"Come on Aera-ya," Soobin said while banging on my bedroom door for the hundredth time today as I changed into my pajamas. "Open up, please."
Since when does Soobin say please?
I was beyond pissed.
Not at Soobin, but at Maki for telling Soobin my secret. I had trusted Maki because he was like a brother to me and he had kept the secret for many years but now, he couldn't keep his mouth shut when it came to Soobin. Did Soobin manipulate Maki? My mind was going in a frenzy, especially at the moment where Maki had asked if I remembered Soobin. After walking away, I tried racking my brain once more and yet, I remembered nothing and to my frustration, I had forgotten about my shopping bags that I had accidentally left beside Soobin's feet.
"Aera, he was going to have to know soon anyway," Maki's voice was loud and clear.
I had been giving them the silent treatment. I mean, I know it's childish but I was pissed and it's also a bit fun to get the twins worked up and Soobin, irritated. I frowned as I felt the bed vibrate. I arched an eyebrow as I got off my bed and looked under my blanket to see a gold iPhone 6 Plus vibrating in the center of my bed. I pinched the bridge of my nose, quickly realizing it was Soobin's as I grabbed the phone and nearly pressed the answer button until the call dissolved and the vibration stopped.
My eyebrows started to narrow in as I pulled down the notifications then pulled it up to see Soobin's lock screen wallpaper. My eyes widened at the picture that had triggered something in my head. The picture had a smiling brunette little boy with his chin resting on his palm in a white sweater and a little girl with brunette long hair, her eyes closed as if she was sleeping with the same body language, her chin resting on her palm, and her head leaning against the little boy's shoulder with a white hat on top of her head. They both looked three years old.
I frowned, staring at the picture even closer before a sudden light bulb appeared on top of my head. I gasped, holding Soobin's phone tightly as I ran towards my small, black study desk, opening a drawer as I started rummaging through the messy pile of photographs that I had been given not so long ago. The racket that Soobin and the twins made sounded distant as my eyes were only focused on thousands of pictures in my draw.
It was somewhere here.
I bit my lip nervously and when I reached the bottom of the draw, a small picture caught my attention as I slowly took it out and placed it on my table. My jaw dropped at the picture that looked exactly's like Soobin's wallpaper. No. It isn't. Is it? I turned on Soobin's phone again to take a closer look at his lock screen wallpaper and realized it wasn't a picture of his little sister, Sooyeon, but someone else.
My heart beat started to increase as I quickly took the small picture that was resting on my desk into my hands and quickly went for my bedroom door, ripping the door open to see Maki and Taki, defeated as they leaned against the wall just opposite of my door. My eyes whipped towards Soobin who looked at me blankly, then confused as his eyebrows narrowed in on me.
"Aera, I didn't mean to-" Maki started, his face full of concern until I raised my hand to stop him, my eyes trained on Soobin.
"Well, I feel like something bad is going to happen and that doesn't involve me," Taki started with a nervous smile whilst getting up with Maki beside him. "But if it does, I'm going to run."
And with that, the twins bolted for their rooms, closing their door shut and even locking it as Soobin mumbled something under his breath. I arched an eyebrow at him as he mirrored my eyebrow. "What is it?"
I clenched my jaw and used my hand to grab his wrist, pulling him into my room before closing my door shut as Soobin stumbled into the room cluelessly. I placed both of my hands on my hips, his phone and the picture still in my hands as I waited for Soobin to regain his posture.
"What is this?" I immediately asked as I shoved his phone in his hands.
Soobin arched an eyebrow as he lifted his phone at eye level then turned on his phone, looking at his lock screen wallpaper with a blank face then looking at me, bemused. "A phone?"
"The picture you have as your wallpaper," I answered. "Who is that?"
Soobin's eyebrows narrowed as he put his phone down and looked at me suspiciously. He wasn't going to give me an answer until I gave him a reason. I sighed heavily, irritated by the slow process as I shoved the picture in his free hand before crossing my arms. Soobin clenched his jaw as he slowly lifted the picture, his eyes widening slowly.
He looked at me, shocked. "Where did you get this?"
"I've had it ever since," I answered confidently. "My mother gave it to me before she remarried and told me that this boy was my best friend but he suddenly moved away."
Did he invade my privacy?
"Ever since then, I tried looking for him but I had no luck whatsoever," I continued, keeping my eyes trained on him suspiciously. "I'm the little girl in the picture, that's all I can remember."
"Is that it?" Soobin asked.
I nodded slowly, taking the precious picture from his hands.
I received the picture before my mother remarried as she told me stories about the little boy and I. She never gave me his name but she assured me that he was my best friend, the person who didn't leave my side but then suddenly, he had to move and my mother had told me that I was heart broken and I wouldn't leave my room for a month. She told me the adventures he and I took whenever we were at the small, local park. I've never remembered anything like that but that was only because my mom told me I suffered from memory loss but she never told me how. After my mother remarried and that the twins finally moved in, I got the twins to help me search for the little boy but with such little information, we had no luck and I had already given up.
"Why do you have that picture as your lock screen?" I asked, demanding an answer as I could feel tears sting my eyes, no longer having the strength to hold back my tears. "You have no idea how long I've tried looking for him."
"Aera-"
I came down to my knees, tears were already streaming down my face on their own accord as I wiped them away with my sleeves. I inhaled and exhaled until I felt a large hand grip my shoulder as Soobin knelt down to my height and never in my life have I seen Soobin look more serious as his eyes looked deep into my soul.
"I'm the little boy, how do you think I got the picture?" Soobin questioned quietly.
Impossible.
"You're lying," I spat.
It didn't seem to faze Soobin at all as he sighed heavily, his eyes darting around the room as if looking for an answer. I waited as I watched his eyes travel around the room with a frown on his face, his hands gripped onto my shoulder tightly as if I was going to disappear at any moment now. I arched an eyebrow as I could feel my tears drying up on my face.
And then I saw it.
My eyes widened at the view I was seeing. The side of his face. I lifted the picture next to his face and realized he was an older version of the boy. My jaw dropped as my eyes kept skipping from the picture to Soobin's irritated face. Suddenly, Soobin's hand dropped from my shoulders as he quickly ran to his suitcase that was left next to my study desk and opened it. He started rummaging through his clothes as I watched, bemused. The next thing I saw, I blinked more than twice, not wanting to believe what I was seeing.
Soobin pulled out the same, exact small white sweater that looked like it could fit a three-year-old. Something in my brain triggered as shattered pieces of my memories was starting to reappear as I closed my eyes and breathed whilst I imagined the little boy reaching out his small hand towards me.
I gasped as I clenched my jaw. My brain felt like it was going to explode as I used both of my hands to clutch the side of my head tightly at the sudden pain. I felt like I was dying from the excruciating pain as images of the little boy and girl reappeared in my mind, dancing happily on the field. It took a few minutes for me to return back to reality but when I opened my eyes, Soobin was close by, his concerned light brown eyes met mine. A memory appeared in my mind as I started to doze off, the same eyes that looked at me when I fell down a small, grass hill and the little boy was checking up on me.
Impossible.
Soobin held his sweater tightly in his palms and when I looked at his other hand, a smile was playing on my lips at the familiar small white hat with messy cursive writing that was written in Sharpie.
Binnie & Aera.
My eyes widened at the nickname that I had given him when we were young, relief flooding through my veins as I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, smelling his cologne. The nickname I gave him because his given name was too long and was hard to pronounce when I was little.
"Binnie," I whispered.
My memories.
But there was one horrifying memory that had found its way back to me, one that I never ever, wanted to think of. But let's just say that it involves a car accident.