Stars

By the time I make it inside the kitchen Taekyung is nowhere to be found. Jeremy is next to Minyu trying to steal part of her breakfast and Minam is next to Jeremy, laughing at them both. My smile is automatic at the scene and I claim my seat next to Minyu. She turns to face me and her smile is huge, and Jeremy takes that chance to steal her breakfast.

"Oi!" she exclaims but Jeremy stands up and runs away with her food. "Aish, I wasn't even finished with that," she pouts and I don't even realise how my hand reaches out and the next second I'm ruffling her hair.

"Don't worry, I'll share mine with you," I tell her and she smiles grateful at me.

"After breakfast we're going to the studio, right hyung?" Minam asks and I immediately feel Minyu's eyes on me.

"I'll be there later. I made plans with Minyu-yah. You just start without me," I reply and he just shrugs. He's very laidback. I'm sure that if Taekyung were here he would blow a tantrum.

"Oppa, if you have things to do don't worry about me. I can go alone," Minyu hurries to tell me, her hand grabbing my forearm frantically.

"Don't worry," I say placing my hand atop of hers. "I promised I would go with you and I will. Nothing bad will happen if I join them later"

"But Oppa, I don't want to bother you," she insists and I shake my head.

"Aren't we close, Go Minyu?" I ask and she nods. "I'll always make time for you, okay? So don't worry when I say you don't have to." She nods one more time and I ruffle her hair before standing up to prepare something for the both of us.

From the corner of my eye I notice both siblings watching me and each has a very different look. Minyu is smiling kindly at me whilst Minam has a different look in his eyes, a different kind of smile I can't exactly define.

After breakfast we take our separate paths. Jeremy and Minam go to the studio and I take Minyu to the orphanage where she'll start helping. On our way we talk about the different possibilities for her. She tells me she did some research on how to get a teacher degree and as I listen to her I realise how much she's grown. When I met her she was so clueless and fragile that you couldn't help wanting to protect her. I still feel like that, I want to spare her any kind of pain, but now she's more capable and stronger and that makes her even more beautiful.

By the time we finally make it to the orphanage she's shaking. I'm sure there's no reason for her to be this nervous, the kids won't hate her for leaving and surely they didn't forget about her. Who could do that?

"It's going to be all right," I tell her encouragingly and she nods taking a deep breath before we go inside.

There are around twenty kids with a nun playing and they all stop when we walk in. They look at us, study us before a little girl squeals.

"Minyu-unni!" she cries out before running towards Minyu and hugging her. Soon all the other kids finally recognise her and run towards her, demanding attention.

"We've missed you."

"You look so pretty, Unni."

"I like your new hair."

"Are you gonna stay with us now?"

"Who's him?"

There are so many kids talking at the same time that it's hard to keep track, but Minyu kneels and answers them.

"Thank you all, and I've missed you, too. Yes, I'm staying again until another place needs me there. And this is my friend, Kang Shinwoo," she introduces us and I smile at all of them.

"Is he your boyfriend?" a girl asks looking at us both.

"Is he your star?" another asks and Minyu blushes.

"No, he's my friend," she replies and then I understand that her star must be Taekyung. I look around and I see all the stars on the walls and I wonder if she collected them all. I have the feeling that she did.

"Where is the brightest star?" the same girl asks.

"He's busy shining bright" she replies and then looks at me with a big smile. "But the sky is full of stars so we don't have a reason to be sad, do we?"

"We don't!" the kids sing in unison throwing their arms in the air.

Soon the kids drag us both to play with them and the topic about stars is left behind, for which I'm thankful because I don't appreciate having Taekyung's shadow following us. The kids are all so cheerful and they adore Minyu. They all want to play with her and have her attention. They are very nice to me, as well, and I end up understanding why Minyu likes it in here so much. Besides, seeing her playing with the kids is even more heart warming than I thought. Sometimes I find myself mesmerised with the view and I have to have a kid pulling my sleeve to wake up.

At some point we are all sitting in a circle and the kids are bombarding us with questions.

"I've collected more stars while you were away, Unni," a little girl tells Minyu and she smiles brightly. "Look at them, look at them!" she requests running to grab them and then bring them to Minyu. I didn't know she was so into stars. "I'll find my favourite star soon," she promises.

"What’s your favourite star, Oppa?" another girl asks me and soon all eyes are on me.

I have to think about it long and hard because I never gave it any thought. I look at Minyu and suddenly the answer is clear to me.

"The Sun," I reply and I hear the kids laughing.

"The Sun is not a star, it's the Sun," a boy says and my eyes are on him now.

"Oh, but didn't you know the Sun is a star? It's not the biggest or the brightest, it's just average in comparison with all the other stars in the sky... but the sun is the closest to us. That's why it looks so big and bright. And it's because the Sun that we have a day and we can see, and it's because the Sun hides at night that we can see the other stars. The Sun is always there, looking after you, warming you up without even asking you something in return. The Sun doesn't even mind if you don't think he is a star, too. The Sun is happy with just being close to you," I say and I'm not sure if I'm talking about the Sun anymore.

I look at Minyu and she's not smiling but her eyes are intense on me. I don't break eye contact and I wonder if she understands what I really said. I might not be her favourite and brightest star, but I'm the closest to her and I'll never leave her.

"The Sun is my favourite star!" some kids cheer and more agree. "The Sun is the best!"

"Did you know that all the stars you see at night are so far away that the wishes you make upon them take too long to get to them? Sometimes our wishes can't even reach them. Sometimes they are gone before we can even make our wish," I tell them even if it's not exactly like that. I can't tell them that what they see at night is the last light emission a star made millions of years before and we only see it now because that's how long the light has taken to get to us.

"I'm gonna make my wishes upon the Sun, then," a boy says and all the kids nod. "He'll listen to my wish."

"And he'll do his best to help," another girl supports.

"Yes, he'll always do his best to help you," I say looking at Minyu. I smile when I see how her lips slowly curl up. She's the Sun to me, the closest star and the one I need the most, the one that lets me see everything and keeps me warm in the cold days of my life. She even blinds me when I look at her for too long, but I still do it, because I love her. I wish she would see me as her sun, too. Not her favourite star, not the brightest at night or the biggest of them all… just the closest to her.

Do you agree Shinwoo is like the Sun? I think he's far better star than Taekyung! hehehe <3 Anyhow, thanks for leaving comments and subscribing to the story! I'm so happy :D

Bel, xx