'Bean'.
Wishing Factory.coTaekwoon isn't a man of many words...or smiles...or movements, but he has a big heart -a warm one.
"Taekwoon-ah, come help me downstairs!"
Without a word, he left his canvas and climbed down the stairs. He saw all 3 of his sisters being busy in the kitchen and wondered who called for him. He walked up to the second eldest, Taehee who was at the stove cooking something up and tapped her shoulder.
"Oh, Taekwoon-ah, could you help Taeyoung put away those stuff on the highest shelf? She can't reach it, well nor can I and Taemi, that is," she chuckled.
Taekwoon nodded and put away the kitchen supplies where it's supposed to be. He also helped in cooking dinner and was then sent back to his room to wash up for dinner. He hummed himself a tune and went to get a shower. He went to eat dinner with his sisters and went back into his room. Taemi had invited him to watch a movie with her in their new living room since the other 2 were going out but he politely declined. He had to finish his drawing for the upcoming annual club fest in his new college.
He'd only been to college for a week now since he just moved to Korea a month ago with his sisters. Their parents were to follow in a few months after settling things in Paris but before then, they were on their own. Taekwoon had settled everything on his own and managed to get to know some people within a week which gave him the info on the upcoming event. He really enjoys art, -fine art. And the club was strict on their members, his new friends told him as he seemed interested. New members were to present a piece that they made and if the seniors like it, they could join the club.
So Taekwoon just had to finish his drawing.
But as he sat on the stool in front of his canvas, his mind came to a halt. Earlier he drew a carnation flower but he thought it wasn't enough. He decided to draw a living subject, - a human. But he couldn't think of any. He could draw his sisters or any one of them but he decided that all of them were too pretty and it would draw the club member's attention too much.
He looked up a few dozens of his favourite Japanese actors' pictures online and decided to combine their faces' features to create a new one. He started outlining the face. The eyes -round and a little sharp on the edges, the nose -not too slender and not too appealing, the lips -full and has a tight edge to it and the chin -not too sharp but a bit flat in the middle. He continued with the jaw -sharp but smoothly connected to slightly plump cheeks and the ears -not too wide off where both were perfectly connected to the hairline.
He stopped and observed the outcome. Not bad, he thought. A little smile appeared on his lips. It disappeared when he heard a light knock on his door.
"Hey, want some ice cream?" Taemi peeked in through the door.
Taekwoon was somehow lost which ended in staring at his sister who was waiting for an answer. A nod or a shake, but Taekwoon only stared. Taemi smiled and walked to his side, peering at her little brother's work.
"Ouuhhh...such a handsome drawing. Who is it?" her voice cheery.
"No one in particular."
Taekwoon showed the pictures he chose in his laptop and pointed at the drawing. Taemi let out a gasp.
"You made this yourself?! From combining all these people? WOW, Taekwoon. WOW. So how're you going to finish off? A full-length drawing? Or just the upper body?" Taemi got excited.
Taekwoon gave a quiet laugh. Taemi has always been the one to be a little too excited over anything at all. He stood up and gently guided his sister out of his room. Taemi gave him a little pout and flipped her hair, acting snobby for no reason.
"Make sure to show me when you're done or I'll tell on Taeyoung that you ate her chocolate the other day," she put out her tongue and climbed downstairs.
Taekwoon smiled and closed the door. He sat on the stool again and continued.
Thick hair, he thought, flat on his head and gave a little fringe that reached his eyebrows that were also drawn a bit thick. He went down to the shoulders and drew it a little broad but falls just slightly. His arms, hands, fingers and torso were all drawn to an awfully specific measure. A slim waist, long legs, perfectly proportioned right down to his feet.
Taekwoon had dressed the drawing in a casual manner, a navy-blue pullover worn on a plain white dress-shirt that was untucked in his slim-fitted black jeans and also a pair of simple sneakers to go with the whole look.
