"Don't scare him off immediately. He seems very nice." sana said. She is the main nurse in our ward. She was always nice to me, but always told nice things about all my previous roommates so I really couldn't judge her perception to be somewhat realistic. Regardless of that, she's basically always been the only person that could make me smile just by seeing her.
"Ugh, It's a boy this time?" I asked and grunted. "Yes. He's very handsome." She giggled. "sana! Don't make your husband jealous, complementing all these young boys in the pinnacle of their youth-." I joked, overreacting. "Shhh, hurry, they're all gathered together." She chuckled and I quickened my steps. I walked towards the interaction room we had for support groups, musical and art therapy. The chairs and two couches were put in a circle that had sitting 15 people without my presence. That is my group. Group A. Ages 18-21, me being one of the seniors, yet acting worst than the younger ones. 14 patients, all roommates, divided into our light green rooms in that long hallway on the left side. Some roommates get really close, like some two similarly fucked up friends, purely by luck of similarities they might find within each other. 14 fucked up people and of course, Sejun , also kind of fucked up, a psychologist that organized these groups and did art therapies.
"Hi dahyun." Sejun and the others said. I saw an empty place on the two seated couch with my new roommate.it was a boy. Like an actual boy. He looked pretty young and had a childlike face because of his big eyes and thin lips But his body was not of a teenage boy, yet a young man with large hands. I observed him for a second before sitting down. Usually, these roommates would look quite hopeful when seeing a potential "friend" or seem fucked up just because they were fucked up.
It would make me pity them even more, such a pathetic sight. But this guy's first time meeting me facial expression was non existant. He looked at me the unusualy casual way, like he's meeting me for the second or third or a billionth time already. He didn't smile, he just glanced at me like that, making me wonder a little bit.
"dahyun, meet Taehyung. He chose to be your roommate for the next month." Sejun said with the enthusiastic look on his face. The word chose stuck with me. For a brief second I felt sorry for the poor bastard because he probably doesn't know what he's in for.
"Yeah, a month." I quietly spoke in a sarcastic tone. I awkwardly sat next to him as he looked down, focused on something else. "So, Taehyung, we are glad to have you here and I hope this will help you in your further recovery. You won't get judged here so say anything that's on your mind." Sejun spoke carefully, trying to give off the casual tone. I rolled my eyes at the choice of the approach towards opening up. Sejun noticed but decided to ignore me. "Why don't you say something about yourself?" Sejun spoke. I crossed my arms and looked at Taehyung, slightly judging and analysing his moves and words. "Uhm, my name is Kim Taehyung. I switched from a different mental instituion that was in Seoul too, I'm-" He spoke in his presumably natural deep voice. "Why the switch?" I cut him off.
"dahyun!!, don't interrupt and don't force people to answer questions they wouldn't be comfortable with-" Sejun said in a warning tone but Taehyung immediately spoke back, acting out a playful gesture. The switch of moods made me confused about him. Is he playing a character the entire time or is he actually real? "It's okay. Uhm, I've been there for a full year, but didn't like it because the ward we had was only ages 35 and me being the exception, I didn't really fit in there. They also thought I'd be a good idea to redirect me somewhere with people my age." He spoke, some words stumbling through the air. "I'm here because...uhm.." He tried to speak but he looked down, nervously tapping his foot, furrowing his eyebrows a little bit. "If you don't feel comfortable, you don't have to say it." Sejun spoke with compassion in his eyes.
"I'd rather keep that to myself for now, sorry." Taehyung said and looked back up, making his ears perk through his hair. "That's perfectly fine for us. Are you into music or art?" He asked him curiously. "Both, actually." He said in a serious tone and licked his lips. "That's wonderful. I hope you're going to enjoy our schedule then." Sejun's voice screamed enthusiasm but Taehyung only coldly nodded. I stared at him in pure curiosity. Immediately there was something enigmatic about him. He carried a weird aura with him, something that came off quite unexplained. Sejun started talking individually with every patient while everyone carefully listened. It was my turn to speak about if anything new had happened in my life over the last week since our last session.
