Jeonghan skipped school for the next two days. On the third day, he found Seungcheol sitting on the rooftop, slumped against a wall and smoking.
He sat beside him and pulled his knees to his chest.
"Hi," jeonghan began cautiously. cheol only gave him a glance in acknowledgment.
"My mom is feeling better," Jeonghan continued. "She's going to therapy."
"That's good," Seungcheol commented, not that he knew what therapy entailed.
"Thanks for being there for me." Jeonghan hugged his knees tighter as he blushed in sheer embarrassment. "You must think that I'm pathetic. That's the second time you've had to save my ass-"
"You're not," Seungcheol cut him off. "Pathetic, I mean."
Jeonghan was grateful for that although he couldn't agree entirely. He was also aware that Seungcheol hadn't asked for any details. In fact, he hadn't asked for anything at all.
Suddenly, Jeonghan wanted to tell him everything.
"She was a successful interior designer when she married my dad. It was arranged."
"You don't have to tell me," Seungcheol began.
Jeonghan couldn't stop. "But he left us when I was eight. It was a scandal in the family. My grandparents disowned him. My mom never quite got over it. I think she never wanted to get married in the first place. She started drinking."
He didn't want to add that what his mother had almost said the other night was that she never wanted to have him. Though god knew she tried to do her duty. The guilt coupled the frustration that it wasn't the life she had imagined for herself drove her to drink in excess.
"She's not a bad mom. Aunt sumin, that's her younger sister, said that she just feels stifled. She wants to get better though so..I think we're going to be alright."
He looked at Seungcheol tentatively, who kept his eyes straight ahead. His expression unreadable.
"She's lucky to have you."
Jeonghan could feel his eyes tearing up again. He wiped them and said quickly, "How's your mom like?"
Seungcheol's response was detached. His voice void of any inflection. "Overdosed when I was five. Don't know who my dad is."
Jeonghan widened his eyes and felt an awful, sickening sinking feeling in his gut. Here he was rambling about his problems, which now seemed almost inconsequential compared to cheol's situation.
Seungcheol read his mind. "Don't feel sorry. Shit is shit."
How was this guy the same age as him? Suddenly the maturity and self-assurance which Seungcheol carried made sense to jeonghan. He had to in order to survive.
"So the kids the other day,"jeonghan wondered.
"We're at the same orphanage,"Cheol shrugged. The ice in his voice told jeonghan that he didn't care to share anymore today.
However, jeonghan knew that he had been privy to information which was so private and precious. He remembered how happy the kids were. How Seungcheol had chosen to buy stuff for them instead of himself. An unfamiliar feeling swelled within him. It made him feel so full and his chest hurt.
"I meant it," jeonghan murmured. "What I told the doctor. You ARE a friend from school."
Seungcheol didn't return the sentiment but neither did he deny it.
The bell rang just then. Jeonghan got up and asked, "I still have to pay for my ramen the other day. Are you working today? We can meet up after school?"
YOU ARE READING
FORTUNE!!|| JEONGCHEOL||
Fanfiction"It's a set," jeonghan whispered. "We have to keep them together. Always." The same words. seungcheol remembered how small jeonghans voice was back then. The hope in his eyes. The nervousness in his hands. He also remembered the tightness under his...
