Your mother told you that there was a purpose for what everyone does. That there is always a reason for someone's actions whether it was bad or good.
If it was a good action, the individual has learned the most rewarding path to handle situations, regardless if it was easy or not. If it was a bad action, the person could reflect on it, and with guidance, they will learn the right way toward dealing with obstacles.
And to this day, that is how you viewed life. If you handled something well, you would be rewarded in the future, if you handled it poorly, you would need to reflect on why you did such a thing, till you find the right path.
With these beliefs, you always wanted to find the 'purpose' of an individual's actions and help them find the right way. So that's how you ended up working at a rehab centre, helping mentally to find the root cause of someone's poor actions, and leading them to a better future.
With a smile on your face, you walked into the familiar double-doors of the rehab centre. Your heels clicked against the dusty white tiled floor, as you made your way to the staff room. As soon as you opened the door to the said room, a panicked screech of 'Y/n!!' was heard.
Alarmed, you jolt at the sound, and look up to see one of your co-workers, Hana, dashing towards you with wide eyes. "Y/n!!! I'm so glad you're finally here!" she screeches.
Being a bit confused, your brow furrows. "You are?"
"Yes!" she says with a trembling voice.
Seeing her tremble on the spot, with eyes looking like she'd seen a ghost, you instantly felt uneasy. "Hana, is everything ok?" Your voice laced with concern as you hold her shoulders.
She lets out a deep sigh before she looks into your eyes. "Y/n, I really need you to handle one of my patients for me!"
You feel your hands sweat to her request. You were still studying psychology at school. You weren't a qualified therapist, psychologist, or proper mental health caregiver yet. "Unnie, you know I'm not qualified to handle patients on my own yet."
With a frantic sigh, she holds onto your arms that were on her shoulders. "Y/n please! My boyfriend just got into a motorcycle accident!"
Your eyes widen. "Oh my God! Is he oka-"
"He's alright." she sighs with relief while interrupting you. "But I still need to be there for him! Please! All you must do is ask how this patient is feeling! Its easy, just try to have a normal conversation with him."
She still sees the nervous look on your face, but then smiles at you. "Y/n, you know I trust you right?"
Your surprised at her confession.
"You're the only caregiver I actually trust to deal with one of my patients, and you aren't even licensed yet!" She then runs her hands down your arms, till she's enclosed your hand with hers. "And this patient isn't too much of a pain. Besides, haven't you realized that most patients rather reveal their stories to you? They won't talk about their pass to a proper professional, but would gladly explain it to a student like you. Y/n, you have a gift for understanding people, so I know you can handle this for me."
You stand there quite stunned. You had been helping around at this place since you were a young girl, just doing whatever your mother asked of you.
You would watch her deal with patients and help others, causing you to admire her greatly and choose to follow her footsteps. Hearing the praise Hana was giving you now, made you feel accomplished and pleased that people thought highly of you, like they did to your mother.
"A-Alright, just this one time," you say with a smile.
Hana hugs you tightly, and mouths 'thank you' before she goes and grabs her purse, then gives you the file of the patient. She then heads towards the door, but pauses before she leaves. "And Y/n... be careful around him okay? He's only a couple of years older than you, don't let him be a bad influence."
Confused, you turn your head to reply, but she's already gone. Sighing, you glance at the file in your hand;
Name: Kim Seokjin
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Reason of rehabilitation: drug addict, heavy alcoholic.
Tucking a strand of hair behind your ear, you head toward the designated office to which he would be located in.
–
Cracking your fingers, you open the oak door to the sessional office, where patients came and sat down with their consultants, talking about their problems. The room looks like a regular office- with tiled floors, and the walls painted a dark brown. The room was purposely designed to make a more comfortable and relaxed atmosphere for the patients to dig deep into their emotions.
As you enter the room, you quickly close it behind you, then turn around to see the back of a broad-shouldered man, already sitting at the table. He has dark brown hair, but doesn't bother to turn around to acknowledge your presence.
Shaking your nerves, you quietly walk over to the desk where he is seated, then sit in the chair opposite of him. You clear your voice, then look up at him, but your words seem stuck in your throat.
This man?!?!?! Is he even human?!?!
You didn't know how you were expecting your patient to look like, but it certainly wasn't like what was in front of you.
Seokjin could already tell by your footsteps that you weren't Hana. He didn't bother looking up at you until you cleared your throat when you sat down.
He glanced up at you, and let out a tiny smirk when it looked like your words died down your throat when you looked at him. He takes in your appearance and notices that your hair is much longer now.
He puts on his infamous poker face and stares you right in your eyes. "You're not Hana."
You cower under his intimidating gaze.
Okay Y/n, get a hold of yourself! Don't let this very handsome man... know you're nervous.
You mentally encourage yourself before clearing your throat again. "Yes, I'm not. She had a little problem to take care of, but she told me to handle this session for today."
He knew exactly what the 'little problem' was, but still managed to keep a straight face. "Ohh really? That's unfortunate. It must have been a bigger problem than me, if she had to ditch on my session."
No no no! You can never let a patient feel uncared for!
"Seokjin, she didn't want to leave you, she just had to deal with a serious personal problem," you quickly exclaim. "And hey, Hana trusts me enough with you, and I've been told by many that I'm a great listener." you let out with a smile.
"You can call me Jin, sweetheart."
You try to act unfazed by him calling you sweetheart, but you can feel your cheeks burn and to your disdain, you start to stutter on your words "O-okay. Uhh- Jin, let's start."
