---

‘Hey uncle Lu!’, Yoojung greeted as she got in the car.

‘Hey kiddo’, Luhan smiled and took her bag and placed it at the back of the car. He then grabbed the bag that Yoojung’s mother packed for her. ‘Here’, he said handing it to her.

Yoojung peered curiously inside. ‘Did she pack my favourite?’

Luhan laughed at his niece. ‘I don’t know kid, just look inside’. He messed with her hair once before he started the engine and drove off. He had always made an excuse to be preoccupied with work so he doesn’t get to spend much time with her. But right now, he felt the need to spend a little time with the family that he’s been neglecting.

‘You’re not busy?’ she said as she took a bite on the sandwich her mom packed for her.

He took a moment’s glance at her and shook his head. ‘Nope, that’s why you have me all to yourself’

‘Really?’ she beamed. Luhan laughed and nodded. His niece pretended to think for a while, when she made up her mind she nodded to herself and turned to him.

‘Can we visit grandpa first? I really want to talk to him’

‘Okay princess’

--

Yoojung sat on the grass and placed some cookies in front of his father’s grave. He just stood beside her and laughed. His dad had been very fond of Yoojung and they always shared the same fascination for chocolate chip cookies. He remembered how he always caught them in the middle of the night. His dad would be the one to grab the cookie jar that his sister, Yoojung’s mom, would place at the topmost shelf and his niece would be seated at a stool with a glass of milk in front of her. He always dreaded the morning after that, because then he’d have to take the blame and he’d have to hear his sister rant about him binge eating.

‘Hi grandpapa! Do you have enough cookies down there? I brought you some. Be sure to eat them alright?’

Luhan wanted to tell his niece that her cookies would probably be gone before grandpa got to them but he stopped himself.  Instead, he talked to his dad silently, next to him his niece was telling his dad how her day went.

‘I’m sorry I wasn’t able to visit you. I miss you dad’

‘And then we watched a movie last night. Mom was crying really hard. I cried too, grandpa. I bet if you were there I wouldn’t. The guy lost her girlfriend and was asking for a day to be with her. Do you think you can spend even just a day to be with us?’

Luhan felt guilty after he heard that. ‘But you’re trying to change that now Luhan. Don’t worry’

He got lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t realize his niece was tugging his hand. ‘Uncle Lu’, she giggled. ‘Hello? Uncle Lu? You there?’

He looked at her and smiled. ‘In here’. She smiled back and pulled him towards the car. ‘I said goodbye to grandpa for both us. Come on’

--

‘Uncle Lu’, Yoojung called out to him. ‘Hmm?’, he responded as he tucked her to bed. Yoojung was spending the night with him, as requested by his sister.

‘Have you ever wished you could spend time with somebody even for the last time?’

Luhan furrowed his head and nodded absentmindedly. ‘Yeah sure, why?’

Yoojung sighed and glanced at the ceiling. ‘Grandpa always told me the story about how you met your magic but I don’t see it. I thought you lost it and you would wish to spend even just one last time with it’

Luhan glanced at his niece but she had her eyes fixated on the glow in the dark stickers of constellations on the ceiling of the room. ‘What magic?’

‘Grandpa said you didn’t believe in magic when you were young and he told you that when you meet someone that’s your magic. But I don’t see anything. Did you lose it Uncle Lu?’

Flashbacks went through Luhan’s head about a young boy watching a magic show downtown while his dad held his hand. He remembered how the boy was fascinated by the show that the moment the dad bought his boy home the boy went off to show his dad he could do the same but ended up getting frustrated. The boy grumbled about he didn’t believe in magic and his dad patted his head and laughed. ‘Luhan, magic is real. The most magical thing is when you meet her. I know it because I have it with your mom’. The young boy looked at his dad questioningly but his dad only smiled.

‘Uncle Lu, are you okay?’, Yoojung tapped his cheeks and was now seated at the bed. He looked momentarily at her and nodded his head. ‘Uh yes. Guess, uncle is really tired. You go to sleep now alright?’

His niece smiled and kissed his cheeks. ‘Will do’

Luhan stood up and made his way out the door but stopped when Yoojung called out to him again.

‘Thank you for today’       

---