The Quiet Boy

Chapter 7

-

Class ended and Taehyung began to put his things away. He closed his backpack and put it on his shoulders.

He wasn't sure what to do. Should he wait outside his class for Jeongguk? should he walk in the direction of the cafeteria?

Maybe he forgot.

Right as he left his classroom he could see Jeongguk walking in his direction.

Or maybe he didn't.

"Hey, Tae." he smiled. "Let's go."

-

Taehyung felt people staring at him. He could feel all of them judging him with their eyes. He could hear them whispering as they looked at him. It was uncomfortable. No one ever looked at him. He was always unimportant to them. He gripped the side of Jeongguk's sweater out of fear.

Again.

The terrifyingly large amount of fear.

The extremely rapid beating of his heart.

The excessive shaking of his body.

The unbearable tightness in his chest.

The painful struggle to breathe.

It's happening again.

"Tae, are you okay?" Jeongguk asked worriedly.

Tears began to spill out from Taehyung's eyes. Why now?

He gripped his sweater as he felt the tightness in his chest become unbearably painful for him to handle. He crouched down his legs against his chest.

Jeongguk quickly knew what was happening to the other. He had never experienced them himself but with his mother being a nurse, he knew a lot about them.

"Tae," he lightly called but the other didn't respond. He tried again but he was too much into his bubble of fear. He grabbed one of Taehyung's hands and that seemed to pull him out. "Taehyung, look at me."

Taehyung looked up. Everything around him was spinning. He felt dizzy.

He put Taehyung's hand on the spot where his heart sat. "Listen to me, Tae. You're going to be fine. Just match my breathing, okay?"

Jeongguk's voice wavered a small bit but Taehyung tried his best to listen. He could feel the calm beating of Jeongguk's heart and the steadiness of his breathing as his chest slowly went up and down.

The spinning began to slow down. It was beginning to get easier for him to breathe, his shaking had begun to subside and he didn't feel as scared.

He was starting to feel better but his hearing wasn't being selective anymore. He began to hear people talking and whispering. He looked at them and they were all looking at him as they whispered and pointed at him. Everything was starting up again. His breathing again became a hard thing to do and the spinning had returned.

"No," Jeongguk said and turned Taehyung's head to face him. "Don't look at them, Taehyung. Don't look at them. Only look at me. They're not important. Ignore them." he told the other. "Match my breathing. That's what's important right now. You're going to be fine." he began to take big breathes for Taehyung to match.