Your Desire, My Pain

Chapter 6: True Reality

"And was that it?"

"Yes, that was it." Replied San, lightly patting the child's head. She was curling in on herself now, leaning into him with her duck plushie snugly pressed against her tiny chest. Her eyes were growing a bit sleepy from his tediously long storytime, and San himself was surprised the girl managed to sit through it all.

"What happened next, mister nurse? What happened to the older boy?" Asked the child as she looked up at him once more with those wide, curious eyes which he found hard to resist.

It was quite peculiar for a child her age to enjoy such a sad story. Didn't normal kids usually enjoy fairy tales with happy endings?

"The older boy tried his best to live his life without the younger girl," he continued, giving the girl a gentle squeeze of her cheeks, which she responded with a delighted giggle. "But sometimes, even that was hard."

"Mister nurse, I don't understand." She interrupted, brows furrowed like she'd just come to an unpleasant realisation. "Don't stories normally have happy endings? Why is this one so sad? They are in love, but why can't they live happily ever after like the princesses in my books? This is not nice"

San smiled. There it was, the childlike innocence. God how he missed those years "Those are stories, sweetheart, This, however, was reality." He paused then, unsure if he should finish the rest of his sentence. A moment later, he decided to proceed. "Reality isn't always happy. Once you grow up, you will know."

"I know, mister nurse. Whenever I fall on the ground and my knees get little scraps, they hurt so much and it doesn't make me happy." She responded with a pout, leaning back into the pillow. He could only chuckle. "Really? I'll make sure to replace the all the floors with foam mats so you'll never be hurt again." His words were met with an excited exclamation.

"But tell me, tell me. What happened next?"

Sans smile lightly faltered, but it grew twice as wide before the little girl could even notice it. "To me? What happened next, was reality."

————

"I don't wanna go today sannie, sorry."

Another empty excuse as he pulled the phone away from his ear and hung up. Wooyoung sighed to himself before leaning back against the tree, pulling up the first name in contact, and pressed the dial.

One beep. Two. Then, three. He grew tired. He'd grown to detest beeping noises, and this was unnecessarily getting under his skin. Yet, he didn't expect it to stop anytime soon.

"The number you are trying to reach isn't available right now, please try again later."

The automated voice sent him straight to voicemail. That didn't bother Wooyoung, anyway. Because it was exactly what he dialled for.

"Charlotte, it's me again. I had a horrible day today." He sighed, putting the phone closer to his mouth. This had become a routine for him, visiting the park and leaving her phone number a voice message at the end of every day.

It had been another unnecessary year for Wooyoung. He'd graduated now, looking for his opportunity to start a career as a dance teacher. He had long dreamed of celebrating his graduation day with Charlotte, the younger standing right next to him on that venue stage—dressed in a similar gown, wearing a similar hat, as he started at her with the proudest smile in the world.

Ever since Charlotte left, San had been trying to spend more time with him.

On lonely, cold nights when the silence of his own bedroom had him in a chokehold, San was there to soothe his uneven breaths. Other days when Wooyoung's signature smile didn't reach his eyes, he was the first to reach for his hand.