𝙄𝙇𝙊𝙈𝙄𝙇𝙊⚠︎𝙉𝘾𝙏 𝘿𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙈

21

Myunghee fell deep asleep after that event, her phone piled up with missed calls and notifications that she was too deep in slumber to even notice, she shifted slightly on her mattress to find a position more comfortable, tightly tugging on the blanket as she was once again, drifting back to sleep till her phone rung. This time she heard it clearly and the need for slumber was leaving her consciousness in response. She sighed before rolling over to the side of the bed where her little teapoy stood, the sun was out and it looked like it was afternoon already. Not much of a bad thing, considering that she fell asleep only around 6 in the morning.

The time in her phone read 4 PM, which explained why the sun was so merciless at the time of day and she groaned, lifting herself up to check her notifications.

Many messages from her groupchat, she didn't want to mute the chat and so she just let it be, looking at the chats it seemed as though the rest of them woke up by 1 PM at least, she had a few calls from Renjun and Jaemin, her eyes lingering over his number for a few seconds, she bit her lip in anxiety as she thought of the kiss they shared. She didn't want to talk to him over phone after something like that, preferring to see him instead. Myunghee got out of bed to fix herself before she was to attend to any of those calls.

She took a bath to rid of any of the salt water on her skin from last night and once she felt comfortable, the girl stepped out to get dressed in a fresh pair of clothes, she took her phone and walked to the little veranda right beside her room. Her packet of cigarettes in her hand as she read all of their messages, part of them asking where she was, was she still asleep and a lot of dissing and cussing that she was used to by now.

She lit her first cigarette and watched the grey smoke under the sky. It was far too sunny but Myunghee knew she needed some of that, she hadn't stepped out in the sunlight for a while and knew it wasn't the best for her health.

She called Renjun like she planned and waited for the few rings before he finally picked the call.

"Wow, you woke up now? Why bother? You could've just woken up tomorrow," Renjun complained as soon as he picked up and Myunghee couldn't help but breath out a chuckle, her eyes looking at the burnt cigarette between her fingers before she spoke.

"Sorry, guess I passed out real bad," her hoarse sleepy voice made Renjun go back to his normal self instead of being mad at her.

"Well, I called to ask if you wanna hang out maybe?" Renjun asked and Myunghee thought about it for a second.

"Weren't you working?" She asked back.

"I am, till 6 today evening and not one of the boys wanna join my misery so I wanted to ask if you'd wanna, if you're upto something you can pass," Renjun said and Myunghee shook her head though he probably didn't see that.

"I'll join you in sometime, I need to go by the store so I'll be there after," Myunghee said and Renjun smiled on the other side of the phone.

"Thank you so much, I'm dying here," Renjun said and soon enough, the two disconnected and Myunghee left to change into another outfit.

A simple blue jeans and a white hoodie was enough for then and like said, Myunghee went to the local store, smiling at Jinae as she walked in. Myunghee ran her eyes through a few cold drinks, deciding that she'd buy one to have while she's on the way to Renjun's workshop and two more for them to have together.

She thought harder if there was anything else she needed but her attention soon drifted away when she heard muffled cries from the other side of the shelves.

A boy taller than her, jet black hair covering the front of his face as he looked at the packet of cigarettes in front of him. Myunghee could easily tell the boy wasn't a smoker from the way he looked so hesitant infront of the nicotine packets.

Myunghee sighed, ignoring the boy and turning on her heels with the three cans in her hand. She walked to the counter and handed Jinae the drinks who then swiped them followed by Myunghee paying for the items.

Jinae looked over to the boy who came right beside Myunghee and paid for a packet of cigarette. Myunghee didn't turn to look at the boy but she was sure he was crying, the muffled breath hitch and gulping made her sure of this assumption. The two got their packets together but the boy stepped out first, Myunghee bowed in front of Jinae before leaving the convenience store.

She saw the boy seated on a bench that was outside the store and decided to ignore his cries as she walked by him to her car, her steps felt heavier the more she walked away from the crying boy. She sighed, she never meddled into others lives before but ever since meeting the boys, she learnt what compassion truly was. Biting her bottom lip and promising herself that she would leave if the boy got even the slightest bit annoyed by her presence, she turned around when she was at least ten feet away from the boy.

She walked towards him, his hands held his head in position as he cried, aching for air as he continued to sniffle and suffocate in his own tears. Myunghee gulped before sitting beside the boy, on the far end of the bench.

"You okay?" She asked awkwardly, feeling a weight on her chest as she was afraid of his response, she didn't want to look stupid.

The boy didn't look up but his sniffles softened audibly. Myunghee felt pity, something she never did before when she saw another person in this state and the feeling was weird.

"What are you doing here?" The boy's voice was hoarse and deep from all the crying, words cracking in between which made Myunghee bite her lip, she could tell he was very sad but kept contemplating on how to help him.

"Look, I don't wanna be a pain in the ass but whatever it is, it can't be bad enough to push you into doing something you never did before, especially if it ruins your body," Myunghee told and motioned towards the packet of cigarettes from the store that he had in his hands.

"What do you know about it?" He retorted.

"I smoke too man, I can tell you never smoked before," Myunghee said and finally, the boy looked up to her. His hair covered up a lot his forehead and partly his eyes but Myunghee could see just how pained he was, his bloodshot and puffed eyes made her look away.

"Why do you smoke?" The boy asked, in a way disgusted but Myunghee felt nothing, she was used to getting judgemental looks for her habits.

"We all have our ways of controlling the way we feel, in my case it's nicotine but once you get addicted, everything feels hard to do without it, even the easiest things," Myunghee says, feeling his eyes on her when this time, she looked at the ground in front of her.

She gulped reminiscing her awful childhood. Her eyes went to the plastic bag in her hands and she instantly looked up at the boy, lips pale from all the crying and sunken cheeks.

"Let me have it," Myunghee said, motioning to the one packet of cigarette.

The boy looked between her and the packet before feeling it getting taken away from his hands and something cold being placed into them.

"This?" He started.

"Keep it," Myunghee said.

"But, it's more expensive than the cigarette, let me pay you back," he said and fished his pocket but Myunghee stood up straight.

"Keep that, drink it and feel better about whatever it is that you're feeling,  don't try resolving your problems like the rest of the world," Myunghee said and left just like that. Her heart felt warm in her chest and a little smile formed on her face, she felt happy about what she did.

TBC