Chapter 1

Aika Takahashi of Yokohama was nine months pregnant when her world began to unravel.

The night her water broke, rain pounded against the hospital windows. Nurses rushed her down the hallway in a wheelchair, her fingers trembling as she gripped her swollen belly.

“Please… it’s time,” she whispered.

But the labor room was occupied.

Aika waited in the corridor, contractions tearing through her body. Then suddenly—

Another pregnant woman was rushed past her.

“She’s carrying twins!” a nurse shouted.

Before Aika could protest, the doors closed.

Something inside her snapped.

“I was here first!” she screamed, pain and fury mixing in her voice.

Minutes later, she could no longer wait.

Her body forced the decision for everyone.

In the chaos, doctors rushed her into a smaller emergency room. The lights were too bright. The room too tight. Her breathing uneven.

Twenty agonizing minutes later, a cry pierced the air.

A baby boy.

Aika wept as she held him.

“I’ll make sure you become someone strong,” she whispered. “Someone who never has to wait.”

But moments later, nurses carried him away to the NICU.

And Aika was left alone.

In the neonatal ward, Aika spotted her again.

The woman with twins.

Elegant. Calm. Composed.

Their eyes met.

“Are you the woman who took the labor room?” Aika asked quietly.

The woman bowed slightly. “I am Lee Tae Ha.”

There was guilt in her eyes.

But something else too.

Loneliness.

They learned they were neighbors. Foreigners in unfamiliar ways — one Japanese woman afraid of failing as a first-time mother, one Korean woman isolated in a new country, married to a distant businessman who was rarely home.

Their children grew up like pieces of a puzzle fitting together.

Aika’s son: Haru Takahashi.

Tae Ha’s twins: Lee Tae Yeon and Lee Tae Min.

Especially Tae Min and Haru.

They were inseparable.

Too inseparable.

On their sixth birthday, the boys lay side by side near a window.

A shooting star crossed the sky.

“Let’s wish we’ll always be together,” Haru whispered.

Tae Min nodded.

They made the same wish.

But outside the window, a black car was parked across the street.

Watching.

At twelve, Haru was gentle. Soft-spoken. Sensitive.

Tae Min was protective. Brilliant. Fierce.

When Haru was bullied, Tae Min stepped in without hesitation.

“If you touch him again,” Tae Min said coldly, “you’ll regret it.”

The bullies backed off.

But that afternoon, Tae Yeon showed her mother something.

A photo.

Tae Min looking at Haru while he slept.

Not like a friend.

Something deeper.

Tae Ha’s smile faded.

Because earlier that day, she had received a call.

Her husband’s business in Japan had failed.

They were moving back to Korea.

In two months.

She hadn’t told the children yet.

That night, Haru slept over again.

They played video games. Laughed. Fell asleep on the floor like when they were six.

Tae Ha stood in the doorway watching them.

“They don’t know,” she whispered to herself.

The next morning—

Haru was gone.

His mother had picked him up early.

Tae Min woke to an empty room.

Panic rose in his chest.

He ran downstairs.

“Where is he?” Tae Min asked.

Tae Ha hesitated.

Then she said the words that shattered everything.

“We’re moving to Korea.”

Silence.

Tae Min stared at her.

“No.”

“It’s not permanent—”

“You’re lying.”

He ran out of the house.

Haru didn’t know yet.

When Tae Min found him later that day, he didn’t smile.

“I’m leaving,” Tae Min said.

Haru laughed nervously. “Stop joking.”

“I’m not.”

Something inside Haru broke.

“You promised under the star.”

“I know.”

They stood there, two boys realizing that love — whether friendship or something more — is not enough to stop the world from moving.

For the first time, Tae Min didn’t know how to protect Haru.

And Haru didn’t know who he was without Tae Min beside him.

On the night before Tae Min leaves, they sneak out.

They sit under the same sky from years ago.

No shooting star appears.

“Do you think wishes expire?” Haru asks.

Tae Min doesn’t answer.

Instead, he pulls something from his pocket.

The photo Tae Yeon took years ago.

“I’ll come back,” Tae Min says.

“But what if we’re different by then?” Haru whispers.

Tae Min looks at him — really looks at him.

“Then I’ll fall for you again.”

A car horn sounds in the distance.

It’s time.

Tae Min stands.

Haru doesn’t move.

And the chapter ends with headlights washing over them