𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐎𝐟 𝐀 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥 ♡ MinSung

Ch. 98

About a week later, the day that Jisung was finally cleared to go home, he was the happiest he'd been in a very long time. He got to dress in street clothes and put on real shoes, and walk out of the hospital like a big boy – though he did make sure to take the crayons with him.

His father helped him put all of his belongings into the trunk and then get into the passenger seat.

Jisung would have to get used to doing day to day tasks with the use of only one arm, but if other people could do it just fine, why couldn't he?

He had said goodbye to his favorite nurse and she gave him one last Capri-Sun for the ride home, which he ended up enjoying thoroughly as he sat in the car.

Jisung had been in low spirits for the entire two weeks he had been trapped in the stupid hospital, and had only been allowed to go on walks for the last few days he had been there, he would miss a few things though.

Having people to help him with stuff that required two arms, the animal crackers and Capri-Suns, especially having endless colouring books to use, even though they were children's themed. He couldn't help but be grateful that he had so many visitors as well.

He liked to have only one person in his room at a time or he would feel crowded and anxious, that wasn't much of a problem though considering that it wasn't like there were people lining up to see him.

Minho only came back one more time, but he had seemed... off. Jisung couldn't help but feel that Minho was hiding something, or he wasn't telling the younger about something that had happened while he was in the hospital.

He tried texting the elder, but he came up completely empty handed, receiving nothing but dry responses.

Chan, Felix and Jeongin came back on a regular basis though, and kept him company quite well. Changbin also returned about two times, and they had fun talking with one another.

Changbin was a very funny person to be around, and probably made Jisung laugh the most out of all their friends.

"Okay Jisung, when we get home I want you to go straight to bed. You have to he ready to go to school when the time comes." His father warned, catching his sons attention.

The boy nodded, "But that's not for another week." He added, "Can't I stay up and go for a walk around the neighborhood? Just a small one?"

The man sighed, "You already know I'm going to deny that request. You have to go to sleep-"

"It's 1pm Appa, please?"

"No, you need to heal or you won't be able to go back to school."

"I dont even want to go back to school." Jisung pouted.

"Why not?"

Jisung sighed, "The whole reason I'm in the hospital is because I got beat up, Appa, why do you think?"

The man took a short paused before responding, "I really do understand why you won't tell the police who hurt you, don't you want to feel safe at school? They can arrest them."

"It's complicated and I really don't like talking about it. It's humiliating to explain." He argued, "Plus, you probably wouldn't understand."

"Make me understand, explain it until I can't forget a single word. I won't judge you Jiji, all I want is for you to feel safe."

"It's beyond what you think, Appa." Jisung said, trying to conclude the conversation.

There was a long pause, and for a moment Jisung thought he had won, until the man spoke again, "If you can't tell me who did it,  I'm thinking of changing your school. I want you to be safe, honey, and I'll stop at no end to make it happen."

Jisung thought for a moment. Could he really change schools? The only reason he didn't suggest it before was because he didn't want his father to worry, but now the man knew anyway...

Was there any reason he couldn't..?

The silence of the car ride continued as Jisung kept thinking, and the more he thought, the less he wanted to stay at the school he was currently in.

Why should he stay? Sure, maybe to be with Minho, but just because they would no longer he in the same school didn't mean they couldn't be together. Then he had a thought, what if he made Jeong-Hoon angry..?

That would be bad, really, really bad. What if he hurt him again? What if he hurt Minho this time? Could he risk that?

"I don't know," he finally said, "It might be for the best that I stay where I am."

"But why? I just don't understand why you choose to put yourself in danger, I'm not dumb Jisung. I see how you changed, how you became more anxious and sad, but why? Why put yourself through that?"

The boy simply shook his head, "Like I said, you don't understand. I'm in a situation that you can't help me with, no matter how much you would like to. In fact, you would probably end up making this worse. Maybe someday, when all is said and done, I'll tell you.. maybe."

His father groaned deeply, gripping the steering wheel harder out of frustration, "I'm your father, I deserve to know what is going on in your life, and what you're doing all day every day!"

Jisung didn't respond.

"Does this have something to do with you being gay? Is that why you won't tell me? I thought I made it clear that I don't care whether you like men or not—"

"Don't assume that everything is always about me liking men, it's not. I can choose to keep whatever I like private, it's my life." Jisung said, and that seemed to shut his father up.

"Fine. Do what you please, but I'm not going to stop worrying about you Jisung. Your my son and I have an obligation to protect you." He finalized.

Jisung wasn't about to fight that, he knew it was true. His mother probably would have said the same thing.

Hello again, author here.. so I wrote a whole chapter yesterday but before I could upload it, it disappointed. It was gone, so I had to rewrite the whole damn thing.

That was very frustrating, but it's okay. I hope you don't mind that I skipped posting yesterday!

I think I might actually take a small break this time. I have a lot going on at school, so I just need a few days. I hope you understand :)

Love you all ❤