two birds

4

we walked past the lake, still in silence, and that was when I started to get a little worried.

normally, jisung absolutely loves when we walk to this lake, because there are ducks there.

and I can tell you this kid is obsessed with them.

he's always squealing, almost jumping when the duck quacks, and he just wants to become friends with all of them.

normally, we stay by this lake for AT LEAST fifteen minutes.
but today, he didn't even glance at the lake.

"hey....uhm...are you okay?"
I asked him.

he nodded, giving me a small smile.

I knew he wasn't alright.
even when he was sad, he was always excited to go to the lake, the ducks always brought him joy.

something wasn't right.

we walked around more and when it was time to go back home, we started walking back.

the maids prepared a snack for jisung, as always, but he wasn't exactly eating it.

he was just flipping it and moving it around with his fork.

"jisung, you should eat your snack."

instead of eating his snack, he got up.
"I'm not hungry. call me when my Korean tutor arrives."
he said and went upstairs.

I sighed.
I watched him walking upstairs, before I followed him, standing in front of his door.

I heard a few sound coming from his room, it sounded like whimpers, or sobs, but I wasn't sure.

either way, I couldn't check.
I couldn't just violate his privacy like that.

when it was getting close to 1:30pm, I knocked on jisungs door.

"jisung, it's time for your Korean lesson."

no answer.

"jisung?"

no answer.
I started to get a little worried.

"jisung I'm coming in."
I said and I opened the door.

jisung was there, laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. he didn't even look at my direction when I walked inside.

"why didn't you answer?"
I asked him.

"I don't know, didn't feel like it."

I sighed, slightly annoyed.
"your Korean tutor will be here any second. come downstairs."

"I don't want to."

"that's not a choice, that's an order."

he mumbled something.

"what?"
I asked.

"nothing."
he said sadly and stood up, walking downstairs by my side.

the tutor arrived shortly after and they went inside.

honestly, I never liked this korean tutor.
he was just giving me bad vibes honestly.

nevertheless, as I sit on his god damn chair again, I got a message.

it was from jisungs therapist.
he was saying he can't unfortunately come today, because he had some family emergency or something.
it was actually a shame, because jisung looked like he needed to talk with someone today.

just as I read the message, the door to the study room opened and the tutor said his goodbyes, before leaving.

"jisung?"