Face The Truth - Han Jisung x Reader (Fae AU)

Chapter 6

Entering into Jisung's house you found yourself very happy with deciding to take refuge here for a while. It would have been fitting to say that Jisung's family was well off. They lived in one of those huge houses, one they'd likely built themselves, very modern and cutting edge. Walking through the living room you could even see that they had a pool in their backyard. Though, as nice as Jisung's house was, it was quite strange being dropped back into reality. In these last few hours your life had changed so dramatically that it kind of hurt your brain to come to terms with the fact that the rest of the world was still exactly the same.

"You have a really nice house." You said to Jisung as he walked you through it, your eyes ogling just about everything in sight.

"Oh, thanks." Jisung replied absent-mindedly. You guess when you saw this kind of stuff every single day it got a little less impressive over time. "The guest bathroom is up those stairs to the right. It should have anything you need in it." He gestured up some stairs to his right. You gave him a nod of thanks before making your way to the bathroom.

As soon as you locked the door behind you, you shed your clothes. The dunk in swamp water had left you feeling disgusting, like there was a thick layer of sludge that was coating your body head to foot. Looking in the mirror you could see that you looked just about as bad as you felt. Your hair was messy and knotted, and the wet clothes clinging to your skin had left you clammy and damp. Standing under the hot water of the shower felt even better, though it took a lot of scrubbing to actually feel clean again. And your hair, dear lord, your hair was just about as bad as the swamp water itself. After the shower you pulled on another set of clothes, glad you brought a lot of spares. If things were going to continue the way they had - and it was very likely they would - you predicted you would be going through a lot of clothes.

When you eventually went back downstairs, Jisung was already there, freshly showered, dressed and standing over something steaming on the stove.

"You cooking something?" You asked as you dropped your bag down by the couch.

"Oh, yeah - well, that is if you count packet ramen as cooking." He said, briefly turning around to smile at you.

"Ah, that's about all I can make as well." You replied, and besides you were way too hungry to be picky about what food was being made. "So you said your parents are big business people, is that why they're not here right now?"

"Oh, yeah they're out doing a business deal or something with some bigshot company. I don't really know what it is they actually do, I just know that it means they aren't home a lot." Jisung sounded a little bleak. You could tell the absence of his parents might have bothered him a little bit more than he let on.

"What about your brother? Is he here a lot then?" You were admittedly a little confused. You had thought his parents were the owners of that bubble tea place that you loved, you often saw them wandering in and out of the shop.

"I don't have a brother, you must mean Minho." Jisung said and your eyebrows shot up in surprise. "He's my cousin. I spend a lot of time with him and my aunt and uncle cause my parents are never here. A lot of people just assume they're my real family." Now you felt kind of bad for mistaking them as well.

"Yeah I get that." You replied and Jisung turned around to give you a disbelieving look. "Not the whole mistaking my family part, but just the distant parents thing. I'm not really close to my parents either, and things in my house are... a little messy right now." That was a slight understatement.

"Ah, I've never heard of anyone that has a perfect family. Family is always messy." Jisung said as he began spooning ramen into bowls. He handed you your bowl of steaming noodles before both of you went to sit down on the couch. "Gotta say though, I always thought you were the sort of person that had everything figured out." You snorted at that.

"Yeah that's not even a little bit true. I get good grades but everything else is a bit more complicated." Thoughts of your sister came racing back to you, but you choked those down before they could become too overwhelming.

"Well you sure seem like you're doing pretty great. All those good grades and the fact that you're in so many clubs and all the teachers love you." Jisung looked wistfully into his noodles, like he wished that he could be the same.

"You know half of that is a lie right?" You rose an eyebrow at him, slurping up your noodles in a very un-ladylike manner.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I fake a lot of that just so that I can do shit like leave school early or get out of assignments that I don't want to do?" You laughed as Jisung's mouth dropped open, shock hitting him so hard he nearly dropped his bowl.

"Wait, so like, you don't have chess club meetings on Tuesdays?" Jisung asked and you laughed again.

"Jisung, our school doesn't even have a chess club."

"We don't have a chess club?!" Jisung yelled, and you only laughed harder. It was surprisingly therapeutic letting all this out. You had expected a reaction like your sister's whenever revealing this kind of stuff, but Jisung was acting like it was the coolest thing he had ever heard.

"So like, whenever you get pulled out of class for leadership meetings and all that, none of it's real?" Jisung was looking at you with new eyes, like he was meeting you for the first time all over again.

"Yup, pretty much. I have a bike that I keep out the back of school. Whenever I feel like it I just ditch class and get lunch or something. Nobody questions it 'cause they all think I'm a good student." You shrugged and Jisung sighed in amazement.

"Damn, I wish I could do that. I step one foot out of line and the teachers are on my ass in a second. Can't get away with anything." He looked sadly down at his noodles.

"Yeah, well at least you've got friends and stuff. I've got nobody to hang out with like ever." You said and Jisung frowned.

"Surely that's not true."

"Oh, come on, nobody at our school wants to hang out with the goody-two-shoes." You said and Jisung looked at you a little skeptically. "Seriously. Have you ever thought about beings friends with me?" You asked and Jisung's guilty face was enough of an answer.

"I will admit, I was a little surprised when I saw you at the bait shop yesterday, didn't think you would ever do anything bad enough to have a secret that big." He said and you nodded knowingly. "Is all that ditching and stuff why you ended up in the bait shop?" Jisung asked. You looked at him for a few seconds, not really knowing how to answer that question. It did feel good to get all of this off your chest, but you weren't sure if you were completely ready to admit to what you had done.

"Kind of." You answered finally. "I did something bad to someone very close to me." You chose your words carefully, not wanting to reveal too much. Jisung just nodded, clearly knowing not to question it anymore.

"Well, that was awfully serious, and after the day we've had today I suggest we do something more fun. Now I've got five different streaming services and enough snacks to kill a man, shall we watch a movie?" Jisung asked, smiling widely. It had been a long time since you'd had a friend, that you'd forgotten how it felt to just relax with someone else. And Jisung was never the person you'd thought you would end up being friends with, but his uplifting demeanour was an absolute delight to be around.

"That sounds pretty great actually." You chuckled. Jisung jumped up to grab your now empty bowls, and then began rifling through the kitchen cupboards in search for something else good to eat.

"What movie are you in the mood for?" Jisung called for the kitchen. You pondered on it for a second before coming to a decision.

"I'm in the mood for something light hearted, and you know what I haven't seen in a while?" You called back.

"What?" Jisung answered, walking back to the couch with his arms full of delightful looking snacks.

"Shrek." You answered, and couldn't help laughing at the smile that grew on his face.

"I like the way you think." He said. He flopped down onto the couch, dumping the snacks between the two of you. Through all the terror, fear and confusion, for a second there you thought you felt a shred of actual happiness peeking through.