SCENERY / Taejin

30. Wall

As I go through letter by letter, I see more and more of the things and feelings he's hidden so well all this time.
The letters not only covers the years we've spent apart but everything from the beginning-
the beginning of his feelings.
I imagine him writing all these down in his most desperate moments...and how hurt he must have been to pour it out all like this.

And it kills me knowing the person I love so much had to sit through all that fear for years alone by himself.
But every doubt that I have towards his feelings for me is long gone. I want nothing more than to pull him in my arms right now, tell him he has nothing more to be afraid of.

But I can't take that next step yet alone. It has to be something he wants me to do too.

I need him to trust me enough to open up so we can both move forward together. I need to hear the things he's written from his own lips.

I brush my hands over the letters lovingly before putting them in the drawer beside my bed and heading downstairs.

I halt in the stairway. I can hear hyung's voice talking to someone I presume is a customer. His pronunciation in the foreign language was flawless. I smile proudly knowing how much dedication he always puts into learning new things.

I shake myself up, rubbing my eyes to get rid of any sign of tears. I have to be strong for the both of us until he can be.

Hyung..I did tell you I was going to make you like me,right?
Now I just have to make you show it.

I open the doors and I see hyung make his way to clean one of the tables. I rush to him and grabbing the plates from his hands, I nudged him aside,
"I got this,hyung. Go back to the counters."

He looks taken aback at my sudden intrusion,
"You don't have to...it's not really that busy here at all."

Collecting everything on the table, I head towards the kitchen with him trailing behind me.

"I said you don't have to..Taehyung-ahhh,"

"Ah. hello..how can I help?" I ask the women in the kitchen shyly. They look up from their work and greets me back with a smile.

"Mmmm..It smells wonderful," I take a whiff of the pastries the older woman is baking and she smiles even wider in reply, inviting me to have a taste.

I gobble up the fruit tart greedily in no time. Hyung is looking at me all the while, leaning on the door of the kitchen. He tsked as I wipe my lips satisfied.

"Look at you..Didn't you say you ate already?"

I give him a weary smile as my stomach rumbles even louder after tasting the pastry.

"Go sit down. I'll bring us something." He says crossing his arms meaning he won't take no for an answer.

I obey, making my way out to the cafe area and choose one of the tables by the windows. The whole place is empty except for an old man in the corner, too engrossed in his book to notice me.

A few minutes later, hyung comes out with two plates of food and places them down on the table. He takes his seat opposite to me.

I look down at my lunch. Two beautiful pieces of golden toast with a huge amount of colorful toppings and perfectly soft cooked eggs at the top. Hyung also bought some more of the fruit tarts and my eyes danced with excitement.

"I always have one of the cafe menus for lunch because it's more convenient but we'll cook properly upstairs for dinner later. How's that?" He speaks up already digging into his own plate.