[n i n e]

♤Chapter 8♤

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I opened the box and saw a camera. I took the camera out of the box.

"Wow it's so pretty! Why would Koma give this away?" I said to myself. I looked back down at the box on my lap.

I shook the box gently to get a glimpse of some things that were inside. "I'll look at those later" I closed the box and put it back on my bedside table. I turned the camera on.

"I wonder if he took any pictures with this before giving it to me" I said and looked for some pictures. I didn't find anything. The camera was empty like it was brand new until I found a video of him in the camera.

I saw it was just taken yesterday. "Maybe he wanted to tell me to take care of the camera through video? Seriously, that boy. He could've just told me yesterday" I muttered.

"I suddenly heard a knock on my door. "It's open!"

Big brother Man Weol's head peeked in, "Hey, arenyou hungry? Joonsung and Baekjun are making something downstairs"

"Okay, I'll come down in a bit" I replied. He closed the door and I heard his footsteps leave. I left my bed and looked for some batteries in my room to replace the almost dying ones in the camera.

After searching every inch of my room I finally found them. I took the camera's batteries out and replaced them with the ones I found before going downstairs with the camera.

"Since when did you have a camera?" Seongjun asked me, staring at the camera in my hand.

"My friend gave it to me yesterday. It was in a box with some other stuff. Wanna see?" I replied, handing the camera to him. He carefully took it and turned it on.

"Whoa, not bad" Seongjun hummed, pointing the camera in different areas until he landed on Leeseong.

"Where did you get that camera?" Leeseong asked.

"It's Ji-Rae's. Now get out of there you're ruining the quality" Seongjun said.

"That doesn't make sense but okay" Leeseong replied calmly and took the camera from Seongjun.

"Hey! I wasn't done looking at it!"

"Sucks for you then" Leeseong shrugged, getting a groan from Seongjun.

"Give it back" Seongjun said, reaching for the camera while Leeseong avoided his hands.

"Call me big brother first"

"What? No!"

"Then I won't give it back"

"That isn't even yours!"

"Same goes for you"

"Just hand it over already!"

"I will if you call me big brother"

"Never!"

"Big brother"

"No!"

"Big brother"

"Stop!"

While I was silently watching Seongjun and Leeseong bicker, I saw Baekjun come in and take the camera from Leeseong and look at it for a while. Joonsung came in not too long after with Man Weol trailing behind, whining about something.

"You're done, so can I have one?"

"No Man Weol, I've already told you enough times for you to understand. Go sit down on the couch while we wait for Ji-Rae. Or, you could call her down to have some"

"But I already diiiiid..."

"Oh, she's here" Joonsung stopped in his tracks. Man Weol grinned and took five pieces of snacks from the big bowl Joonsung was holding.

"Sorry Man Weol, I just thought you were gonna eat everything again like last time" Joonsung laughed awkwardly and sat beside me, setting down the bowl onto the the coffee table in front of us. "Alright, dig in. I made more than last time since everyone seemd to like it"

Like magic, the others took some from the bowl and began eating. "Making snacks was a good idea after all. Everyone's unusuzlly hungry today" Joonsung commented, looking at the almost half-empty bowl of snacks.

"The lunch Leeseong packed us earlier wasn't enough. There was barely anything in there!" Man Weol said from the other side of the couch.

"Well, if you weren't such a klutz we would've had more. You spilled almost all our lunch away after you crashed into me while running around for no apparent reason!"

"Brother, don't argue while eating.." I reminded them. Taking another one from the bowl and taking a bite.

"It's alright, kultaseni. You wouldn't be able to stop them if you tried anyway..."

So while we were eating we let the two do their own thing, which was Man Weol running away from an angry Leeseong who tried to give him a beating.

'A normal day in the household' I thought.

"Brother, these are so good. Seriously, how are you so good at cooking? You're not even a teen yet!" I told Joonsung who was amused with my reaction. He smiled.

"I have my ways" he winked.

"Teach me! Pleaseee?"

"I will, when we're older. It's a bit hard to reach the kitchen countertop even at my age. You'll learn from me soon enough" he ruffled my hair, giving me more of the snacks he made.

"Okay.."

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After a few minutes the bowl of snacks were finished. I wandered around the house to take some pictures with the camera. I took pictures of the living room, the cooking stuff in the kitchen, Joonsung cleaning up the kitchen with Leeseong and Baekjun, even Man Weol who was snoring on the living room couch with Seongjun on the smaller one, busy with his phone.

After all that, I went back to my room and browsed through the pictures I took.

"The quality is so good!" I exclaimed to myself, smiling.

I then took the box I set aside earlier to look at the other things that were inside. I opened the box and I saw a small bag inside. Inside it was a locket and a few pictures.

"Wow.. " I stared at the locket. "So pretty... I wonder what's inside" I tried to open the locket but it wouldn't budge.

"Okay? It won't open.. Oh well" I shrugged, wearing the locket. I took the pictures and looked at them. I paused for a few seconds when I saw the picture I held.

"He has these?" I mumbled. They were all pictures of both Koma and I. The other ones were of himself doing silly faces. Then there are other ones that were stolen shots of me, some taken in the meadow. The other last ones were pictures of the meadow and of him in his room.

I put them back in the box with a smile and opened the camera again to finally watch the video Koma took in the camera.

"I wonder what silliness he did this time" I said and played the video.

"Hey, oh wow, I'm really nervous heheh" he spoke. He cleared his throat, "So, hi there Jiji... I'm guessing you have the camera now and you're back from school.. I'm sorry I wasn't at school today. You must be really worried earlier. Knowing you, you'd look for me in the school searching high and low. Take care of the camera alright? It's a gift from me and the camera is very valuable to me.....

A-anyway..

The reason I filmed myself is, I...

I'm sorry Ji-Rae but..

I wanted to say goodbye"

What? "Good...bye?.."

"I didn't want to tell you this but it's best if you know... My parents want us to move back to the U.S. I didn't want to, but I had no choice. I know I made a promise that I wouldn't leave you. I'm sorry Ji-Rae, but I guess I broke our promise..

I'm so sorry Ji-Rae, I really am, but I had to. I didn't want to pain you too much if I told you that I would still fulfill the promise even though I didn't and give you false hope. Please, don't be sad. You have this camera, the pictures and the locket to remind you of me. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I can promise you one thing.

When we're older, I'll come find you. Or maybe hopefully, we'll meet eachother one day. So please, don't forget me Ji-Rae, I'll always remember you. Take care okay? I'll miss you... Jiji, be happy even when I'm gone. Promise me. I wouldn't want you to be sad because of me.

This isn't goodbye, I'll be back.

I promise"

I relt my surroundings come crashing down on me when he ended the video with a pained smile, tears threatening to leave his eyes.

"You promised...." My hands curled into fists and tears ran down my cheeks, "You're no different from mom"

"But...

Even so...

I trust you..

So I'll wait..

But a broken promise is still a broken promise. Yet, I'll promise.. that I'll wait"