ʟɪꜰᴇ ꜱᴛᴜᴅɪᴇꜱ || ᴊ.ᴡʏ + ᴄ.ꜱ

Chapter 1

My last client of the day, one coming to see me for the first time, seemed to be running a few minutes late but in my career, a few minutes could mean life or death for some. I picked up my phone to call but shot my head up, hearing a high pitched scream ring out in my building.

I wasted no time getting downstairs as fast as I could, following the repeated screams down to the first floor.

Surrounded by a huge crowd of people that kept getting larger, a boy sat in a chair in the building's cafe holding a piece of glass up to his throat. On the floor close to where he sat, there were more glass shards. 

Someone must have knocked a glass over in the cafe. 

 After reading his file this morning, I learned that he had a history of suicidal tendencies, which is alarming since he's only six years old. Most likely, as soon as he saw those pieces of glass spread on the floor, he had his hand on a jagged piece in a matter of seconds. 

"Honey please put it down. We can go home!" His mother cried out desperately. 

Putting my hands on his mother's shoulders, I reassure her as I pass by, stopping when I'm close enough that the boy can see me clearly. "What can I do for you?" I ask him carefully.

"Nothing!.." a tear rolls down one of his round baby cheeks.

"You're right, I can't help if you do something bad, but I know you won't." He looked at me questioningly so I answered his unasked question. "How do I know?" The boy cocked his head a bit listening to my words. "Because you're scared of yourself. I'm not scared since I know how to make you strong."

He sat there and listened to me talk while his bottom lip stuck out and quivered. He hadn't noticed that I had gotten significantly closer to him than anyone else.

"You don't have to be afraid since I'm here." I held my hand out to him, but due to his severe shock, his brain's reaction resulted in him swinging the glass in my direction, scraping against the side of my own neck. 

"It's not your fault," I told him before he could say anything and wrapped my arms around him.

It was just a tiny scrape but it still bled a little bit. I gently took the glass away from him and as I did he whispered in my ear, "You're the first one who said that...said it's not my fault...thank you." His small voice croaked out through tears.

I then heard his mother scream out, "Choi San just saved my son's life!" and everyone started clapping around me. The sudden noise made her son's body jump in my arms, the boy's state of unstableness making him easily shaken up. 

Standing up with the boy in my arms, I put a finger to my lips to shush the crowd for his sake but smiled in appreciation. A woman from the surrounding crowd that I recognized to be one of my secretaries came over and put a bandage on my neck before the boy's mother rushed up, grabbing onto my arm tightly and thanking me profusely.

"Don't worry at all. Your son will be just fine." I pet the boy's hair and smile at her, hoping my words would give her some peace.

I eventually got them into the elevator to go to my office so we could start his scheduled session.

✥

After our session ended an hour later, I looked at my watch and noticed I needed to pick up my Soojin from school in like ten minutes. Shit. The traffic looks pretty thick. I rushed to grab my keys and caught the elevator just in time. 

By the time I reached my car, I knew I would be late if I didn't speed. But I did. 

My tires made a screeching sound as I quickly parked in the school's parking lot. I got a lot of perturbed looks from parents also waiting for their kids.