Step Into My World (and see)

9. Dater

Jeongguk whined as he sat up on his bed. His head felt like someone had hammered him into unconsciousness and his throat hurt as well.

He waited for a couple of minutes, hoping the pain would go away, but when it didn't, he let out another whine and got off his bed.

With a hand on his head, he trudged into his aunt and uncle's bedroom and crawled into his aunt's embrace.

Soohyeon was always his most favourite person in his family ever since his childhood. Even when their families met at least once a month, he always got hyped up about meeting her more than meeting Jimin.

Thus, it wasn't a surprise to Soohyeon that Jeongguk always crawled into her arms whenever he needed comfort.

"Aww, is my baby's head hurting?" she asked groggily, tucking him close and stroking his hair gently. Jeongguk didn't respond save for a whine.

"This is why we tell you not to hit yourself, honey. Do you wanna have a painkiller?" she asked sadly. "N-No," Jeongguk's voice cracked horribly.

"Okay. Just go back to sleep. Everything will be fine in the morning," she promised him.

Sihyuk, who had woken up by then, smiled sadly despite the darkness and put a hand on Jeongguk's shoulder and rubbed it gently.

"Good night, Ggukie," Soohyeon mumbled as well and patted his back continuously until he fell asleep before letting out a small sigh.

"My poor baby," she whispered.

She didn't stop patting his back. She felt very very bad for her nephew. She knew he couldn't help it. He was autistic and he had to deal with it. They had to deal with it as well, but nothing hurt harder than watching him bang his head to whatever he could find to cope with his overloaded mind.

At least, she was happy he had improved a lot compared to his earlier years when he was just a child and couldn't even understand what was going on with his mind. At least he knew and understood now.

He was a wonderful man to spend time with until something happened out of schedule. And she hated upsetting him. He was the apple of her eye, after all. He was her baby.

She fell back asleep a little after her husband fell asleep and woke up to Jeongguk shaking her awake, nagging her that he was getting late for his morning coffee.

His voice wasn't working and it was obvious that he had abused his vocal cords a little too much the previous night with all the screaming and yelling that he had done.

"Stay back at home, Ggukie. You don't look well enough to go and work today," she said, but sat up nonetheless, knowing what his answer would be.

"No, no, no, that would be a crime. I have to go."

There he went. He and his view of what crimes were.

His voice sounded high and thin like a squeaky toy, but he didn't mind it. He was going to be late to the cafe if his aunt didn't get off the bed soon and give him his coffee and that's what mattered at the moment.

"Jeongguk, you look-"

"-dead, I know," Jeongguk completed Hyungsik's sentence for him when he reached the cafe.

"I was about to say 'tired', but yeah, you look dead too. And your voice!! What happened?"

"....I had a meltdown last night..." Jeongguk mumbled and busied himself with his uniform. He hated talking about his meltdowns with others.