"When you get a new heart, will I still be in there?" She says, barely a whisper. "Will I still be in that heart?"
"You're not just in my heart," Jeongguk replies truthfully. "You're in the blood flowing through my veins, you're in my mind, you're u...
"He wondered how it could have taken him so long to realize he cared for her, and he told her so, and she called him an idiot, and he declared that it was the finest thing that ever a man had been called."
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Jeongguk has never been shy of a little rain. As a kid he had embraced the wet days, his mother would stare mournfully from the window, but he would have on his rubber boots out he'd go; splashing, jumping, drinking the falling drops in his open mouth.
But today is an exception. The day looks much gloomier than others. The raindrops that send pitter-patter sounds onto the window of his room seemed to be mocking him as his own tears fell under his blanket where he had curled himself and hugged his knees to his chest.
Lonely. He feels lonely.
He can taste the metallic of his own blood on his tongue, a result of biting the insides of his cheeks too hard during the call with his mother a half hour ago.
"Adeuli, we're still low on budget."
"What if we get a loan?"
"We have too many other loans, Jeongguk-ah."
Silence.
"I promise that I'll work harder so I can be back faster. You're a strong man, you understand?"
More silence as Jeongguk bit back the urge to break down and cry during the call. Even with the overwhelming flow of emotions coming in, the last thing he wanted is for his mother to hear him crying. He didn't want to burden her more than she already was.
So he did what most children would do. Or wouldn't. He said okay, I'll wait.
For a whole two weeks he'd waited for the day his mother would come back to his side, only to have his hopes crushed. Just why did we have to be so poor? What did we do wrong?
The ache in his heart grows more and more by time. He muffles a sob under his blanket, trying to savage any happy thoughts he can get to help him stop crying. Thoughts like his mother bringing him to a carnival for the first time; his mother dressing him up for Halloween when he was 12, his mother buying him a beautiful birthday cake; Jimin and his cheerful smile; Yerim teaching him how to paint; Yerim bringing him on an adventure; Yerim telling him that she liked him.
Happy thoughts are supposed to be make you happy. But why do they make him sadder?
Drowning in his own sorrows, he doesn't notice the door sliding open and a figure entering until he feels the slight exert on the bed by his feet. And then the blanket is pulled off his head and he's faced with a very concerned Yerim.
"Hey what are you doing- oh, are you okay? Why are you crying?" She panics and jumps off the bed to retrieve a roll of tissue from the table. Jeongguk immediately wipes his tears with the back of his hand.
