Broken Glass [EXO Kpop Fanfiction]

two

Sitting on his sofa in his clothes that were too big on me and a blanket wrapped around my shoulders, all I did was stare at how out of place his wallpaper was. It looked fairly old and worn down, the colours of the flowery wallpaper fading into light pastels; he's probably renting this place. Minseok comes out from the kitchen then with two bowls of steaming soup balanced on a tray. He places it down on the small coffee table and sits down beside me. "Here, it's chicken and corn soup," he says, handing one to me with a spoon. "Drink, it'll warm you up."

I take it from him and try a sip; it tastes pretty good and I continue to drink it slowly. "Thanks," I reply softly.

"You're welcome." He drinks his own serving, glancing at me every now and then as we sit in silence, drinking the warm soup. I think it's a comfortable silence because he doesn't ask me anything unnecessary, prodding into my reasoning unlike all the other people I've ever met. He finishes before me, setting his bowl down and then leaning back into the sofa, waiting for me to say something.

I finish soon after, but remain quiet because I have no idea what to say. He shifts from beside me and leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and looking at me inquisitively. I find the way he seems so interested in me to be quite bizarre. No one ever looks at me like that. "Is there something on my face?" I ask, finally breaking the silence.

He quickly shook his head, "No, no, not at all. Far from that actually. I was just thinking that you'd make for a good subject for my photos. I mean, um, just that, uh," he ended up stuttering and something bubbled up from inside me. I laughed. It's been a long time since I last laughed so heartily. Maybe it was just the way he looked so tongue-tied or how his eyes widened, that made my stomach begin to hurt from the giggling.

The sound of a shutter going off made me pause and frown. I wiped at the tears that had formed at the corners of my eyes and I looked in the direction of the sound. Minseok was holding a camera in his hands, pointing in my direction and resembled a child caught in the middle of causing mischief. He opened his mouth about to speak when I cut him off. "You just took a photo of me," I said bluntly, all previous humour gone.

Placing the camera in his lap, he looked to be contemplating on what to say. "I was being impulsive," he said after a moment. He shrugged and stood up, about to walk away, when I called out.

"What? Impulsive?" And I remember his words earlier, "I make for a good photography subject?"

Minseok turns and regards me with soft eyes, "It'd be nice if you worked with me, but I'm not going to force you, especially since you seem to be troubled about something in your life, enough to go to drastic measures." The way his voice dropped to a whisper at the end reminded me of the sense of desperation I had while I was at the bridge and just how dangerous it had been.

Hanging my head, I realise how stupid I'd been to try and attempt ending my life. "Alright," I say, "How about this? If you let me stay with you for a bit, I'll work with you as your... model?" I just hope he'll let me stay even though we both have no idea what each other's background is. I wonder if it'll be such a good idea, after all, I'm just running away.

***

Minseok let me tag along with him and my days definitely felt a lot easier. He was a carefree kind of person with observational skills of a hawk; he'd noticed the small scars on my left wrist even though I wore a small silver bracelet as a distraction. I wanted to deny everything, that I'd just been in an unfortunate accident but he knew and took no excuses. I guess I kind of liked how different he is compared to myself. A bright outlook on everything, but with the calm, mature sense to discern when something isn't right even when I tried so hard to hide it all.

I joined him on his photography trips to the beach, despite the winter chill settling in thoroughly over the town. Often, I found myself glancing over my shoulders, heart beat quickening when I saw a person in the distance only to have Minseok bring me back into focus. "You okay?" he'd asked the first time he saw me fidgeting. Every time after that, he'd just place a hand on my shoulder, keeping me sane with just a simple reassuring touch.

Most of the time, I was just wandering around the beach picking up shells to examine, only to put them back down again. I didn't feel any sense of purpose nor satisfaction from doing it, and playing with these broken shells just reminded me of myself. Broken, shattered, thin and fragile. I just had nothing better to occupy my time with, especially since Minseok kept darting here and there to take photos.

"That's a beautiful shell you've picked up," Minseok says as he comes up behind me, his camera in hand. He snaps a shot before I could say anything in response, then checks it, nodding in approval with a cheerful hum.

He starts to walk away, balancing precariously on the rocks; I was exploring the rock pools at the end of the beach because every day there was something new, something different. I watch his retreating back, and begin to climb my way down from my perch on a large boulder. "A-ah, wait for me," I call out, picking up my shoes, my feet already used to the slippery and slimy surfaces around the rock pools.

When I finally catch up to him, Minseok is waiting for me by his car, leaning against the door with his camera forever in his hand. I think he's taking pictures of me, but when I reach him, slightly out of breath, he's tucking the camera back into its bag. Guess not. "Why do you keep coming out here for pictures? In the midst of winter too," I ask, as he hands me a towel to dry off my feet.

He shrugs. "I like the quietness. There aren't people around asking me if I could take their photos either," he says, looking a little put out at the thought. "Rather annoying when I'm trying to concentrate."

"What are you doing this for?" I continue to ask. My curiosity was getting the better of me, but I couldn't help it, not when Minseok continuously brought us out here for the past fortnight. I've been staying as a freeloader for two weeks already. "You don't have to tell me," I quickly add afterwards, waving my hands around.

"I'm working towards holding a solo exhibition," he tells me, opening the door for me and waiting for me to get inside. "It's at the beginning of next year," he continues, "And I want to capture the best photos for it, but I haven't worked out a theme yet."

I only let out a single syllable, "Oh," then turn and buckle my seatbelt. So he has a goal to work towards and here I am sitting in his car and probably getting in his way. All I've done is help him wash dishes and do laundry; I have acquired quite the skills for household chores anyway, might as well put them to use.