alexithymia | l. hyunjae

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"Thank you, sir. Have a good day!"

As the taxi started to shrink from his view, Hyunjae was welcomed with rather a greenery sight. To spend his free time, instead of going straight to his home, Hyunjae stopped by to visit a wide, grassy field beside a river near his neighborhood.

Standing from above a small hill, he spotted a group of school boys playing soccer, shouting passionately when they had finally scored a goal while the opposite team frowned in disappointment as the captain screamed to his teammates to play harder.

This sight sparked a memory inside Hyunjae's mind. The sudden flashback of his high school's excerpt was played beyond his eyes. "Must be nice to be young again. Nothing to worry about, just live an interesting life."

He observed the surrounding before decided to lay his back on the grass, staring at the blue and clear sky.

Hyunjae has a very little memory of him growing up in Bucheon as he was just a 5 year old kid but he did remember this place by heart. Back then, it was just a small neighborhood with a small circle of families. Every 15th day each month, the community would have a gathering at the community center and threw a festival. But what Hyunjae remembered the most about it was how they celebrated each residents birthday every year. It felt like a happy big family.

Crossing his leg, he enjoyed the scenery above him in silence. Without a reason, someone's face appeared in his brain. Taken aback, Hyunjae smiled. He soon recalled his last encounter with her two weeks ago at the cafe.

She is a weird woman, Hyunjae snorted. He remembered how the male architect kept shoving cold mineral water to her because of him. The red expression she had throughout the meeting was priceless. In contrary, Hyunjae was enjoying the fun of teasing her.

Although, he did felt sorry to do that to her, little did she knew, he was having a bad day. That morning, his house blackout due to bad wiring and his working suit wasn't ironed. With a heavy eyelids, he travelled next door to borrow the iron then he had to wait for almost 15 minutes for the door to finally open as the owner was a heavy sleeper.

On his way to work, his car suddenly went out of fuel and he had to wait beside the street for another 10 minutes for Younghoon to fetch him.

Much to his dismay, he witnessed a dog releasing its urine near his tyre. In summary, he labeled the day as his worse day ever. But after the unexpected meeting with her, Hyunjae came home with giggles and stupid smiles to himself whenever he recalled it. A thought crossed his mind.

Who is exactly the Jaehyun she hat- "MOVE!" A sudden shout made Hyunjae turned his head to the left but before he could process anything, a round and white thing resembled a ball came into his view and stopped right on his nose. He sat up in pain while cursing under his breath.

To his right, a soccer ball was seen followed by a loud footsteps running to his direction.

"Can you throw the ball back?" Looking down the small hill, a tall boy with a pale skin and bright eyes came in view. He wore a dark blue shirt with shorts. Hyunjae scoffed. "No apology?" The boy sent him a 'I can't hear you' face.

"You just hit my majestic and handsome face with this ball and no 'I am so sorry'? Really?" He took the ball and held it in his hands, no intention to give it back.

The boy's teammates shouted at him to hurry up as the game was still ongoing. He shouted back, "Wait a minute, there's a problem here!" before facing Hyunjae with an obvious annoyed face.

"Can you please give it back? We're in the middle of a game"

"Without an apology? I don't think so. You youngsters these days need to learn how to respect elders." He shook his head in disbelief. The boy rolled his short sleeves as he waggled his shirt to dry himself from excessive sweat. "Okay I'm very sorry. Can I have the ball back?"

"I sense no sincerity from your apology."

"Yeah, whatever. I did apologized though. So, for the nth times can you give me the ball, sir?" He gestured Hyunjae to throw it from above as he getting ready to catch it.

Hyunjae rolled his eyes and rolled the ball down the hill. The boy grabbed it and immediately scurried away to his team.

He watched them resumed the game as soon as the ball has arrived. Wiping away the sweats on his forehead due to sunny weather, he laid back on the grass. He closed his eyes once again and took a deep breath. The wind blew calmly as sounds of birds chirping melodically found their way to his ears.

What a nice day to relax. It's a shame Younghoon is not here. I must take him here soon. He suddenly yawned as he slowly covered by sleepiness.

"Hyung!"

He was dragged out from the daydream by a sudden call. Sitting up, he found the boy again, looking up with his right hand covering his eyes from the scorching sun.

"What do you want? Finally a proper apology?" Hyunjae laughed at his sarcasm but soon died down as the boy didn't join him. Awkwardly, he cleared his throat.

"Can you play football?"

"Huh?"

"Can you play football?" The boy asked with a louder voice. Shrugging his shoulder, Hyunjae answered, "Maybe." He stared down at the boy a confused face. "Why?"

"One of my teammate needs to go home early so we're lacking one member. So, I thought maybe you want to join us." Hyunjae snorted at the request. "Sorry dude, I'm still bitter with the apology."

The pale boy frowned at his words. "Just say you can't play football. Stop making dumb excuses." Hyunjae's eyes went wide. Did I just got insulted by a high school boy?

Turning his heels around, the boy bid him a goodbye. "Wait! I'm not okay when you insult me like that! Alright, I'm in!" The said boy stopped on his track then smirked. "Let's go then. Don't be such a slowpoke."

Jumping down the hill, Hyunjae ran and locked the boy's head in his right arm. "If you feel tired, you can always ask for a break. I understand old people like you." Hyunjae scoffed. "Don't underestimate me, kid"

Before they parted ways to their own position, Hyunjae asked, "What's your name, kid? I need it just in case I meet with your mom by accident in the future. She needs to know about her son's attitude"

The boy ran away without looking back at him. Soon as he stopped, he turned to Hyunjae's direction with a smile.

"Ha Min. But you can call me Min."

♡