Echo ; minsung

Chapter six

Chapter 06

Taking advantage of the amount of energy he suddenly had was exactly what he did.

The first thing he did was take a long bath. Although he hated seeing himself like that, he tried to make the best out of the situation. The sight of the marks on his body and the scar on his tummy always brought up memories. He could still remember how he got every single one of them.

The ones he inflicted on himself were even harder to look at. It was embarrassing in a way. His forearms and parts of his thighs were covered in marks, existing of different colours depending on how far they were healed. Luckily, he was able to get rid of his bad habits about a year ago and some were even starting to fade.

That's why he decided to add as much soap and bubbles as possible. Once he got in, he was completely buried between the large cloud of bubbles, floating on top of the water and filling up most of the bathtub. His body was fully covered, up until his chin.

Minho closed his eyes and let himself relax completely into the warm water. He forgot how relaxing it could be sometimes.

He used to roll his eyes at his therapist or his mom whenever they told him that taking a long bath would be beneficial to his mental health. How could something so easy help him? Little did he know that they were right. He always felt so much better after, and tried to make a habit out of it, rather than quickly rinsing himself to avoid having to look at himself.

The raven-haired boy stayed there for some time, until his fingertips turned wrinkly.

After his bath, Minho wrapped himself in a soft towel, the fabric absorbing the lingering warmth from his skin. He padded across the bathroom tiles, leaving a damp set of footprints behind.

There he was, standing in front of the mirror above the sink. With a deep breath, he faced his reflection, tracing the contours of his scars gently with his fingertips. He tried to avoid them for as long as he could but that was impossible to do right now. Oh, he hated being confronted with them. It could instantly ruin his day.

Minho didn't want to let that happen today, though. Not when he felt so good about himself all morning. So he took a few deep breaths and instead smiled to himself through the mirror.

"Be nice to yourself" Is what his therapist would tell him.

The rest of his morning was quite casual. And most importantly, free of worries.

For once in a while, he actually put effort into his looks and searched for a nice looking outfit. It wasn't anything impressive and no one would ever think he put thought into what he was wearing. Baggy jeans and a hoodie was probably the most basic outfit someone could wear, but anything other than that black hoodie and sweatpants was a huge change for Minho.

After making a quick sandwich, he stood by the window and stared outside. He was considering taking his sudden productiveness to another level. Other than that night he ran away, he never went out by himself. Not unless he went to school and even then, his mom was usually the one to drive him there.