To Be Loved... (BOOK 1)

New Life

Art by @yuu.mint
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"How're you feeling, sweetie?" My mom pushed my hair back and kissed my temple before she sat down for dinner. "Your hair grew so quickly, I think we need to take you for a trim."

"Okay, mom." I sweetly smiled. "I'm okay."

"You gave us quite the scare, son." My dad said. "You know you can always talk to us."

"I know." I nodded. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Hyunjinnie." My mom reached over and gave my hand a light squeeze. "We're just thankful you're here with us now." My mom made sure to make all my favorite foods since tonight is my first night back home. Three days turned into two weeks. "Your friend, Minho, has been keeping in contact with us. He's a nice boy." Do they not know...who he is? They must not. "I told him he could come see you after dinner." I almost choked on my food.

"Okay." I nodded. "I didn't realize you knew who he was."

"He was the only person to sit with us at the hospital unlike the rest of your 'friends'." She rolled her eyes at the word. "I thought you said you weren't friends with Wooyoung and Felix broke up with you? Why were they there?"

How should I know? I didn't think anyone would be there at all. Nor did I plan on being alive to see it.

"I really don't know." I shrugged. "I slapped Wooyoung in the face when he came in to see me though."

"Good, stand up for yourself." My dad seemed proud.

"What about Felix?"

"I fell asleep." I shrugged and shoved some food in my mouth. This was a lot better than anything I had eaten in recent days.

"Both of them wouldn't stop crying, it was ridiculous." My dad spoke with his mouth full and it was gross. "They're not real men, I can tell you that much. I can spot from a mile away when a boy doesn't have a father to teach them. Those two are perfect examples."

My skin started to crawl, but I need to stay respectful and listen. Hearing about what Felix had gone through when he was younger hasn't left my head. Wooyoung shouldn't of been the one to tell me that. Dragging it out of him and using those circumstances to my advantage was wrong.

The doorbell rang and I popped out of my seat to answer.

"Hey, stranger." Minho smiled as he walked inside. "Hi," he waved to my parents, "you have a beautiful home, wow." I tried not to laugh. I've never seen Minho act like such a kiss up before.

"Thank you!" My mom beamed. "Are you hungry, Minho? We still have leftovers. Hyunjin never eats much."

"Sure, thank you." My mom was happy to fix him a plate. "Am I okay to take this in his room?"

"Of course, just bring it back when you're done."

"Okay, thank you." He waved with the plate in his other hand as I led him to my bedroom. I closed the door and still tried to contain myself. His happy face immediately dropped too. "That was fucking exhausting." He took a bite of the food and stared at me in disgust. "This tastes like shit."

"I like it." I mumbled. Minho scoffed and sat on my bed, continuing to eat it anyway. "You've been talking to my parents the whole time?"

"Yeah, they're shit bags."

"Don't say that, no they're not."

Minho gasped and froze with his cheeks full. He swallowed and kept eye contact. "It's worse than I thought." He whispered.

"What are you talking about?" I sat down on my art stool and crossed my arms.

"We need to get you out of this house." He said nonchalantly.

"Wow, so your plan was to come into my home, be nice to my parents, eat the food they give you, and then completely disrespect them behind their back?" He smiled and nodded. "Then you can leave. I didn't invite you here."

He stood up with the now empty plate and walked over to my newest sketch.

"Hmm, this person looks familiar." He laughed as he picked it up. "Wonder who that could possibly be?"

"I feel like you're taunting me." I mumbled with my head in my hands.

"You're doing all the taunting if this is the first thing you did when you got home. Draw a beautiful picture of your ex boyfriend."

"Can you not put it like that please?"

"Jeez, you're so sensitive." He finally set it down and kneeled in front of me. "Hyunjin, look at me." His voice was much softer and less patronizing. "I miss our walks. I can only listen to Yeosang talk for so long." We both smiled. "You are going to walk with me again, right?" I nodded. "Good. Ji and Innie said they'd join me once you came back. Apparently Jeongin is afraid of me so that's why they're always on their own."

"With good reason I think."

"Are you afraid of me?"

"I'm not scared of anyone." I smiled.

"Do you wanna put that theory to the test?"

"Depends on what it entails."

"Fancy talk. You learn that in the hospital?"

I flicked his forehead and watched as he dramatically fell to the ground.

"You have no filter, huh."

"Do you want me to treat you like a mental patient or do you want me to treat you like Hyunjin? Your choice."

"Lee Know, Lee Know, Lee Know." I started to sing, but ultimately started laughing instead. He knows me well.

"I thought you could spend a night with the seniors plus Seonghwa." He smiled.

"And do what? I don't think I should drink for a long time so that's out of the question. Same goes for smoking."

"No," he shook his head, "we'll go out to eat. Nothing crazy."

"But I just ate."

"Then you and me can share something small because I just did too. If you use your eyes, you'll know that." I scoffed at his Lee Know type comment. "Now let's go, Picasso. You have the world to revisit."