Chapter Text
Lee Jaehyun
Today is the day his whole world collapsed.
Lee Jaehyun, otherwise known as Hyunjae, is a swimmer athlete. Well...was. Hyunjae was supposed to compete at a very important tournament. He was representing his whole school! And this was his chance to garner professionals and offer him a scholarship for university. He practiced everyday— nonstop and he’ll keep going till his coach stops him and tells him to rest. Then came the day before the tournament. His coach told him to take the day off to ensure he won’t be tired for the tournament the next day. Hyunjae reluctantly listened to his coach and spent the day off.
During his walk home, he saw a group of kids playing near the playground. Hyunjae smiled to himself while watching the kids play with each other, and he couldn’t stop himself from thinking back to the days when he was carefree, playing with his friends and getting scolded by his mother from returning home with his clothes dirty. While reminiscing about his childhood, a kid accidentally kicked the ball too hard in the direction of the road. The kid chasing after the ball did not notice the motorcycle fast approaching.
Hyunjae saw this and ran. He ran after the kid and quickly jumped pushing the kid and himself from getting hit. He checked the kid if they had any injuries, and breathed a sigh of relief when the kid was unharmed.
“Be more careful playing near the road, okay?” Hyunjae smiled at the kid.
He watched the kid go back to his friends and tried to stand up. Keyword ‘tried’.
Hyunjae checked his feet and saw his right ankle swollen.
“Ugh…what about the tournament tomorrow” he complained as he called his coach to tell him about his ankle.
“So I can't compete tomorrow?” The doctor nodded, solemnly. “No, avoid doing strenuous activities if you want your ankle to heal by two weeks.” The doctor stated as he left the room.
“Rest up, bud” His coach said with a sad smile, following the doctor out of the room to do the documents leaving Hyunjae to think.
On the day of the tournament, Hyunjae, as expected, sat out of the competition. He sighed as he took a seat in the front row of the audience, having a clear view of the pool. He looked to the side as a boy around his age take a seat next to him. The boy had black hair and really cute dimples. He had big round glasses and a lilac sweater. He snapped out of it when the boy looked back at him and smiled. And Hyunjae can feel all his sadness fly away. The boy was absolutely adorable. The squishy cheeks, cute smile that shows his dimples, and those sparkling eyes. He forgot about the competition that he jumped when he heard the bang, signaling the start of the tournament. But he couldn’t take his eyes off of the boy and he thought to himself. Yah! Lee Hyunjae, this person is cute and all but it’s rude to stare!
As if reading his mind, the boy spoke: “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”
That seemed to do the trick as Hyunjae stuttered as he tried to save himself from embarrassment.
“I- uhm- wasn’t- ah- sorry…”
“It’s fine. It’s fine, don't worry.'' The boy giggled seeing Hyunjae’s red face. “If… you don’t mind me asking.. What got you down in the dumps?”
“Oh, no, it’s fine.” Hyunjae collected himself before saying: “I was supposed to be one of those people swimming down there but I sprained my ankle yesterday trying to save a kid from getting run over.”
“I see…”
The boy smiled and said “Maybe this is what fate decided for you. Saying that you didn’t save the kid and got to compete today, but couldn’t focus since all you could think about was the kid you could have saved. