10 years ago.

It was a windy afternoon when a young boy was standing at the seashore, smiling so widely that even his eyes smiled. He looked at the bottle that he was holding; it was a glass bottle with a rolled white paper in it. He exhaled happily and quickly removed his slippers, leaving them behind. The kid walked slowly, little cold waves touched his small feet. He threw the bottle as far as his strength can, breathed deeply. The kid closed his eyes and clasped his hands together.

“Ocean please read my letter.”

“What’s the letter inside the bottle all about?”

He opened his eyes and smiled widely. The ocean can speak! 

“Wow! This is so cool! You can talk!” Sehun, the kid with a beautiful eye-smile, shouted happily, opened his arms so widely, and jabbed the air while laughing.

Someone snorted from behind, Sehun turned around and his smile dropped. A boy probably around his age, was standing behind Sehun and was also holding something but it was not a bottle, it was a camera.  So it wasn’t the ocean that talked.

“Did anyone tell you that ocean couldn’t read and talk?” The unknown kid said in an obvious tone.

“Who are you and why do you care?”

“So young and already sassy.” He raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms on his chest.

“You ruined the moment.” Sehun said in low voice, feeling embarrassed about what the other saw. “It just… Mommy told me that anyone could dream. She told me it’s okay to have dreams even if it is impossible dream because dreams are dreams. But she said there is no impossible dream as long as you have a dream.” What.

“You just said dreams about a dozen times.” The kid said, while trying to repeat what Sehun said in his head.

Sehun just rolled his eyes, turned his back at the other one and faced the ocean again. He inhaled deeply, planning on ignoring the other kid.

“Okay then, tell me what you wrote in that letter. I am also going to pretending that the oceans can read and let us hope that that will read your letter soon.” The kid emphasized the word that, obviously talking about the ocean.

Sehun then again, faced the other kid. He crossed his arms too and looked at the other with disbelief written on his face. This boy is so mean.

“Are you mocking me?” Sehun snorted.

“No, kid. I am pretending.” The kid smiled innocently.

The kid who threw a bottle with a letter at the sea did not answer him and just faced the ocean once again. He felt humiliated even though there was nothing to be ashamed of. He tried looking for the bottle that he threw but it was already out of his sight, so he walked backwards and silently wore his slippers. He was about to walk away but a hand grabbed his upper arm.

“Hey, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

The kid looked at Sehun and smiled. “We can be friends, you know.”

“How and why am I going to be friends with a stranger and someone who is making fun of me?” Sehun raised his brows and sighed. Is he crazy?

“I’m Luhan. I am not a stranger anymore and hey, I was not making fun of you.” Luhan pouted at the sad kid.

Sehun tried to pull his arm but Luhan was stronger.

“I’m sorry okay?” The latter continued pouting. “Come back next week, meet me here and I will bring a bottle with a letter in it too.”

“Really?” The kid’s eyes twinkled at what Luhan said.

“Yeah, but you have to tell me your name first.” Luhan smiled, feeling a little excited.

“Sehun, Oh Sehun.” As he said his name, a bright flash blinded his eyes and he realized that Luhan took a photo of him. My eyes!

“Hey!” He shouted as he rubbed his eyes. He was seeing some black and white dots because of the flash.  Crazy guy.

“Nice to meet you, Sehun. Meet me next week, same time and same place!” With that, Luhan walked away while looking at his camera.

With happiness bubbling on his chest, Sehun just looked at the setting sun and smiled. Okay, Ocean. I’ll be leaving too.

Sehun walked his way to where his bike was parked. He rode his bike on his way home; the sea was only few blocks away from his house, which was a good thing because he could just go there whenever he needed the sea.  As he was nearing their house, he slowed down and stopped for a while. He looked at the good-looking massive house that was a few meters away from him. Sehun stayed outside, contemplating whether he should go home or go back where he went an hour ago.

He chose his first option and rang the gate’s doorbell. He could hear someone running and the gate opened, there revealed his nanny.

“Sehun!” His nanny panted as she pulled the kid inside. “Your father came home early and he’s—“

“Sehun! Where were you?” Speaking of the monster, his father came out of the main door and quickly walked his way towards the two.

“I just went to the sea, Daddy.”

