Chapter 2: First time back.

The boy is brought back to reality when he suddenly hears the call of his busstop. 

"Was I dreaming again?" He wonders. He sighs deeply when he guesses he had been indeed dreaming about -him- once again. 'Forget him again, Minseok. It went well the past years too.'

He tidies himself when he sees he looked messy from the nap he took. He throws his backpack over his left shoulder. He looks around the landscape and smiles out of happiness. He missed this place. The place were he grew up as a kid. 

The bus finally reaches the busstop and Minseok walk forward carefully, not forgetting to wave at the bus driver and thank him, before he steps the bus out and took a deep breath in. 

He's about to walk toward the pavement toward the small village where his grandma lives, but a small bunny catches his attention. He lowers himself to reach for the cute bun and picks it up. 

'Look Seokkie, a bunny! So cute, i want to keep it!'

He smiles bitterly as yet again another memory from the past crossed his mind.

"You look just like that one." The boy mutters quietly to the bunny while he carresses the animals head. 
He lets go of the bunny and the bunny skips around immediately toward the village.

The boy gets up and tries to clear his head from any more memories. 

His ringing phone distracted him immediately.

"Hello?" He asks. He already knew it was his mom though.

‘Sweetheart, where are you now?’

“I’m almost there mom. Just came out of the bus. I’m on my way to grandma’s.”

‘Okay, we’re waiting for you, hurry up! I love you!’

“I’ll be fast. Love you too, bye!” He hangs up the phone and looked to the village. It was a 15 minute walk to his grandma’s house, so it isn’t that far.

As he walks to his grandma’s house, he thinks about her. About his family, his friends, his life. It was all without him.

He is happy. He has good grades finally, he loves his family and feels blessed every single day that he has such a great bond with them.

It wasn’t always like that.

He used to go to psychiatry thrice a week. He had no friends for a period. He hated school and never did anything for it. He was diagnosed with depression. He blamed his family for feeling unhappy, even at the age of 8. He hated them and wished they never brought him along that day. But they did everything to help him. His older brother didn’t go well with it, but as he aged, his brother too, started to understand his little brother. So he tried his best too, to try healing his little brother again and to get his cute, lovely little brother back. The little brother who he missed so much.

And he healed. He is better now. He feels happy and managed to live better off now.

His family was back together again and his bond with his brother was stronger than ever. His brother protects him for anything and makes sure he keeps taking his medication, so he will never lose his brother again. His parents give him all the love he needs, just like his brother and his grandparents.

He made a lot of friends once he entered middle school and even got a lot of secret admirers. But he never accepted one of those confessions. His friends know about his previous depression and try to spent a lot of time with him.

He went with his closest friends to a high school in Seoul and they started living in dorms. His mom cried so much because her little baby was already getting big. And if it wasn’t for his brother, who also went to the same school and also slept in dorms, he wouldn’t even be allowed to go so far. His brother and friends promised his mom that they would take care of him, so in the end she nodded and gave a lot of lectures before he left.

Once entering high school, he started to forget about the boy he met more and more. And before he knew it, he was happier than ever. He started to live life the fullest. He got a job in a supermarket together with his best friend, he started crushing on a person and he became the class president of his class.

But sometimes, just sometimes, he still felt emptiness in his life.

He still felt lonely when he was surrounded by his family and friends.

He knows that empty spot will be there forever.

Before he knows it, he already reaches the front gate of his grandparents their house. He knocks on the door a couple of time and is welcomed by his mom, who hugs him tightly.

“I missed my baby so much! How are you sweetie. Come in, everyone is waiting!” She took her son’s hand and drags him inside. He saw his brother helping his father with preparing dinner. His grandma is laughing with them and my grandpa. His aunt and uncle are there too, sitting at the same table as his grandparents and his nephew is playing videogames on the PS3, while his niece is playing with her mobile.

The boy smiles. These were the best moments.

He feels at home now.

He greets them all and gives a kiss to his grandparents, father and brother. He steals some food and gets scolded by his brother before they laugh together and his brother starts to feed his little brother with some food himself.

He then goes to his grandparents, uncle and aunt and chats with them. They happily talk with him and even joke around.

He then goes to his nephew to play games with him. They play for hours. He had a nice talk with his little nephew and his niece ended up chatting with them too, while they play games, leaving her phone alone.

They’re called for dinner and end the last round fast before running to the dinner table. They just finished dinner. His mom gets the desserts. They laughed some more together, when Minseok suddenly gets distracted and stops laughing along with his family.

