2PM

My Heart
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Title: Dinner for One
Genre: angsty fluff
Prompt Used: You don't need a reason to help people.

 

Minjun's eyes blinked open and he stared up at the ceiling above him. It was Christmas morning, the day of joy and happiness and presents and fellowship, and yet he couldn't even find the motivation to pull himself out of bed. 

He was spending Christmas alone this year.

Minjun had lived most of his life with few family and friends around him. His parents had divorced when he was young, a messy affair that left him with only one or the other for any holidays. By the time he was ten or eleven, they had stopped bothering to care and sent him to live with his grandfather instead. Honestly, it was the best thing that he could have asked for. 

His grandfather was kind and funny and steady, a good influence on a troubled young boy who had only had his parents to learn from. The years spent with him were the best of Minjun's life, and so even after he turned twenty and was in university, he stayed with the elderly man. Between classes and homework, he helped care for the small house that his grandfather owned there in a small town in Gangwon-do, cleaning and helping out around the house... as long as he was not doing the cooking. They had a casual understanding that he was not good in the kitchen and so as long as he was willing to help clean up, his grandfather took care of making the meals. 

With that arrangement, Minjun lived with his grandfather for the next several years, forming a friendship with the older man. Even after he graduated University, he didn't go out of his way to make more friends; his grandfather was his best friend and he needed no one else.

He started work in his field of choice, working at the local pharmacy as a technician, helping to parcel out medications for people when they came to fill their prescriptions. The old doctor had been there for as long as he could remember, and when Minjun had applied for the job, he had accepted the application immediately. They worked well together, comfortable and easy, much like working with his grandfather.

It seemed that this year was meant to be a year of losses, though. Minjun's grandfather had fallen ill in the early spring and despite the best of care that he could receive, he had passed away in late May. Minjun had never felt so lost or so alone, and even with all the family and friends that came to the funeral, he felt himself drawing away and falling to pieces. He couldn't let that show, though, couldn't let anyone see what the loss had done to him, and so he threw himself into work with a new vigor.

Anything to keep his mind off of his loss.

Dr. Heo really took him under his wing then, making sure to speak with the young man and encourage him. When Minjun finally broke down one day at work, in the late summer, Dr. Heo was there to comfort him and let him cry out his sadness and loss in a tender hug. Minjun found himself relying on the older man more and more, and so when he retired only a few weeks before Christmas, Minjun had been devastated.

The Heo's had moved away into Busan, though, to be closer to their daughter and grandchildren. Minjun hadn't wanted them to go, had pictured them as part of his own small family, but he had only wished them the best of everything and waved goodbye with a smile. That had been only last week. 

They had gained a new pharmacist in the last few days, but Minjun had only had one shift with the young Doctor. He'd found him to be on the hyper, loud side, with a ready smile for anyone and an infectious happiness about him. Minjun thought that he would enjoy working with Dr. Jang, but only time would tell.

With a sigh, he pulled himself out of bed and ambled toward the bathroom. He stood for a long moment in the doorway, contemplating if he should even bother showering when he was just going to be spending the day alone in his living room, but finally he decided that he should. Stripping quickly, he showered and dried off without wasting any time, before moving to his dresser to select clothing. It was a pair of plain black sweatpants and a comfortable grey sweater that he settled on, and after donning the garments and his slippers, he made his way to the kitchen to follow the call of his grumbling stomach.

Christmas with his grandfather had always been a big deal, complete with a tree and decorations around the entire small house that they shared. This year, he hadn't been able to bring himself to even bother with the decorations, and so as he entered the main section of the house, there was nothi

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-Tigress-
I have dropped out of the competition BUT I will be continuing to try and do these prompts.

Comments

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-Yuan-
#1
Chapter 7: oooooh i remeber your one shot collection!
-Yuan-
#2
i saw a tiny gd in the poster i had to clicke
Amalya
#3
Chapter 8: Bahaha! This was decidedly cute. XD I had no idea what to expect when I saw the update but when I got into it, the whole thing kept getting more delightful. After that intro with the crappy mother anyway. Wench... Good for Hoya though! Especially because it led to such an interesting afternoon and friends after that.