Why am I getting so nervous around him?!? I haven't been like this since I first started working here.
You had dealt with a range of clients, but for some reason this man in front of you, made your nerves shake. Perhaps it was the fact that you were completely inexperienced in the romantic department, due to the fact that you just focused on school and coming to work here since you were 14, for your mother.
But when you turned 15, she got into an accident which took her life. Ever since then, you cut yourself off from people, just focusing on taking care of the patients here, and getting your degree. You were now 20, but the memory of her still pained you greatly.
Nonetheless, you were a strong girl, and still managed to smile when everything seemed dark, trying to find the good in everything.
Taking a deep breath, you looked down at his file again. "So Jin, it says here that you are addicted to drugs and have an alcohol problem." you manage to say calmly.
The handsome man in front of you snickers, "I'd disagree with the drug part. Yes I smoke weed time to time, but who doesn't? I admit I tried meth one time, but that shit fucked me up too much, plus it could affect my beauty in the future, which is a big no-no."
You furrow your brows at his answer.
He seems to take his appearance seriously, so why would he even drink or smoke?
"Well, many people of society do not smoke marijuana Jin, including myself. But I'm glad you admitted it to me."
Jin just smirks at your answer, "Well I'm not a 'person of society' Y/n, I don't work or do anything for this economy."
You're about to ask him why he doesn't work and why he would drink and smoke if he knew that would affect his appearance, but then you realize something– he said your name.
I never told him my name yet. How does he know it?!
"How do you know my name?" you ask him curiously. "I never told it to you yet."
Ohh fucking shit! I forgot she doesn't know me.
Jin starts to panic, but he still keeps on his poker face coming up with a quick lie. "Hana has mentioned you a couple of times, and by the way you act and look, I just assumed you were the girl she was talking about."
Nice one Jin.
"Really?" you ask genuinely surprised. "I hope she said good things about me then."
Jin smiles. "Don't worry, she said very nice things about you, like you're very smart, friendly, understanding, helpful and that you're..." he looks you directly in the eyes and winks, "extremely cute."
You redden at his gaze and laugh, "Okay, she definitely didn't say that."
Jin laughs with you, but then grins, "But I'm not lying about the last one. You are really cute."
Trying not to smile to widely, you then try to get back onto topic with him. "Thank you, Jin, but let's try to get back onto topic okay?"
Before he could retort and try to change the topic, you quickly ask "So why don't you work? I think that would be an effective way to get your mind off from constantly drinking or smoking."
Jin raises his left hand to scratch the back of his head, but then you notice something when his long-sleeves roll down a bit to reveal his hand and arm– it was burnt.
It wasn't just a small burn, but looked like it ran up the majority of his left arm and hand. The skin was still discoloured a bit, with the bumpy marks on them, making you assume it had been burnt badly before.
"Ahh well, my father is a very wealthy man, so there really hasn't been a need for me to go out and work..." He was going to continue, but then notices your gaze on his arm. He realizes that its his burnt arm, then consciously brings it down, and pulls his sleeve down to cover it again.
"Jin, what happened to your arm?" you ask, but see him hesitate. "You don't have to tell me right now if you aren't comfortable with it."
"Huh, its alright. I don't mind. It's nothing serious. I was boiling water in a pot, but accidentally hit the handle to it, causing it to fly and spill all the water onto my arm." He tells you with a fake smile. You're still looking at it questionably, so Jin lies again, "Hey, it was a lot worse looking in the beginning, but eventually it will fade away."
Jin wasn't technically lying to you, as it was extremely burned at first, almost causing him to lose his arm, but he wasn't telling you the truth about how he got it.
You don't question him further on it as you don't want to pry, and continue with the session. "Okay well, be more careful when boiling stuff!" you joke. "Anyways, you said that your father is wealthy, I understand this, but how does he feel about you just living off of his success?"
Jin tries not to let his poker face falter at the mention of his father. He takes a deep breath and replies, "He doesn't really mind too much I guess,"
Because he barely has to do all the dirty work.
"He is a very busy man, so he doesn't really care what I do."
You look at him closely and can identify a hint of bitterness to his tone, realizing that there is probably more that he isn't telling you.
"Uhh- well, I understand it can seem as if parents don't really care about you, I sometimes felt the same with my mother, but I knew she always loved me, even if she didn't really show it," you tell him.
He closes his eyes tightly at the mention of your mother.
If I just... she wouldn't... NO! Don't think about it, you'll give yourself away Jin, he mentally scolds himself.
Keeping up his act he coolly replies, "Ahh well, I guess we can talk more about it next time."
Confused, you ask him "Next time?"
"Yes, next time sweetheart. Our session is already over."
You whip your head back to the clock located directly behind you on the wall. "Oh my goodness, I didn't realize."
Jin sees you look down solemnly and smiles at you, "Do you mind if I request for you next time? I prefer talking to you rather than bitch-face Hana."
You bite your lower lip at his remark, trying to hold in your laughter. Even though you liked Hana, and she was extremely pretty, everyone knew she did have the best resting bitch face.
"Hey, don't talk about my co-worker like that," you say light-heartedly. "But I don't mind, I'm actually looking forward to it," you smile.
Jin gets up and smiles. "So I'll see you next session, alright?"
You return the smile as you say, "Definitely" before he leaves with a grin on his handsome face.
To be continued...