Eyes Full Of Stars || Park Sunghoon

52 ¦ His only Family

"Lola," Sunghoon's soft voice comes through to me. Blinking, I open my eyes and look up at the young man standing in front of the large double bed with a tray in his hands and lovingly returning my gaze. The scent of toast and cocoa rises to my nose and my mouth immediately waters.

"What is it?", I inquire with a growling stomach. Still a little sleepy, I rub my tired eyes and sit up, allowing Sunghoon to place the tray on my lap and then join me at the bedside. "Breakfast by the bed," he replies, wrapping a strand of brown hair that has come loose from my braid around his finger to tuck behind my ear.

"I just wanted to do something nice for you," he adds with a charming smile on his lips. "Thank you," I reply with a smile as well. I reach for the cup of delicious smelling hot cocoa and sip it before taking a bite of toast, which is spread with a generous layer of strawberry jam.

"When is your cousin coming?", I change the subject after we just sit in silence for a moment. "Not for a few hours," he replies with a wave of his hand. If I'm going to be honest, I'm a little nervous. After all, this is the first time Sunghoon has introduced me to his family. Although it is only his cousin, however, I am worried that she might not like me.

"Eun-ji will love you," says Sunghoon, who must have noticed the worried expression on my face. He clasps my hand with his fingers and strokes the back of my hand reassuringly with his thumb. "I hope so," I reply, smiling away the nervousness.

"Aside from my uncle, who I have almost no contact with anymore, Eun-Ji is the only family I have left," Sunghoon tells me, lowering his eyes sadly. "What about your family on your mother's side?", I want to know. Sunghoon sighs. This topic doesn't seem to come easily to him and immediately I regret even asking him about it.

"I only know them from stories," he goes into the subject, to my surprise. "My father was like poison. Everything he touched broke sooner or later. So did the relationship between my mother and her family. In the end, even she herself..."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your day. We really don't have to talk about it any further if you don't want to," I say, feeling that it's taking a lot out of him. But Sunghoon lifts his gaze to look at me. The corners of his mouth twitch up into a slight smile, while his eyes reflect pure pain over the loss of his mother and simultaneous hatred towards his father.

"If there's anyone I want to talk to about it, it's you," he replies to me. Now it is me who reaches for his hand and carefully strokes the back of his hand with my thumb. As I do so, I keep tracing each of his knuckles, which protrude slightly.

His gaze softens and his muscles relax. Sunghoon tells me what it was like to grow up with his father; how often he saw his mother crying because of him and how often she left the house head over heels with Sunghoon when his father drank too much alcohol again and became aggressive. He tells me that his mother had to bear the consequences for this when she returned. And all because she wanted her only child to be safe.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper honestly, averting my gaze from Sunghoon as a tear escapes the corner of my eye and I feel it make its way inexorably down my cheek. "Don't be," he replies firmly. He pulls my face back in his direction. Wiping away the tear with his thumb, he scrutinizes my face. "I'm a much happier man today. Thanks to you."

Smiling, he places his index finger under my chin and brings my face closer to his to breathe a kiss on the tip of my nose. "By the way, there's one more thing I've been thinking about a lot in the last few days," Sunghoon continues after a brief silence. Still holding my chin with his fingers. "When we first met, you were talking about a degree program you were going to start this summer-"