach the top of his desk as he blindly searched for his phone.

Once the block of metal is safely in his hands, Yeosang tried to contact his best friend again. He probably tried to reach Hyeshin for more than a hundred times now. It was a miracle, honestly, because she didn't even respond after he graciously offered to treat her to two bowls of noodles at his own will.

After deciding that no, Hyeshin will not answer him since her contact still said 'last active 2 days ago', Yeosang huffed and threw his phone across the bed. Well, since there was nothing better to do, he plastered on the sleepiest face he could make and tottered out his room (to convince Donghoon that he, in fact, had been sleeping so he could yell at his brother as much as he'd like for disturbing his beauty sleep).

Donghoon sat at the dinner table, fiddling with the phone in his hands, pieces of paper scattered around him. As soon as he saw his younger brother hobble down the stairs from the corner of his eyes, he sat right up and eyed Yeosang in concern. "Yeo? You okay? Did I wake you up?"

In his mind, Yeosang snickered. "You bet you did," he hissed in the most irritated voice he could say at eight in the evening. "Why the fuck are you here?"

"Am I not allowed to come back home?"

"No Jinah?" Yeosang scowled.

Donghoon didn't answer.

The younger of the two siblings glowered at his brother. "Seriously, nobody came with you? Didn't know you were capable of doing this more than once," Yeosang scoffed, "and when was the last time you came? That's right―Christmas! That was nearly four months ago!"

"I―"

Yeosang, still in his fake-sleepy state, lifted his palm lazily. "―Don't. You didn't even message mum, dad, or me in between. Where have you been?"