#&thread.

Perhaps it was the expression he wore, blank and a tad glazed for the time being. Or maybe she read something online and felt a massive urge to assure him of her support right away. Both were equally possible but as soon as those determined words reached the male, he couldn’t keep himself from letting a smile grow on his features. Hearing such words face to face felt surprisingly different compared to the written form — and no, it wasn’t that he’d never hear supportive sentences directed towards him, it just… felt more profound. He couldn’t be sure of the opinions of others, not until they spoke out. “Real talk? That’s quite serious, why this?” With a couple of blond strands of hair threatening his line of sight, Zitao’s attention was solely on her. “I appreciate it, tho… It means a lot to me. Thank you, really, ” he mused with hints of the smile still lingering. “What if I decide to shave my head, will you still support me?” And there he goes again. 

Misun couldn’t help but eye the costumer that entered her shop with a curiosity and amusement. The boy seemed lost in his own thoughts and feelings, completely enticed with the energies that the store gave off. She could understand the amazement; her store was one of a kind, filled with products that wouldn’t cross one’s mind unless they would see it. 

When he stared at her and almost jolted on the spot, she raised an eyebrow and almost chuckled at the explanation that had left his lips. Yet, curiosity was really what appeared on her eyes as she stared at the other. He had just admitted that he could see ghosts and Misun’s interest was immediately spiked.

ㅡ 。yes, taekwon undeniably thoughts so whilst recollecting the history of the two. it is often him who’d clean the mess because she kept on missing and forgetting stuffs. he’d compromise, troubleshoot. most of the time, causing him further damage than not. “It’s not my fault you had such reputation.” he respond, wearing a smug look on his face. “I’m surprised you learned your lesson now.”

Who was she to be bullshitting her like this? Did she think she was funny? Was that what she had atempted to do, before Sena her arrival? Was it? Her eyes closed and a scoff emitted past her lips. How ridiculous. If she had wanted to take her life, could she not have tried better? They say that those who do it so obviously, did not really want to die. If that was true, Sena did not know. Many attempts she had done in taking her own life, many attempts that failed. Friends. The institute.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, in the end she wrapped her arm loosely around the fragile shoulders of the woman next to her. “You do not apologize for being alive, you do not have to be sorry. Everyone deserves a place on this earth, so do you.” If this was not one of her worst traits, pretending to be some saint. “Do not try it again.”

sumin couldn’t remember the last time she had been embraced but she told herself it wasn’t that big of a deal. people had needs, emotional needs, but she put up a very convincing façade that she was the exception to the rule. even as the other female wrapped an arm around her shoulders, sumin remained with the same expression on her face. 

“i didn’t try to kill myself, if that’s what you’re thinking.” despite her words, that had been purely sarcastic, the brunette had no interest in dying. not yet. she had an ultimate goal that she needed to reach first before she could join her parents wherever they were. “trust me... you’ll be putting up with me for a very long time.” there was a cheeky smirk on her lips that appeared out of nowhere, arms crossing over her chest now that the other female had let go of the embrace.

Sumin. The name in his contacts in his phone just stared at him. Well, rather he had been staring at her name for the past ten minutes. Was he being childish in this situation? Had he thought he had gone too far? Was it really all his fault? Things, well questions, had just came through his mind. Matter of fact, questions had been running through his mind all night since it had happened. He wasn’t sure who to talk to, or who to ask for advice. Jakob had always been a clueless and weird kind of guy, and even though he was rather book smart savvy, he still lacked a little bit of common sense. Was that normal?

After letting out a small sigh, Jakob pressed the green button on his phone and put it up to his ear. It took the female a little bit of time to answer and when she did, Jakob broke. His voice suddenly became that of a hiccup and he was now speaking in between sobs. How pathetic did he really sound on the other end of this phone call? Would she think he was a cry-baby or something along those lines? He hated showing weakness to his friends, but what was he supposed to do? “Are you free right now?

it had been a long day. sumin had gotten home after spending the morning helping out a friend at work and the afternoon doing research on the seoul metropolitan library, causing exhaustion to slip into her limbs. she had fallen back into the couch with a thud and a deep sigh as soon as she had stepped foot into her living room. the next thing on her mind was food, with the sight of her bed and a good night’s rest appearing before her eyes right after. but what disrupted those thoughts was the sound of her phone ringing in one of the pockets of her jeans.

a groan escaped her lips but she reached for the device anyways and answered the call without even checking the caller id.

“hello?”

the sobs on the other line and the sound of her friend’s familiar voice caused her to suddenly sit up and for the annoyance at being disrupted to completely dissipate and for concern to take over her body instead. the sound of jakob crying nearly broke her heart. she couldn’t answer quick enough after that question that hung in the air for half a second too long.

was it… true? the only occupants in the entire coffee shop were them, thankfully, but could the other female truly tell how stressed she was from a mere glance? hiding emotions for dasom was her downfall. if ever overwhelmed in a certain situation, it would show no matter how much effort she would put in to hide it. whether it be stress, joy, fear… pain. you could tell. in this moment of time of complete self honesty, she was feeling troubled from the long, strenuous hours of filming. in desperate measures, she would reach for what little strands of effort there were to keep impressing those she works for; all in hopes for the future that seems dim.

it almost seemed crazy that the other woman could tell but with a glance into her phone, dasom saw it too. there was no hiding i since she sat there with no response to shake the truth with a little white lie of denial. hesitant, she flickers her gaze back and forth between the cup of tea in hand and the other across the way. “they say hard work never killed anybody. i’m starting to believe whoever said that was full of it. i can feel my inner self withering away from all the work i’m doing.”

sumin had a keen sense of understanding of a person’s feelings. it was subtle but it was there in the gaze she held with the female, sitting across the table from her. the stress was obvious in the other’s eyes and for a flicker of a moment, sumin felt empathy, nearly allowing that to show in the features on her face. nearly. yet, her words still allowed dasom to understand that she was ready to offer some kind of consolation or support, in whatever way she could. 

█    IT WAS NOT like Myungsoo had good reasons this time. It wasn’t the first, and probably not the last time that he would leave work during late night hours, when all the living creatures in Seoul would be asleep, warm inside their homes. It was 1:39AM when he had the chance to check his phone in a while, and he saw there was a missing call from Sumin. The call had been made at 10:06PM. Damn.

ｃａｌｌｉｎｇ ➠ ＳＵＭＩＮ

With his phone held against his left ear, all he hoped was that she was awake, that she was okay. He was relieved when she picked up, but her words were not pleasant. I knew it from the start. Of course she was mad at thim. To say the least. “Uh, I really don’t know how to say this, I’m sorry I didn’t pick up earlier. I was busy at work. Are you alright?”

sumin didn’t have many people to rely on. in fact, she always thought she was pretty much alone being that mostly everyone she had interacted with until that point had interest in her money, the inheritance she got from her parents’ death and the curiosity at the mystery behind the fire that had burnt her mansion to the ground. when she was in trouble, there was no one she could rely on anymore, not after her parents died, no one but a friend or two that she had made along the way.

that night, she had put all her hope on myungsoo. when she had called him to ask for his help, she had put all her faith that he’d pick up, and so the disappointment was bigger than ever before when the call was missed and he only got back to her nearly 4 hours later.

she knew it from the start, deep down, she just didn’t wish to believe that he was just another someone that she wouldn’t be able to rely on from then on.