Hidden Scars

7. Secrets

'I.. Ran away from home too.' Hyunjin confessed.

You remained silent, too shocked to say anything. You wanted to say something but nothing was coming out.

'Both of my parents are really wealthy, I grew up in a large house, went to a private school.'
Hyunjin was looking straight at the floor whilst talking to you.

'My parents are workaholics, they worked all
the time. Rarely had anytime to pay attention to me, I found myself alone most of the time.'

Hyunjin looked like he was struggling, you really wanted to reach out and comfort him
in some way, like holding his hand.

'When I was around the age of fourteen, I decided I wanted to perform in some way. I love rapping and singing so I wanted to peruse that as a career. Once I told my parents they flipped out, told me that they will disown me if I don't follow in their footsteps.'

You saw tears begin to form in Hyunjin's eyes, you hesitantly reached your hand out to place it over Hyunjin's, you had never comforted anyone before so you was a little unsure. You felt better once saw him smile slightly.

'I was young and scared so I agreed but never actually went ahead with it, behind my parents back I was practicing my performing skills whenever I had the chance. I even joined a dance club in school and would spend a lot of time after school writing lyrics.'

Hyunjin let out a shaky sigh.

'A few years passed, I graduated from school and still had dreams of performing. I continued dance classes.. But one day I came home to find my parents had found my lyrics, my recording, everything. They destroyed them, told me i'm not their son, called me a disgrace to the family.'

Hyunjin's hands started to shake, your eyes were filled with tears now. You tried to calm him down by rubbing your thumb over his hand.

'My dad beat me that night, I left early the next morning, never looked back and never returned. I ended up on the streets for a few months, I won't lie I got into some bad business. Eventually I met Chan, he helped me so much I don't think I would be here if it wasn't for him.'

Hyunjin looked deep in thought.

'It just confused me how parents.. They are meant to love you, care for you. But my parents beat me and disowned me over something so minor.'

You could tell this was a hard topic for him to talk about, he was a tough person so this must have been hard for him to open up to a stranger.

Hyunjin looked at your hands still intertwined and then at you.

'We should go to the others.'

You nodded processing everything he had just told you.

'What do you mean got into bad business?' You asked.

Hyunjin laughed a little.

'Out of all the things you could have asked, you asked that. I'm afraid some things need to be kept a secret.'

'But didn't you say you would tell me everything?'

Hyunjin let go of your hand and stood up.