Quiet | Seungjin

15

"Hi," Shuhua beamed as she skipped into her home room and slid into her seat next to Seungmin, "You're here early—we still have ten minutes before class starts.

Focused on the flower he was drawing on a sheet of lined paper, Seungmin didn't hear the girl. It wasn't that he was ignoring her, he just never realized when somebody was speaking to him. Nobody really ever addressed him during class or walked next to him in the hallways—so there were still things that he was trying to get used to.

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, bringing his attention to the girl standing next to him. Her fingertips stretched down his shoulder, brushing over his upper back. Not having any time to think about it, Seungmin's body responded on its own as he squirmed away from the girl. His skin began to tingle uncomfortably, his skin bubbling and blistering as her fingertips singed his already once burnt skin.

Once his body started moving it felt as if it couldn't stop his hands from roaming his prickling skin, nails digging into the delicate surface. It was almost like his whole being was collapsing into itself, his shriveled up lungs rejecting any oxygen.

"Seungmin?" He heard Shuhua's distant voice but not quite being able to see her from just how fast his head was spinning. One of his hands gripped at his ear when it began ringing, the shrill scream assaulting his brain just as painful as his scalded body.

"I—I don't know what happened...is he okay?"

There was shuffling all around Seungmin until he felt a soft hand on his elbow, helping him out of the chair. Once he was up on his feet, the mysterious figure wrapped an arm protectively around his shoulders, guiding him out of the room and into another.

As he was seated carefully on the floor, Seungmin felt his hands darting across his arms, trying to peel back the burning skin, trying to escape the pain. Only a moment passed before his hands were incased in somebody else's, locking them in the soft hold to prevent any sort of self inflicted injury.

The moment Seungmin felt his hands trapped, preventing him from getting away from the flames was when the tears started—he couldn't handle it anymore. "It...it burns," he choked out, his throat too hoarse from screaming to get any other sort of sound, "he's going...g—going to hurt me..."

"Nobody's here to hurt you—you're safe with me...Hyunjin. It's Hyunjin...just me and you," the boy explained gently, "is there anybody I can call to come help you?"

The boy quickly shook his head as the tears flooded down his cheeks. "It...it hurts," he sobbed.

"Seungmin, can you hear me? Do you understand me?" Hyunjin asked, not too sure if the boy was even aware there was anybody in front of him. When he saw the boy nod, the elder continued, "I want you to take a really big breath with me okay? I'm going to count to ten and you're going to breathe in through your nose."

Seungmin tried to pull his hands away from the boy before crying, "can't—breathe...c—can't."

"Just try for me," Hyunjin urged, "close your eyes and just think about your nose. Don't think about anything else except for the air coming in through your nose."

The boy nodded weakly, squeezing his eyes closed before trying to fill his emptied lungs. Doing as Hyunjin asked, he thought about his nose and only his nose, trying to breathe in.

"You're doing good," Hyunjin said softly, "just one more deep breath." He could feel Seungmin's hands trembling in his own as he tried to breath, only a millisecond of air going in before it spilled back out with a startled urgency. "It's just you and me here..." he comforted, knowing there was something to do with some man that scared the younger, "I'm right in front of you, you're safe here."

Countless minutes passed as the two just sat there, Hyunjin listening as Seungmin tried to breathe, the breaths getting longer each time. The elder rubbed his thumbs gently over the backs of Seungmin's hands, glancing over his scratched up arms already scattered with the same type of fading scars.

Pulling his hands away from the elder, Seungmin finally opened his eyes and looked around the room. They were seated on the floor in an unoccupied classroom, Hyunjin right in front of him.

"Are feeling fine? Do you want me to call somebody for you?" The boy asked as Seungmin slowly returned to reality.

Although he wasn't too sure what question he was answering, Seungmin shook his head. He pulled his knees up to his chest and silently laid his head down, simply looking up at Hyunjin.

The elder didn't look away, he only observed the boy's cheeks still slick with tears and his trembling body. "Does that happen a lot?" He asked.

Seungmin slowly nodded before hesitantly reaching out for one of Hyunjin's hand, squeezing it between both of his own. "Th...Thank you..." the boy said almost inaudibly.

"We're friends," Hyunjin smiled, "that means I care about you and I don't need a thank you for helping."

The younger's vision blurred with tears as he listened to his words. Despite everything he had seen and listened to just from a simple touch on his shoulder, Hyunjin still wanted to be his friend.

"My friend Minho...he graduated last year so I'm not sure if you know him, but he gets really bad panic attacks. He hid them from me and my friends for the longest time because he didn't want us to worry about him or feel inconvenienced I guess...But we're not meant to fight our problems all by ourselves. I think it's the hardest to grow when you're ashamed of something you can't control. I guess what I'm trying to say to you in a really weird way is that is that I'm here for you."

A small laugh came out of Seungmin as he squeezed the boy's hand once again, hoping that was enough of a response.

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Thanks for reading :))

I'm planning to keep updating this story and aversion weekly...I'll try not to abandon this again