a better life // hwang hyunjin ✔️

chapter ten

take responsibility

seulgi yawned, stretching her arms as she types away on her laptop. ending one of the last calls for her work day. it was nearing the time to pick up daehyun from school, and she was just ready to get it over with. hoping she could get him to go to bed earlier tonight. it had been a little over a week since hyunjin last came over, both of their schedules keeping them busy.

but this time, hyunjin kept in contact, trying to call her at least once a day just to talk, even if only for a few minutes. but he desperately wanted to see her, and he had a little extra free time today. so he was on his way, bringing her some food and coffee in hopes that it would make her day. and hoping he could go with her to pick up daehyun from school.

but when seulgi let him in, he instantly noticed how exhausted she seemed. smiling weakly as she ate the food and drank the coffee he brought her. she was very grateful, but she was just so tired. and hyunjin hated seeing her like this, wracking his brain, trying to come up with something to help her out.

"hey, why don't i go pick up daehyun. i'll take him to the park after, and you can stay here and get some rest." he says sweetly, comfortingly running his hand up and down her back. the action giving her goosebumps, and making her feel a little bit more sleepy.

"i couldn't ask you to do that..." she yawns, dropping her head on his shoulder, lazily letting her eyes close.

"come on, you look exhausted. i can keep him out until about six, you can squeeze in three hours." he chuckles, smiling as he leaned his head overtop of hers.

"are you sure you're okay with that?" she asks, too tired to fight him on this.

"i'm more than okay with it." he reassures her.

"okay... just make sure you double check his seatbelt cause-"

"i know." he chuckles.

"... cause sometimes he doesn't click it in all the way." she finishes, and hyunjin could sense the seriousness in her tone.

"alright, i'll double check it. don't worry." he gently pats her back. "let's get you to your bed." he adds, wrapping an arm around her so that she stands up with him. she giggles at the action.

"i can walk." she tells him with a smile as she begins to lead him to her bedroom. hyunjin couldn't help but imagine her leading him to her bedroom under other circumstances, but he quickly shook those thoughts away.

as they enter her room, she grabs a stack of clothes off of her dresser, handing it to hyunjin.

"what's this?" he asks, unfolding one of the shirts, he could tell it was one of daehyun's.

"clothes for him to change into so he doesn't get his school uniform dirty at the park." she tells him, taking the shirt back from his hands to fold it back up. he chuckles.

"got it, anything else?" he asks teasingly.

"be safe." she smiles at him, reaching up to plant a quick kiss on his cheek. the action instantly coating his cheeks with a deep red blush.

"o-of course..." he blinks at her. she found it adorable how he seemed to go blank anytime she kissed him on the cheek.

"alright, go on. don't keep him waiting." she laughs, grabbing his shoulders and turning him around, gently pushing him towards the door.

"we'll be back at s-six... get some rest." he tells her.

"i will, don't worry." she says, still chuckling. and with that, hyunjin leaves. without warning, a sudden wave of sadness hits her, a bittersweet sadness. she gently shuts the door to her bedroom, walking over to her bed, squatting down at the foot of it. she reaches her hands under her bed, grabbing a familiar box, a box she hadn't touched in a while, she couldn't bring herself to.

she takes a deep breath, placing the box on top of her bed. she felt an insane urge to go through everything, especially with how close she was getting with hyunjin. she felt as if letting hyunjin into her and daehyun's life was like fully saying goodbye to him. something she never thought she'd ever really do.

she sits on her bed, in front of the box, pulling the lid off carefully. the smell from the box instantly hitting her nostrils, bringing tears to her eyes before she could even attempt to stop them. she grabbed the black hoodie that sat on the top of everything else, bringing the fabric to her nose as she inhaled deeply. she couldn't believe his smell still stayed on the hoodie after all these years. her tears quickly wet the fabric of it as she looks down at everything else in the box.

two cameras, both of which were full of videos of him throughout the years. videos of him singing his songs for her, videos of the dates they went on, even just videos of them talking to one another. next to the cameras, various stacks of papers. the papers becoming wrinkled and ripped with time.

the sheets containing lyrics to songs he wrote, or lyrics to songs he never ended up finishing. various love letters he wrote to her. the papers took up the majority of the room in the box as his passion was music. even the letter where he promised her that he would become a famous musician, just to take care of her and daehyun. just reading the words on the page, scribbled in his handwriting, made her heart break.

she hadn't read over these letter in a while, they were only a painful reminder of what once was. beneath all of the papers was a small box, holding a ring that he never got to give to her. it was actually given to her by minho after all was said and done, she could remember the words he said to her like it was just yesterday as he handed her the box. she hated the world for the longest time for not allowing him to give her the box himself.

the rest of the box was filled with small minuscule items that most people would find irrelevant. but every single item in that box made seulgi's heart painfully contract.

every item down to the pencil eraser that had been used by him over a million times.

his favorite pen, half of the letters in the box were written with its ink.

a button to one of his favorite shirts, he had given it to her after it fell off, hoping she could sew it back on, but she never got the chance.

a worn out bracelet, with her initial on it. she had bought it for him with her birthday money for their six month anniversary. she was lucky to be able to get this back after everything, but part of her wishes she would have left it with him.

a comb, that still had a few stray locks of his hair tangled around the bristles. most people would find that kind of gross, but she could never bring herself to clean it.

and lastly, a box of condoms. she laughed as she picked them up. remembering the conversation they had when he first showed her the box. the fear and excitement she felt all at once.

"you guys did not work..." she talks to the box, laughing bittersweetly. she places everything back in it's place, holding the hoodie up to her nose one last time. "i think i've found someone who loves daehyun almost as much as you did... he makes me really happy..." she trails off, wiping the tears from her face with the fabric of the hoodie.

"i think i'm finally moving on... but god... i miss you so fucking much...

bang chan."