With an angry sigh, his father shouted at him to go to his room and told Sehun that he couldn’t go to the sea for a week. Sehun loosened his hold on his bike until the thing collapsed on the floor and quickly ran inside the house. He was on his way to the stairs when he saw a woman sitting on their couch. The woman smiled at him but he just looked at her with uninterested facial expression and continued going upstairs until he reached his room.  Another friend, I see.

He slammed his door, ran to his bed and lied down. Looking up at the ceiling or his room, a tear fell from his eyes and he immediately wiped it. He covered his body with his blanket and hugged the thing tightly. Sehun closed his eyes, now letting the tears fall on his pillow. He sighed and smiled.

It’s okay. I’m fine. Sehun’s fine.

∞

A week had already passed but Sehun was still grounded by his father. It was early in the morning when Sehun was already sitting on his bed waiting for his father to go out of the house. Footsteps were nearing and he hid under his blanket, and not so gentle knocks surprised him, even though he was already expecting it.

“Sehun, I’m going. You are not allowed to go out of the house.” With that, his father left. Sehun’s father had been doing that since he grounded Sehun. He was always strict with everything, including his son.

Sehun smiled, and waited for the time where he had to sneak out of the house. He went down and sat on his chair humming while eyeing his food on the table, which was odd to his nanny’s eyes.

“Why is our Sehun so happy today?” She smiled, showing her deep dimples. Nanny is so cute!!! Sehun squealed internally.

“Nanny, I met a friend last week at the sea.” Sehun smiled.

His nanny raised her right eyebrow and smiled. “I’m glad you did, Sehun.”

“But nanny,” Sehun hesitated for a while, but still decided to tell her his plan. “I am supposed to meet my friend later, but daddy told me not to go anywhere. I want to go later but please don’t tell da—“

“Just go, Sehun. For as long as you come home safely.” His nanny caressed his hair. Sehun smiled and ate his breakfast happily.

∞

Sehun was already sitting on the sand where Luhan and him would meet. Between his hands, there was a yellow paper plane with some words written on it. He had been sitting there for an hour but he didn’t mind though.

The sea and the breeze made him feel a whole lot better. Sehun sighed, remembering the things that made him sad.

At a young age, Sehun had been feeling the pressure since he was seven. At first, he was fine with it because he loved studying. Well, he used to love it because he was receiving compliments from his parents. But then, good words and compliments started to disappear and all he was hearing from his father were ‘do better’ ‘that’s it?’ ‘aim higher’ ‘are you even studying?’ and more words that made Sehun feel like he was not good even though he had been the first in rankings in his batch. He did not have time to have friends, play outside, watch movies, or even go to malls every weekend because his father only wanted him to focus on his academics. The fun stopped when he reached the age of seven. The only places that he had been going were their house, the school, and the sea.

“You’re early!” Someone from afar shouted, Sehun looked from his left and stared at the running boy. Luhan panted as he slowed down and sat beside the early boy. He removed his bag and put it in front of him, opened it and brought out a notebook, a pen, and an empty bottle.

“I told you I’d bring a bottle and a letter. I was about to write something but I didn’t know what to write so…” Luhan trailed off as he was getting everything ready.

“You can write anything you want.” Sehun said as he smoothened his paper plane on his hand.

“First, you had a bottle and a letter with you and now, a paper plane?”

“You can write whatever you want. Things that makes you happy, sad, angry, excited…” Sehun ignored him. “You can also wish for something that you want to happen, but don’t get sad if that won’t happen though.”

Luhan looked at the kid who looked a little sad compared to their first meeting together. Sehun was staring at the calm waves, letting the cool air hit him.

“But I don’t have anything to write!” Luhan exclaimed as he waved the paper in front of Sehun’s face, trying to cheer him up.

“Then leave.”

“Wow, you could at least call me hyung.” He scoffed, side-eyeing the kid beside him. “But you seem quite mature, how old are you?”

“I’m ten years old.” Sehun muttered.

“Oh, I’m a year older than you!” Luhan exclaimed, wide smile apppeared on his cute face.

“You’re too noisy, hyung.” Sehun sighed in defeat.

Luhan laughed, ”Someone finally decided to call me hyung!”  

“Whatever, hyung.”

