Myungsoo had always been an interesting person in my eyes. He was quiet but when you got to know him, he talked very animatedly. He was weird at times but it wasn’t to the point where I didn’t want to talk to him or anything.

Today, though, he didn’t talk oddly or make any small jokes. He just stared out in the air with a calm look on his face.

“What do we need to talk about?” I asked after growing bored of standing there.

“You seem to have a lot on your mind.”

“Of course you would notice,” I muttered as I Threw the milk carton in the nearby trash can. Myungsoo chuckled and nodded his head to agree with me.

“So, what is it?” He went on to ask.

I thought back to Kai and then to the situation between my Mother and Father. I guess I did have a lot on my mind. With no friends left and a Mother who broke her promise, I did feel a bit isolated and lonely.

“Do you think that trust is a good thing?” I asked.

“I think it’s a good but hard thing. Trust is risky since you’ll never really know if the person you trust is all that trustworthy.”

“But trusting someone feels amazing, don’t you think?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“The feeling of being able to trust someone is just so calming. Just knowing tha there’s somebody out there that you can go to at the end of a harsh day. Just knowing that there’s someone out there for you, really.”

Myungsoo stayed quiet.

“But when that feeling is gone, it’s not so good anymore,” I pointed out.

Five minutes had passed and none of us said anything. We drifted away in our own thoughts and didn’t notice anything happening around us. The world was moving but we stood there, still and silent.

“But you know, you can bring it back,” Myungsoo said, eyes still staring at nothing.

I scoffed, “And how would you do that?”

“Find trust when there is none,” Myungsoo shrugged.

“Where would it be?”  I sighed.

“I’m not sure, really. But one place I know where it would be is in room 309. The room with eight amazing people,” Myungsoo said softly as he looked into my eyes.

I stared back into his sincere eyes, a bit moved.

“I better go check on Sun Hi,” I said before walking away to avoid giving him an answer.

○●○●○

“Oppa, look at my picture,” Sun Hi waved as I entered the room.

I walked over to Sunggyu’s bed wondering how she got there. Sun Hi showed me the picture she drew of Sunggyu wearing a dress—a princess dress, I think.

“Sun Hi, he is your Oppa. Are you sure you didn’t mean to draw Haneul?”

She shook her head, “No, Sunggyu Oppa is a princess!”

Sunggyu gave her an odd look while everybody else burst into laughter. Everybody offered to make Sunggyu a dress to wear and Haneul put one of her hairclips in his hair.

I watched Sun Hi as she laughed wholeheartedly. She rarely laughed like that at home. Yes, she would always be happy and would smile a lot but she never really laughed as much as she did today. I was rarely home to see her laugh like this anyway. I would be out with my friends before I had to come to the hospital.

I started to wonder how much I had missed out on about Sun Hi.

“Hey, it’s lunch time. Let’s go get food,” Sungyeol pointed out. I looked up and true to his word, it was time for lunch. I turned around to get Sun Hi but she was already in Woohyun’s arms. He carried her out with the rest of the guys following.

“Come on, Sehun. We need to help serve the food,” Haneul pointed out.

I looked at her and nodded. Haneul volunteered to help give out food every day if she had enough energy—which would be often enough. We would stand side by side with me giving the neater food and Haneul giving out food that you had to scoop out. I refused to wear an apron but Haneul tried to give me one everyday anyway. She was quite persistent with that.

“Sehun, you’re going to get something on your clothes one day,” She warned once again.

I shrugged my shoulders as I put the clear gloves on my hands. I looked around the cafeteria for Sun Hi and saw her eating with Sungjong and Myungsoo. They would give Sun Hi a bite then take one for themselves and then give her some again.

○●○●○

“Here’s your plate,” Haneul said to me as she handed me a plate full of my lunch. I thanked her before putting the rag I was using to clean away. I went back to the table that Haneul was sitting at and sat down myself to eat.

“Guys!” Someone called.

We both looked up to see Sungyeol run up to us, “We’re taking Sun Hi outside to the back. Bring your food and eat there!” He picked our plates up for us and walked ahead while ordering us to follow. I chuckled before getting up to follow him.

Outside, all the guys and Sun Hi were playing with a Frisbee. Sunggyu stood behind Sun Hi to help her throw and catch the Frisbee. I watched the laugh when the Frisbee would go where they didn’t want it to go.

 “Sehun, let’s eat,” Haneul called from the gazebo. I walked over to the table there and ate with her while watching the guys play.

“Sun Hi is very cute,” Haneul pointed out.

I nodded my head, “I know.”

“She looks like you,” Haneul said.

“I guess.”

“Do you have any other siblings?”

“Nope,” I said as I thought back to those times when I complained to my parents for a brother. I had always wanted a brother more than a sister. But when Sun Hi came, I was more than happy to have her as my sibling.

