▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃ ▀▄▀▄ ☾ SKINSHIP ! ( VII. CHAPTER SEVEN ╎ ✎ ) 2 february 2020, sunday
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YEJIN AND HEESEUNG had been friends for five days now. Yejin treasured the dates. She likes knowing that there was something to countdown to. Their friendship anniversary in a year's time or their hundred-day friendship celebration. She knows those are the things you do with you significant other but Heeseung is her first friend. She wants their friendship to mean something.
The whole week was spent on Heeseung trying to get Yejin to be more comfortable. After the first day of her trying to overcome her haphephobia, Yejin became more reluctant to touch. The next day, they tried again but Yejin was back to square one. She couldn't touch his knees. No matter how hard she tried that day, she just couldn't touch his knees. So Wednesday was a bust. Thursday came around and Yejin was more determined but it was as if the fear had gotten the better of her.
Fear of what? She wondered, what am I so afraid of? She just couldn't figure it out. She had successfully managed to hold three of Heeseung's fingers on Tuesday but come Thursday, the thought of his fingers disgusted her. She no longer wanted to get over it. So they spent the Friday talking about her problem. No details were shared but Heeseung had a better understanding of why Yejin is like the way she is.
Yejin had told him about how long she has had this and what she has tried. She even told him that the progress she made on Tuesday was more than her three years in exposure therapy. Heeseung just smiled and nodded, actively listening to what she was saying but also trying to think of ways to help her. In the end he decided that only way he can help her is if she gives into her fear.
'What fear?' She had asked him. He had looked at her and said, 'You know it, Kang Yejin. You just don't want to admit it.' She was confused because she really didn't know what was holding her back. She nodded her head, telling him that she would figure it out but she didn't even know where to start.
That night she compiled a list; a list of all the possible things that could he holding her back but none of them were plausible to blame but there was one. One point that made her heart drop when she thought about it. Lee Heeseung. Why? Why him? She didn't understand it herself.
On Saturday morning, Yejin met Heeseung at the dog park again. They walked their dogs together, talked about their night but Yejin couldn't tell him about her list. It didn't make any sense to her, why should it make any sense to him. Just as they were about to part, Heeseung had asked her if he could bring his friends over to the café on Sunday. She wanted to say no but she knows how happy her mum would be if she saw more people from Yejin's year so she tells him that it's okay.