It was 9pm when he checked his phone and he stood up to stretch his limbs. He went downstairs to get some ice cream that he declined earlier but then found Taemi sprawled over the couch in the living room. He sighed, carrying her to the room that all of his sisters shared. They decorated the room well, he thought. After he tucked Taemi in, he got his ice cream and went back to his room.
He stared at the drawing he just finished while eating his ice cream. The more he stared, the more he grew fond of it. He was satisfied with the outcome and it made him want to draw more of it. More of the same person that he had created.
He pulled out a new canvas from under his bed that he had saved if he failed the first few drawings and started drawing again. This time he didn't draw a full-length version but little ones in different forms. One was of him walking with a collared beagle, one was of holding a camera, one was of him singing to nothing and the last was just of him standing still.
Taekwoon frowned at the last one. It somehow looked wrong. He adjusted the face and drew him smiling. It was odd, since Taekwoon himself wasn't one who was fond of smiling. He tilted his head and observed the smile he just drew. It seemed off on a face like the one he drew so he consulted the previous pictures on his favourite Japanese actors.
Dimples.
Maybe it would work on his drawing? He wondered. He didn't know but he drew it anyway. At first it was just one on the left side of his mouth but Taekwoon still felt as if it was peculiar. So he drew another one on the right. He leaned back and inspected the final result.
Perfect.
He smiled and decided to wrap up his work. He got his brown wrapping paper and wrapped both the canvases together. Because he had only drawn them with his pencil, he didn't have to wait for it to dry or smudge if he wrapped them together. After putting the wrapped drawings behind his door, he went to the bathroom to wash up his lead-smudged hands and brushed his teeth, getting ready to sleep. Even though it was Friday night, Taekwoon enjoys his beauty sleep.
He turned off his bedroom light and pulled the curtains open to let the streetlights in, dimly lighting his room. He took some time to enjoy the night scenery of the neighbourhood from his window until he formed a long tired yawn. Then he remembered that he forgot to do something.
He turned his desk light on and took out one of his sticky notes. He wrote on a piece and folded neatly. He walked back to the small built-in shelf by his windowsill and corked open his treasured glass jar. He had wrote 'WISHES' on it from when he was back in middle school after his grandmother died. It was a horrible experience for the young Taekwoon at the time and it took a great deal out of him.
His first wish that he had put in the jar was 'I wish grandma will be happy somewhere up there.' Ever since then, Taekwoon never forgets to put in at least one wish per night. If it wasn't for his benefit, it would be for others -especially his beloved people, like he did for his sisters so many times before.
He put in the paper and corked the jar shut again, finally moving to his bed.
"Good night, grandma," Taekwoon whispered and pulled his blanket up.
Right then, a shooting star passed by.
...
"Taekwoon-ah~ Wake up! Someone's at the door for you!!!"
Taehee burst in through Taekwoon's door the first thing in the morning. The young man groaned and rolled further to the wall beside his bed. He pulled the blanket up and covered his head. Taehee sat on the bed and poked at her little brother's backside.
Poke, poke, poke.
Taekwoon got annoyed and quickly got up to meet whoever was at the door. Taehee fixed his hair, guided him down the stairs as he rubbed his eyes and walked lazily to the front door. All his sisters were up, making breakfast, doing the laundry and cleaning up the house. Taehee opened the door and it revealed a mailman with a leash on his hand. The leash was connected to a navy-coloured collar that belonged to a small brown beagle with big eyes. It yelped the moment Taekwoon appeared at the door.
"Mr Jung Taekwoon?" the mailman asked.
"Yes," Taekwoon nodded.
"I believe this guy is for you," he handed the sleepy young man the leash.
"I don't have a dog," Taekwoon said, confused.
"Well now you do, and here's a parcel for you," the mailman pushed the little parcel into Taekwoon's arms and bowed to leave.
"But-"
"Have a great day!"
The mailman left and Taehee closed the door. Taekwoon panicked and opened the door again, trying to find the mailman for some further explanation. But he was gone. He closed the door and looked at the puppy. It was looking up at him with its big eyes and its tongue hanging idly.
