M U T E

|| 24 ||

Bryce comes into my house with me. He explains to my mom why I'm here early. She tells him to stay with me tonight because she's worried. He calls his aunt and gets permission to stay overnight. Bryce sits me at the table.

"You need to eat," he says. 

I sigh and nod, knowing he's right. He makes me a sandwich just how I like it. With butter. Just butter with two pieces of bread, not toast. Bryce makes himself a sandwich and sits down next to me. We eat, then go up to my room. 

"So this VIXX band. I've never heard anything from them. Mind showing me a few songs, so that I can get the feel of what their sound is like?" he asks me.

"You won't like them," I say, already feeling butterflies from nervousness.

"I don't believe you." 

"You'll see," I could feel my heart racing a little, scared to see his reaction to my music taste.
I take out my phone and plug earbuds in. I hand over one earbud to Bryce. Then, I go to one of my favorite songs, Voodoo Doll. 

"Nareul bulleo nega-" 

(Korean translation: 나를 불러 네가)

(English translation: Call me)

As soon as he started hearing it, his expression right away changed to being confused.
"You know Korean?" He asks.

"Barely," I reply.

I love this song, though. He snatches my phone. 

"Hey! Give that back," I say, reaching for my phone. 

He holds his finger up to stop me, "hold on." 

Then he goes through my music. I don't have much music downloaded on there.

"Do you have anything in English on here?" He asks. 

I shake my head. 

"You're quite interesting, Reyna."

"I'm quite weird."

"Yeah, but in a good way." 

"How can I be weird in a good way?" I look down, letting my hair fall over my face.

"Because you are Reyna, and you are capable of anything," he smiles at me as he lifts my head up.

"Not really," I notice his hand is on my chin, the motion sending tingles that travel down my spine.

"Yes really," his hand falls to his lap, but his smile doesn't fade. 

He hands the earbud back to me and sits down on my bed. I sit next to him. He puts his arm around me. I freeze.

"I've never met anyone like you. You're different, and that's amazing. It's like everything about you I find so interesting," he states.

"I think sometimes you are just too nice," I fight back blushing. 

He smiles, "good."

After a moment of silence, Bryce speaks again, "so, are you okay now?" 

I sigh. I can't lie to him, so I'll just tell him what I'm feeling right now.

"No," I say, "but I do feel a little better, thanks to you. It's just that everything in me has broke, and it's going to take a while to have it pieced together again."

"Yeah, I get that. And I want to be the one to help you piece it all together." 

I put my arms around him. He holds me close and runs his fingers through my hair.