𝐵𝑒𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒾𝒻𝓊𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝒞𝑜𝓇𝓇𝓊𝓅𝓉𝑒𝒹 (Kang Daniel FF) √

Chapter 6 - Protection

Another night was just another night of overthinking. Sejeong will never get away from the monsters inside of her head. She saw the world beautifully except herself.

Suddenly, she thought about Daniel. If Niel knew him, why is he not at the same group as him? Xero too, why isn't he hanging around with Daniel?

The more she wondered about it, the more it didn't seem to make sense at all.

After thinking and feeling awful about thinking about school and schoolmates, Sejeong did fell asleep at 3AM and woke up at 6AM. But she's still not ready for the world yet. She curled up in a ball and just stayed like that until 7AM when Jonghyun and Minki are back.

Jonghyun's the best alarm clock and he's all the encouragement she needed. Having someone pull your blanket was all the motivation that you needed to get inspired to get up.

Sejeong waited for his brother but he was still talking to Minki. She can literally hear their voices even though it wasn't clear enough. Are they discussing about her again?

She kicked her own blanket off and went downstairs to eavesdrop. They're both at the kitchen and they seem to be talking softly.

"Do you want to take a break from the hospital?" Jonghyun asked Minki.

"No need. You know I was born like this. Ever since when I was young, I get those comments from innocent people." Minki told Jonghyun while slicing some tomatoes.

Sejeong immediately figured out that this has to do with Minki's sexuality. People are rude to him because of it. And you can't avoid rude people in a hospital. Even his workmates are rude to him.

"Innocent? Innocent!?" Jonghyun seem more angry as he repeated the word. "You mean 'ignorant'." he corrected Minki who was chill about it on one corner, making sandwich for Sejeong's lunch.

"Stop it Jonghyun." Minki turned around to meet his eyes. As soon as they made eye contact, Jonghyun's expression softened.

He's always been Jonghyun's weakness. "Allow me to protect you." he trembled as he held Minki in his arms tightly.

Sejeong watched them, wondering when will she ever experience something like this in her life.

Probably never, because she's still not as perfect as Minki. Only perfect people can experience real love.

"You need to stop the mentality that you had to protect me. It's me who's wrong. The problem is me, and I shouldn't be protected. This is what I chose for myself, and I'm not grateful enough to choose what God has given me. Just accept the fact that one day you had to let go of me an find a real girl to be your other half." Minki said as he sniffed the moment his tears fell.

He didn't mean that. Sejeong can tell. She can tell that what Minki wanted to say was for him to stay with him no matter what happens.

And that he needed protection. He needed someone to believe in him when others don't. He wanted someone to love him as who is now and not a person who would want to change him.

"I couldn't protect my parents at the car crash, I can't protect my sister, and I can't protect you. Why am I alive? I'm good for nothing." Jonghyun wiped his tears, his other hand still pulling Minki on a tight hug.

Because of those words, Sejeong finally went back to her room to prepare for school. She wanted to hive them time to act as if everything is normal.

Today, she sang on the shower loud to get their attention. They better be wiping their tears by now. She changed into her uniform and went down slowly.

Slowly,

Last two steps.

One step,

She went to the kitchen and saw them smiling like idiots. Minki already finished her sandwich. Jonghyun gave her some carrot sticks that she would never eat.