teared • hyungwon

e l e v e n

he swallowed hard and sat straight. "are those chocolate chip cookies?"

soon nodded. "made by you dr. park?" she nodded again.

suddenly his strange or maybe his usual behavior returned. he started sweating and his fingers trembled slightly. "are you okay? do you want to try one?"

she knew minhyuk had trouble eating sweets of any kind. soon thought it was probably a childhood trauma that he always refused to talk about.

of course, she would have made much more progress if she knew what happened exactly but he always either passes out or goes crazy whenever she tries to get that info from him.

"aren't those your favorites? or at least that's what i remember you told me years ago."

he swallowed hard again, glancing nervously at the cookies. "i can't remember the taste of them if i am honest dr. park."

she tilted her head. "well... you can try them again."

he looked at her, his eyes wide opened, like a child's eyes, unsure and innocent. "i promise they're good. i baked them myself." she said leaning over and opening the jar of cookies.

the sweet smell of the vanilla, mixed with the butter and chocolate impregnated the room.

he closed his eyes as he inhaled the sweet aroma. he then opened his eyes and looked straight to the jar. "maybe.... just one." he said nodding.

soon nodded as well as she grabbed the jar and pushed it slowly towards him.

minhyuk hesitantly took a hand towards the jar, in slow motion, taking his time and doubting on the way.

soon noticed even if he was open to try sweets now and then, he still had some doubts and this was an indicator that he still had trouble with it.

"i can't." he said withdrawing his hand, taking it to his chest and hugging himself.

soon stared at him with confusion as he started sort-of-crying. he shook his head as he lifted his feet to the couch, hugging his knees. "i can't., i am sorry dr. park." he said repeatedly.

soon quickly closed the jar and put it away. "it's okay... maybe you can try other day, does that sound good?"

he looked at her with big glassy eyes and nodded. "alright. i'll bake next month, we can try then."

"thank you." he said. soon just smiled.

"may i ask though... why can't you try them? is it because you don't trust my baking skills?"

she thought for a moment he'd laugh but the laugh never came. instead she noticed a single tear running down his cheeks.

when he realized he was crying, he quickly dried his tears with the sleeves of his white sweater.

"my mom wouldn't approve."

soon's eyes widened unconsciously when she heard those words.

it was the first time that minhyuk talked about something other than he couldn't eat because of the voices.

he had admitted that his mother wouldn't approve of him eating sweets. this supposed to be a big progress at least for minhyuk's medical records. "you mom? why is that?" she asked casually, trying not to overreact since she needed to get more information from him.

minhyuk just shrugged. "she doesn't like it... - he grimaced – you know... when i eat sweets."

soon frowned. "is it because some of them aren't healthy?"