𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐓 ‣ jjk

xᴠ. Revelations

The younger hums in response.

"She's obviously not over him."

Uh... ouch?

"How is that related to ignoring me?"

"She's not ignoring you. You know how girls are. They think too much up until the point where they forget about the other things are happening around them. If I was her and I had cancer, and my ex visited me with her freaking fiance, I would've felt beaten up too."

Jeongguk thinks about it for a moment—the older has a point. Although he's never experienced anything that close to a real relationship before (before Yerim, but he isn't even sure of what they've established between them. Are they friends? Or a little more?), he guesses that besides having a weak heart himself, emotional heartbreaks hurt a lot too.

"Talk to her," Jimin says. "She needs you this time, you know."

Jeongguk doesn't have to hesitate this time.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

He heads to her room with a donut in his hand; it's covered in white frosting, probably glucose sugar. He knows that's what she likes best—anything sweet and soft. It suits her just right.

He quickens his pace as he gets nearer to her room and tries to go through what he's going to say to her in his head.

Hey, this is for you. I thought you might want to eat something.

Jeongguk finally stops outside her door and inhales a deep breath before clicking it open. At first, all he can smell is the familiar scent of lemons and rosemaries as if she leaves a trail of that intoxicating smell everywhere she goes. Then he notices the heat. Is the airconditioning off or something?

"Yerim?" He calls out carefully as his eyes scan around the room. She's nowhere to be seen but her blanket's a mess. There's a bowl of half eaten porridge sitting on the table. It's still hot when Jeongguk touches it.

"Park Yerim," he tries again only to receive the same response. Silence. He puts the donut on the table next to the bowl and glances at the bathroom connected to her room. The door is closed but the light is on. Maybe she's just inside and Jeongguk was overreacting over nothing.

He waits a little while more for her to come out until there's the sound of a banging coming from inside the bathroom. Jeongguk narrows his eyebrows in confusion and darts towards the door. He calls her name again and receives the sound of someone... throwing up in the bathroom sink. The stench fills the bathroom and he swats a hand in front of his face to get it out of his nose.

"What's going on? Are you o—" He stops when he realises that she is in fact throwing up in the bathroom sink. Her back immediately tenses and stiffens up upon hearing his voice. As if she's been caught doing something that she's not supposed to.

Jeongguk reaches out to touch her back soothingly but she bends her head lower, splashing some water on her face before turning around to face him.

He takes a good long look at her and can't help to stare agape. She looks like a mess. Her lips are chapped. Her skin has lost their previous radiance. Her entire aura is just... Gone. She looks terrible, and Jeongguk feels terrible.

She pushes past him wordlessly and back into the room, retrieving a towel from the edge of her bed and wiping her face dry.

"What happened?" Jeongguk asks as he follows her from behind.

"Nothing," Yerim mumbles. "Forget you saw that."

This time, Jeongguk's patience is leveled very thinly. So it doesn't take a few couple more words to push him over the edge. Before he can stop himself, he's bursting out everything he's been keeping to himself for days.