July 27, 2009, Monday, sunny.
As the morning sun shone through the half-opened curtains, Ouyang stared at the ceiling in a daze. The digital clock on the bedside table showed 06:15, and underneath it was a crumpled Lotte World ticket - it was bought when their family went there three days ago, and the edge of the ticket was still stained with traces of melted ice cream.
Six days.
Ouyangguang turned over and saw four large suitcases in the corner of the room. When his mother packed the luggage yesterday, she stuffed all the suitcases full, even stuffing a few packets of vacuum-packed pickled mustard tubers in the gaps.
She reached out and touched the MP3 player beside the pillow. The headphone cable was still wrapped with the pink bow that He Zilin had tied on it as a prank before leaving.
"Baby, are you awake?" There was a gentle knock on the door by Peng Xiuhuan, accompanied by the familiar scent of jasmine.
Ouyang Guang responded. There were several brand new photo frames on the bedside table - the most eye-catching one was the "family portrait" taken at Nanshan Tower the day before yesterday. In the photo, he was wearing a silly birthday hat, his father rarely made a scissors hand gesture to the camera, and his mother was smiling and smearing cream on his face.
They celebrated his 14th birthday in advance that day, even though it was still two full months away from the eighth day of the eighth lunar month.
In the bathroom, three toothbrushes were neatly placed in a cup. Ouyang Guang picked up his blue toothbrush and found that the brush was a little limp.
He recalled that five days ago at the Okawa Airport, Chen Zheng deliberately rubbed his green head against his shoulder and said, "A Guang, next time we meet, you have to ask for an autograph from Girls' Generation!" The two brothers He Ziqi and He Zilin held him on both sides and insisted on taking a "farewell photo".
There was also a nude photo of the whole class taken at the Taipei International Airport. In the photo, Zhang Ming wore a light blue polo shirt that was ironed perfectly. The students made the old-fashioned hand gesture of "scissors", and in the background, He Ziqi could be seen secretly giving the middle finger.
On the table was steaming kelp soup - a traditional Korean birthday food that my mother learned to make from the hotel kitchen.
Ouyang Zhenhua was sorting a stack of documents. When he saw Ouyang Guang coming out, he pushed his glasses and said, "The landing permit, insurance policy, and school certificate have all been processed." His voice was still as steady as ever, but Ouyang Guang noticed that his father's teacup was empty.
"You have to report to the company tomorrow, right?" Mom brought over a cup of steaming milk, "Let's go have ginseng chicken soup together at noon, and our flight in the afternoon..." She suddenly stopped talking, and when she turned around to get a tissue, Ouyang Guang saw her quickly wipe the corner of her eyes.
There was unmelted honey at the bottom of the milk cup, which was a common practice at home. Ouyang Guang took a sip and suddenly felt his throat tighten. In the past six days, they had visited every alley in Myeongdong and eaten at all the restaurants near the hotel. His mother even took him to Dongdaemun three times just to buy a "thick enough" duvet.
"I checked and there's a good ginseng chicken soup shop near your company." Mom opened her pink notebook, which was filled with Korean addresses and subway lines. "Be sure to go there when you're sick, understand?"
The suitcase was lying in the corner of the room, with a new airline label on it. Ouyangguang squatted down to check the lock and found that his mother had even stuffed his favorite childhood book "The Little Prince" into it, with a few family photos between the pages.
The top photo was taken at his elementary school graduation ceremony. Dad was wearing casual clothes, which was rare for him, and Mom was wearing the sunglasses he bought with his pocket money.
In the corner, there lay a sachet embroidered with jasmine flowers. It was secretly put in by my mother last night, and it contained dried jasmine flowers brought from home. Ouyang Guang reached out and touched it, and the petals rustled slightly under his fingertips.
"This is for you." Dad suddenly handed over a new Samsung phone. "It has a country H phone number, so it's convenient for you to use it here."
"Remember to text Mom!" His tone was unquestionable, but Ouyang Guang saw his father's fingers unconsciously stroking the phone case.
A car horn sounded faintly outside the window. Ouyang Guang lowered his head and fiddled with his new phone. There were only two numbers saved in the address book: "Dad" and "Mom".
There are already more than a dozen photos in the album, all taken during the six days they were in Seoul: eating spicy fried rice cake at the Myeongdong night market, wearing awkward Korean clothes in Gyeongbokgung Palace, and even photos in the hotel elevator - that day his mother insisted on recording the moment he "grew to 1.75 meters."
Mom suddenly brought out a small cake with a candle on it from the kitchen: "Have another birthday cake." There was only one lonely candle, and the flame flickered slightly in the morning light.
Ouyang Guang looked at his parents' faces illuminated by the candlelight, and suddenly remembered that when he made a wish the day before yesterday, he secretly made three identical wishes: I hope that the whole family will be healthy, safe and happy!
"Make a wish quickly." Mom said softly. The jasmine scent on her body mixed with the cream smell of the cake made Ouyangguang's nose sour.
The sun had completely entered the room, casting long shadows on the dining table. Ouyang stared at her blurry reflection on the cake box, her blond hair looking even more dazzling in the sun.
At 7:50, Ouyang Guang stood near the SM company dormitory building, and the wheels of his suitcase made a dull sound on the concrete floor.
He subconsciously touched the white jade statue of Guanyin around his neck. The four oversized suitcases at his feet cast long shadows in the morning light.
"Ouyang Guangxi! This way!"
Li Zaixun came running towards them, his suit jacket slightly opened due to running. He took the two suitcases and his eyes stayed on Ouyangguang's face for a few seconds: "Are you not asleep?"
Ouyang Guang shook his head, his blond hair swaying gently in the morning breeze. He did sleep all night - the memories of the past played in his mind like a movie clip.
Li Jae-hoon nodded in understanding, stretched out his hand to pat his shoulder, but changed his hand and took the backpack from his back in mid-air: "Let's go, I'll take you to the dormitory to put your luggage, and then familiarize you with the company environment." As Li Jae-hoon spoke, his leather shoes made a crisp sound on the concrete floor, which mingled with the noise of the suitcase wheels.
Ouyang Guang followed behind him and suddenly realized that this was the first time he was walking alone on the streets of a foreign country.
Seoul looked strange and bright in the morning light. The office workers standing in front of the roadside convenience store and the students in school uniforms at the bus stop all spoke a language he could not understand.
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