Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
: ̗̀➛ #17 | mcdonalds now playing.. smoke signals phoebe bridgers "somethin' happened when you were a kid"
___
"SO, IF YOU don't mind me asking, what all happened to you over the years..? I'm sorry if it makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to answer if you don't want to." Heeseung spoke, turning his full attention to the girl as they sat at a random bench somewhere in the city after getting McDonald's for lunch.
"Hm.. I mean, I moved out like, a month after I turned eighteen, got my first job at a convenience store.. I was struggling a lot for the first few months on my own, but then I met one of my best friends, Yunjin at a public park late at night, and she helped me a lot." The girl began, taking a sip from the coca-cola she had gotten herself.
Heeseung hummed, letting her know he was listening as his gaze focused intently on her face.
"..Yunjin ended up introducing me to my other friends-- and I actually moved in with her in early 2020. My friends helped me out a lot, and they convinced me to start going to therapy.. so, I did that for a few years. Now, I'm here." She mumbled.
"Your friends seem like nice people." He commented, as Haneul hummed in agreement. "They are." She confirmed.
"But-- anyways, what about you?" Haneul tilted her head, meeting his gaze with her eyes full of curiosity.
"Not much happened to me, I don't think.. I mean, when everything first happened between.. us, I didn't really go anywhere for like.. five months." He stated, adjusting his position in his seat ever so slightly.
"I mean, I know everything was technically my fault, so I essentially just put myself in a bad place for a while." He chuckled to himself, as the girl across from him frowned slightly, letting him continue to speak as she didn't want to interrupt him.
"But, the other's would visit my house often, and they would bring a bunch of snacks and games for us to play together to cheer me up, so I guess that helped my mental state a lot. Anyways -- after said five months, they all kind of forced me to start going places with them again. So, they'd bring me to these.. weird antique shops, or just small cafés." He smiled slightly at the memories, drumming his fingers against the tabletop.
"My mental health got better over the years, I'd say.. all thanks to the others, of course. Oh-- also, the café we always used to go to, we don't go anymore. There was some new employee, he was a pedophile. Dude was almost thirty, but he was trying to hit on Eunhee. She hadn't even graduated back then, too." Heeseung shuddered at the thought, brows furrowing slightly.
"Oh? God, men scare me. No offense to you, tho." Haneul muttered, resting her chin in the palm of her hand as she furrowed her brows slightly in concern for the younger girl.
"None taken.. I mean, I understand. There's just a bunch of really bad people in this world unfortunately." The boy sighed out, shaking his head.
Haneul hummed, nodding her head in agreement. "Oh, and Heeseung?" She perked up, as the boy hummed.
"It wasn't just your fault, so don't blame everything on yourself. You shouldn't ever think that way.. we both contributed to the problem."
"I could've found a better way to handle everything, tho. I should've found a better way." He frowned, nibbling down at his bottom lip.
".. maybe, but it doesn't matter anymore.. it's not like we can really go into the past and change it. Plus, look at where we are now. We're more mature, and happier, I think. Besides, if all of that never had happened, I don't think I would've ever met my friends when I did, or opened a restaurant.. or done anything, really." Haneul pointed out, biting into a french fry.
"Hmm.. I guess you're right." He agreed, a hint of reluctance still laced in his tone of voice as she quirked a brow.
"I'm serious, you idiot. Obviously, I'm still upset with the recent situation regarding my mother and her husband, but there's no way around that. Am I still healing from my past experiences? Yes, of course I am.. but, you didn't cause me nearly as much pain as you think you did, trust me." She asserted, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Plus.. I'm not really thinking of anything that really happened between the two of us that much.. I'm feeling more regret, if anything." She shrugged, as Heeseung raised a brow.
"Regret? Why are you feeling regret?" He questioned, tilting his head.
"Mm.. regret, because I wish I would've taken all of my opportunities at living a somewhat normal childhood, like going to playgrounds, making new friends.. instead, I forced myself to study and mature faster in hopes I'd make my mother proud of me, and she wouldn't be so mad all the time." She explained, pursing her lips.
"Ah.. I'm really sorry, Hana." The boy across from her sighed out, staring at her with sorrow-filled eyes.
"It's fine, don't be so upset about it. I've learned to live with it, since there's nothing I can really do about it. It's in the past, so I have to accept it and move on." Haneul ran her fingers through her hair, as Heeseung hummed quietly, gaze shifting down to his hands before perking up once again.
"I know I'm asking for a lot of your time, but would you mind if I brought you somewhere else? It's not too far from here, I don't think.. maybe around twenty minutes away?" He furrowed his brows, watching her narrow her eyes slightly, turning her head away as she pondered for a bit.
"Hmm.. sure? I don't really have much to do today, anyways." She mumbled, agreeing to his requests as a smile spread across his face.
____
★﹐authors corner ．﹗﹑ had this in the drafts for a little while because i wasn't very happy with it but publishing it now because i feel bad that it's taking me forever to write and publish chapters for this ff
i'm already almost done with the next chapter too so that should be (?) published soon to (hopefully) make up for the boring mess of a chapter bc like.. 😨
i can't wait to finally get out of my writers block and write my plot point once the time comes 😞🙏
oh also
thank you all so much for the support on all of my books recently !! i appreciate you all way more than i can express with words :') <33
love you all so much mwah mwah march 30th, 2023 -- 3:50am. n