I'm Luhan by the way~ You're so handsome you know. So cute.

 “Minseokkie? What’s wrong?” The table becomes silent and his family gets worried when they see him looking sadly outside. They’re worried that maybe he would get a relapse.

“Oh- Haha, sorry. I’m okay.” He smiles to his family, but still feels a bit uncomfortable inside.

His grandma tries to lighten up the mood.

“Minseok-ah, do you have a girlfriend?” Hi grandma asks curious and suddenly his mom squeals.

“Yes, I wonder~ Do you sweetie?” Everyone starts to laugh at his mom’s excitement.

The boy smiles and shakes his head. “No, never had one.”

“My grandson hadn’t one? Haha, you’re already 17 years old and no girlfriend.”

“Actually, he did get a lot of confessions!” His brother said proudly.

Everyone starts to laugh and talk more about the subject. The boy just smiles along and nods.

He feels lonely suddenly, now that they’re talking about love.

“It’s hot here, haha, I’ll go take a walk for a bit!” He smiles and leaves the room.

“Haha, embarrassed much?” His grandpa says playfully.

“Yeah, Yeah, gramps, see you later!”

He walks toward the forest.

When he enters the forest he looks around and sees nothing changed back. It was still lifeless like when he left. He sits down in front of the place where a house once was.

“Hahaha, Minseokkie! You looks so funny! Hahaha, your hair! Wait, I’’ll get it out your hair. Look- PUHAHAHAHA! FLOWER BOY MINSEOK!”

“Lulu! Stop laughing! You’re the one who hugged me and decided to roll in the flowers!”

“So~rry. You’re just too cute. Kekeke.”

“W-Whatever…”

“AWW YOU’RE BLUSHING, SO CUTE!”

“We were so happy…” The boy hugs his knees and tries to hold back the tears.

He suddenly feels a hand resting on his shoulder.

He looks up and sees his brother. He didn’t even notice the latter had been following him.

“”Ow, hey, hyung.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes…”

His brother sits next to him and they stay in a comfortable silence for a while.

“Minseok… What happened here?”

“…”

“Please tell me… By any chance… The reason for you previous depression…”

His brother doesn’t need to finish his sentence. The younger one already knows what he meant. He nods and stared in front, where the house was once.

“He was real… I swear it…” Minseok whispers desperately, trying to convince himself and his brother.

His brother stares at him. He thinks back about the past, a conversation he had with his mom.

“Mom? What’s wrong with Minseokkie?”

“Don’t worry, our Minseok will be okay. He’s just confused.”

“Confused? Why? He said he needed him. Who is him?”

“sigh… Your brother he- Well- He has an imaginary friend. And I guess he can’t see his friend anymore, he became like that. It’s really bad, but the doctors are helping him. He will become normal soon, don’t worry. And please don’t listen to him about his friend. He shouldn’t talk about it again, okay?”

“Will he come back then?”

“Yes, just help me and the doctors. He will be okay then.”

“Minseok, aren’t you a bit too old to-”

“Whatever…  Hyung won’t understand… You never will…”

“Mins-”

“Let’s not talk about it. Just leave me alone. You’re just like all the others.”

His brother is getting scared now. Everything went so well, but now his younger acts like this again. What if he will return to depression again.

The boy sighs when he sees the look in his brother’s eyes. “Don’t worry hyung. I won’t return to that state. I just- I just wish someone would believe me.”

His brother’s heart sinks when he sees that look in his younger brother’s eyes and he suddenly starts to actually believe his little brother. “I-I believe you.”

“Huh?”

“He must have existed right? Or else it wouldn’t be so serious…”

“He did…” Minseok turns to his brother. “Hyung…”

“Yeah?”

“I miss him…”

“…”

“I love him…”

“M-Minseok-”

“Don’t worry. Just let me feel like that for a second… I’ll forget it when we’re back, okay?”

“Okay…”

“Thanks.” The boy smiles softly.

‘What is his name?”

Minseok looks up to his brother in surprise. He actually wants to know more about Luhan. He’s happy he can talk about him with someone, finally.

“His name is- I mean was Luhan.” The boy smiles, remembering the cute doe-eyes Luhan had. “He was the cutest and sweetest boy I ever met with the cutest smile ever. And he had this cute pair of deer-like eyes.”

“Haha, he sounds cute. How did you meet him?”

And that’s when the boy happily tells his brother the story of their meeting. How he found the house, the boy in his bed, their date, their happy moments, the sad moments, the morning after, everything. He ends up crying a bit and his brother comforts him.

-end of First time back-