I walk from room to room and flip on all the lights, inspecting what has just become my temporary home. I kind of hate that it’s so nice.
I walk into the kitchen and open the refrigerator.
I grab a bottled water and exit the kitchen to go search for the room. There are two bedrooms, so I take the one that isn’t Corbin’s and set my suitcase on top of the bed. I change into a pair of sweats and a tank top, then brush my teeth and get ready for bed.
I head back to the living room to turn out the lights, but when I’ve rounded the corner, I come to an immediate halt.
Not only is Chaeyoung up off the floor, but he’s in the kitchen, with his head pressed against his arms and his arms folded on top of the kitchen counter. He’s seated on the edge of a bar stool, and he looks as if he’s about to fall off it any second. I can’t tell if he’s sleeping again or just attempting to recover.
“chaeyoung?”
He doesn’t move when I call his name, so I walk toward him and gently lay my hand on his shoulder to shake him awake.
The second my fingers squeeze his shoulder, he gasps and sits up straight as if I just woke him from the middle of a dream.
Or a nightmare.
Immediately, he slides off the stool and on very unstable legs. He begins to sway, so I throw his arm over my shoulder and try to walk him out of the kitchen.
“Let’s go to the couch, buddy.”
He drops his forehead to the side of my head and stumbles along with me, making it even harder to hold him up. “My name isn’t Buddy, it’s Chaeyoung.”
We make it to the front of the couch, “Okay, Chaeyoung. Whoever you are. Just go to sleep.”
He falls onto the couch, but he doesn’t let go of my shoulders. I fall with him and immediately attempt to pull away.
“Sana, don’t,” he begs, grabbing me by the arm, trying to pull me to the couch with him.
“My name isn’t Sana,” I say, freeing myself from his iron grip. “It’s Mina.”
I walk to where the pillow is and pick it up off the floor.
I pause before handing it back to him, because he’s on his side now, and his face is pressed into the couch cushion. He’s gripping the couch so tightly his knuckles are white. At first, I think he’s about to get sick, but then I realize how incredibly wrong I am.
He’s not sick.
He’s crying.
Hard.
So hard he isn’t even making a sound.
I don’t even know the guy, but the obvious devastation he’s experiencing is difficult to witness. I look down the hallway and back to him, wondering if I should leave him alone in order to give him privacy. My first instinct is to walk away, but for some reason, I find myself oddly sympathetic toward him. His pain actually appears genuine and not just the result of an overconsumption of alcohol.
I lower myself to my knees in front of him and touch his shoulder. “Chae?”
He inhales a huge breath, slowly lifting his face to look at me. His eyes are mere slits and bloodshot red. I’m not sure if that’s a result of the crying or the alcohol. “I’m so sorry, Sana,” he says, lifting a hand out toward me. He wraps it around the back of my neck and pulls me forward toward him, burying his face in my neck and shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
I have no idea who Sana is or what he did to her, but if he’s hurting this bad, I shudder to think what she’s feeling. I’m tempted to find his phone and search for her name and call her so she can come rectify this. Instead, I gently push him back into the couch. I lay his pillow down and urge him onto it. “Go to sleep, Chaeyoung,” I say
gently.
His eyes are so full of hurt when he drops to the pillow. “You hate me so much,”as he grabs my hand. His eyes fall shut again, and he releases a heavy sigh.
I stare at him silently, allowing him to keep hold of my hand until he’s quiet and still and there aren’t any more tears. I pull my hand away from his, but I stay by his side for a few minutes longer.
Even though he’s asleep, he somehow still looks as if he’s in a world of pain.
For the first time, I notice a faint, a scar, about four inches long, that runs smoothly across the entire right side of his jaw. It stops just two inches of his lips. I have the strange urge to touch it and run my finger down the length of it, but instead, my hand reaches up to his hair. It’s short on the sides, a little longer on the top, and just the perfect blend of brown andblond. I stroke his hair, comforting him, even though he may not deserve it.
Whatever he did to Sana at least he loves her enough to regret it.
