*࿐ to visit
Navigating situations like this wasn’t Taewoo’s forte. Anyone who knew him knew fully well that Taewoo and any kind of interaction that required a level of thought and carefulness was not going to happen as gracefully as he had planned it. And even if he was comfortable around Youngae before, how was he supposed to act now? He had been awkwardly hovering around the entrance into her room before she told him to sit, and he was thankful that she told him to.
Without a second thought, he moved to sit in the chair. He sat, gifts that he brought folded in his hands and resting on his lap. Taewoo let his eyes fall to the floor while he tried to think of a good conversation starter: he could bring up things they’ve been doing around the academy, but maybe that’d bring up some unwanted emotions; he could tell a joke or two, but what if she didn’t find him funny or just didn’t feel like laughing? There were many possibilities to ease back into things, but there were just as many that would mess this up. All he wanted was for Youngae to be comfortable and to heal quickly.
“Snacks!” He snapped out of it, getting up quickly and moving towards her bedside. “There are a few chocolate bars and a thing of shrimp chips… I kind of forgot what you really like, so if you hate something I can eat it and go buy you something else, if you want,” he set the snacks on her lap. “And here are some other things” – the teddy bear and book was set down, too – “the book is about plants. There are an obnoxious variety of tomatoes out there.” Clumsy words and clumsy actions plagued him. Hopefully Youngae would be able to feel his sincerity throughout all of it, though.
even if she complained about the silence it was rather comforting while she was alone. it gave her some sense of peace from being away from people and just the outside world overall. when they sat there in silence, however, it couldn’t feel less comfortable. the words that weren’t said seemed to fly and buzz across the room and around them, mocking their discomfort. the word of snacks seemed to be enough to break it, but instead of opening the door to a calm conversation, youngae received a sea of new words.
taewoo stood up in one move, giving her gifts she couldn’t hold by herself. she let them set on her lap instead, watching as the male tried his best to explain what each thing was. her mind tried to remember which food she preferred, but before it could come up with an answer there were new things coming her way. her heart started beating faster, forcing her chest to move faster as well. her arms were the walls protecting all the new things from falling off. there were a million things she could have done to prevent the pile from forming, but youngae went with the first thing that came to mind. there were a million things she could have done to prevent it from happening, but before she knew it she was crying.
whimpering escaped from her lips no matter how hard she tried keeping them closed. no matter how hard she wished her hair would be enough to serve as cover she wasn’t as stupid as people would think. “tomatoes?” her fingers closed on the objects they could reach, pushing them a bit closer to herself. the bags slowly adapted to the shape that pressed, making a disturbing sound as she moved them. “thank you.” that was the best thing the girl could come up with, raising her right hand to cover her face. “i didn’t want you to see me like this. i didn’t want to cry.”
