Fallacy • Jeonghan [1]

22

^Jeonghan is such a mom

I didnt edit this sorry I'm sleepy af

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Lia

We arrived at Ulsan by ten. Hoshi cancelled the meeting in the morning, and we all rushed to catch the bus.

The Home was different. Everything was gloomy – how did all of the happiness flip when it was just yesterday they were smiling?

My eyes landed on Shia, staring at her brother. Her only family left was him, they went through hard times together. When their parents left, they stood up for each other, even if the boy was still young.

"Eonnie…" Shia tugs my sleeve. She wasn't crying, her eyed were dry. But surely misery shone in her eyes.

I pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back.

Shia couldn't bear to look at the funeral – she left earlier. I followed her, and we both went to her brother's room.

"Its okay to cry." I say.

Shia didn't reply, but kept going through his old clothes, his books.

"Max was a gifted child," she says, smiling. I agreed.

He was. Max lost his left eye in an accident, but was still able to see with his right. He had lots of talents, mostly art. Shia told me he was different from other kids. Instead of going out and play, he would sit in a corner and draw whatever that crosses his mind.

And his artworks were just a masterpiece.

"Shia, don't hold back, please." I say. It was painful for me to see her smile on her brother's funeral.

"I can't cry," she says "I need to stay strong for him."

"Both of you have stayed strong for too long, sometimes you need to break down and cry."

She hesitated. But soon tears pooled in her eyes without realizing.

"I can't cry," She denies, wiping her tears away furiously using her sleeve "I can't cry…."

• • • • •

We didn't stay long at the Home, though the caretaker did invite us for lunch. Eventually we left after that, to go back.

Shia made me promise to text her lots, and she told me about how Hoshi texted her five minutes after they exchanged numbers, how he started the conversation with just a :3 face.

She even changed his contact name to hoshtokki, which was so cute my feels I can't-

Shia was finally happy — not like fully happy but she healed. Sometimes I would catch her spacing out for no reason, but I just let her be. And Hoshi and his lame jokes are there for her.

We said goodbye and boarded the bus.

Jeonghan ditched me for Seungcheol hyung, and they sat togrther to talk about parental stuff. Maybe. I let them be, Seungcheol hyung ain't that free so consider that he's having some healing time with Jeonghan.

I ended up sitting with Chan at the back of the bus – because he dragged me there – and he told me what his friends told him about Max.

"They said maybe it was a snake," He explains, hands flying all over the place as he went on "there was a bite mark on his right ankle. So maybe it was the snake's venom."

"But that doesn't sound logic? The snake's poison couldn't be that poisonous…are there even snakes in that area?" I say, questioning what Chan said. Chan shrugged as heheaved a sigh, and sunk in his seat.