Jisung was the very first one to stand up and run to his parents, the tall couple, a splitting image of their shy child.
Then, the other trainees started standing up, too.
"Ren," a kind voice called out. Ren turned to his mom, surprised to see her there.
"Mom?" he said in a small voice, sounding more vulnerable than ever. His mother had never accepted his dreams…she had always wanted him to go a more conventional route.
To beco a lawyer or to beco a doctor.
So, in the end, Ren still didn't feel satisfied with himself despite reaching great achievents.
"Ren," his mother repeated. "Your mom's here."
With those words, Ren ran to his mom, wrapping her in a tight hug.
"I'm here now," she whispered into his ear. "Your mom's here to support you now."
Casper, whose parents were working outside of the country, smiled when he saw his three sisters with teasing looks on their faces.
"Co here, loser," the eldest sister said.
Casper shook his head and walked toward them, acting like he didn't appreciate their presence. However, in reality, he did…very much so.
C-Jay was bawling on his mom's shoulder, who appeared to be a female version of C-Jay.
"Calm down, will you?" his mother snapped, slapping his butt, causing him to yelp.
"You saw during your break. How can you cry like this when all you do is laze around in the house?"
Lin Zhi, too, smiled when he saw the friend he made when he trained for a short while in Korea.
"You're here?" Lin Zhi said.
"Well, I wanted to congratulate you before your debut," his friend chuckled.
June watched the scene before him with a small smile on his face. Seeing these trainees interact with their family and friends, he realized that they, too, had stories to tell.
And he also knew that nobody probably ca for him.
June didn't have any family mbers.
And the friends he made were all part of the competition.
June was about to sit back down to hide his slight disappointnt when he heard a familiar voice from across the room.
"Aren't you even going to greet us?"
June turned around and saw the little devil that sohow word his way into his heart.
Beside him was Grandma, with a welcoming smile on her face.
"Co here, June," Grandma said, coaxing June to co closer.
A wide smile now appeared on June's face as he walked eagerly to the two of them.
Again, June wasn't used to the concept of family. i Ling was the only family mber he had left.
However, seeing Minjun and Grandma made June feel like he had a family in this life.
Minjun clicked his tongue and gave June a small hug, causing the trainee to smile.
"You missed , huh?" June teased.
"Of course not," Minjun scoffed. "That was a good luck hug. You placed twelfth when I wasn't around. You must have been slacking off."
June chuckled. "That's right."
Grandma shook her head. "Don't listen to this twerp, June," he said. "You've done very well. Your last stage was my favorite so far."
"Thanks, Grandma," June smiled.
"Rising Stars has prepared a al for the trainees and their loved ones," soone from the crew said, interrupting the emotional mont. "Please go to the next room and sit at your designated tables."
The trainees wasted no ti in dragging their family mbers and friends to the next room, excited to talk about the current happenings in their lives.
June, too, was excited to talk with Minjun and Grandma. However, he didn't show it too much since he had the sa stubbornness as Minjun.
The three of them sat at a small table, where nurous dishes were laid out for them.
Minjun excitedly dug in. However, he slowed down as he took the first bite.
"What's wrong?" June asked.
"Grandma makes better food," the kid said.
June, too, took a bite of the food and quickly nodded in agreent. "You're right."
Grandma chuckled. "You boys are flattering too much. Just eat since they graciously prepared it for us."
"I an, I'll still eat it," Minjun shrugged, going back to eating the food.
They had a natural conversation, and for a mont, June forgot about his frustrations with Lin Zhi and Tony.
Instead, he genuinely enjoyed their ti together.
As the al neared its end, Grandma suddenly nudged Minjun's side, causing the little kid to whine.
"What is it, Grandma?"
Grandma clicked his tongue. "You were going to give sothing to June, right?"
June smirked. "You prepared a gift for , twerp?"
Minjun shyly looked down at the table, but he quickly regained his composure and glared at June.
"I didn't. You—you weren't answering my calls," Minjun stamred. "So I thought your ancient phone must have exploded or sothing."
Well, it did explode. But not in the way Minjun thought.
"You're quite right about that," June chuckled.
"I knew it," the kid muttered under his breath. "Well, I went to my dad's last week."
"Yeah, I heard from Grandma," June said. "That's why I felt like we hadn't seen each other in a long ti."
"Just a disclair," Minjun said. "I'm not giving this to you because I want to, but because my dad gave a new model already."
June felt his heart pound inside his chest.
He felt excited.
He hadn't felt like this since seeing the very first ani girl that awakened his heart.
Minjun brought out sothing from his pocket, sliding it over to June.
"Here," he said, still not looking at June. "You can have my old phone. It's too slow for now."
June's eyes brightened—even brighter than Mr. Klin's forehead.
He looked at the phone in wonder. It might be old in Minjun's perspective, but anything was better than the phone June once had.
R.I.P. to that phone.
But still, fuck that phone.
"Is this really…mine?" June asked in disbelief.
"Yes," Minjun groaned. "Just accept it. It'll be weird if you refuse."
"Of course, I won't refuse," June said, grabbing the phone on the table. "You can't take this back now."
Minjun chuckled. "I won't. Don't worry. I already uninstalled my apps installed the ones you like. Besides," he said, bringing out his new phone, "why would I waste my ti on a phone like that when I already have sothing like this?"
June clicked his tongue in annoyance. However, in the end, his happiness shone through.
June finally had a new phone! He can finally make use of those accessories he won during the field day.
He tested out the cara and almost scread in joy.
It was clear!
He could actually see the dinsions of his nose.
June continued inspecting the phone, a genuine smile on his face. Minjun and Grandma watched him with amused expressions.
However, June tilted his head to the side when he saw a card behind the phone's clear case.
"What's this?" he asked.
"Oh," Minjun exclaid. "I guess I left it there. My dad gave his calling card so I can save his number on my new phone. I stored it there for a while and forgot about it. You can just throw it out if you want."
June shrugged, popping the case open.
"How was your stay with your dad, by the way?" June engaged in small talk.
Minjun shrugged. "It was pretty fun. But he was pretty busy. He left a couple of tis because he wanted to oversee his company's conditions. He's a workaholic, really. He also handles a lot of companies, so it's hard to et him at tis. But, I guess I like the fact he nad one of his companies after ."
"Hmm, really?" June asked.
"Yeah," Minjun bead. "The na is on the calling card you're holding."
June, without giving it much thought, flipped the card to read his dad's company's na.
However, he almost fell out of his seat when he saw the big, bold letters written on the card.
"Mintellect?"
"Yeah! Minjun the Intellectual. Pretty cool, right?"
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