Tranquility

Progress

Mingyu POV

"That's about it," I say as I finish telling Hui about my successful trip to the coffee shop and my not so successful trip to the hospital.

"Mingyu," he begins. "You're speaking as if you haven't made a huge accomplishment! I know you feel like you failed because you were unable to enter his room, but think about how much you did manage to do. You completely conquered the coffee shop, and on your second visit at that! And even though you may not have entered his hospital room, you still made it inside the building, up four floors, and all the way to his door."

Hearing Hui say it like that manages to perk me up a bit.

"Yeah...I guess I just didn't realize how much progress I made. I was too focused on what I couldn't accomplish."

"Exactly! But now that you realize what you've achieved, how does it feel?" he asks.

"It actually feels really nice," I respond with a small smile.

"That's the spirit," he says. "Now, is there anything else specific you'd like to talk about?"

I think long and hard. What feels like days passes before I'm finally able to even bring up what I want to say. Hui just stays quiet, patiently waiting for me to muster up the courage I need to speak.

"His name," I start quietly.

Hui's eyes widen slightly at that, but he remains calm and quiet as he waits for me to finish my sentence. Another few minutes pass before I finally do.

"Ji-Jihoon. Lee Jihoon," I whisper,  my voice breaking.

I don't even realize that there are tears sliding down my face until Hui wraps his arms around me silently, snapping me back to reality. I slowly raise my arms to hug him back, pulling him closer as my grip on my emotions slowly dissipates.

"Shhh," he hushes me gently. "It's okay Mingyu, you've done well."

We stay like that, Hui only pulling away when I finally manage to regain a hold of myself.

"You've done well," he repeats with a sad smile.

~ ~ ~

"Hi Jinho," I say softly as I approach said man after finishing my session.

"Hey Mingyu," he replies with a smile. "How was it?"

"It was good. A little more emotional than usual, but good."

"That's good!" he says with another smile. "Would you like to come in at the same time next week?"

"Yes please," I respond.

It used to be hard talking to Jinho. Not because he's hard to talk to, but because he's just so similar to...to Jihoon.

"Alright then, you're all set Mingyu" he says after a few minutes of typing on the computer.

"Thank you," I say before waving goodbye and heading home for the evening.

Home being my apartment. Throughout my last couple of sessions with Hui, I've been going to visit what used to be our apartment. The first time, I could only stay for a few minutes before I felt like loosing it. The second time, I managed to stay for around 20 minutes. The time only increased the more I visited.