Dreamer | Jung Hoseok [Discontinued]

Twenty Eight

"My dad was the most temperamental man I have ever seen and when he got mad that one time at my mom about the expenses...he snapped." I whimpered with a small, stone hard laugh, "He blurted out everything in one breath...like it was nothing for him."

I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see a little girl wearing a floral dress and pigtails, holding a tissue. She extended her arm expecting me to take it.

I was speechless.

"Minyoung! You stupid girl! Come back here!" The seller from the food-stall behind us boomed.

The girl flinched and dropped the tissue on my lap before sprinting behind the stall with - who I assumed to be - her father.

I shot a side-glance at Hoseok who was still staring at the ground, chewing the inside of his cheek. He was rubbing his shoe against the cement ground, making scraping sounds.

He suddenly spoke, "Use the tissue."

I have never heard such sorrow and venom in his voice which took me aback. 

I stared at the tissue in my lap before looking back to see the same little girl peaking from behind the stall immedietely hiding again.

I heard Hoseok sigh loudly and grab the tissue from my lap, crunching it into a ball and starting to dab my tear-filled cheeks with his head lowered.

"I had no idea." He snickered, "You were shy and timid, but cheerful inside. I thought the cheerful side was just your inner-self..."

He continued.

"That side turned out to be one of the outer ones too, huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I furrowed my eyebrows as he stopped dabbing and looked me straight in the eye.

His eyes were glossy.

"You're actual inner-self was broken and attacked..." He said, "Tell me, what was the reason you were crying that night?"

"W-which night?"

"Don't act like you don't remember."

I broke our intense eye-contact and played with my fingers, "Take a guess."

He sighed and jolted up to stand straight. He grabbed my hand to make me stand. I wobbled a bit but he held me in place. 

To my surprise, he knelt down, facing away from me and said, "Hop on,"

My eyes widened as I sniffled, "Absolutely not."

"You're tired as it is, you don't wanna be walking all the way back to your house." He said.

My cheeks flushed a darker shade of red than it already was, "But-"

"You know I hate watching a dear friend so gloomy."

Those words rang in my ear. 

Nostalgia.

He really hasn't changed.