teared • hyungwon

f o u r

her eyes quickly caught the sight of the tall one, standing still, giving his back to her view. he seemed to be focused on the endless shelves with books around soon's office.

she waited a few seconds, examining his behavior in complete silence.

he ran his slim fingers through the spines of the different books as if he was just reading the titles. when he grabbed one, she cleared her throat.

but he didn't react. it seemed as if he knew she was there already. and he probably knew the second she got inside the room.

"hyungwon-ssi?"

"you're late dr. park." he said, still giving his back to her.

"i know... and i am sorry for that – she said checking her clock, realizing it was 4:03 p.m.

"you're 3 minutes late." he said finally turning around as he held the book between his free hands. just in that second, she realized his hands were free.

immediately she felt her hands sweating. "uh... what do you have there?" she asked swallowing hard.

he glanced at the book. "behavior of the mind... sounds interesting." he said walking towards the couch. instinctively soon took a step backwards, foolishly.

he took a seat on the couch and opened the book. he seemed collected and relaxed. "aren't you going to start the therapy dr. park?" he asked as his eyes focused on the letters in the book.

"right." she said nodding, grabbing her notebook and pen.

"so... did the nurses bring you here?" she asked immediately as she took a seat.

his eyes diverted from the book to her, motionless. "are you afraid of being here alone with me dr. park?"

she held the visual contact with him, not even flinching. "why would i be hyungwon-ssi?"

he remained silent a few seconds but then chuckled confidently, closing the book. "boring anyways." he said leaving it next to him, on the empty place in the couch.

she swallowed hard. "very well... let's take it from where we left it alright?" she asked but he only shrugged.

"as you wish."

"alright... the university – she said, not receiving any reaction from him. it seemed like he already knew she was going to keep talking about it. "what about it?" he asked.

"you mentioned you experience there wasn't as pleasant as one imagine the experience would be... is there a specific reason why?"

he frowned. for the first time since she met him, she saw a genuine reaction, different from his cold stares and sarcastic remarks. "no."

she hated when people gave her that kind of answers, yes or no, it left a lot to the mind, to make conclusions. she wanted real answers.

"then... a general idea why?"

"why are you insisting about my university period? all psychiatrists jump right to the childhood trauma, isn't that the important thing dr. park?"

the sudden revelation caught her out of guard. "is there a childhood trauma?" she spoke her thoughts, not even bothering in hiding the surprise.

of course she thought about it, but since the university was probably the most recent outside-experience, she wanted to start from there since she knew that patients hated to talk about childhood and she wanted to earn their trust first by talking about trivial and recent things.

he smiled sarcastically but remained quiet. soon held onto the pen as she waited patiently on her chair, her leg crossed over the other, trying to look collected.