waterfall // lee juyeon

16

seohyun's pov

i brought juyeon back to the inside part of the mall and we headed up the escalators to a specific location that i had in mind. we continued to go all the way up until we arrived at the third floor and walked toward what looked like a telephone booth, except there were microphones inside.

"uh, what is this?" juyeon asked, confused. 

"it's a mini karaoke room slash ktv thingy," i answered. "there's not many places here you can go without people hearing you, so this seemed like an okay idea. plus, i guess if you want, you can sing me a song or something," i suggested jokingly.

"maybe, maybe," juyeon smiled as we opened the door into the tiny glass room. well, if you could even call it a room. it was a tiny space with a karaoke machine and a couple of chairs. we sat down, facing each other, and i took a deep breath before starting to explain it.

"i told you a lot more of the happy side of my life today," i let out a long sigh. "you know, my weird older brother, my hobbies -- all of that," i continued as he nodded.

"but, you see, there's a lot of not so great things that have happened to me in the past few years," i looked down at the floor. 

"my parents got divorced two years ago. we had all been living in taiwan together. i could tell that my parents didn't have the best relationship, since they argued a decent amount, but i never thought they would actually separate. it was really hard on me and hyunjae, and that's why there's always a part of me that is very weary of love."

"anyways, so my dad moved to japan, which is why i lived there for a year. after that year, i decided to come back so i could spend my brother's last year in taiwan with him. it was hard, especially since my mom wasn't home very often so hyunjae and i would have to do everything ourselves. it honestly felt like we were living alone most of the time."

"so when i came back, i was close with eunwoo. he was one of the few people that talked to me while i was in japan and made sure i was okay and would let me rant to him about my struggles that i faced while in japan. so, when i came back, eunwoo asked me out. i agreed, and i dated him for a long, hard eleven months."

"wow," juyeon gaped at what i told him. "that's crazy."

"it gets worse," i sighed.

"anyways, as i was dating eunwoo, we were together, but we didn't have the best relationship. he was really verbally abusive to me and always put me down, even when we were at school in front of our classmates and teachers. my friends always told me to break up with him, leaving our relationship to be very on and off, but i felt like i needed to date him. i don't think it was a high school thing or not and i felt pressured to date him. it felt more like i had been so close with him and i figured that i still needed to be with him since he was there for me when my parents struggled with their divorce."

"so, after an eleven month long relationship, i finally broke up with him," i told juyeon. "it was in late june, so only about a month ago. i was really devastated and heartbroken. it's part of the reason i went to the waterfall, actually. my brother and my friends said i should get out and do stuff so that i could get my mind off of him, and it worked, honestly, since i met you," i felt my cheeks turn red as i said that, and not just from embarrassment. i suddenly felt my vision turn blurry.

was i crying?

juyeon used his finger to lift my chin up so that i could look at him. he saw my eyes begin to water and got up off of his chair and wrapped his arms around me as i hugged him back. my body started to shake as tears began to fall from my eyes and soak into his clothes. i cried and cried as he hugged my small frame for a while, comforting me as cries of pain came out of my lips.

"seohyun, shhh it's okay," juyeon whispered to me. "i'm here for you, it's okay."

"it was rea-really hard," i sniffled, continuing to cry. 

"i know, i know," juyeon said understandingly. "but it's okay now. i'm here for you. you'll be alright. i believe in you."

eventually, after a few moments of silence, i let myself out of his embrace and we sat down on the karaoke room chairs again. there were additional moments of silence before juyeon spoke up again.

"i know that you've been through way worse than me, but i can relate with your story a little bit," juyeon mumbled. 

"my parents aren't divorced, but like i told you, my dad lives away from home. i don't see him very often, and when he does come back, he doesn't even really care about us," juyeon looked down at the floor. "it's especially hard on my younger brother, who doesn't have many good memories of my dad since the only thing he does to act like he cares about us is give us gifts every time he comes back. he's not interested in our lives at all. i wouldn't be surprised if he had an affair," juyeon sighed. 

"and i know that i kept joking around a lot today about how i'm good looking and stuff, but that caused me a lot of problems. everyone thought of me as the cool, playboy-looking, handsome guy, and no one really tried to get to know me aside from my friends. girls would always try to hit on me and want to hook up with me but i never did because i felt like i was being used. i knew that once it was all over they would use it to make their popularity explode by saying, 'i hooked up with lee juyeon last night.'" it's hard, especially since i know a lot of people use me since they think i'm popular and they want me to help them become popular," juyeon ranted, looking back up at me. "i hope that doesn't sound super narcissistic."

"not at all," i shook my head. "hyunjae and younghoon go through the same thing. i get it. i see it all the time."

there were a few long moments of silence as we just sat there, thinking about what the other person had said. 

"it's kind of crazy actually," i chuckled quietly. "i've only known you for a day and i feel like i can tell you anything. i can be myself around you. i don't have to worry about you hurting me."

"for the first time in a long time, i feel safe," i felt a tear slip down my cheek as i quickly wiped it away.

juyeon nodded. "i feel the same way. i don't know how or why i trust you so much, but telling you all of this feels right. i never want this to end."

"me too," i replied.

and there, in that tiny, little glass karaoke room, with the melodic background music flooding out of the speakers, the two of us stood up from those chairs. we walked together and became closer, not saying a word since we already knew what was about to happen. 

and there, in that tiny, little, glass karaoke room, our lips met.

a/n: loll so uh idk if this was a good ending for this chapter but yeah~ don't worry, the story's not over yet! i intend to post at least twenty chapters for this book haha~ 

{written on august 21st, 2020}