Days Gone || Hwang Hyunjin

24.

"Hyunjin-ah"

"Mhm?"

"What's your real story?"

"Hmmm" I sighed, "it's not important"

"Oh would you stop putting up a wall every time I ask you?" She sat down properly, facing me, I laughed.

"No no no go back, go back, I was comfy" I pushed her shoulders down, making her go back to resting her head over my crossed legs, both our hands holding each other, eyes meeting each other too.

"A while ago I wouldn't have thought I'd be holding a handsome idol's hands while laying on the grass" She chuckled, I did too. "Im still waiting though"

"Right now, I'm no idol" I smiled weakly.

"No, You still are. You're just taking a break?"

"Taking a break... I don't quite like how that sounds" I looked up. The night was beautiful, sky clear, stars everywhere. "Do you remember when you told me what happened to you at school?"

"The fights with my classmate?"

"Yeah"

"Uh Huh"

"Well, that's what happened to me, basically; but since I'm a public figure, it went way worse"

She listened to me. I guess she really wanted me to let it out, a long time ago, and I just gave in.

"It was rumors at first. One of my members showed me an article someone wrote about me on an online forum. It said I was bully because I mistreated this one person during my school days."

"How long ago was that?"

"School?" I asked looking back down to Hayul, she nodded.

"I was like 15 maybe"

"My god. Why after all these years.."

"I wondered the same. I actually didn't remember that classmate, untill they revealed their name."

"So?" She sat up facing me, "we all fought back then"

"You don't understand"

"What?"

"I did fight with that classmate, and I did say some stuff too"

"That doesn't make you any bully"

"It doesn't make me a good person"

"What are you talking about? You're an awesome guy"

"But-"

"No, no "buts"! Listen, we all had a time when we fought with everyone, it's normal. My guess is, this person felt jealous of your success and they decided to make everything bigger than it really was."

"I wouldn't like to say that.. I just think I deserved that reality hit."

"Reality hit?"

"Yeah.. I mean, sometimes you forget who you really are between all the stuff you need to do as an artist, so I guess it brought me back to reality"

"I think you're overreacting. And let me be honest with you, I've seen you feeling down too many times since you came here, and I don't think that's healthy"

"If course I'd be feeling down.. I feel like I failed everyone around me"

"Hey, listen" she grabbed my cheeks, "just because you made a mistake back then, doesn't mean you let people down. Some might be angry with you yeah, but I'm sure they've done stuff too. Did you get to talk to that person?"

"Yeah.. we talked and apologized to each other, we agreed it was immature fighting back then, they even took down the original post"

"See??" She opened her arms, "if you talked to them and everything ended up well, what's the problem?"

"People in general are still angry"

"Your fans?"

"Some of them, yeah"

"I wouldn't call myself a fan if my idol held accountable of his actions and I still can't let it go"

"I don't know" I shrugged. "But since I went on hiatus, nobody has really missed me"

"Stop talking nonsense. I'm sure there are tons of fans waiting for you to come back to them. Can't you see it on social media?"

"I'm actually not allowed to talk to them, I just scrolled through some socials but I decided to stop since I still saw negative comments"

"Well, people were hurt too I guess, so they also need time to heal, just like you."

"Why are you so supportive towards me?" I sighed, lowering my head.

"Because" She grabbed my face again, making me look up to her, "you're kind, loving, caring, sweet, geniunie. I don't think you need a reality hit, you don't act conceited either, you're just... you."

I smiled, holding her hands that were still holding my face.

"You could have really just walked in here waiting for me or anybody else to do everything for you and acting like everybody owes you something, but you didn't, even though we "didn't know" about you..and that's what I liked the most about you."

"Thank you, Hayul" My eyes started to get watery.

"No no no but don't you cry, I'll end up crying with you"

A late response though, because I had already started to tear up, and she couldn't help but to tear with me.

"Why are you crying too?" I sniffed, wiping her few tears away

"Because~" She whined, "You're too precious"

I couldn't help it but to kiss her yet again. I felt her smiling, making me smile too. She was always looking for ways to make me feel better, and even if she didn't know it, I felt better every single time, with her smallest action. She may have thought I didn't notice, but I did.