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“If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the eons, it’s that you can’t give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it” – Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Rick Riordan.

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*

JUNHO

I woke up feeling good. I don’t know why. Maybe it was just the feeling of being back in Seoul. Or I had really good conversations with someone who barely knew me. As I got up from the bed, my phone rang. And I froze. I had completely forgotten to call Chansung as soon as I reached. I looked over the screen praying it wasn’t Chansung. It was.

. I’m screwed.

“Hello?” I said in a low voice.

“Do you like taking advantage of the fact that I care for you?” He wasn’t shouting but he was pissed off completely. I could feel the anger though I was miles away from him

“H-hey. I forgot to call you”

“How can you forget to call me?! I had such bad thoughts thinking you…” his voice slowed down. He didn’t even like to speak about what could have happened to me.

“I’m sorry, I should have called you” I said looking down at my feet, as if he was standing in front of me.

“Yeah. You should have” he snapped

After a short pause, he asked “Did you meet someone?”

My eyes widened. “How did you know?”

“You forgot to call ME. Something really must have happened. And the only thing which makes you go weak in the knees and forget almost everything important is – PEOPLE”

“Woah”

“Yah. I know you since 8 years. I’m your therapist. How can I not know at least that much about you?”

“Genius”

“So who did you meet?”

“This guy called Wooyoung, Jang Wooyoung. He’s Minjuns secretary. Not exactly but he does some stuff for him it seems”

“Stuff? What stuff? I don’t understand”

“Neither did I. But the thing is, he’s an amazing guy. You know he used to work in a library when he was in high school. Isn’t that cool? He helped me arrange my house yesterday. He loves cookies because his middle school crush gifted him cookies on his birthday. He even made me buy cookies though I don’t eat them. I had my meals with him yesterday and don’t worry, I didn’t forget to take my pills”

“That’s Interesting”

“What is?”

“It’s the first time you’ve told me something about someone other than Minjun. You’re excited Junho. I’ve never seen you excited. And you were smiling when you were speaking about him. Right?”

I paused my thinking for a moment and turned myself to the mirror. Yeah, I was smiling. And…were my cheeks red?

“You’re blushing now?” he asked doubtfully. He had a playful smirk, I could feel it.

“No” I said sharply.

“Yes you are. You even slept well yesterday”

“How can you say that?”

“I just do. From your voice”

“You’re creeping me out”

“Oh really? Yeah, now that you have a new friend, I guess I don’t mean anything”

“Shut up. I never said that. I’ve done that once and I don’t plan on doing that again”

There was a small pause as he sighed. He probably didn’t mean what he just said and he realized it hurt me. But I wasn’t mad at him for saying that. It was true after all.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to –“

“No its okay. Doesn’t matter. I know you didn’t mean it” I cut him.

“Okay. Umm…spend more time with that guy, whoever he is. It’ll help you”

“Yeah, okay”

“You’re good right?”

“As in?”

“You’re feeling good right?”

“Weirdly, better than ever”

“That’s great. Okay, I have a patient now. I’ll call you later okay?”

“Yeah sure”

“Bye” and he hung up.

I fell on the bed again with my arms spread. I guess I had a small smile on my face. I didn’t know why I was so happy. Maybe it was because I spoke to someone who didn’t judge me for my nervousness and…maybe because I made a friend. It was a big thing for me, to make a friend.

And then my phone buzzed a message notification.

‘Good luck for the first day of work! Be confident with Minjun. I know you won’t mess up!’

It felt like a stone fell on my heart. I should be scared. But I wasn’t. Instead I felt this determination and…something else. I didn’t know. I just got the guts to face him