Balloon 🎈
A little boy named jisung looses grip of his heart balloons and he can't help but get sad as they fly away, right from his grasp.
He tries to hold back his tears but it's no use. He can already feel his chin quivering, his face scrunches up and the first few tears slip down his reddened cheeks.
His fingers fist into his jeans as he tries to keep it together. He's a big boy now, he shouldn't be crying over some stupid balloons. Some stupid balloons that he had found tied to a bench. Who was he kidding. Those weren't even his balloons. He had just found them all alone, just like he felt...
No one would ever give him balloons. Especially not the pretty heart shaped ones like these ones. He liked having them though, even if for a little bit. They made his hands feel warm and felt like a bandage wrapping around his little lonely heart.
(*sniffle)
He felt his heart squeeze at the thought.
He wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve. He would never be special. He was just a burden as everyone kept telling him.
He was crying silently to himself and didn't hear the light footsteps behind him until a small hand, almost the same size as his, lightly tapped on his shoulder.
He turned around, face swollen with tear-tracks and his lip curled in a sad little pout.
"Huh..?"
The little girl spoke,
"I saw your balloons fly away and you seemed sad."
Jisung stayed silent, eyes still stinging and the girl continued.
"I don't want you to feel sad. So here—" She held out her hand to him, holding a smaller heart balloon.
Jisung's eyes widened.
"Take it." The girl said simply. "It should be yours. I know your's were bigger and prettier but... this one's mine and I think you should have it."
Jisung who hadn't spoken until now slowly lifted his shaking hand. His fingers carefully closed around the string making sure not to let it slip. And just for a moment his fingers brushed against the girls'. He quickly pulled his hand to his side.
"Thank you."
No one had ever done something so nice to him. He was used to other kids teasing him and adults ignoring him. But now this girl had given him the one thing he was crying over.
"You're welcome." The girl said smiling.
Jisung looked at her carefully. She was a bit taller than him, but her hands were smaller. He couldn't help but wonder if they were warm...
He didn't understand why he suddenly felt so shy.
"I'm jisung." He said and then blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "You smell like cotton candy." He instantly felt his cheeks warm.
The girl laughed. "I just had some. I'm y/n." And she stuck out a slightly sticky hand to shake.
Jisung tentatively took her hand and as he shook hers he felt a gentle warmth spread through his body all the way down to his toes.
"Do you have more? Cotton candy I mean." He said shyly. "I do!" y/n said happily. "Wanna come with me to go grab some? I can also show you my rock collection. My mom says they're all the same but I promise they aren't. They all have different names and faces! I drew them all myself." She rambled proudly.
A tiny smile appeared on jisung's face at y/n's enthusiasm, "Okay." He said nodding in agreement. "I've never seen rocks with names or faces. But I did write a poem about how smooth and grey they are. I could read it to your rocks if you like, I still have the paper in my pocket, I think, although I did get some mustard on it." He said bashfully.
"Cool!" y/n said excited. "I've never heard a poem about rocks and I'm sure mine will like to hear it."
For the first time in a long time, jisung felt his small smile turn into a big one as he let's himself follow y/n, one hand still in hers and the other holding onto his new balloon.
And just like that, the loss of two balloons had lead to jisung finding himself and even better one. A single balloon that would never fly away.
End.