"You got a puppy?" Taehee finally said.
"Who got a puppy?" Taemi called from the kitchen, peeking her head out to the doorway.
"Taekwoon got a puppy!" Taehee jumped up, startling the little being by Taekwoon's side.
"Really? I didn't know Korea had a mail express to send over animals," Taemi stated as she walked into the living room.
"Hey guys do we have extra hangers- OH MY GOD who's cute little friend is this?!" Taeyoung screamed once she got out of the laundry room.
"Taekwoon!" Both Taemi and Taehee answered.
"You did? Well you must've been lonely, huh? We weren't paying that much attention to you too, did we?" Taeyoung pat her little brother's shoulder sympathetically, giving her 'sorry' look.
Taekwoon stared at his eldest sister in confusion. He's never felt neglected by his sisters before, not even once...so why would he feel lonely? Even if they did pay more attention to him, he would still be the same old Taekwoon, the quiet one. He looked down at the puppy who had been swarmed by his sisters and furrowed his eyebrows. How is this puppy his? How? But no matter how hard he stared at the leashed being by his feet, no answer came out.
So he decided to let his sisters play with it as he walked to sit on the couch and unwrap the parcel. He noticed that the parcel was wrapped with brown wrapping paper like the one he used for his drawings and his lips twitched. Whoever sent this parcel knows that he likes the brown wrapping paper. He unwrapped it and found a small white coloured book with a hard cover in a box not that much bigger from it.
'Bean,' it wrote on the front.
He flipped to the first page and saw a sketch of a figure holding onto a leash which kind of looked familiar. His eyebrows furrowed again as he flipped to the second page. He read the bold words on the top of the page.
'Brought to you by The Wish Factory.co.'
That sounded odd, Taekwoon thought. He read down and froze.
'Congratulations, Mr Jung, it seems like your wish came true within a few hours of process. You have owned yourself Bean, our special little possession. This book is a journal on how to care for little Bean. He's not more than a few months old so he needs to be properly taken care of. We wish you well on doing so for Bean is very special. If you take care of him well, it will do you good in the future. Good luck!'
Taekwoon blinked. He blinked again, again and again to make sure this wasn't a dream. He got back to his room and went straight to his wishing jar. He poured everything onto his bed and searched for last night's wish. But it was missing. It was the only paper that was folded into a star shape and it was gone. His stomach was unwell for some reason and he suddenly felt like checking on his drawings.
He looked at the empty gap behind his bedroom door and gulped. It was also gone.
"Taekwoon-ah, this little guy is looking for you!" He heard one of his sisters called from downstairs.
He climbed down the stairs and stood a few feet away from the leashed beagle. It saw Taekwoon and quickly toddled over to him but was stopped by Taemi who had hold on to the leash. The little puppy whimpered and Taemi giggled, letting go of the leash. It went straight to Taekwoon's side, nudging its nose at Taekwoon's toes.
"Awww look at him, he's so cute!" Taehee cooed, along with the other two sisters.
"He?" Taekwoon squeaked.
"We think it's a 'he'. The name on the collar says 'Bean', only a puppy with that kind of name could be 'he'" Taeyoung stated.
Taekwoon knelt down and peered at the collar. It did say 'Bean'. Just like the book had said too. Taekwoon was nervous but he pat the little guy's head gently, giving it a slight smile. The little one yelped.
It does sound young, Taekwoon thought.
What am I saying? He suddenly screamed in his head in shock.
This isn't my dog. This isn't what I wished for either, if it really was coming true. Who sent this? Why? My wish? Ridiculous! And where did my drawings go? Why is this happening to me?
All the thoughts were swirling in his mind and was making him dizzy. He sat down next to the puppy and it silently climbed onto his lap, making itself comfortable. Taekwoon sighed. He couldn't understand what was going on but he picked up the puppy and sat on the couch where he had left the journal earlier. Bean settled nicely on Taekwoon's thighs as he crossed his legs.
'Chapter 1'.
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