When I woke up a couple of hour later, the night has already fallen. Everything was dark around me and I realized I had been there all alone.

I felt my phone vibrating inside my bag, dug it out, and pressed it to my ears. Over at the other end of the line, I heard a panicked and breathless voice yelling out my name frantically. Knowing that it was my fault entirely, I could only endure it and mumbled back answers to the questions thrown at me.

Less than five minutes after the phone call ended, I saw a figure from a distance running towards me. While still lying on the grass, I smiled weakly at him. “You came,”

“Do you know how worried I was?” Jongin scolded.

“Sorry,”

He placed the back of his palm on my forehead, and with an undeniable frown on his face, he commented, “You’re burning! How long have you been here?”

“A while,”

His eyes softened as he looked at me. “Aigo, what do I do with you,” he sighed, crouching down with his back facing me. “I’ll let you ride my back this time,” he said.

I smiled at him, took my bag, and climbed his back. He secured my legs around his waist as I hung my arms on his shoulders, wrapping them close around his neck. Jongin was never that much muscular and strong, but he did not complain even the slightest bit although I was pretty sure my weight was quite a burden to him.

“You’re not allowed to go out alone again after this,” he muttered breaking the silence between us, and then added. “At least not without telling me,”

“Alright,”

“Not even to play basketball or soccer,”

“Fine,”

“Not even to buy ice-cream or patbingsoo,”

“Got it,”

There was a pause, and then he turned back a bit to catch a glimpse of my face before looking forward to focus on the road again. “Who are you and what have you done to my headstrong, stubborn and rebellious Bae Suji?” he asked.

“She’s on a vacation,” I simply replied.

“When is she coming back?”

“I don’t know. If someone misses her enough, then maybe soon,”

Another short pause, and finally, he murmured, “If you happen to meet her again, tell her that her brother misses her so she can come home now,”

He said nothing afterwards, and let me fall asleep while he hummed to the nostalgic Moon River.

-

I woke up a few hours later, finding myself in my bed and Jongin dozing off while sitting on the chair from my study table which he had dragged over with his head rested on the side of my bed. It would have been dark all around us if it was for the bright moon that penetrated in through the window.

I felt a damp towel on my forehead and saw a small basin half-filled with water on the side table. I glanced at Jongin, and seeing his awkward position, I shook his shoulder gently. “Your back’s gonna hurt if you stay that way,” I told him once he was awake.

He sat up straight and stretched a bit while rubbing his eyes. “Feeling better?”

I nodded, smiling. “Thanks,”

Fixing his gaze at me, he brushed a strand of hair off my face before flicking his fingers on my forehead. “Mum was dead worried, you know,” he pointed out. “Dad, too,”

“Were they mad?”

“Very,” he answered. “Mum was going to ground you, but I told you I already gave you your punishments, so she didn’t,”

I looked away and cocked my head to one side, before returning my gaze at him. “So how was the fishing trip?” I asked to change the subject.

“Boring,” he shrugged.

“Why so?”

“I got so sleepy waiting for the fishes to appear,”

I chuckled. “You get sleepy too often,”

“And you fall asleep too often,” he shot back, and laughed.

I joined in the laughter. When it died down, I cleared my throat and stared at the ceiling. “You know, oppa, I met Bae Suji just now in my dream,” I began.

“Yeah?”

“And she told me that she misses her brother too,”

He was sitting with his back against the window, thus the moonbeam didn’t reach his face. But even in the obscureness of it all, I could see the corners of his lips curling upwards, and his smile radiated the whole room.