Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
[ . . . ]
TW: mentions of suicide
HEESEUNG HELD ONTO HER HAND AS THE TWO WALKED THROUGH THE BUSY STREETS. This time was different. He didn't hold on to her hand to keep track of her. Instead, he held onto it because he felt like it.
'It's beautiful here,' Heeseung commented, watching the cars whizz past them.
Jiyeon only hummed in response.
It was beautiful. Not even Jiyeon could deny that. But she didn't want to admit it. Jiyeon didn't want to grow attached to something, something that could possibly make her want to stay alive. She wanted death, Jiyeon wanted to kill herself ━ right? That's what she had wanted for the past years. Why would this time be any different?
'Where are we going?' Jiyeon asked, glancing up at Heeseung with curious eyes.
'To a restaurant,' Heeseung answered.
Jiyeon snorted. 'I know that, but what restaurant?'
'A fancy restaurant,' Heeseung said, lips twisting into a teasing smirk.
'A fancy restaurant,' Jiyeon repeated, mimicking his voice.
'A very fancy restaurant.'
'Too fancy for me?' Jiyeon asked.
She wasn't rich, and she had survived on cup ramyeon for the past years ━ if anything, she was far from fancy.
'I wouldn't say that. You're quite fancy yourself,' Heeseung said, giving Jiyeon a friendly smile.
'That's just because you fancy me,' Jiyeon joked.
'That is correct, Jiyeon,' Heeseung nodded, eyes finding hers.
Jiyeon snorted once more. 'You truly are something else, Lee Heeseung.'
'A lifesaver?'
'And a heartbreaker.'
'How?' Heeseung questioned.
His question brought a smile to her lips. 'Because you stopped me from achieving my dream.'
'Death?'
'Look at you, getting the correct answer for once. It's almost as if we're friends,' Jiyeon joked, managing to hurt her own feelings in the process ━ they were friends, right?
A nervous chuckle spilt past Heeseung's lips. 'Yeah. . .'
[ . . . ]
JIYEON SAT ALONE BY THE TABLE, WAITING FOR HEESEUNG WHO WAS PAYING FOR THE FOOD. Looking down at her plate, she saw how more than half of her food was still there. Jiyeon was never one to eat a lot, hoping that she could somehow stare to death someday. Not that she ever had a good appetite. The food she ate would usually come up through her mouth a few hours after.
'Oh, excuse me━' a girl, no older than herself spoke up, gently tapping Jiyeon's shoulder.
'What?' Jiyeon uttered, not bothering to care about manners.
The girl looked taken aback for a split second. 'I just noticed how you were sitting alone and you looked a bit down so I was wondering if you were okay...'
In the corner of her eye, Jiyeon noticed that Heeseung was advancing toward them with quick steps. 'She's with me,' he said, placing a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder.
'O━Oh,' the girl uttered before mumbling an apology. 'I'll be on my way then!'
Jiyeon only forced a friendly smile upon her lips while Heeseung let out an awkward laugh.
'Your girlfriend is very pretty, take good care of her!'
'I will,' Heeseung replied with a small nod.
Jiyeon's face fell. 'Your girlfriend?' she snorted.
'It has a certain ring to it? Doesn't it?' Heeseung asked, repeating her words from before.
'Shut it,' Jiyeon mumbled, her cheeks taking a new rose colour.
'Your cheeks are heating up,' Heeseung teased, poking her cheek with his finger.
'They're not!' Jiyeon quickly denied and placed her hands against her cheeks, covering them.
'They are,' Heeseung said with a chuckle.
'Okay, whatever.' Jiyeon rolled her eyes and waved him off. 'It's just the sun.'
'The sun's down...'
'It's just the moon━'
Heeseung snickered before changing the subject. 'I wanted to take you somewhere.'
'Oh, where?' Jiyeon asked.
'Somewhere over the rainbow,' he joked.
'Hell?' Jiyeon asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
'Is it hell to be with me?'
Her shoulders lifted into a lazy shrug at his question. Was it hell? Absolutely not. To be with Heeseung was to be content ━ at least for Jiyeon. Happiness was still far out of her reach but with him, she felt good in some strange way. Beneath that pile of negativity laid those positive feelings, Heeseung was beginning to pull them out one by one.
