Kalon

Chapter 11

Her hands tremble where they’re tentatively stroking her hair. She wants her to stay for a bit longer. She wants to talk to her about school, about the coffee shop, how much she misses her food.

But her dad interrupts them, says that they need to leave, and Y/n gives her a tight smile after pulling away. She waves at them through the window, blowing them cute kisses as they drive away.

Y/n gulps, taking a calming breath before she turns to Chaeyoung, who’s still watching the car disappearing with a deflated look on her face. “You ready to go?” Y/n asks and reaches out to ruffle her hair.

Chaeyoung looks up at her and nods with a smile. She still looks sad.

“Do you want to buy pizza for dinner?” Y/n asks a few minutes into the drive.

Chaeyoung’s face lights up. “Sounds good!”

Even if things might not be ideal right now, Y/n promises herself that she’ll at least try to make things as easy as possible for Chaeyoung.

-

Y/n only has one bedroom, so she makes Chaeyoung sleep in her bed while she takes the couch. Tzuyu helps Chaeyoung finding her way around her new school and Y/n feels a lot calmer knowing that her sister already has a group of friends despite being the poor kid that appears in the classroom in the middle of the school year.

They don’t see each other that much during the week, with Y/n having her own classes and working when she’s not at school. She tries her best to be at home for dinner so she can… cook for Chaeyoung, but her cooking abilities go as far unpacking some noodles and boiling them together with some seasoning. Chaeyoung isn’t complaining since she doesn’t get to eat that much junk food at home but Y/n decides that she’ll at least make an effort to cook something with fresh ingredients.

She talks to her mom, and she says that the weather is beautiful; cold, crisp with the sun shining all the time. She keeps apologizing whenever they talk on the phone, and when Y/n asks her to stop, she starts to cry again. She feels she should know by now how to handle her when depression drags her down into this dark hole she can’t get back out of without anyone’s help.

When Y/n used to live at home, she’d do small things like take care of the dishes, or sweep the floor and do the laundry. She’s not physically there for her now, and Y/n’s never been good at providing emotional support with uplifting words and encouragements, so she feels extremely helpless and useless in the entire situation.

And this might just be the first time she’s felt like this, but she’s almost glad that school is keeping her busy with assignments and essays. It leaves her with no time to worry about things too much before she starts descending into the abyss of panic and anxiety.

-

Sana sends her a picture of her dinner she just dropped when Y/n gets home from work one night, followed by another one where she has actual tears in her eyes.

Y/n can’t even admit it, but Sana kind of… makes her entire day with it.

-

Two weeks into their new living arrangements Y/n comes home after work to a troubled-looking Chaeyoung sitting on the couch in her living room, blankly staring at the sheet in her hands.

“What’s wrong?” Y/n asks, slipping out of her jacket.

“I got my math test back.”

Y/n sits down beside her, glancing at the bright red D on the top right. “Oh. Wow.”

“Yeah.” Chaeyoung looks like she’s either about to start crying or laughing hysterically, maybe both. “What am I going to do?”

“Hey, it’s just one test.” Y/n tries to comfort her. “You’ll just study harder for the next one.”