lover | park jongseong

★ #28 | hugs

As soon as she was pulled into his warm embrace, her breathing began to pick up, choking out sobs as she felt suffocated in her own feelings, fist balling up the fabric of his sweatshirt tightly into her hand.

"It's okay, you're okay. Let it all out, I'm here for you. Always. Okay?" He cooed, swaying her back and forth in his hold.

The girl took deep breaths in-between her sobs, head buried on his chest as part of her felt embarrassed to be seen this way. Regardless, his touch and soothing voice brought her a sense of comfort, squeezing her eyes shut.

"I'm really sorry, this wasn't supposed to happen." The girl breathed out shakily, feeling his hands tangle through her hair. "I feel so bad. This is so unfair to you, I'm really sorry. Didn't mean to ruin tonight."

Jay furrowed his brows, shaking his head upon hearing her unneeded apologies. "You did not ruin anything, Hyerin." He stated, tone of fort firm yet still soft as if not to startle the girl in his hold.

"Tonight is not ruined, I promise. We can still do everything we want to. We can eat dinner, and watch movies. How does that sound?" He raised a brow, pulling away from the hug just enough to look down at her.

She sniffled and nodded, her shaky breath slowly becoming more stable as she lifted her hand to use the sleeve of her sweatshirt to wipe her tears. "Sounds good." She replied in a mumble, looking down as he hummed, smiling reassuringly at her.

His hands gently tugged her back into his arms, fingers trailing along her waistline as he rested his chin on top of her head, sighing in content as he felt her arms snake around his shoulders, body relaxing in the comfort of his embrace.

"I won't ask you to talk about it now, as I know it's hard and overwhelming for you. But, please know that I am always here if you need to talk to me. Don't ever feel like a burden, because I assure you you're far from that." Jay reminded, earning a quiet hum from the girl.

"Thank you, Jay." She breathed out, blinking away the remainder of her tears as she leaned into his touch, taking in his scent as it filled her senses.

"Mhm. Of course." Jay smiled warmly, pulling away from the hug as he reached out to hold her hand, guiding her to the kitchen, where he gestured to the cooked food with lids over it to keep it warm.

"The food is done, if you'd like to eat now. I put lids over it to keep it warm. I didn't want to eat without you." He explained, bringing his hands up to place them over her shoulder, as her expression softened.

"You didn't have to wait, you know." Hyerin informed, tilting her head up to meet his gaze as he shrugged.

"I didn't have to. You're right. But that doesn't take away from the fact that I wanted to." He pointed out, as she felt heat rush to her cheeks as she tore her gaze away from him, turning her head.

"Thank you." Hyerin muttered shyly, the gentle weight of his hands on her shoulders disappearing as he walked around the kitchen island, taking the lid off of the food as a trail of steam brewed from it.

"You say that a lot."

"Because you give me so many reasons to." She crossed her arms, softened gaze lingering over his lips, how they curved up into a winsome smile as he shook his head slightly, having not expected such a response from her.