COME BACK HOME ➤ KIM TAEHYUNG

GUARDIAN | page 03

He was crying.
He was curled up in a corner and crying.

Why was he crying?

I rushed over, crouching down in front of him. I wanted to reach out and touch him but I didn't know how he'd react. I raised my hand a couple times but I couldn't bring myself to do anything, I let my arms drop. I was glad he couldn't see my lame attempts at comfort since his face was covered by his hands.

"What happened?" I forced myself to speak, I couldn't stand seeing him in this state.

"Good timing, sunshine!" he exclaimed, attempting to feign cheerfulness and force a smile. I frowned. His sobs and choked up voice gave him away anyway.

My heart felt bad for him.

"Talk to me."

He took deep hiccupy breaths to try and calm himself down, he finally removed his hands from his face but he didn't look at me. He dropped his arms, staring hard at the ground.

He was quiet, as if he was struggling to say anything. That only worried me more.

I pushed myself to move closer to him, I felt as if something was resisting against me but I pushed that feeling down. I carefully wrapped my arms around his body. He was usually tall and intimidating, seeing him so small and vulnerable felt wrong. I felt like I wasn't supposed to see this.

He froze, as I expected. It took a minute but slowly and hesitantly, his arms wrapped around my waist.

I just let him breathe, I don't know how long we were sitting like that for since I didn't have any sense of time at all. I just felt like he needed someone.

"Y-you're cold," his voice was hoarse and weak.

"I'm sorry."

He let out a breath, chuckling quietly, I felt him tighten his hold on me.

"I miss my friends, my only family," he whispered, tilting his head so his chin wasn't resting on my shoulder anymore but his cheek instead, "my life. I miss it so much. I don't do well by myself."

"I assume you can't go to them?"

"No," he said lowly, "I can't. I know I look serious and cold and mean but I'm not- I'm not that tough. I'm faking everything."

I frowned: "That's okay. You're human. No one has to be that tough. You'll still be scary to me at times after this."

I heard a bitter chuckle, he slowly pulled himself away from me and stared into my eyes.

"I don't want to be human anymore. I'm insecure, I'm weak and I'm probably not fit to act like a teacher to you. I can't stand being alone- I hate it so much, Riza! I just want it all to be over."

"Stop, please stop talking like this," I begged, holding my hands on his shoulders, my heart was screaming at me to help him, "you don't have to be perfect, you don't have to be anything, just be yourself, please. I'm with you. Just hold onto me. You're not alone."

I didn't mind the silence as he stared at me, processing every single word I said to him. I listened to his heavy breaths and my slowing pulse.

I felt something underneath me shift and I glanced down. We were on a couch now, it was grey, and soft. I was on the left end of it, a comfortable looking pillow was behind me but the last thing I cared about at the moment was my comfort.

I lifted my gaze to see him attempting to smile at me, it looked far too sad to be called a smile. He gently pushed my body into the pillow, telling me to get comfortable, I was confused but did as told anyway.

What I didn't expect was for him to lean his head on my chest and wrap his arms around me.

"I just need a moment of comfort, please," he mumbled, I imagined his eyes were shut and cheeks were puffy.

"Okay."

It seemed that today was my body more in control than my mind, since my hands instinctively went to brush through his dark, curly hair. A feeling started blossoming inside me.

"You are my mentor and I will be your guardian, always here for you," I whispered to myself, a surge of satisfaction ran through me.