kidults.

03 | visit and meet

—— 2045, 2 july

murata jo didn't understand why his parents were so adamant to bringing him to korea for his birthday, he questioned and tried to wiggle out of it— making up excuses like 'otosan, i don't feel so good' or something about him missing the family dog if they ever go.

"jo, just for ten days baby, give appa a chance to show his home country to you okay?" softly spoke his appa in japanese as they boarded the plane flying from tokyo to incheon after waiting for four hours.

he frowned.
he wasn't much of a travel type person, only enjoying pretty sceneries from the confines of his own home or room.

the plane ride from tokyo to incheon wasn't fun either, having to entertain himself by watching the clouds whisk itself in and out of the huge turbines of the airplane wings. he sighed, groaned or whatever as his ears popped.
he didn't need to go to korea.

sure he expressed his want before because he admired and wanted to see his idol yiying who seemed to always smile on the stage and made the audience brightly smile too (he was included, because his otosan* got him tickets to see her live when she was touring around japan) yet that was years ago, why should he go to korea now if he had met his life long idol already?

apparently, his appa had a special surprise waiting for him in seoul as he was a person from korea.

—— 🐥

the family walked around the streets of seoul the next following day, claiming that they needed to find him a suit for whatever meeting they had. jo assumes it was for a fancy party that they were gonna partake in with him as his first party as an nineteen year old still staying with his parents with no desire to enter a university unless it was mansae international university and that itself was a hard university to enter.

"fuma, i know a shopping mall that has a place to buy suits from." spoke his appa in japanese, making his otosan turn his head to face his husband with a grin.
"perfect!"

so here he was, fitting suits onto his shoulders as his parents asked him questions of the trip so far.

he just wanted to go back to tokyo.

—— 🐥

by the time it reached his birthday, he was still in korea.

he groaned, because today was the day of the fancy party and he had to wear this sparkly suit for the sake of it— he doesn't even know who was gonna be there because most of his friends were in tokyo!
he grumbled, sliding his arms into the suit as he ruffled his hair, refusing to gel it up or make it look neater.

"jo sweetie, are you done?" he shouted back a defeated yes in his mother tongue.

a few moments later, he found himself in the backseat of a car, uncomfortably adjusting his sparkly suit as he watched tall buildings pass by his view out from the car window.
he can hear the songs from the car radio and one catches his attention immediately.

"today is a very lovely night to introduce a lovely song that's always been within our hearts for nearly two decades now. it's a song that tugged on the heart-strings of nearly every korean back then, and her voice effortlessly captured that feeling of longing— it's xu yiying's famous ballad, that night!"

"so i'm still waiting for you
like sand and sunlight
you escape through my fingers
like the moment two clock hands meet
our time together was too brief

countless days and nights
the sun rose and fell a thousand times
but i'm still waiting there
on the night of july 1

i will wait for you
no matter how long it takes
at the end of your long journey

i'll lend you my shoulder to let you rest
and give you this song
so i'm still waiting for you."

he found himself humming along.

—— 🐥

the fancy party he envisioned in his head consisted of loud music and messy dancing— this was quite, the opposite of that.

there's loud chatters that echoed all over the place— it was a hotel if he remembered correctly and he felt out of place easily. every person in the room was wearing something fancy, luxury brands and suits with butlers serving them with what he would assume was the finest wine they could find.
he could notice the laughter, and the glow the people in the party had.

yet the only thought in his head was just, how the hell did my parents become friends with people like these?

that's when he noticed his parents talking to a womanly figure— her dress dazzling as her hair was tied in a bun with a headpiece sticking out of it. his appa seemed like he was beaming as he was talking to her, laughing afterwards with his hands wrapped around hers in between them. his otosan* seemed the same, laughing with her as they talked until they noticed their son watching them.

"jo! come here sweetie," his appa called out and he could feel eyes on him, and he felt overwhelmed yet he still walked towards his parents with his head down.

"jo, meet my old friend. you might know her." and he looked up.

"it's nice to see you again jo," her voice sounded so sweet, so inviting as she smiled at him. he knows now, why her voice sounded so familiar.
it was her, his idol.

xu yiying.

but how? he could only question.
how did his parents get in touch with her when she was still a busy person being a shareholder at her company? and most of all, 'an old friend'?

he had so many questions, but his mind went blank. all he could focus on was the radiant woman in front of him who he knew was his long-time idol.