As soon as her tears dried, Maeri directed them back to where the teachers were resting, moving without a single word and just letting Mingyu follow her with a guilty conscience. They sat on one of the coffee shop’s tables, and waited for time to pass, surrounded by stone cold silence. She wouldn’t look at him, even after noticing his constant careful gaze.

Time passes, and the tour starts again, and still without words, the two walk around with the group. But neither was really focused on listening to the teachers, or admiring the beautiful locations. Their minds were filled with issues, which slowly boiled strongly under their stiff exteriors.

But Mingyu couldn’t bear it. He was feeling terrible about what happened, and constantly thinking about it wouldn’t get him anywhere. He felt bad, and thought about apologizing multiple times already, so he finally decided to actually do it.

He had no idea what her reaction would be, but he’d be honest, and try his best to let her see his regret.

He knew he wouldn’t be able to stop and talk, so what he did was simply move closer to her, walking with their arms practically grazing against each other. And in a whisper that only she could hear, he starts his apology.

“I’m sorry about earlier.”

He said, but got absolutely no reaction from her. She just continued to stare ahead, serious and collected, as if she was an empty hard-shell, incapable of any feelings. But he knew better, the previous day that they spent together taught him that she had a lot of hidden emotions under that cold exterior.

“I wasn’t thinking straight, this string thing really got to me. I’m sorry, okay?”

He tried one more time, and again, there was no reply. His already low energy started to fade, but he made an effort to give her at least a comforting thought before he fully went into silence again.

“Just hold on a bit more, and tomorrow you’ll be free of me. You’ll never have to talk to me again, okay?”

He didn’t expect any reply, since she had only been silent so far, but with that last statement, he saw her expression soften up, the sadness that rested within finally showing itself again.

“Okay…”

She quietly replied, her weak and defeated voice bringing a sharp pain onto Mingyu’s heart. He definitely preferred dealing with her when she was mad and screaming at him, than seeing her like that.

Their afternoon and dinner passed by quite slowly, a suffocating tension still present between them. Maeri had softened, and become more compliant, responding and engaging in his conversation, but the heavy gloom of her feelings was still painted over her face.

After they had once again escaped to the storage room – which was still the same way as they had left it in the morning, letting them know that no one really went there after all – the two were truly exhausted. They settled down in the cleared out spot, and readied themselves for another uncomfortable night.

A minute or two had passed in still silence, as both stared out at nothing, their minds full of complicated thoughts.

“Mingyu?”

Maeri suddenly called out, sounding rather hesitant.

“Yes?”

Mingyu replied right away, turning to look at her. But she didn’t turn to him, she didn’t seem to want to, she just stared out straight ahead, a suffered look on her face. She was struggling to even start, but Mingyu let her get to it on her own, afraid that if he pushed her to speak she would end up giving up.

“I…”

She started, pausing right away and closing her eyes. She gulped and frowned, but then when she opened her eyes again, her face was filled with determination.

“I choose not to have any friend.”

She finally said. She was opening up; she didn’t even know why, but the subject stayed in her head the entire day, and the only way to get it out seemed to be talking about it, so that’s what she would do.

Mingyu was silent, watching her, waiting for her to continue at her own pace.

“When I was little, I was bullied a lot. For absolutely no reason, everyone seemed to hate me, and the more I tried to fit in, the worse it got.”

Her words felt heavy, and the more she spoke, the more she started feeling light-headed; she felt like she was getting sick just for talking about it.

“There came a point when I gave up trying, and that was the best thing I ever did. Because at least when I was by myself, I could try to be happy.”

She gulped once more, not to regain courage, but to burry down some stingy tears that threatened to surface.

“Because kids and teenagers… They really enjoy hurting others. They… They only care about their own amusement, and are willing to trample over other’s wellbeing to just get a laugh out of them.”

She was getting chocked up, and the words were getting really difficult to come out. But she didn’t want to stop. She started it, she should finish. And Mingyu patiently waited. She could see him through her peripheral, kindly staring at her, attentive to her words, to her little motions.

“I don’t think it’s worth it to go through such suffering just to be able to say that I fit in, and that I have many friends. I rather have none, than have a thousand fake ones.”

She finally turned to look at him. It was curious, in his face, in his eyes, she saw all of those nasty feelings, those exact feelings she was trying to explain. And she also saw his compassion, his care. His eyes glistened, and the emotions within them threw hers overboard.

“You know,”

Mingyu started, quickly taking a look down and blinking multiple times, as if he was trying to blink away non-existent tears.

“I think you’ve probably haven’t met any good people yet. And that , because they’re out there. There are good kids, and good teens, people that only want the best to their friends, and that would never willing try to cause pain onto others.”

The boy slowly explained, making sure his words were getting through to her. And he was, but she was resistant against his message; her opinion was engraved too deep into her being.

“But what about your friends then?”

She asked, and Mingyu looked a bit confused. But she quickly continued, bringing out the memory of the conversation she overheard.

“At the beginning of the trip they were all excited, talking about hooking up with some girls, talking about them as if they were objects that they can pick and choose like they’re nothing but something made to entertain them.”

She described very carefully, not wanting to offend or hurt Mingyu in the process, but still wanting to get her point across. But much to her surprise, Mingyu reacted with a light laugh.

“You’re misunderstanding them.”

He started, a kind smile resting on his face while he continued.

“Guys often talk like that to pretend that they’re tougher than they really are. I bet that they all have a certain girl that they like, but they won’t admit to it. I think they’re scared that their friends will tease them because of it.”

He explains, but once again she’s not convinced.

“But see, that’s just what I’m trying to say. It’s mean to tease and make fun of someone for liking someone else.”

She said, and Mingyu nodded, agreeing with her.

“But Maeri, just because those guys are afraid of that, it doesn’t mean that it’s what’s going to happen. If a friend of mine came to me saying that they liked someone, I wouldn’t make fun, I’d be glad for them. I’d give them support, and if they ever felt scared to confess, and needed someone to talk to, I’d be there to encourage them.”

Finally Mingyu’s words were making sense to Maeri. She looked at him with complete attention, engaged to hear what he was saying.

“Some fears aren’t rational, and sometimes people don’t even know why they still have them.”

There’s a subtle pause, where he stared straight into her eyes.

“Like you.”

He suddenly continued, and she felt a spark ignite inside her chest.

“You’ve been hurt in the past, so now you have become afraid to let anyone close to you, thinking that they’ll hurt you too.”

He explains, and she opens to intervene, but he talks over her, continuing.

“And your fear is valid, it comes from previous abuse; you experienced it first-hand. But it’s also partially irrational, because you are unifying everyone into one group, the ‘bad people’. ”

That really shook her, making strange feelings start to come into play.

“If you just decide to keep everyone away like that, you’ll never find those people that will be nice to you. You’re not just pushing away the people that might cause you harm, but also the people that might bring you happiness.”

His deep words were truly heartfelt, and she could see he was really passionate about making her understand his point. And she was; she was seeing the reason behind it. That was what was causing the tears to come to her eyes, the tightness in her chest just further encouraging her to