Page 337 of Scarbound

Something new.

Something more honest.

Until then, please take care of yourselves.

And take care of Ji-Woo. But don’t spoil him too much. He’s already impossible.

I hope one day the four of us can go hiking again, like we used to. Maybe we can share a meal afterward.

Eomma, I still miss your cooking. Will you make my favorite dish when I come home?

I think I’d like that very much.

Saranghae.

Noeul

P.S. The painting I’m sending is about family, about roots, growth, and the things that survive even after a storm changes their shape.

I hope you’ll hang it somewhere it can be seen.

Not because our family was perfect.

Because it survived.

Noeul Jung

Havana, Cuba

December

Woo, oraenmaniya,

This is my first letter to you.

I know we talk regularly, so maybe writing feels unnecessary. But there are things I can’t seem to say when I hear your voice. Maybe because you’ll tease me. Maybe because I’ll hear you get emotional and lose my courage.

So, for once, you have to read everything your hyung wants to say without interrupting.

I miss you.

More than I know how to say.

I hope you’re reading this after a long day at school, surrounded by classmates and noise and life. I hope your room is messy because you’ve been too busy drawing. I hope you’re eating properly. And I hope you’re not staying awake until three in the morning playing games and then blaming your teachers when you can’t keep your eyes open in class.

Yes, I’m still your annoying older brother, even from the other side of the world.

I’m in Cuba now. The sunsets here are extraordinary, deep purples and burning oranges stretching across the sky. Everything feels vivid. Alive. Sometimes I sit outside and watch the sky change until there’s almost no light left.

I think you would love the colors.

There’s something I need to tell you, even though I’ve tried to explain it before.

I’m sorry.

There were times when I pulled away from you, when I disappeared into myself and left you wondering whether your own brother still wanted you in his life.

I know that hurt you.