For You and Me

Chapter 2: Safe Meeting

Jihun's eyes feel cemented together when he wakes up and tries to open them.  He lifts his hand to rub at them and breathes in sharply.  The pain completely wakes him up.  He slowly reaches the rest of the way and rubs the sand out of his eyes.  

He looks around the room then.  There is a small streak of light coming from the window across the room.  It lights up the floor in a line that follows the line of the curtains that refuse to close all the way.  The house is quiet and still.  Jihun wonders if anyone else is home and moves to sit up.  Once he gets there he uses his momentum to get him the rest of the way to his feet.  

Every moment is agony but thrilling.  He can still move, this is not a life threatening injury.  It is just a bruise that will soon heal like every thing else.  He tries to reassure himself as he shuffles to the bathroom down the hall.  He relieves himself and as he washes his hands he stares at his face in the mirror.  Still there.  He smirks at his reflection and turns off the water.  

He leans against the sink for a moment to catch his breath.  Every breath in is quickly ended by a gasp of pain out.  He stares at his torso in the mirror and slowly lifts up his shirt to reveal two large bruises that run into each other.  The one across his stomach is spread and nearly disappears into the smaller one that almost seems to take the shape of the toes of a shoes across the right side of his lower ribcage.  He lets the t-shirt fall back down and runs his hand through his hair.  The motion pulls another gasp from his lungs and he grips the edges of the sink firmly to keep him from curling in on himself like he so wants to.  Again he works on breathing.  He focuses on the inhale and swallows back the lump that is beginning to form in the back of his throat.  He looks up at the tiled ceiling of his family home's bathroom and blinks tears out of his eyes refusing to cry.  

Everything is going to be ok.  He starts to chant that phrase in his head over and over again until he can pretend to believe it.  He shuffles out of the bathroom and tries to stand straight as he walks.  The kitchen light is now on and he tries to pass by quietly to get back to the couch.

"Jihun?  What are you doing up?"  His mother is drying her hands on a towel by the sink when he turns to give her a cheeky, you caught me, smile.  The lines by her mouth tell him she is not amused but the lines by her eyes tell him she is worried.  He points down the hall to the bathroom.  She walks over to him and grabs that hand.  She grasps his elbow and holds his arm in a way to support him while she pulls him over to the couch.  He tries his best not to put too much weight on her while they shuffle over.

"Lay down, get comfortable."  He lounges by the arm of the couch quickly, trying not to wince at the pain.  "Next time you need to get up send me a text."  She picks his phone up off of the floor where he must have dropped it while he fell asleep.  He reaches out to take it from her and nods.  She sighs and pats the top of his head before walking back towards the kitchen.  He unlocks his phone and ignores the three connecting cracks in the screen as best as he can.  

There is a new message waiting.  His brows come together as he taps to open the message.  The sender is unknown but it looks like Jihun has sent a message to them first.

Me:
save

Unknown:
Hello, it's the guy
from last night, the
cute one ;D  Anyway
I'm really sorry
about the mess I got
you involved in and
I really want to make
it up to you.  Please
text me back so we
can set something up.  
I promise I'm not always
causing trouble... mostly ;)

Jihun's thoughts go to the shorter man who had approached him yesterday.  Was it still yesterday?  He pulls down the notification bar to see the date.  It is Saturday already.  He backs out of that message thread and clicks on his mother's name.