You know me and magical creatures (especially the ones you introduced). hehe I was grinning like an idiot when they introduced themselves too. And Hoya's mental commentary was priceless. Yes, you can think the dragon is y, thank you very much. ;P lol And I really liked that ending too. Such a cute little change of pace from some of your more wrenching tales. ^_^

Great job my dear! <3
Amalya
#4
Chapter 7: D'aw! This was adorable! XD And I totally laughed out loud when Minjun's private side waved the white flag of surrender. So cute! haha

You set the stage so well with this one and it felt like a very believable world. His early home life made me cringe and feel all the sadness and then you filled it with life with his grandfather only to dash my heart against the rocks again. Poor thing. Two times over! Woman... -_- lol But it was interesting seeing his thoughts as he wandered through the house. Felt the loss while he observed and looked for food. When he finally decided to head out (the little details with the clothes were nice too), I suspected what was going to happen but I certainly wasn't disappointed when I was right. haha

I could picture everything at the supermarket really well too. Seeing Taecyeon as a cashier made me giggle but the whole scene with him bumping into the new doctor and whatnot made me smile. Especially the sly way he pulled the bulgogi back and mentioned pie. haha Touche sir. It also had a beautiful ending to a beautiful story.

The one thing I will add is that Minjun's name is missing a letter at one point. If there were other typos, I didn't catch them. Well done my dear! lol <3 A beautiful gift for someone indeed!
DGNA_Forever
#5
Chapter 6: Damn you...This was such a sad story! It was beautiful and I loved it, and it was wonderful how Baro loved him until the very end. This was one of the rare stories that made me tear up, so thanks for that lol...Great story<3.
DGNA_Forever
#6
Chapter 5: I loved how you turned this into a story about a girl and the bond she had with her horse. I could feel their excitement and also their pain while reading this. It was so different from anything else I've read on here, and it was refreshing.
ShimizuTheShizzShota
#7
Chapter 5: Okay that was really awesome, I have to say. And the prompt made sense after reading this, Ailee was so sweet with him. And I of course want moooooooooore in this world and plot T^T
Amalya
#8
Chapter 4: Well color me intrigued by more of the Nysh people. haha I certainly enjoyed the way you built the back story for them (including the effects of the poison and their home planet) and described why they had markings on their hands (potentially) as well as the color change in Haewon's eyes. Touche indeed. I'll agree with DGNA as well in that you do have a pretty good handle on science fiction since none of it felt forced and all fit quite nicely with what you were crafting in your world. In that line of thought, I think my only concern was just that, did they not have any sort of system in place to test the atmosphere before they landed on the planet? Or was it all just supposed to be faith (not gonna lie, I was really intrigued by the appearance of a prominent religious figure in the sci-fi genre and I'm a er for a Goddess in stories anyways) and blind luck that allowed them the ability to survive the next planet? That part was a bit fuzzy is all.

There were a handful of typos but those bloody things are just irritating menaces to be sure. The plot was otherwise solid and you've got a beautiful staging ground for further adventures. I really liked the tension you built into the scene as well, with the power struggles between the Lieutenants and Donghyun's ability to read all of their thoughts, essentially, as well as the manners of the Commander in turn. He handled himself with great aplomb and I giggled at his outward show of emotion at the end there. They kind of remind me of elves a little bit, with their constant composure. lol

Well done indeed and I certainly look forward to more of the Nysh in the future!
ShimizuTheShizzShota
#9
Chapter 4: Hmm that was very interesting. I like the people and the science of their planets and travel. They do make me wonder about their culture (suppressed emotions) and the markings on their hands (how do they get it, and are they born with it?), and all in all, I'd LOVE to see more of this O_O
DGNA_Forever
#10
Chapter 4: You really should write more space stories, because you're good at <3. I really liked this story, and the relationship between Donghyun and Haewon was sweet. I loved the end of it, since it offered hope.