Back on the coach Sanghyuk and Sara were both sat in their seats, an awkward silence filling the air, until Sanghyuk decided to speak up.

“So do you normally fall asleep on people you don’t know, or am I a special exception?” he asked hopefully.

Sara snorted to Sanghyuk’s surprise. Was he being serious? She stared at Sanghyuk’s amused face.

“Well?” he questioned.

Sara sighed “Do I look like some kind of shoulder-wh*re, that I’d do that to you? You are my first shoulder friend Sanghyuk”

A rush of warmth filled Sanghyuk’s heart. This meant that Sanghyuk didn’t share this special moment that he had with Sara with anyone else. This meant that this moment was unique to Sara, and that she’d remember him for it. Sanghyuk clutched his chest.

“That means SO much to me” he said in a high-pitched voice, pretending like he was really touched by what she just said, if only she knew.

“I’m being serious!” Sara said pulling at Sanghyuk’s arm.

“Hey!” he replied. “There’ll be no violence in this shoulder-based relationship, understood?” Sanghyuk laughed. Sara rolled her eyes, what a character she had befriended.

“Understood!” she nodded.

Sanghyuk yawned and was genuinely tired after staying up all night wondering about how his parents would be like. He wondered how they would react to him, how they would treat him and what other surprises they had in store for him.

His parents had mentioned in their letter that he had a nephew, who was six year old and a newly born niece who was the cutest thing in the world. He rested his head on her shoulder. Sara was taken aback by his action, but liked it all the same.

“You’re my first shoulder-friend too” he mumbled, sleep taking over him. Sara leaned her head against his and they both drifted to sleep with a smile on their face.

Sanghyuk woke up to the cries of a distressed child. The mother of the child was trying all she could to quieten him but to no avail. It was the same family he had been observing before, when he had met Taekwoon. There was looks of sympathy given by other passengers to the mother and constant rushed apologies given by her whilst trying her best to console the child. 

She seemed even more distressed than her son. Her older son however was sitting beside his mother completely oblivious to his brother’s anguish and absorbed completely in his video game. 

Sara however was still sound asleep. Sanghyuk wondered how she managed to sleep through all the noise the little one was creating. He gently lifted her head off of his and placed it back onto his shoulder.

When they had finally arrived Sanghyuk poked at Sara’s side to wake her up.

“We’re here! You slept like a baby!” Sanghyuk beamed at her.

Sara was confused.

“That was fast” she stated. “Sanghyuk…” she called.

He liked hearing his name with her voice.

“Will you help me with my luggage? I brought quite a lot”

He nodded enthusiastically and everything began to click, she was the girl he bumped into outside!

Damn! Should’ve tried harder to help her… he thought. Sanghyuk grabbed his rucksack and they both left the coach. They waited for everyone else to find their luggage before they began their mission.

Taekwoon hobbled over to Sanghyuk, handing him a piece of paper.

“It was nice meeting you son” and gave Sanghyuk a pat on the head.

Sanghyuk was honoured, was Taekwoon finally going to tell him what he was writing down? He peaked at the contents of the paper, disappointed to find that it was only an address. Taekwoon chuckled at Sanghyuk’s visible discontent.

“You didn’t think I’d give away my secrets so easily, did you?”

Sanghyuk sighed in exasperation.

“It was worth a try! I hope we meet again soon Taekwoon-sshi” He extended his hand for Taekwoon to shake.

“The whole point of giving you the address of the place where I’m staying was so that we meet again!” Taekwoon pulled Sanghyuk in for a hug, ignoring his hand completely.

“She really is very pretty, I understand why you’re so smitten, all the best kid” Taekwoon whispered in Sanghyuk’s ears.

“See you soon Taekwoon-sshi” he said as he watched Taekwoon leave, surprisingly with the mother and her uncontrollable children from earlier on.

“You seem pretty close with that man, do you know him from before?” Sara asked.

Sanghyuk shook his head, “I only just met him today, he’s such a curious old fellow” he replied.

“I wish I could talk to people so easily” she muttered under her breath, Sanghyuk barely even noticed.

As the crowd around the luggage compartment lessened, Sanghyuk and Sara worked hard to move all of Sara’s bags.

“Why do you have so many bags anyway?” he asked her, straining from carrying one of the heavier bags.

As a person who firmly believed in packing light, he just didn’t understand.

“Well they each are for different things. Only one of them has my actual belongings in them” she replied.

“Honestly, I don’t even know what’s in them myself, I was staying at my aunt’s house for a while, so only she and my mum actually know what’s in them” she elaborated.

Sara hoped nothing was broken, after all she had bumped into some idiot in the morning and dropped everything. She didn’t hear anything break though, so she was fine.

“Thanks for helping me! Goodbye shoulder-friend” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek then carefully balanced all her bags and went in search for a taxi to take her home, leaving Sanghyuk very flustered.

Sara didn’t know what compelled her to do such a thing, she had never kissed anyone before, even if it was just one the cheek.

So she simply considered it repayment for helping her with her bags and for the safe feeling she got from him when she fell asleep on his shoulder. Sanghyuk hoped she would find the paper with his number on it soon, he really wanted to see her again.

He checked his phone for the text his mother had sent him the day before which contained the address of his mother’s home. His parents had mentioned that they were sending someone to pick him up, but they still sent him an address as Wonshik had the tendency to be late. He sat waiting on a bench near the coach depot waiting for someone to take him to his parent’s house.

Minutes later a sweaty Wonshik came running, panting and wheezing over to him.

“Are you Sanghyuk?” he questioned.

Sanghyuk nodded his head and stood up.

“Wonshik?” he asked back.

Wonshik nodded back, still breathing heavily from running for so long.

“I was looking all over for you!” he exclaimed.

“Sorry” Sanghyuk replied, not really knowing what to say to the older boy.

“I guess we’re kinda brothers now, huh?” Wonshik said, trying to catch his breath.

Sanghyuk didn’t know how to feel about this, he was aware that his mother’s boyfriend had a son but didn’t consider actually viewing Wonshik as a brother. He had always wanted a brother, he just didn't know what to do now that he technically had one.

Wonshik was a tall boy with messy hair, his eyeliner smudged a little and a tattoo on his arm that Sanghyuk was unsure about. He looked tired and Sanghyuk noticed the paint stains scattered on his shirt.

Wonshik grabbed Sanghyuk’s rucksack, flinging it onto his shoulder by one of the straps.

“Okay! My car’s just a few streets away, let’s go home brother!” Wonshik pulled onto Sanghyuk’s arm.

Sanghyuk was ready to meet his family after 16 years.

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this chapter's a bit of a filler, sorry!

A.