Between Truths ║Dahkook║K.DH J.JK

corners and hallways

CHAPTER XX

"We're not moving." She locked the footbrake finally.

"If traffic is this slow, it could only mean there's an accident ahead. We're not getting out for at least another three hours." He worried.

"Do you need to get to class?"

"I do, but I won't make it in time no matter. You?"

"Not until four."

They looked on at the cars piled in front, endless.

"Take the next exit. Better we rest—we haven't slept the night. My parents' house is not that far from here. We can make our way back to the city again when this clear," he said.

She should have fought harder to turn him down. But she was too tired to pretend courtesy she did not mean. She also could not turn away from him now.

But he straightened in his seat as she turned his corner. He frowned too, already regretting his offer. It was too late for that. Curiosity would not let her go now. She did not make herself scarce as he wished her to do. She turned off the engine, decided.

"Do you want to stay in the car? It might be more comfortable here." He tried convincing.

"That can't be true. I'm dying to use the toilet."

It was not entirely true. She did need a shower though. Had not had one since last morning. Would it be too much if she took one here? She glanced at the bag with the change of her clothes. She had packed it in a hurry earlier. She would have grabbed it, had she not been afraid that he would change his mind if she wasted a second more.

He had offered the hospitability in a moment of weakness. She should not be shameless to want more. Let's only close her eyes here. Just for a little while.

"I know it's small." He said.

His pictures and accolades hung throughout the wooden walls of the small space. A low table rested in the middle of the room. A TV was in front of it.

Everything happened here—meals, fights, laughter, tears. She could see it—the stories her father would tell of his humble childhood. His shoes too. Old, a little frayed, but whiter than hers. She heard of them too. She reached out to touch it. It felt like she held his youth in her hands. It was only some years ago he was here, having big dreams, swearing to provide her a better life even though he had not known her yet. He had kept all his promises, and so he went, not yet an old man. Frozen in between daylight and twilight. A great man to her, but he was no one to everyone else.

"Will you not come in?"

"I'm having a little trouble with my laces." She could not seem to pull the knots apart.

She hid behind the curtain of her hair, crouched near the door, blinking away tears. He dropped to his knees, working on her laces slowly. He was not making this easy for her.

"I don't have a couch." He said, quiet.

"You have a warm home; you don't need a couch."

"I don't, so take my room to rest," he said again.

She could not restrain the wild beats of her heart. She was not strong enough for him. She would take everything if he let her.

"Can I?" She asked.

"Go ahead. If you don't mind."

"Do you?"

"You went out of your way to send me home. It's the least I could do for you in return."