We finished eating, it was all in silence, Jonghyun was absorbed in his food and I was deep in thought. I pushed back my chair and began to clear the table, I nodded at Jonghyun, “just leave your stuff here I’ll clean it up. You’ve done a lot today go relax, thanks for cooking” I smiled and patted him on the back. He stood up and stretched out his arms, “okay, I will” he responded laughing. I raised my eyebrows, “what’s so funny?” I asked. He continues to laugh and walks off into the living room ignoring my question. I smiled to myself and cleared the remaining dishes off the table; I began to soak the dishes in warm water. Grabbing the sponge from the counter I scrubbed each and every plate while rinsing it twice. I looked over the oven, it was already 8:12pm, I widen my eyes, it took us a little over an hour to eat. I still had to shower and tidy the house a little; quickly I finished off the rest of the plates and rewrapped the leftovers. I wiped my hands on my pants and rushed over to the stairs, my foot gave away and I tripped over the crack between the tile and carpet and fell on my side. “AISH!” I yelled out in pain. Tears sprung into my eyes by the impact, I heard Jonghyun running down the stairs. I saw his brows furrow, “Seo Yeon, are you okay?” he asked and ran to help me up. I held onto his arms, “I’m fine, I just tripped and fell on the wrong side, thank you” I responded. He took a look at my side, “You liar, you’re not okay, your side is bleeding again” he observed. I looked down and sure enough there was a little bit of red bleeding through onto my shirt, I sighed. He began to help me walk up the stairs, my foot was killing me. He was about to bring me into the bathroom but I stopped him, “I’m fine now, I can take care here on, I’ll just take a quick shower and hopefully the bleeding will stop then” I said and gave him a reassuring smile. He scratched his head and agreed, “okay, okay I’ll be outside if you need me.” I thanked him and closed the door. I stripped down and took off the old gauze, the bleeding wasn’t too bad but it hurt, I sat down on the toilet and lifted up my foot and massaged it, my ankle was a little swollen but nothing else. I turned towards the shower and the water; stepping into the warm cascade of water I closed my eyes. I allowed the water to beat against my face, it felt wonderful, it felt as if all my fears were being beaten away. I opened my eyes and finished up. I heard laughter outside the window; I listened more carefully and realized it was Rick and his friends. Panic began to rise and my heart began to beat faster. I quickly brushed my hair, wrapped my side, and threw on my clothes.

Turning off the bathroom lights, I peeked through the window and saw moving shadows, “you think she’s home with her mom?” I heard someone say. “Naw, I doubt anyone is home, did you hear?  her father left them for a girl, and her mom left her for a guy, shows how much they care” Rick stated. Laughter filled the air, I fell to the bathroom floor and angry tears began to fill my eyes. I felt like I was stabbed a hundred times, trying to keep the tears from flowing I started to whimper. The door outside the bathroom began to rattle and Jonghyun pushed through the door, he rushed towards me and embraced me. “Shh, they’re lying Seo Yeon, your father wouldn’t do that, shh” he softly whispered but I could hear the anger through his voice. “Come on guys, we know where she lives now and she lives alone, we’ll meet back here Monday and start the party” Rick snickered. Jonghyun clenched his fist but didn’t say anything. He picked me up and carried me out into my room; a wave of cool air flew through me. By now I was bawling like a baby, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I slid down to the floor and closed my eyes; Jonghyun held on to me and allowed me to cry on his shoulders. “Don’t let the words hurt you Seo Yeon, shh” he whispers and rubbed my back. No matter how he was comforting me the words stuck in my head like glue, ‘another girl’ ‘another guy’ ‘no one cared’. We both sat there for an hour, not once did Jonghyun let go of me he just let me cry it all out. My eyes were drying out and my tears would now occasionally drop. He lifts my head up a little and wiped off the remaining tears on my cheeks. I looked up at him, “will my life always be like this, huh? Will I always sit here and bawl out my eyes about my messed up life and always have to bother you to make me feel better?” I asked. He lets go of my face and pulled me in closer to him, “no, it won’t always be like this because you will be stronger the next time around, you will have the courage one day to push the negative thoughts out” he responded. I closed my eyes and listened to his heartbeat, “then courage come faster, I’m withering away from this pain” I whispered. –End-