Worst Behavior

35. confession

"He prayed more than once to eliminate his homosexual tendencies," Jin says, biting his lip when Richards doesn't say anything for awhile. A couple moments pass until he nods and gives the plates to Jin to wash.

"Good job Jeon. Keep it up," Richards says before turning around and leaving the kitchen. The three of them exhale in unison, looking at one another with small smiles that eventually turn into laughter.

"I hate you both so much," Jeongguk says, smacking Jin and Will's side again and flipping the faucet on. The three of them continue to laugh, spending the rest of their night talking and playing Super Mario in their bedroom.

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The camp and Richards had decided to take the patients out for a day to town, rewarding them for their cooperation this week during the exercises and counseling sessions. Well, it's more like nobody cried or tried to fight the system.

Jeongguk, Will, and Jin with the rest of their group head to an old record shop and cafe as per request of one of the other members. It's really boring since they have to move in groups, and they can't branch out to see more of downtown Nashville.

But as Jeongguk steps inside the record shop slash cafe, he's surprised to see it isn't that bad after all. They can only look and buy food since the posession of any secular items is prohibited, but the entire record shop doesn't look to bad.

There's records and tapes for sale and walkmans. Jeongguk stays beside Will and Jin the entire time, exploring the store with them in silence.

"You think they'd get pissed if I steal a Madonna tape?" Jin whispers only for Will and Jeongguk to hear. Will shrugs, pushing him foreward to do it when Richards isn't looking, but Jeongguk quickly shakes his head.

"It's illegal to steal," Jeongguk whispers. Jin rolls his eyes at him before scanning the surrounding area and snatching a Madonna tape right from the stand. He stuffs it beneath his belt, smirking at Jeongguk when nobody seems to notice.

"What they do to us is ten times more illegal than me snatching a tape," Jin says, shrugging. Jeongguk opens his mouth to argue back but nothing comes out. He's somewhat right, though Jeongguk can't deny the bad feeling bubbling in his stomach.

Jeongguk trails behind him, continuing to look around the store. They have awhile until Richards and the staff call them to eat in the cafe next door, and what happens to catch his eye is the phone booth pushed to the corner of the store.

"I'll be back," Jeongguk tells them, already walking off before he can hear their response. He grabs his wallet from his back pocket, taking out twenty cents as he steps into the booth.

He doesn't know who to call, and he knows by now school is already over so all of his friends have to be home. Plus he has a lot of loose change in his wallet to make two calls, so he guesses he has to choose who to call carefully.

Deciding who to call, Jeongguk doesn't hesitate dialing Grace's number on the phone, growing slightly desperate to hear his best friend's voice again as the phone starts to ring. It doesn't take long until the ringing stops as Jeongguk holds his breath.

"Andersons' home. Who's this?" At the sound of Grace's phone into the speaker, Jeongguk exhales, feeling his heart squeeze in his chest. For some reason, he feels oddly calm hearing her voice.