Chapter  Two “A  Meeting”

    Kyuhyun’s client was a girl. A very pretty girl.

   She just recently passed her entrance exam to some high school near there. She turned 16 not so long ago. Kyuhyun knew these because, how else? She was his client of course. For the first session, the girl’s parents were there. The father, like how any middle-aged man looked like in Seoul, was strict-looking and quite built. Though there was a light aura that shown in his eyes and the gentleness of a truly responsible father that shown in his smile. The mother was kind-hearted and poised. When she smiled, there were tiny wrinkles in the corners of her eyes. She looked around 40 but was rather cheerful as if she was still in her 20’s. Kyuhyun got along with them just fine.

    The first time Kyuhyun saw the Ahn couple was two weeks ago. Their daughter’s summer vacation just started around that time but they didn’t bring her along to Kyuhyun’s office. They said they were worried and wanted their daughter to let out her feelings but their attempt failed miserably as their daughter, or so they described her, was shy and quiet. They didn’t know what else to do so they came to this last solution.

    “This is our Sohee-ah,” the father said as he gestured to the girl who sat next to him.

    The mother and Kyuhyun sat opposite them, both of them occupying a single-seater. Sohee sat straight, her hands clasped together over her lap and she smiled a little after she was introduced. Like her mother, she had great poise even for an upcoming high schooler.

    “I’m Cho Kyuhyun. I’ll be handling you from today onwards.”

    Kyuhyun stretched his hand toward Sohee and they shook hands.

    “Hello,” she said and Kyuhyn smiled.

    The mother stood up first and the father followed. They kissed their daughter before heading to the door.

    “We’ll come back after two hours,” the mother said then the couple left.

    Kyuhyun stood up to get the folder he was looking at and the pen he was biting earlier. He went back to his seat and the girl just watched him.

    “Do you feel worried?” Kyuhyun asked. “I mean, being here for this session.”

    Sohee shook her head.

    “It’s because my parents are worried. I don’t blame them for bringing me here.”

    Kyuhyun nodded in understanding. He glanced down on Sohee’s file and looked back at her.

    “How are you feeling today?”

    “I’m fine. Thank you.”

    Kyuhyun smiled again. Sohee was quite polite, he noticed.

    “So, did you enjoy your last year in middle school?”

    Sohee thought for awhile then nodded.

    “I did. I guess.”

    “There were no problems? Troubles?”

    Sohee shook her head again.

    “None at all.”

    Kyuhuyn began twirling the pen with his fingers, crossing his legs and rereading Sohee’s résumé.

    “Let’s be perfectly honest with each other, okay?” Kyuhyun had to reassure his client so that she would feel comfortable with him.

    Sohee smiled.

    “Yes.”

    Kyuhyun smiled back.

    “Okay. Now, just tell me anything. Anything happy, anything sad – anything.”

    Sohee brought her thumb under her chin and slightly, thinking. Kyuhyun just waited. After a minute, Sohee looked over her shoulder and stared outside the window.

    “Ah,” she said. “It’s raining harder today than yesterday.”

    Kyuhyun stared at his client’s back for awhile then agreed.

    “Yes. It did say on the news that it would rain quite heavily today.”

    Sohee sat properly again though this time she just stared at her hands. Kyuhyun wrote down the progress on a piece of paper stuck behind Sohee’s résumé.

    “Actually…”

    Kyuhyun paused from writing.

    “Hmm?”

    “There was a day like this before school ended,” Sohee said in a small voice.

    “Really? Tell me about it then,” Kyuhyun said with some interest. But to this, Sohee shook her head.

    “It’s a vague memory now,” Sohee said, again, in a small voice. “But I’ll try remembering the details. Somehow…”

    Kyuhyun chuckled.

    “You’re too young to be forgetful. It’s okay. You don’t have to try hard. Maybe it’s because you remembered that day but you don’t want to talk about it. That’s fine.”

    Sohee blinked and smiled just a little bit at her psychologist’s reassurance.

    “I should do better though. To speak up about my feelings…”

    Kyuhyun stared at his client for five whole seconds before chuckling again.

    “Sohee-sshi.”

    Sohee jumped a little at the call of her name.

    “Ye-yes?”

    Just then, the rain grew lighter and Kyuhyun saw behind Sohee, through the window. Kyuhyun sighed, relieved. Sohee tilted her head to the side, curious.

    “Oh,” Kyuhyun realized suddenly. “I just wanted to say let’s get along with each other.”

    Sohee giggled.

    “Yes.”

    “So, what do you want to talk about now?”

    Sohee’s smile from before became tiny then tinier until Kyuhyun couldn’t see it anymore.

    “Sometimes… I think I’m really useless.”

    Kyuhyun’s ears perked up with much interest. And just then, the typhoon grew stronger once more.


 

 Author's note I updated this really fast, I know u n u