The Dream Chapter (TXT X Reader)

Ten Years Old

  Chapter 23

⚠️Trigger Warning: Toxic Mindset, bullying, suicide mention⚠️

  Around fifth grade was when most of it started. You and Kai were often picked on because of your tendency to stay together, but you had often gotten separated in group projects, so the two of you felt more vulnerable. Your skin was thick. You'd been through a lot up to this point. You could take on the world. But Kai? He had always had you to back him up and reassure him, but whenever you were separated, things went wrong.

  Kai used to be confident in everything he did, turning in every assignment with ease, always sure he would do fine. He would walk confidently and he would speak confidently during presentations. Kai genuinely believed in himself. That was one of the things that drew you to him. He was unapologetically himself.

  He was like this until an unforgivable group of people got their hands on his mind, twisting it and manipulating it, squeezing every drop of confidence from it until he wasn't able to laugh without being self conscious.

  The teacher partnered him up in a group with these boys. It was always the boys, wasn't it? In all your years of observing your classmates from afar, you'd noticed that the boys seemed to get a kick out of others suffering. You didn't know them personally so you couldn't exactly say why, but if you were to take your guess, it would be that they found joy in seeing that they weren't alone in their own suffering. But that was just a guess.

  Kai had been sitting with these people, trying to do his part. They spoke ill of how hasty he was to start the project. Kai attempted to defend himself, saying that he liked starting early because he could be done sooner. It was a tactic you had taught him so he would stop procrastinating.

  The group simply waved it off as Kai being a nerd. Kai silently started his part as the boys continued to mouth off about other aspects of Kai, attacking his laugh, his voice, his personality, and one of the things he was most sensitive about, his appearance.

  Kai was a foreigner. He moved from Hawaii to Korea early on in life. He wasn't fully Korean, and one of the things people often touched on when they criticized him, was his face. No matter how many times you reassured him or called him cute or handsome, he couldn't help but worry about his appearance. Kai was confident though. He was confident about his differences, though he sometimes worried about them. He would often joke around with you about how handsome he was and that helped build his confidence.

  But that one group of guys seemed to make it their mission to tear down that confidence while you weren't around.

  Kai had watched you go through the hardest moment of your life. He knew the burden that you had on your shoulder, and he couldn't bare to add onto it, so whenever he was feeling bad, he would keep it to himself. He made a promise to someone. He couldn't make you feel worse. He would bottle it up and wait for it to dissolve. At this point, the two of you were still early on in your friendship. This was the incident that led to you being more observant of people's feelings.

  The group of boys had badmouthed everything about Kai until every bit of confidence had splashed down the drain and then they watched as he slowly broke down piece by piece. They watched and they enjoyed it. They enjoyed it and they continued to make it worse until Kai's mind was riddled with self doubt.

  They laughed whenever he stuttered during a presentation. They enjoyed watching as he checked his reflection before every class, criticizing every imperfection. They tormented him as he fell apart.

  That period in time was the farthest apart you and Kai had been since the two of you had met. You didn't know his reasoning. You assumed that maybe he had made friends with this group of boys. Maybe he had grown tired of being friends with a girl. Maybe he wanted to be friends with guys for a change. Maybe you weren't good enough for him.