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🌧 AS THE pair lie on their beds that night, they can't help think about all another. within the span of a day, they've both witnessed the lowest of breakdowns faced, driven towards the inevitable.
jaehyun knows how much yujin is hurting within her. i mean, who wouldn't? she had practically lost the one she thought she loved the most in this dark and corrupted world, only to be proven otherwise in the most heartbreaking manner. yukhei meant the world to her, but she didn't mean the same way to him. and jaehyun knew how much that must have hurt.
at the same time, yujin too, could not stop thinking about how much pain jaehyun had been holding to himself for the past years. what a big responsibility to take care of a woman with countless needs, and it was all placed on the shoulders of a millennial, stripping him off his teenage life. but jaehyun never once complained, and still did it with a smile on his face, a smile to mask all the hurt inside of him.
and to yujin, that was the bravest thing anybody could do. jaehyun, to her, was the bravest boy she had ever met.
a clap of thunder vibrates the air. the scream from the other room is heard once again, as jaehyun mother screams for her son's name in a shrilly voice. yujin quickly gets out of her bed, as if in response to hearing her own name instead. she opens the door and walks over to jaehyun's mother room.
she stand outside of the door, of what separates peace and hell. "yujin?" yujin turns around to see jaehyun outside of his room, looking questionably at yujin. "i'll handle it," yujin tells him and jaehyun shakes his head, walking towards her. "no, yujin, i won't let you do that."
"jaehyun, trust me on this," yujin looks at him with pleading eyes, before holding the doorknob, "please."
jaehyun's eyes soften and he sighs. he places his hand on yujin's arm and gives her a reassuring smile in the midst of his mother's screams for him, nodding his head slowly.
yujin smiles turns the doorknob, opening the door slowly. her eyes scan the room — it was a mess. items being thrown around, a stench emitting from heck knows where, all before landing on the woman on the bed.
yujin wants to take a step back, but her conscience is telling her not to, not after jaehyun had put his trust in her. jaehyun's mother is a skinny woman, her bones clearly visible. her cheeks are sunken in, and her eyes swollen with unexplainable rage. "who are you?" she hisses at yujin and yujin gulps before taking a step in front, and then another.
"hello," she smiles and the woman's eyes never leave yujin's. "i'm yujin, jaehyun's friend." the woman's eyes widen as much as it already was, and she screams at yujin — "and who are you to think you can come in here? i hate you! i hate jaehyun! get him here, he's a coward!" she picks up the nearest object to her, which was a lamp, and lifts it up, ready to aim it at yujin.
"ma'am, i can explain, please listen to me," yujin puts her hands in front of her, smiling at jaehyun's mother, "please, if you would." her voice was calm, and the woman slowly sighs before putting the lamp down, to yujin's utmost surprise.
"i know you're in so much pain, and i'm here to say that everybody has their own pains within them, even me," yujin says as she walks over and takes a seat next to jaehyun's mother. "it's just how we're coping with them — what is our defense mechanism."
jaehyun's mother's eyes soften as she looks down. yujin looks over to her right and see a guitar. "may i sing a song for you?" yujin asks and jaehyun's mother doesn't respond. yujin, taking it as a yes, takes the guitar and places it on her lap. she clears her throat and strums the chords of the song that speaks to her the most in the midst of it all.
"she's dying inside, she wants to think that it's a lie why why," yujin sings and jaehyun's mother turns to her and watches her intently. she moves her head slowly to the rhythm, and yujin looks up from the guitar and feels tears well up in her eyes. a smile was appearing on jaehyun's mother's face as she opens her mouth to continue the song.
"even if i call her, she's not answering. a shower of rain In the rain rain rain —" her voice cracks, and her face crumbles as she begins to cry slowly. yujin puts down the guitar and reaches out to hold her hand. it is cold, a clear symbol of the deprecation of love and warmth felt, all for so so long.
"mom," the pair looks up to see a teary-eyed jaehyun, looking over at them. "i'm sorry," he lets a tear escape from his eye. his mom gestures for him to come over and jaehyun walks over to her bed, and she holds his hand with her other one.
"no son, i'm sorry," she says, a sad smile on her face, "i'm sorry for depriving of you of everything you should be enjoying in life. i really appreciate all that you have done for me, you have really sacrificed all for me."
she pulls jaehyun's arm closer into a hug. jaehyun embraces his mother for the first time in five years, and mother and son finally feel the warmth they never thought they would experience in their lives.
"i love you, son." she says and jaehyun sobs softly as he hugs his mother tighter. "i love you too, mom."
yujin wipes her tears at the sight in front of her. she stands up when jaehyun pulls out from the hug and tucks his mother in bed. his mother looks at yujin and smiles, before mouthing a small "thank you" at her. yujin grins and gives her hand one last squeeze before letting go.
as jaehyun and yujin leave the room, jaehyun's mother smiles and closes her eyes. she is reassured that her son is in good hands with a beautiful and loving girl, and his life would receive no less than the warmth and kindness he deserves but never received.
and with that reassurance, a tear slips from her eye as she breathes her last, but with a smile on her face, something she never thought she could do, but now is.