“It’s a good thing your parents allow you to come to the sea.” Luhan said while uncapping his pen.

“You live here?” Sehun dodged at the topic and asked the older a question instead.

“Yeah,” The older kid chuckled. “We just moved around this area a month ago. You should introduce me to your friends since I don’t know anyone in this area.”

Sehun nervously chuckled and looked at his paper plane. “But I… I don’t have many friends. I only have one.”

“Okay, introduce me to your only friend then.”

“Okay.” Sehun nodded, slightly scared of what the older might think. He cleared his throat and inhaled deeply. Here it goes.

“Hey, Ocean. This is Luhan-hyung, he is someone whom I met a week ago.” Sehun said in a loud voice, pointing at Luhan then he pointed at the wide sea in front of them and spoke softly. “Luhan-hyung, that’s Ocean. He is my only friend.”

“Hello, Ocean. It’s nice to meet you.” Luhan smiled at the sea. “I believe we’ve met each other last week, too!”

Sehun was completely taken back at what Luhan did, he was definitely not ready and that was not what he expected. He was expecting his hyung to mock him but he did the opposite.

“You have the nicest friend, Sehun. May I be your second friend?”

The younger kid didn’t know what to say. This hyung was full of surprises. It was their second time meeting and seeing each other yet he felt really comfortable with Luhan’s presence.

The latter took his dropped pen and started writing something on his notebook. Sehun tried to peek but gave up when the other scolded him for being a brat. After few minutes, Luhan started rolling the paper and he inserted it in the bottle. He closed the lid of the bottle and faced Sehun.

“I would be really happy if the ocean reads my letter and grant it.” Luhan smiled and hugged the bottle.

Sehun, on the other hand, was so curious. He practically begged Luhan to tell him what was written in there but the latter wasn’t buying it. He stood up and walked closer to the sea with Sehun trailing behind him.

Luhan stopped walking and smiled. “Ocean! Please read my letter. This is very important so please, grant my wish. I would be really happy if this happened! I will be forever grateful to you.” Luhan shouted, letting his feelings out and threw the glass bottle with a large splash in the water.

“What do you feel, hyung?” Sehun quietly asked as he watched the bottle being pulled by the slow waves.

Luhan smiled, “For some reasons, I feel happy.” He turned to the younger kid and asked. “Is that the reason why you like throwing letters at the sea?”

Sehun just smiled and let the paper plane go. It landed on the water and floated. He nodded and smiled at his hyung. They sat silently as they watched the birds fly above them.

“My mom and I used to be here every time she picked me up from school.” Sehun smiled. “One time, I was very sad because my dog died 4 months after my mom bought him. I think I couldn’t stop crying that time then my mom told me to write something on my pad paper. I was confused as you were when you didn’t know what to write.” Sehun chuckled. “That was when she told me to write anything what I wanted to write.”

“Just like what you told me.” Luhan half-whispered. He stared at Sehun and his eyes were twinkling. He didn’t know if those were tears slowly forming, or the sunlight was only reflecting beautifully on his eyes.

“Yeah. She told me to write what I was feeling and I wrote about how sad I was because I lost my dog.” Teary-eyed Sehun laughed. “I didn’t treat him as a pet, but I treated him as my friend. Maybe that was the reason why I was so… Sad.”

“Well, you may have lost your pet but at least I came,” Luhan tried comforting Sehun. “I’m sorry, I am a few years late.” Sehun snorted, but stayed quiet. His mother would be glad to hear that he gained a new friend. He felt like Luhan would understand him. He felt like Luhan would always be on Sehun’s side.

“Hey, do you want to know what’s in my letter?” Luhan tried again and to his luck, he got Sehun’s attention.

“What is it?” Sehun asked slowly. Luhan danced internally and smiled at his successful attempt.

“You’ll know it if we’re still friends until the end!”

“I knew you were not going to tell me.” Sehun smiled a bit, and they both laughed at their silly conversation. Sehun was feeling so happy, so happy that he finally met someone who was more than happy to be his friend. Someone who does not think that he was weird, and someone who effortlessly make him smile.

Little did they know, some wishes actually do come true.

***

I hope you liked the first chapter. :) Let me know what you think! And thank you for reading it. <3