"Hello, Joonmyun."

Silence.

"How do you feel today?"

Silence.

"Did you eat well?"

Silence.

A deep, frustrated sigh. "Do you think I can talk to your father?"

Silence.

The man asks Joonmyun to leave, the one thing he responds to. His father steps in to take his seat as Joonmyun waits outside, watching the assistant shape her nails behind the counter.

There's a dull ache in his chest that he ignores. That he's always ignored.

His father reemerges after a few minutes, looking as disappointed as ever. "Come on," he says, taking the 16-year-old boy's hand.

"Joonmyun-ah," he begins once they pull out of the parking lot. His son keeps looking straight ahead. "Get better. It's so hard on all of us. We're worried, and even the therapist says he's worried. If you don't get better then how will you—"

"I'M FINE!" his son screams, ending the conversation.

 **********

"It was difficult at first. More than I will admit. It was burdensome. I was almost completely consumed by my sorrow. Not a care about anything or anyone else. I could not let go."

 **********

"Hello Joonmyun."

Silence.

"You look better."

Silence.

"So the silent treatment again, huh?"

Silence.

A sigh. "You can't go on like this, you know that, right?"

Silence.

"Losing a parent is hard. And talking about it is harder, I get it. But, Joonmyun—"

Joonmyun doesn't let him finish. Just barges right out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

He doesn't wait for another hour for his father to pick him up, making his way against the cold winds of autumn instead.

When Joonmyun comes back home, his father does everything he can to not lunge forward and hit his son.

 **********

"I was so resentful. And the crying—I cried a lot. Honestly, I knew what was the reality all along—I just couldn't accept it.

    "I remember telling myself that there is no use in holding on to the scattered pieces, it will only break me. But how long before the bubble broke, too? What is the point of living on like this?"

 **********

"I know you won't speak again. But I hope you realize I'm not an enemy, Joonmyun. I'm a friend."

Silence.

"A friend who cares about you."

Silence.

"Joonmyun, you—I mean,