“Kids never get tired, do they?” Hoya asked as he came and sat with us at the table. He stole a strawberry from Haneul earning a slap on his arm.

“You should bring Sun Hi here more often. She’s a lot of fun,” Hoya said while smiling.

“Maybe,” I said as I ate the last little bit of my food. I was about to take the plate back inside but decided to wait for Haneul to finish so I could take hers as well. I stood up and walked down the steps and onto the grass. When Sun Hi saw me, she ran up to me and pulled me along with her to play catch with the baseball Dongwoo had found.

Dongwoo was the one who always found stuff.

“Make a circle, guys,” Sunggyu ordered. We all obeyed and spread out except Sun Hi followed Sunggyu to his spot, refusing to separate from him. She wanted to play with her Sunggyu Princess.

“Just keep her with you, your highness,” Woohyun teased.

I chuckled as Sunggyu threw the baseball at Woohyun who barely caught it in time.

“Let’s play already!” Myungsoo yelled. I had noticed many times that Myungsoo had a bit of a temper— only sometimes, though.

 We finally started playing and those who missed the ball were out of the game. First, Sungyeol managed to drop it while falling in the process. We all laughed except for Sun Hi who helped him up. Secondly, Haneul missed the ball completely, too afraid that it would hit her.

After about fifteen minutes, only Myungsoo, Hoya and I were left. I had a feeling Hoya would win since he was quite athletic despite his health. Everybody else went inside since they were tired and felt that it was time for a nap. I thought it was good if Sun Hi rested a bit as well so I told her to be good and sleep on the bed that had my bag on it.

“I bet you I’ll win,” Myungsoo said with a smirk.

“We’ll see about that,” Hoya said.

He threw the ball at me and I had to admit that he had a very strong throw. I threw it at Myungsoo trying to mimic Hoya’s strength. Myungsoo caught it with ease and threw it at Hoya who then threw it back at me.

The ball kept going around like that and it didn’t seem like anybody was going to win. I began fearing for Hoya and Myungsoo thinking that they might be tired.

“Guys, why don’t you go back inside and rest. We can do this some other time,” I said.

“No way,” The two said.

I sighed and shook my head before throwing the ball to Myungsoo. Hoya was about to throw it to me when someone called me causing me to turn around. I saw my Mother and was a bit surprised but was even more surprised when a ball came in contact with my arm.

I grabbed it right away in pain as everybody ran towards me.

“I’m so sorry!” Hoya said as he touched my arm lightly. I said it was okay and turned my attention to my Mother.

“The meeting ended early so I thought I would pick your guys up since Sun Hi was with you today,” My Mother told me.

“Oh, okay, let’s go,” I said before turning to Myungsoo and Hoya to introduce them to my Mother. The two bowed and introduced themselves individually.

We walked back inside and to the room. It was awkwardly quiet as nobody said a word. When we entered the room, everybody stared at us. Sun Hi waved a bit before going back to her book.

“Uh, this is my Mother,” I said.

Everybody stood up to bow but my Mother quickly told them to stay seated. They all introduced themselves and then it was quiet again.

“Sun Hi, let’s go,” I said as I grabbed my bag.

“No!” She said.

“Sun Hi, we need to go now. Come on, Honey,” My Mother said as she pulled her off the bed. Sun Hi began crying and I sighed knowing that she wouldn’t stop for a while. My Mother let her down after a while of asking her to stop and Sun Hi ran to Sunggyu to hug him.

“Make sure you come to visit Oppa again, okay?” He said as he let go of her. She nodded her head and he wiped away her tears. “Now don’t cry.”

Sun Hi gave him one last hug with a kiss on the cheek before hugging everybody else as well. She whispered something in Haneul’s ear to which Haneul giggled and nodded her head.

“See you guys tomorrow,” I said as I left the room.

○●○●○

The car ride was full of Sun Hi telling my Mother everything she did today. She didn’t fail to miss a single detail. My Mother decided to run her errands today so we were stuck going to a variety of different places with her. By the time she was finally done, it was nine o’clock and Sun Hi had fallen asleep in the car.

When we got home, I carried Sun Hi to her room and set her down on the bed to tuck her in. I took the clips out of her hair and her nightlight. I stared at her while thinking of how much fun she had today. The fact that I had somewhat made her happy made me feel good about myself. I decided to turn her light off and go back downstairs.

I helped bring in some stuff that my Mother bought and put them on the kitchen counter, unsure of what to do with them. After putting away what I knew would go where, I began walking to the stairs to go upstairs. I didn’t want to remain in the room with my Mother any longer—the awkwardness was killing me. And just when I thought I had gotten away, my Mother spoke.

“We should talk, Sehun.”

I had been hearing that way too much lately.