Beep beep~

Kiseop looked up from the book he was reading. He was sitting alone on the sofa, a large golden retriever resting its head on its master’s lap. Kiseop reached for his cell phone on the coffee table and unlocked it to reveal a text message from his best friend, Kevin Woo.

"I’m in front of your house."

He checked at the time on the corner of his cell phone. 00.01 AM, he didn’t realize it was already that late.

Before he could realize it, the golden retriever named Gom jumped down from the couch and started to whine and scratch at the door. Kiseop smiled at his pet, putting the book down and approaching to open the door. “You always know when your favorite person is coming, don’t you?” He said softly.

When he opened the door, his best friend Kevin was already sitting in the patio, cross-legged in his pajamas.

“I can’t sleep.” Kevin looked up at Kiseop, trying to manage a smile. Looking at the pitiful Kevin, Kiseop swore he looked the same as Gom when longing to play catch.

“Get up.” He ordered. Kevin did as he was told. “Get in here.” Kiseop gave way for Kevin who walked in to the house silently, then quickly closed and locked the door.

“Gommie!” Kevin reached out his arms and bent down with a wide smile on his face. The canine greeted him with a . “D’aww, did you miss me?” He chuckled, Gom’s fur playfully.

Kiseop left the scene and went back to his previous business, gazing suspiciously at Kevin for a second. It was a bit unusual for Kevin to suddenly come to his little empty house in the middle of the night. But then, he saw the light reflecting Kevin’s drying cheeks. Kiseop scoffed amusedly.

“Are your parents away again?” Kevin asked him, still playing around with the dog.

“Ne. Not surprising.” Kiseop answered, rather indifferently. The thought of his parents didn’t give him much excitement. He already felt abandoned as he already is.

“Have you spoken with them?” Kevin stopped playing with Gom and sat on the sofa.

“What’s there to talk about? All they do is go for those darn business trips and never try to spare a day for their own son! They only bother to send back home allowance money and electricity bills, not letters or something much more worth it. The hell, Kevin, they don’t even want to see their son’s school report!” He blurted out, feeling angry at the thought of the couple that he was supposed to call his ‘parents’.

Kevin looked at him apologetically; he has heard Kiseop’s rants about his parents more recently nowadays. It’s safe to say that he is worried now that Kiseop seems to be very irritated with his parents more than ever. And that’s saying something because he has known Kiseop for 12 years. Their first meeting being the day of his sixth birthday…

“I’m sorry.” He said, staring at the black television screen.

Kiseop looked at his friend confusedly. “Why are you sorry?”

“Because…” Kevin turned, looking at Kiseop seriously, “I’m disappointed in you.”

“Why?” Kiseop asked feeling even more confused.

“You are complaining about being left by your parents, isn’t that just the same as crying?” A smirk was apparent on Kevin’s face.

Kiseop stared at him for a moment before smirking back at him. “Well, look who’s talking.” He chuckled.

“What?” Kevin asked accusingly.

“You can’t hide it, you know.” He said, smiling coyly.

“What? What? Tell me!” Kevin said, curiosity getting the better of him.

“Wipe your tears away and then I’ll tell you.” Kiseop gave him the you-can’t-fool-me look.

“Oh...” Kevin chuckled embarrassedly, “You knew huh?” He scratched his chin with his finger, avoiding Kiseop’s eyes.

“What else would be the reason to you coming here in the middle of the night?”

“I can’t sleep?”

“And why can’t you sleep?” Kiseop looked at him, no trace of doubt on his face.

“Alright, genius.” Kevin raised his arms to indicate that he has given up. “You’re right. I was thinking of eomma…and I cried.”

“You broke our promise.” Kiseop said coolly, “You know what this means?”

“Yes, and you are not going to get me!” Before Kiseop could do anything, Kevin pinned him down on the sofa, pressing him down by the shoulder so he couldn’t do anything.

“Aish! You’re not getting away with this!” Kiseop cried, stretching his arms. It couldn’t stretch as long as it normally would but his arms were long enough to grab Kevin by the neck and pull him down.

“Mmmfff!!” Kevin cried with his muffled voice, struggling for air. Kiseop laughed childishly while Kevin waved his arms, trying to find the location of the culprit. When he found Kiseop’s shirt, he grabbed it and pulled Kiseop down with him, using all of his strength.  They tumbled down to the floor.

They wrestled on and on, like two lion cubs.

Just when they ran out of breath, they stopped. Both panting, staring at each other with a wide smile. It was as if something really heavy was just lifted off their shoulders. They laughed at each other, victorious.

“To tell you the truth, Kevin…” Kiseop broke, still struggling for oxygen as sweat dropped from his temple. “I have spoken to them.” He said.

“Oh?” Kevin was still panting, but now his gaze was serious and focused. “And what did they say?”

“They didn’t.” Kiseop said, turning a little solemn. “I visited them for a weekend in Japan.” He closed his eyes, trying to stop the scene from replaying on his mind. “I screamed at them, Kevin…” He continued, a fake smile showing on his face. “I screamed every bit of my heart out, and told them that they should just disown me and I just ran away before they could say anything.” He said, closing his eyes even harder. “I’m such a coward.” He sighed, regretting everything that he did.

“You are not.” Kevin said firmly, patting his best friend’s back. “Cowards are like me. Unable to tell people how I miss eomma. Not even appa.” He said softly, smiling regrettably at himself. “At least you’ve always wanted your parents to know how lonely you feel, and you did it. Maybe a little bit too much…” He chuckled. Kiseop also chuckled at his friend’s words. “Disown you, I didn’t know the genius Lee Kiseop could say something so ridiculous.” Kevin turned serious again. “But hey, even saying that takes a lot of courage.” He said, smiling again.

“Stop it, Kevin. You don’t need to say more.”

“Yes, I do. I owe it to you.”

“How?”

“You taught me that my mother is always in here.” He pointed to the left side of his chest, Kiseop looked at his finger and smirked. “And no matter how much you feel like you hate your parents, I know that you still believe that they are always here.” He continued, pointing to Kiseop’s left side of the chest.

“Heh heh…” Kiseop chuckled, “You know what we are?”

“What?”

“Two flightless birds. Birds need their parents to teach them how to fly.” Kiseop’s sharp eyes gazed back at Kevin’s. “I have none, and you have only one.”

“Ah, but you’re wrong.” Kevin chuckled, “We have each other. We learn by ourselves.”

Kiseop laughed and punched Kevin’s back.

“Ouch! What was that for?”

“For suddenly being a wise-.”

Kevin sighed and smiled at him.

Both of them stayed quiet, letting the silence of the night engulf them whole. There was no need for more word to be spoken. They understood each other. They realized that there was nothing holding them back anymore. Since they realized that they had each other, after all this time.