Treasure tales

Junkyu #5: What Trust entails

One week later, I finally found some time to visit the HQ. Normally I would take my time with this as I prioritised my studies more, but I found myself feeling worried about Junkyu. I could still remember the frustration on his face. I could understand too, as someone who is no stranger to insomnia and sleep problems. For Junkyu, who loved sleeping, this must be even worse.

Junkyu was alone in his house today, much to my surprise. I shrugged. The other guys were busy and had their own lives, too. No big deal. He barely batted an eye at me as I came in. His eyes were fixated on the TV. I noticed dark circles around his eyes. They seemed darker than last week. He definitely had not been sleeping well.

"How's it going?" I asked as I placed a box of milk powder on the table.

"How's what going?" Junkyu asked moodily.

"You know what I'm talking about. Sleep, nightmares, dreams," I said crossly. "Anyway, here's some milk powder. Doesn't really work for me, but it works for lots of people. Warm milk before bed is said to help with sleep."

Junkyu did not answer me. I made my way to sit down beside him on his sofa. He was watching a documentary on deer. We remained quiet for a little while.

"Milk won't help with an ailment that is out of this world," he said after a while. I turned to him quizzically. He let out a sigh. "Literally. Out of this world. My nightmares and dreams aren't caused by whatever is the typical cause of sleep issues."

"It should still soothe you a little," I reckoned. "It's better than doing nothing at all." 

He angled his head in a way that I was unable to see his face, with his hair covering most of it. He seemed to be avoiding my gaze. Once again, I could sense that distance that he seemed to be deliberately putting between us. I bit my lip, wondering if I should leave.

"You don't need to worry about me," He said after a short pause. "It's not that big of a deal." Despite the fact that that was clearly not the case, I thought huffily.

Then we heard the door opening. We both turned to look, and saw Jihoon strutting his way in with his usual confident smile.

"Only Rin today?" He seemed surprised. 

"I'm here too," Junkyu told him gloomily.

"Yeah but you're always here," Jihoon put on his most uninterested look. Junkyu laughed. I looked at them both in amazement. Does Junkyu just not like me or something? He always seemed so comfortable around Jihoon, too. 

"Only Rin today? There's Rin today?" Jihoon continued teasing. I rolled my eyes. He was clearly referring to the fact that I was one of the ones who showed up the least. Even Asahi was beginning to show up more often than me.

Jihoon peered over our shoulders. "Watching documentaries again, I see," He seemed satisfied. "Come to think of it, doesn't Rin say the most unintelligible things sometimes? You two might make good friends, seeing as how you both probably know a lot of random things."

"What," I said in astonishment, suddenly feeling embarrassed. I was surprised to notice that Junkyu did not even react to that statement. He was focused on the documentary, and did not seem to mind what Jihoon was saying. He certainly did not seem to hate that idea, of us being friends I mean. Was he just a naturally distant person to everyone at first? He had definitely known Jihoon, and the rest of Treasure for far longer than he knew me, after all.

By the time the documentary ended, Junkyu was peacefully napping on the sofa. Jihoon crept over, gleefully taking pictures of him. 

"He normally isn't like this, since he loves documentaries," Jihoon told me. "He's probably just exhausted. As he always is these days."

"I hope we can help him with his dreams soon," I said ruefully, glancing at him. "In fact, this might be the most peaceful sleep he had in ages. I'm glad for him."

Jihoon agreed. Our voices dropped to a low whisper.

"Is he always distant with people he just met?" I couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.

Jihoon looked amused. "Is he still being distant with you?" He enquired. He chuckled. "He definitely likes you enough, though, since he voted to keep you here. Even I originally voted that you leave us."

Right. With everything happening, I had completely forgotten about that.

Jihoon gestured that we leave. "Let's not disturb his sleep," He told me. "It's getting late, too."

I agreed. We made our way out of Junkyu's house and softly closed the door. Now we could properly talk without fear of waking Junkyu. As we got further from his place, our volumes went back to normal.

"Junkyu is a cautious person," Jihoon told me as we walked. "He likes taking his time to get to know people, and then trust them. I think...he purposely puts people at a distance, so that he can test the waters with them before letting them in."

"Then, how shall I get him to trust me?" I could not help but ask. I could not help but notice that Jihoon was one of the people that Junkyu seemed the most comfortable around, so I had a feeling that he was the right person to ask.

Jihoon smirked. "My, my, interested in him already, are you?"

I turned red. "What the hell are you talking about?" I yelled. Jihoon laughed mirthfully. He was clearly enjoying this.

"Seriously, though," I said huffily and folded my arms. "I just want to help him with his sleep issue, but nothing I say is getting through since all he ever does is subtly push me away. Is there anything wrong with wanting to help him?"

Jihoon's smile relaxed into a gentler one. "I'm touched," he said after a while. "You haven't been with us for long, yet you're doing everything you can to help us, and him, even with your busy schedule."

We walked for a while in silence. Jihoon had a contemplative expression on his face.

"What trust...with Junkyu entails..." He said after a while. "It's not just because you're not close enough with him. He isn't open with us either. I think he's afraid of being a burden to us."

"Still, getting to know what could make him trust me, us," I protested. "Could give us clues on how to deal with him. No harm trying, right?"

Jihoon widened his eyes. He turned and looked at me in shock. "Clues..." He murmured. "I guess I just never thought of it that way."

"A person is more predictable than you may realise," I responded eagerly. "There's certain psychological laws that guide us all. There are patterns. And, we're doing this to help someone precious to us, to Treasure. I think it's worth it. If he think he will be a burden to us, we just have to find ways to show him that that isn't true. There are also scientifically-proven ways--"

Jihoon snorted. "You get some outlandish ideas," He teased, interrupting me. "What's this about psychology and patterns? You talk as if humans are some kind of experimental subject. That being said, I'm sure Junkyu already somewhat trusts you in the sense that he knows you have good intentions. He voted that you stay with us, after all. He just has to get comfortable around you. This is Kim Junkyu, though, so that might take a little while."

"And...we're back to square one," I said bad-temperedly. 

"You just have to be patient with him," Jihoon said after a short pause. "It might happen a lot quicker than you realise. He just...takes his time."