insomnia hotline⠀ choi yeonjun

2

chapter two.
insomnia hotline.

i dialed the phone number rian gave me. it's been ten minutes but no one is still picking up the phone. i reached 12:16 at midnight debating if i should call or not, but now that i am, i guess the hotline is busy and already full of costumers?

after a few more seconds of feeling nervous, finally the ringing sound has stopped, and there was a slight pause before someone spoke, "hello, you've reached insomnia hotline," it's a male, and the voice is kind of familiar, but whatever, all voices sound familiar to me nowadays. "h-hello. is this hotline always busy?" i asked first before anything else. ugh, i'm so cringey.

"please call me mr. moon as in the moon during the night. would you like me to save your number?" he asked after a good short pause, completely ignoring my question. "u-umm. okay." i answered anyway, stuttering. why is this shit even making me nervous? it's not like i'm doing omegle or something- it's just a phone call in the middle of the night.. with a random stranger.

"in what contact name?" he proceeded to ask, "o-oh.. give me a second." i excused myself, suddenly thinking of a random code name. damn, mr. moon sounds so badass, while i'm here debating if i should go for midnight woman or whatever. fuck! "u-umm, is my real name okay?" i ask him.

"i'll go with whatever you're comfortable with, ma'am." judging by his voice, he sounds like.. some teenager to early twenties? or maybe he's actually an old bag full of wrinkles? heh- "yunhee." i expose my real name slash risk myself at getting kidnapped and killed.

mr. moon didn't reply for a few seconds, and i guess he just saved my number. "insomnia hotline isn't very busy. we're small and only have four members. people rarely ever calls us." he finally spoke. and answered my question!

"i heard you guys kind of talk about problems and stuff like that.. correct?" i ask, tossing and turning on my bed. i look like a complete loser being this nervous and amused tonight, "that is correct. do you want to talk about anything?"

"i.. don't know." wow, now i'm suddenly going to pussy my way out? after calling all the way here?

"well, since when did you start having trouble sleeping?"

i gulp on my saliva and stare at the ceiling, that's a really good response to an 'i don't know', now i'm a little calmer. "i don't remember. it's just that.." i might be telling this to someone who knows my boyfriend, but where else can i vent my feelings aside from this random hotline? "my boyfriend is cheating on me.. my friends know about it but they won't tell me."

"sounds like you have really bad friends,

and a boyfriend."

"and a life."

"you can solve problems like that, don't say that." mr. moon talks in a really soothing voice, like he's really the moon during a dark night. "everything will be okay." he says, "don't worry."

"i feel like the whole world is against me.. everything's only going bad, not good." i told him, dramatically, and that took a lot of strength and courage to say. i almost feel like i'm tired tonight, i want to cry, but i also feel like i could just fall asleep anytime now.

"well, you called insomnia hotline, so that's something going good!" he replied in a really cheerful tone, "also, i'm not against you."

but then again, as i feel like i could sleep anytime now- i'm not going to able to sleep.

"until how long can we talk, mr. moon?" i ask the other line. he hummed as he thinks about it, making me smile. "i can stay up all night, ms. yunhee, i'm crazy as heck."

i let out a chuckle, "this hotline should get viral," i compliment, mr. moon also chuckle at what i say, "thanks! but that would be a mess. we prefer staying lowkey."

"will you be up tomorrow too?" shit, i'm running out of things to say, this is getting a little awkward for me. "always."

"will you be playing tomorrow too?" i ask yeonjun, scratching the back of my head, he gave an awkward smile as he does the same, "a-always."

i sigh as i recall choi yeonjun again. he's always somewhere in my mind, randomly making his way at random times. and tonight had to be one of the nights. oh- now i'm suddenly reminded of that transfer student! he kind of sounds like mr. moon, but, i guess it's just because it's on the phone.

"are you asleep?" mr. moon asked, making me realize that i didn't reply to his line. "a-ah.. sorry. your line just reminded me of someone back then."

"you want to talk about him?"

"is that okay with you?"

"of course."

¤

"hey. have you heard about insomnia hotline?" i ask yieung. she shrugged her shoulders, answering- "yeah. those creepy pieces of shit." i glare at yieung as she says this, but because she's my friend, i instead just let out laugh and agree with her, which is totally the opposite of what i wanted to do.

"oh, have you heard?" gaeun tapped her index finger on the table, "a rumor about that thing." she added, i raised my brows and leaned in to hear her better, and so did yieung. "some of the members are from our school." gaeun informed.

"hey, no way." yieung slapped gaeun's arm in disbelief. i let out a snicker and roll my eyes away, "they're minors, you say?" i ask her, gaeun pouted and started getting a little mad. "just rumors! i don't know shit, okay? i never got to talk to one of them!" she exclaimed.

"you, have you called them?" yieung asked me, i gulped on my saliva. the question is, am i supposed to answer this? can i tell them the truth? ㅡ "no. why would i?" i answered slash asked, scoffing at myself, laughing. the two looked at each other then laughed at the same time. "i know, right?" yieung smiled at me.

she's- making fun of me, right? in this really weird way?

not gonna lie, i wish i was sitting next to rian right now, she'd probably talk about the hotline with me in a really good mood. these two only make me feel like shit, they make me lie to look good.

gaeun wiped her fake tears from laughing at me, "hey, if you call that shit we're really unfriending you." she threatened? i got nervous as i shake my head with a cool smile.

"never," i replied.

if you need help, reach out to family, friends, mental health professionals, or a local helpline.