Sungjong slid his fingers under the mittens and slowly picked them up. As he stared at the small speck of dirt that has managed to find its way into the thread, he couldn’t help but feel rejected. He remembered getting Myungsoo’s text the moment he woke up. Though he was glad to receive the one and only reply so far, anyone would agree that the text within the message itself left no pleasant words. While he was dusting the dirt off, he could barely see the approaching figure.

The pretty male glanced over to see that it was a man he did not know. A handsome man with a sharp nose. The man paid very little attention to him and instead walked toward the front door of Myungsoo’s studio, Sungjong was surprised that the man didn’t even bother knocking and had intended to open the door first. “He’s not here….” Sungjong said from behind. Swiftly the lad spun around to face him.

“Oh, do you know where he took off to then?”

“He didn’t say.” Sungjong said with a shake of his head. The man clicked his tongue before speaking.

“That rascal.” Though the stranger had meant to whisper the words, Sungjong who was closed enough was able to pick them up.

“But why are you looking for him?” Sungjong asked the fellow.

“Ah it’s nothing important. If you happen to see him, can you let him know that I came by?”

“But, who are you?” Sungjong asked after much thought.

The lad flashed him a smile, “His brother in law.”

From Unknown Number

Can we meet? I have some things to say.

Myungsoo shut his phone right after he had read the message. Meanwhile, Ryosuke slide into the chair across from him. Ryosuke had took Myungsoo to his own home in order to fix Myungsoo a meal. “I know you said you’d rather go home but food is the best medicine after a hangover, don’t you agree?”

The handsome man couldn’t help but agreed with a short-lived smile. “Thanks, Ryosuke.”

“Shall we eat then before the food gets cold?” Ryosuke suggested. As the two ate the rather large meal of a variety of both Japanese and Korean food, the room was consumed with silence beside their chewing.

“Why did you told that kid about my studio?” Myungsoo asked out of the blue, almost catching Ryosuke choking on his food. But the Japanese lad was able to control himself before the worst could come.

“You mean Lee Sungjong?” Ryosuke asked, when Myungsoo sat in silence, Ryosuke thought to continue. “Sungjong saw the photo you took of me and thought it was the most beautiful thing. He sees me almost everyday but to think that a photo made me even more beautiful, I just couldn’t help but told him about your studio. I know you only work in private now and only take private clients, but if you’ve noticed, Sungjong is quite stubborn. He wouldn’t give it up even after I told him that you only work in secret.”

“Then, since you’ve been a friend of Sungjong for some time now. Do you, by any chance know of Lee Hoya?”

Ryosuke felt something strike his chest at the mention of Hoya. “W-why do you ask?”

“You must know, Hoya is a star who’s becoming the center of the public’s eyes and interests. But because of the past I happen to be quite close to him, so after spending some time with him the other day, I learned that he knew Sungjong in person.” Myungsoo paused to check Ryosuke’s reactions. He was hoping the Japanese could clear up certain things for him. “Some time ago I was in possession of Sungjong’s phone. I found an image of Hoya on his front screen. I thought he was just a fanboy of Hoya’s, so can you imagine how it was to learn that they were actually neighbors?”

Ryosuke played with the chopsticks in his hands by involuntarily stirring the food on his plate. “It’s true. Sungjong and Hoya were blessed with wealth growing up. And by being wealthy, they happened to live close to one another in one of Seoul’s richest neighborhood. Sungjong has always had this love and affection for Lee Hoya as a middle high schooler. But ever since Hoya became a celebrity, Sungjong has always felt that his crush had betrayed him. Hoya had never once held the same feelings for Sungjong, but no matter what, Sungjong kept waiting for that day where Hoya would look at him again.”  

“And what of the mittens that he personally make and give away?” Myungsoo dropped the question he most wanted answer.

Ryosuke raised his brows a little, possibly as an expression of being surprised. “Mittens?”

“Why? Do you not know about it?”

Ryosuke looked away for a moment. “The mittens symbolize Sungjong’s love. During his younger days Sungjong would make a lot of them to send to his parents who were almost always overseas. But his mother told him to stop making them since he wasn’t a girl, and because Japan is actually quite warmer than South Korea. So she told him to keep them to himself or give them to his future girlfriends. But Sungjong has no affection for women, in fact he likes men. He gives them to those he feels closest to.”

Myungsoo smiled a little, “Is that all?” Though he was relieved to know that Sungjong’s love could also mean just friendship, he was quite bummed that Sungjong would feel closed to Myungsoo.

“Sungjong has every meaning for every color he makes with the mittens. Red and pink meant he has a crush on you, green and yellow for friendship, brown and gray for wanting to become closer to you.”

“Then, what of the color black?” Myungsoo asked specifically. This time Ryosuke turned back to him.

“Black?”

“You mentioned an abundant of colors, but what does black mean?”

Ryosuke was quiet for a brief moment. “It means….He’s uncertain about his feelings. But I have never seen him hand out black mittens before. And I’ve only seen him have two pairs of blacks, otherwise most were green and yellow.” Myungsoo fell silent at the thoughts of what he had done. “Myungsoo?” Ryosuke called from the side. “Perhaps, did you receive a pair from Sungjong?”

“I—I returned them to him.”

