. Death
Nicotine"Why don't you ever talk to me about the rest of your family?" Jinhwan asked as they lied on the couch in her living room, her head in his lap while watching television.
"It's not something I would rather bring up, but since you asked, there's no point in keeping secrets." she replied, sitting up to face him. Her face was completely emotionless, and her eyes grew dull.
"They were murdered. Every single one of them, only my brother was murdered by a disease."
He spit his drink back into the glass, but Soohyun didn't even flinch. "Murdered? How? Why?" An immediate fire roared inside of him, and he felt hatred toward the people who were living with the fact that they had ended somebody's life.
"It started off as thievery, but they caught the guy grabbing my mom's favorite vase. He pulled out a gun and bam. Dead." she shrugged, picking up her own glass to drink it while making a fake gun with her hand and firing. Before the drink reached her lips, she stopped and sighed. Her breath condensed against the inside of the glass. "I may seem like I don't care, Jinhwan. But trust me, that's not the case. Just don't pay attention to this anymore."
"Why do you just pretend to shrug it off?" Soohyun slammed the glass down and glared at him. "Because if I show how I really feel, I would get pity. And a pity party is exactly what I don't need. And then I would start crying, and you're the last person I want to see me cry after every tear I shed since I met you."
She didn't mean it like that, Jinhwan knew. Yet he still took offense to it. "Are you saying that I make you cry? Soohyun, that's the last thing I want." he retaliated. "No, that's not what I — you know what? Yeah, the tears were because of you. Because you're such a heartless jerk for changing even when I told you not to! I said that because I didn't want to be the one that made you into somebody you didn't want to be."
Soohyun stood up from the couch and brushed the tears she didn't even know she were welling up, and she ran to her room. Jinhwan could hear the door slam. Obviously, he chased after her and banged his fist on the door. "Princess, open up." he said quietly and desperately. Then he realized that there was no point in wasting time for her to open it, because she was stubborn that way and would never. This was going to be the first time that he ever set foot in there in the past 7 months.
He found her bobby pin on the couch and inserted it into the lock, wiggling it around until it clicked. He kicked it open and found Soohyun curled up in her bed, under her covers. Her voice was squeaking, and she was sniffling rapidly. "Princess," he whispered, crawling onto the bed to face her. She tried to turn away, but he grabbed her shoulders and stared in her eyes.
"I'm not going to feel sorry for you, only because you don't want me to. I never wanted to make you cry, because I feel like every time your eyes water up, I committed a mortal sin. Can you do me a favor, and spare me that feeling?"
Soohyun sighed and nodded slightly, burying her face in the pillow. "I'll do whatever you want me to, princess. I'll wait."
She wanted to just melt in his arms; she couldn't believe that there was a guy out there that was this patient and understanding. After thinking it through, she looked at him seriously and scooted closer.
"Jinhwan, I want you to make love to me."
"What?" he sputtered, releasing her shoulders. "You heard me. You've done this a million times to people, except kissing them. Well you're my first kiss, now I want you to be my next first."
"Soohyun, I can't do that."
"But you said that you would do anything I tell you to."
"Just not this." he shook his head.
"Why not?" she asked, suddenly feeling a hint of embarrassment.
"I just don't want to hurt you again, princess." Jinhwan her hair and placed a soft kiss on her nose. "You're not ready for this. You'll know when you truly are, and when you do, come find me."
Soohyun nodded in understanding, sadly, and cuddled up next to him, matching her breaths with his slow, gentle ones.
I'll find you soon, she thought as her eyes fluttered closed, very soon.
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