‘What’s ‘love’ like?’

Jongin’s mother takes a seat next to the boy on the bed, holding his hands in her smaller ones. Jongin was so tall now, all sharp jawline and broad shoulders, finally starting to fill out his lanky frame. Her baby boy was growing up.

‘I’m sure you’ll know when you feel it,’ she guarantees, fingers grazing over his knuckles soothingly, ‘When you’re in love, you become a better person. Occasionally, it makes you giddy and reckless, but you also become selfless, caring, and patient. You don’t need to be in a rush when it comes to love; True love blooms in its own time.’

Jongin is silent for a while, thinking.

When Jongin had first started attending middle school, he had relied on Luhan as a pillar of moral support. Now that Jongin was moving on to high school, he no longer felt like he needed Luhan’s presence that way – as a buffer, a safety net.

Luhan going off to college felt different somehow. Although Jongin still considered Luhan to be the one person he could always trust and depend on, the younger boy had slowly developed over the years, becoming more independent. And yet he still selfishly wishes to have Luhan by his side.

He’s confused – but the one thing he can be sure of is that he’ll miss the older boy more than he can bear to think about.