Soft kisses of the wind caressed his cheek, bringing along the raindrops coming from the sky. His hair was already wet by the time the heavy rain poured down. The clothing that he wore since the day before was already soaked. He didn’t feel the cold or the wind.

To be frank: he didn’t feel anything. He couldn’t feel anything.

All that he knew was emptiness. The hole that had bore itself in his heart felt empty. His mind was just clouded with… emptiness, like he was in a room, just full of nothingness. He couldn’t even cry anymore for it felt like his tear ducts were dried up. Blue-black bruises and cuts were visible on his knuckles; signs of letting out the frustration.

He didn’t even know why his feet led him here, at this… playground. It only made the hole in his heart feel bigger as the memories of being at the park with his dad emerged one by one, flashing in his mind like a presentation slide. As he recalled the moments, he felt himself shivering, shaking.

“Son, trust me, you’ll be fine.” said the father in his memory as he let go of the bicycle for his son to paddle on his own for the very first time.

The sobbing was starting again, though the tears were not forming.

“Ow! He shot me!” the father playfully shouted as the son seemingly shot him in the chest as they played robber and cop. Laughter echoed through the living room.

“No… no.” mumbled the boy.

Slowly, the happy memory faded, transitioning to something he feared. His father was not moving. The boy who had now turned to a fine teenager dropped his plastic gun and ran to the lying father.

“Dad, you can’t do this to me,” the sobbing boy muttered as he clutched onto his father’s body in a room where people would identify their loved ones’. “You promised, you promised me.”

His sister was grabbing his jacket, trying to pull him off and out of the room, “Jongin,” she called. He still wouldn’t budge. “Kim Jongin, we need to go.”

“Kim Jongin.”

“Kim Jongin.”

He heard his name being called. But it wasn’t his sister. As he processed everything and realized that it was reality, he noticed a pair of feet in front of him. Hesitantly, he raised his head and met with the round dark brown eyes of the girl whom he realized he found comfort with.

Only worry was the thing he could process from the expression he saw evident on the girl’s face. Even so, he didn’t know what to react to that. He just remained expressionless.

“Park Hana,” he fleetingly managed to call out, his voice hoarse from days of not speaking. He decided to call her name in suspicion of just imagining her being in front of him for that moment.

But he was proven wrong when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him, pulling him into an embrace.

And with that small action, he felt warm tears sliding down his cheeks.

~.~

Hana could feel the slight shivers coming from the boy in her arms. Through her blurry vision due to the heavy rain, she could see his shoulders moving upwards and downwards quickly; he was sobbing. As he lifted his head, she could see the tears streaming down his face, camouflaging itself with the rain.

His eyes were red, dark eye bags were evident under his eyes, scars were apparent on his face and blue bruises and cuts could be seen on his knuckles. He was a mess.

“Jongin.” she called out again, this time softer than she has ever called him. Carefully, she kneeled down in front of him so that she could see him eye to eye. By now, she too was drenched in the rain. She took off the blazer she was wearing and made an attempt to cover them from the rain. Realizing that it was useless, she dropped her blazer and faced the boy again. The rain was beginning to lessen.

With hesitant eyes, she tried to search his face for any signs of the energetic, happy, and puppy-like Jongin. All that reflected back was just emptiness and sadness. He’s suffering. She thought.

 Immediately, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a hug; the only thing she could think of doing in that situation.

Asking if he is okay was useless because they both knew that he was not. She didn’t want to lie that everything is okay, because it’s not. Saying those words could only bring harm to his already weak and broken heart. She knew it would hurt him, just like how she’s been hurt all this time whenever she assures herself that everything’s alright. But still, she couldn’t suppress herself from whispering to him, “You’re going to be alright.”

And hearing her say that, Jongin really felt like he was going to be alright for once, despite having to go through what he went through.

~.~

The sun was already beginning to set when the grey clouds finally parted and the rain finally stopped. The two teenagers, who had taken shelter under the low bridge of the play set, were still sitting there.

Hana was still staring at him, not believing that she actually found him and somehow, she felt happy. When she was least expecting it, she was the one who actually found him. Hyeri would definitely feel reliev-

“Don’t tell Hyeri, please,” Jongin croaked out. Those were the first words he said when they took shelter. Hana practically had to drag him under the bridge to avoid the rain, although they were already soaked. “She’s only going to cry more if she saw me like this.

“I know that she wants to act tough for my mom and me but I don’t want her to pretend anymore. I know she’s hurt too. I’m such a bad older brother,” he blamed himself, tilting his head backwards as he leaned against the red metal pole of the bridge.

He’s trying not to cry, thought Hana, seeing the redness of his nose.

“When she’s trying to get herself together for mom, here I am, running away from it, denying the reality, picking up fights with people who I thought had something to do with my dad,” confessed Jongin, releasing a heavy sigh, “I bet dad’ll be mad at me if he was still here. What son of the head of the police team would run around the neighbourhood picking up fights? I’m just hopeless.”

“Then, stop running,” said Hana slowly with a voice that was so whisper-like that it could barely be heard if not for the quiet environment, “stop running away,” she spoke louder as she faced him.

“I know it’s hard but the more you run away from it, it’ll just keep on chasing after you until it can catch up to you; reality, that is. You just have to somehow accept it, even when all you want to do is avoid it as much as you can, denying it. You’d wish that you didn’t have to have such happy memories with that person to be able to feel too hurt about this.

“But that’s not the right thing to do. You’ll just feel hurt all over again because you’ll eventually remember those memories that you wanted to forget back. Those memories are like pencil marks on a piece of paper; even if you try to erase it with all your might, there is still the impression of the words embedded in the paper.

“So I guess it’s better to accept it as it is without forgetting those memories because those memories might just be the things that can drive you ahead,” explained Hana, a smile gracing upon her lips as she reminded herself of her. It wasn’t a reminder to Jongin only, but also to herself. Although she said those things to him, she also had to check on herself too, “Ah, what am I even saying?”

Thinking back at what she was babbling about, a small laugh escaped. It was funny that she was encouraging someone who’s in a similar situation as she was when she lost her mom but she was the one who never moved on.

“You know,” she started to speak as she turned her head towards Jongin; “You don’t have to take my words- .”

It came as a surprise.

Her heart was beating like crazy.

Her eyes were widened.

Their lips were touching.

He was kissing her.

Author's note: Hahahaha XD Bet you didn't expect that! Lol.. I'm having too much fun now. Super sorry if it's too short. I don't even know what I wrote. Leave your thoughts in the comments down below ^^ Gotta go sleep