The day I rescued you and everything changed (TxT's Soobin Fanfiction)

Chapter 3: I won't leave you alone now

I haven't realized how my eyes were filled up with tears as she ended. Ironic, I thought to myself. She was the one who had gone through such hardships, but here she sat, looking fully composed again, except for the leftover tear stains on her cheeks, while I was about to cry. "Well", she shrugged, her voice drained of emotions after she had conveyed all of them when telling her story already, "Now you know." I wanted to hug her, comfort her, tell her anything that could possibly help her but before I could do so, that other side of hers was showing again: The unreachable one, the one that didn't want to have anyone close to her. "I'm sorry to hear all that", I finally managed to say. She shrugged: "Not your fault." "No one's fault", I answered. With a sigh, she got up and turned back to me. "Thanks for listening to this depressing story, I guess. You should go back home now", she mumbled and slowly scoffed away.

For the second time this night, I cursed internally and jolted up, set on my unexplainable decision to do what I can for her. "And you?", I shouted after her. Confused she stopped and looked at me. "What about me?", she wanted to know. "Will you also go back home?", I asked. She scoffed. "Back to my apartment, you mean", she corrected me, "It's not my home anymore. But I don't know. I guess I'll just go wherever my feet bring me to." "You could come with me", I heard myself say before realizing what I just suggested. She furrowed her brows. "Where to?", she asked. "M-My home. It's not exactly cold outside, but chilly. You might need to warm up. You better not get sick", I shrugged. "Why in the world should I take your offer?", she wanted to know, crossing her arms over her chest. "Why shouldn't you?", I gave back. "What if you're a criminal trying to lure me somewhere to rape and or murder me?", she replied. "Promise I ain't", I said. "Not too much to lose anyway", she muttered more to herself than to me. My eyes widened. "Don't worry", she waved it off, "Despite mindlessly walking on the street, I actually don't plan to kill myself or anything. I promised him to live, after all." "Looking at you, that's not living but wasting away." "What do you think you know about my life?" "You just told me quite a bit of it. Two full years to be more exact." "What's two years when one is 24 already? Plus, nobody likes a know-it-all." I was surprised to hear that she was only one year older than me. She looked way more mature. "Yet you know I am right", I told her, "Let me at least walk you home to make sure you really won't do anything stupid. I needed to rescue you once already." She stared at me thoughtfully and finally sighed, shrugged and came back. "Let's go then. Show me where the place is you call home." Ari would never believe me this. If she ever would hear about it. She better shouldn't.

I helped her out of her jacket while she looked around curiously. It mostly had been awkward silence between us until now. Luckily, the way wasn't too long. She inspected the photos on the wall while I inspected her. Without the oversized jacket, she suddenly looked really small and fragile. I wondered if it had been her jacket originally since size and cut suggested otherwise. I better not thought about how could have been the original owner if not her.

"You have siblings", she said, more a statement than a question. Nonetheless, I nodded. "And you?", I tried to start a conversation. "Older brother", she answered in a tone that suggested that the conversation was over already. I still tried to keep it alive. "How is he?", I asked. "Nice. Supportive. Too far away to care", she cut it off. I chewed my lip. "And your parents?", I went on. "Dead", she shrugged. "Oh. Sorry", I replied quickly. She waved it off. "Too long ago. I'm good", she explained. I didn't know what else to say or do, so I motioned her to follow me into the living room and sit down on the couch. I asked her if she wanted to have a warm tea or anything and glad that she agreed, I rushed away into the kitchen to make some.

When I came back, she had gotten comfortable fully while still looking around interested. I wondered what she looked at. The room wasn't exactly stuffed with details. A couch, a TV, some shelfs and plants but that was about it. Oh, and the couch table of course. "You live alone?", she asked. I nodded. "But you often get visit, I reckon", she went on. I looked at her surprised. "How do you know?", I wanted to know. "You just invited a complete stranger in without having to tell someone else beforehand. It was a good guess", she shrugged, "But apart from that it's rather unusual to have sleepover necessities of all kinds on a shelf in the living room, so you either are too lazy to tidy them up or you get visited often enough to just keep it there." I looked into the direction she pointed at. I had hidden them the best I could behind some plants to prevent them from looking weird or out of place. Most of my visitors – except for those who used them – never realized them. And to be honest to myself, there was only one person who still visited me.

Nonetheless, she was a good observer. As I snapped out of my thoughts, she had already taken one of the teacups and sipped from it, looking at me. "Sorry. I didn't want to creep you out", she said. "Don't worry, I am just not used to somebody seeing small details like that", I shrugged. I really didn't feel creeped out, though I was surprised. "It's called being highly sensitive", she gave back and upon my puzzled look she explained: "I pay more attention to smaller details and am good at reading the room as well as other people. But I also struggle with progressing all the stimulation I get and easily feel drained from social interaction, especially when it's in groups. Plus, I get immersed in movies more than others. If it's a sad movie, I'll feel gloomy for at least two or three days. It has its pros and cons – like everything." I nodded slowly. That made sense. Somehow, at least. It went silent again, both of us sipping our tea.

"Though I don't get one thing", she suddenly spoke up, almost making me flinch. I looked at her. "You don't know me and I could pretty much be indifferent to you. A person with manners would have caught me when we ran into each other or pulled me back from the car. But you even stayed with me when I cried, listened to my story and invited me in though I must have been quite a burden, all creepy and depressing. Why?" I shrugged. I didn't really have an answer. It just felt like I had to do it. She sighed and put her hand gently on my knee. "Don't make me your problem. I am quite a handful. Nobody should see me as his responsibility", she told me. "That's not it", I answered honestly, "Though I can't say what else it is. I just... Kinda felt... I don't know." She tilted her head: "Huh." I nodded. I couldn't have said it any better.