“Why? What color was it?”

Myungsoo sighed, “Black.”

Myungsoo walked into his studio and leaned against his desk. While leaning he turned to his side and saw the photo album. “Suzy, just where are you hiding?” In the moment Myungsoo thought he should give up and finally go to Suzy with the help of Hoya. There was no point being stubborn. All he has to do was just take Hoya’s pictures and he’ll be with his sister. Those were the only thoughts that Myungsoo was focused on. So as he retrieved his phone out from his front pocket, he opened the device and was ready to make a call, but came to an abrupt stop when he saw that the messages between him and Sungjong were still open on his screen.

He re-read the message Sungjong last sent him earlier. The idea that they should meet because Sungjong had something to say. Myungsoo thought for a moment before clicking on the call button.

Sungjong was sitting alone on a bench behind an active street. As he stared right ahead of him, he could see the colors of each car that drove by at the speed of thirty to forty miles per hour. In his hands he was caressing the black mittens. As he was zoning out, he almost missed the ringing of his phone in his pocket. Like a zombie, Sungjong moved at a slow pace to pull out his phone and answer it without much care. “This is Sungjong.”

Myungsoo was surprised to hear that Sungjong’s phone was busy. Just who could he be talking to?”

“Sungjong, it’s mom.” The caller said.

“Oh mom.”

“Why? Usually you’re always so happy to hear my voice. What’s gotten into you?”

Sungjong forced a smile that his mom couldn’t see. “It’s nothing. Mom.”

“Why?” His mother asked in a gentle-motherly tone.

“Remember when you said if you make it fine in Japan that you would take me in?”

His mother laughed a little, “Why? Tired of Korea already?”

“No. It’s just I want to be with you, mom.”

“Umpf, Sungjong. Mom know she said she would take you in no matter how old you come to be,” his mother said using a third person tone, “but mom will need some more time to settle in. Mom has something to tell you, but I will do that when I can come see you next week. Mom will be on her vacation, so let’s have fun in Korea. Until then, if you say you’re tired of Korea then I will bring you here with me, understand?”

“Yeah, mom.”

“I will talk to you again later, bye my son.”

“Yeah, I love you mom.”

“Me too~” His mother said before hanging up. Right when his mother had hung up, Sungjong’s phone rang again. This time Sungjong saw that it was Myungsoo’s number on his screen. With slight hesitation he took the call in his drained and weak voice.

“Hello?”

“Where are you?” Myungsoo asked almost immediately after. Sungjong scanned his surrounding before answering.

“Near the park.”

“What did you want to say?”

Sungjong couldn’t stop himself from looking down at the black mittens. “I thought I would let you know. But I’m going to Japan.” Sungjong took a breather and made room for Myungsoo to react, but when it was all silence, the pretty lad continued. “I know we hardly worked together and barely know each other….But I wanted you to know that I thought of you more than I do others. So I wanted to tell you that I hope you achieve your dreams, just know I will be supporting you, quietly this time. Once I go to Japan, I don’t think I’m going to come back here, even if it’s just to visit. Because you know I have like fifty friends.” Sungjong joked to brighten his mood.

“Why are you leaving then?”

“I want to be with my mom. At first I thought my dream was to become a Korean star….But really that was just an excused….I think if I go back to my mother, I will be able to find my dream again. Or at least a real one.”

“I guess that’s a good thing then, you won’t be bothering me anymore in the future.” Myungsoo said frankly, making Sungjong smiled a little.

“Yeah, I guess it also means I won’t be bugging you anymore. I’m sorry if I’ve made difficult for you, Myungsoo.”

“If you’ve said all that you’ve wanted then I’m going to hang up.”

“Sure….” After Myungsoo had hung up, Sungjong kept the phone to his ear. “Good bye….” He whispered. Before he knew it, someone grabbed a hold of the mittens from his loose hand. Sungjong’s eyes widen as he look up to see the doer. “You—?”

Woohyun smiled at Sungjong. “So you weren’t just a stranger standing outside of Myungsoo’s place, huh?”

“I—”

“I’ll take these from you for now. If you want them back then I need you to do something for me.”

Sungjong shot up from his seat, “What? Who are you to force me?”

“Then,” Woohyun held up the mittens, “should I give these to Myungsoo?”

“You—!”

“Why? Are they not for Myungsoo? I heard you were on the phone with him, you seemed depressed to be talking to just a friend or acquaintance.”

“Just what do you want from me?!” Sungjong raised his voice.

Woohyun chuckled a little, “Your change of temper is impressive. Let’s not be hasty, I just need you to run a little errand for me.”

“What kind of errand that you can’t do it yourself and have to ask a stranger?”

“If you agree to do as I say, I’ll let you in on the details.”

Sungjong frowned, looking only at the gloves. “Fine.”

Ryosuke was about to head out of his home when the image of a man came into sight. Leaning against the walls that surrounded Ryosuke’s home was no other than the famous Hoya. The fellow had on a cap, hoodie, and sunglasses to hide his face from the public. Ryosuke stumbled a little when he didn’t expect the lad to be standing outside his place. “I-it’s you?”

Hoya detached himself from the wall when he noticed Ryosuke. “How have you been, Yamada Ryosuke?”