✓ laundry boy | yang jungwon

10: pick her up

(tw: mentions of suicide)

jungwon unlocked the door to his apartment and immediately took his shoes off.

it was dark, meaning everyone was already asleep.

he made his way to the the living room in the dark and kneeled on the floor in front of a very short table that was against the wall.

what sat on the table was an urn, flowers that were close to dying, and a picture of his mother.

"hey mom. i did the laundry." he said, feeling tears forming in his eyes.

he swallowed the lump in his throat and started to light a candle. his fingers brushed the petals of the withering flowers before one petal broke off, it startled him.

he wiped his tears and stared at his mom on the picture before sitting on his legs, too tired to keep kneeling.

"i met a girl last week. i saw her again today." he spoke quietly.

"we ate soup, she brought me there. i showed her the stars as well, and i told her to claim one."

jungwon kept sniffling before he crawled on his knees to get the laundry bag, then going back. he folded the lavender scented clothes, his mother's clothes and his own.

"is it okay for me to want to see her again?" he asked. the guilt was eating him alive just by asking that question.

even though he met her a week before, he's only telling his mom about her now.

"her name's hisano. hisa for short, she smells like lavender and she also smiles a lot. but today she was a bit grumpy. i cheered her up though."

"it's been so long since i actually wanted to talk with someone willingly. i feel like i want to stay here a bit longer because of her."

he smiled when he talked about her, he continued folding the clothes neatly and precisely.

usually, if you had someone you missed, you wouldn't wash their clothing since it'd wear off the scent.

but not in jungwon's case.

past (tw)

it wasn't long ago, it was quite recent actually.

the moments before summer began.

he lived with his mom, just them two.

it seemed alright but after the death of his mom's sister, and the leave of his dad, that's when the downfall started.

he continued going to school, studying everyday since at the time that was all he could do.

but occasionally he'd lie about his age and take short jobs on the streets of downtown in his free time just to help his mom at least a bit.

his mom wasn't at the greatest state. she tried lots of coping mechanisms. lying about things so jungwon wouldn't have to worry.

and when i say she lied about things, i'm saying she lied about a lot.

there were things he found out— out of curiosity, and other things he found out after her death that he wouldn't have known about before.

and there were a lot of things he had yet to find out.

as he was coming back from the last day of school. he went to the washroom to wash up, only to see his mother laying in the bathtub

unconscious in a tub of water that was colored red.