Minsung - Hold Me In Your Arms

Chapter 5

Minho's POV:

As Jisung dragged me behind him to the park, I couldn't help but smile. This boy, who I'd met only a total of two times, is making me feel so good. How, I don't know. But either way,  I'm not complaining.

He begins to slow before turning around and planting his feet.
"We're here! You see those swings over there? Let's go!" He giggles, and I can't help but awkwardly giggle back.

We walk to the swings and get ourselves situated. Now that he's seated, Jisung begins to eat his food from our convenience store adventure. I watch him as he does so. I smile as I watch him stuff his cheeks, and he almost reminds me of a little squirrel.

"What?" He asks, suddenly turning his head and catching me staring.
"Oh nothing, just that you kind of remind me of a squirrel when you eat," I say with a slight chuckle.

He whips his head around once again to face me, this time with wide eyes.
"What! Do I really? God, this is embarrassing!" He whines, and I can't help but think he's kind of cute as he buries his face in his hands, hiding himself from me.

As I begin to laugh at him, I can see a blush forming across his face and on the tips of his ears.

This boy is so precious.

"Don't laugh at me!" He whines, and I laugh harder. I feel sorry for embarrassing him, I really do. But unless you've seen a flustered Jisung yourself, you won't know how hard it is to stop.
"It's not funny!" He shouts. And I swear to God I almost fall off the swing.

He's done eating now, so he gently places his garbage next to himself on the ground before promptly crossing his arms and sticking his bottom lip out to pout.

At this, I finally gather myself and can begin to calm the raging embarrassment I've caused in this poor boy's mind.
"I'm sorry Jisung, I didn't mean to embarrass you, and I shouldn't have laughed,"I say to him.

He turns to me, slowly dropping his arms to his sides.
"It's okay, I know I shouldn't freak out about it. But everyone always makes fun of the way I eat, and they think I'm gross because of it. I try not to do it, I really do, but sometimes I can't help it! I promise I'm not as disgusting as I look..."

My heart shattered on the spot. I didn't realoze how my words would affect him. Seeing the frown on his lips and the guilt in his eyes is crushing my very soul. This adorable boy in front of my thinks he's disgusting. Who in their right mind would let him think that?!

At this, I realize there's so much I don't know about Jisung. Not just the regular stuff like his favorite colour or food, but the real stuff. His insecurities, his fears, his trauma. This boy clearly has so much going on beneath the surface, and I have no idea how to dive down and fix it all. So I simply tell him how I feel about the situation.

"Jisung, look at me. You are not disgusting. Don't you ever think that way. And don't you ever try to change yourself because some jerk wanted to make you feel bad." I say these words with conviction. I do because they are true. There's not a single doubt in my mind.

I can see tears starting to brew in the corners of his eyes, but I don't say anything. I just hope those tears are ones of relief.

"O-okay Minho. Th-thank you. You don't know how much I needed to hear that,"
He gives me a soft smile and I see those tears start to recede as he gathers himself.

"No need to thank me. Besides, I think your squirrel cheeks are cute." I say and I mentally face palm.

Did I just call him cute?!

He looks up at me, dumbfounded. I can't believe I just said that. God, I'm such an idiot! He probably thinks I'm creepy now. We were getting along so well too. Me and my dumb mouth!