The professor called out names for the assignment.
"Song BoRa - Kim TaeHyung"
I stood up from my seat, looking around the classroom for my partner. A boy at the far end of the class stood up, already looking at me, rather staring with an expressio...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
KIM TAEHYUNG's POV
Bora had been behaving weird since the first lecture today. She had been avoiding eye contact with everyone, even Namjoon. So let's not even talk about me. She is the first to leave when the class gets over and last to enter when the class starts. After the fourth lecture for the day was over, she left class before everyone. Namjoon and Sunhi, who were sitting at the bench to my right, also noticed the haste in her actions.
I stood up to chase after her but Namjoon stopped me holding my arm. "Give her some time. She will be fine. Talking to her right now is not the best choice at the moment."
"And leaving her alone when she needs us the most is the best choice?" I snapped back, irritated by the casual attitude Namjoon had. He is her friend since long and this is how he reacts in situations like these? "Let me talk to her." I said and left to chase after Bora who had probably left for wherever she was headed to.
I looked for her in the canteen but she wasn't there. I asked a girl, who happened to be our classmate, coming out of girls' washroom if Bora was inside. She looked at me like I asked her for a tampon. Come on girl, answer my question!! She shook her head and left. I sighed and looked for every place I could expect her to be, library, empty classrooms, garden but couldn't find her anywhere. She wasn't even picking up my calls. Feeling dejected, I sat on a bench at the garden I came up to look for her.
I don't know, but somehow I felt she desperately needed to talk to someone and relieve all the burden she had been piling up in her mind. She had not contacted anyone in the past one week. And by the situation at her home that Namjoon enlightened me with, she didn't talk much to her mom too. On the top of that, staying at home, without any fresh air or human contact, I am sure any human would go crazy by now. I rested my elbows at my knees and my face in my hands. Where are you, Bora?
And as if God was listening to my desperate calls, I heard someone sniffing as if he/she was crying. I looked around but couldn't find anyone. But I did realize that it was the same bench that Bora and I often sat on to discuss for our project. I immediately went behind the bench and across the bushes; I found a painfully beautiful sight.
Bora was sitting cross-legged, her back facing me, with the puppies around her. These puppies are growing so fast. The last time we saw them, they couldn't even walk properly and kept falling. And now they are all jumping around, licking her hands, trying to reach and jump up to her lap. She was petting them with one hand and wiping her tears with the other hand. She didn't notice me standing behind her until one of the puppies came running towards me. Her gaze followed the direction puppy ran to and found me looking at her. She quickly turned forward, wiping her tears. I held the puppy and went towards her.
"What are you doing here?" She asked; her voice cracking and barely audible due to crying.
"I came to meet the puppies." I lied and sat down next to her. There was silence surrounding us. She didn't speak up and I hesitated, not knowing how to start the talk with her. Before I could utter a word, she started getting up to leave. I panicked seeing her leaving, so I held her hand to stop her.
"Stay. I want to talk to you." I asked with my eyes probably giving the pleading look. She tried to avoid looking at me.
"I have to leave. I'll talk to you later." She replied, trying to get out of my hold.
I tightened my grip. "I want to talk to you, now. Please." I sounded desperate as if I need her help. She finally looked at me, thought for a while and sat again. Her eyes were swollen and red, her face was pale and weak. She had lost the charm and the sweet smile she always used to have on her face. What is she doing with herself? Why is she doing this to herself?
"What do you want to talk about?" She asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"You." I replied. She looked at me surprised, and then looked back the grass we were sitting on.
"What about me?" She knew what was coming but tried to act obliviously.
"Hmm. Let's start with why you were crying?" She got uncomfortable with my question and started plucking grass. I waited for her answer but she acted as if she didn't hear me the first time. I held her hands that were playing with the grass, making her look at me.
"You need to speak, Bora. You can't keep all that within yourself. You need to lighten your heart or else it will keep troubling you." Her eyes welled up at my words with tears threating to stream down her face. I turned towards her fully, held both her hands and made her turn towards me.
"You can talk to me. I am here for you. But please don't trouble yourself." She cried freely now. I wanted to hug her but I didn't. I was afraid of crossing her private space since she is not in her best emotional state right now. But she cried inconsolably. I let go of my hesitation and hugged her. I gently rubbed her back to calm her down, even though I wanted to cry her heart out at that moment.
"I know nothing is going well right now. But don't lose hope. One day, the black clouds that are hovering in your life will go away and you'll finally see the sun shining brightly for you. Trust me, it will. But you got to stay strong." Once I completed, her hands which were lifelessly lying in her lap, hugged me back tight. She cried bitterly.
"I –I can't" She mumbled in my chest, almost difficult for me to understand what she said. "I –I can't stay s-strong." She said, in between her sobs. My heart shattered listening to her vulnerable voice. Her always cheery and chirpy voice now had no life in it. The one who is always ready to fight me is now fighting a war with herself. A war, that doesn't need to be fought. A war, that is destroying her.
She doesn't deserve this. She deserves happiness, not this. I hugged her tighter.
___________________
[A/N]
Hi!
If you are feeling low, want to rant about something, someone or life in general or just want to talk about how life is shit, hit me up. You can message me on wattpad, or on twitter. (My twitter - @not_a_sunshine)
Let's TALK about the problems we go through and not suffer alone.
