Seven rings, followed by her calm breathing.

“Good morning, Sunshine,” he said.

“Good morning, Summer,” she replied.

Click.

<:>

Myungsoo had no idea why, but it seemed that the passing days became more bearable whenever he had the chance to have short conversations with her. In a way, she reminded him without words that he wasn't alone, after all.

It was his lunch break when another batch of unopened letters fell from his locker the moment he swung the metal door open. As always, he would pick them up one by one and stuff them in the bin. At that moment, he had an insane idea which sent his heart beating faster than he had expected: he wondered how it would feel like to receive a letter from a stranger he named Sunshine.

<:>

“I got it first!” Suzy cried, as she attempted to grab the last bottle of banana milk from his brother to no avail.

Sang Moon stuck his tongue out while he stretched his hand which held the bottle farther from her reach. “Then why am I holding it, noona?”

“You grabbed it from me! Give it back, I was saving that!”

“No!”

“Sang Moon give it or else I'll–”

“Or else you'll what, huh?”

“I'll bite you!” she scowled.

Sang Moon paused, and with a glint of mischief forming in his eyes, he grinned, and bolted off into a run.

“Hyung!” he yelled. “Hyung, noona's about to bite me again!”

“Sang Moon shut up!” she cried, following after him.

Sunggyu, who was resting in his room at that time, heard the sibling squabble once again. He sat up straight, and sighed hopelessly as he made his way to the door to welcome whoever made it first.

This time, it was Sang Moon.

“Noona threatened me, noona threatened me!” he cried, the moment Sunggyu opened the door.

“I did not!” Suzy cried in the background. She was panting when she arrived in front of Sunggyu's door. “Sang Moon took my banana milk.”

“But I only had a few!” he whined.

“You finished more than half of it!” she shot back.

“I did not!”

“Stop lying!”

“I am not lying, stop accusing me, noona!”

“Sang Moon just–”

“I'm going to the convenience store anyway,” Sunggyu chimed in. “Suzy, you can come with me and I'll get you your banana milk. Will that solve it?”

She beamed, and nodded. Sang Moon scoffed and pierced the bottle's foil cover with a straw. With that, he walked away while sipping his beverage with much gusto.

<:>

“I'm going to Busan next week, by the way,” Sunggyu informed Suzy, while they browsed through the shelves. “You can choose whatever you want, too, so long as you choose some for your brother as well.”

Suzy paused, because she knew too well why he would go there. Despite Sunye dying, her older brother still made a tight connection with her family. In a way, this irked her. She wondered if she would be able to have that kind of impact on a person, too.

“Because of her?” she asked.

Sunggyu smiled a little, and said, “Yeah.”

“Oppa,” she began, while locking eyes with him. “Do you really love Sunye unnie?”

His stare became soft all of a sudden, and in a mere whisper he told her, “I do.”

Suzy thought she was okay, but she felt her heart falling and shattering on the tiled floor beneath her feet.

She wasn't okay.

<:>

Myungsoo arrived home only to see another bag of groceries lying on his doorstep. A sticky note was on his door, and it read:

I see you changed your lock. I'll just leave this here.

Dad

In a rush Myungsoo stepped inside his house. He placed his guitar on the sofa. He stepped out again, with the thought of visiting the homeless in the subway station later on, because it was too early.

Myungsoo decided to have a long walk, because that was what he felt he wanted.

Myungsoo decided to call Sunshine while walking, because that was what he felt he needed.

As always, he had to hear seven rings before she would answer her phone.

“Sunshine,” he said.

“Summer,” she replied.

A pause.

“Are you crying?” he asked.

“No.”

“You sound like you're crying.”

“I'm not,” she muttered.

“You are,” he pointed out.

There was this long silence and finally she admitted, “You caught me.”

“Why are you crying?”

“Because I'm not laughing,” she answered.

He smirked. “Clever girl.”

“I'm flattered.”

“Why are you crying?” he asked again.

“Because it hurts.”

“What hurts?”

“Everything.”

Myungsoo paused, and asked, “Why?”

“It just does,” she returned. “What are you doing now?”

“Talking to you. And you?”

“Talking to you, as well.”

“You're not writing?”

“You're not making music?”

He could only smile at her remarks so far. He thought he could read her like the others, but he was misled, it seemed. He couldn't see through her, and this intrigued him even more. What made Sunshine, Sunshine?

In a way, she had a calming effect on him, and he was sure that it would be a risk if he ever got attached to a lovely stranger like her. He didn't want people to mess around with his emotions, simply because he was tired of it.

“The person I fancy...” Sunshine began. “He's going back to her, Summer.”

“You can't hold him back?”

“I've no right to hold him back,” she said. “He loves her.”

Silence.

“Sunshine?”

“Yes?”

“How do you feel right now?”

She choked out a laugh. “I feel pathetic.”

Myungsoo paused, only to look up at the darkening sky, which was a swirl of orange and pale blue. The sun was setting, and the wind got a little cooler.

“Why?” he asked.

“Because...”

Myungsoo opened his mouth to respond, but decided to not say anything instead because she started sobbing. It was his first time hearing it from her, and all he could do was to offer her the silence she would always give him.

“I freaking lost to a corpse,” Sunshine whimpered.

The boy sighed, and said soothingly, “Everything will be all right one day.”

“One day,” she repeated.

“One day,” he ensured her.

<:>

Suzy had no idea how long they sat in silence, but she drifted off to sleep with the sound of his breathing.

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."
- 1 John 1:5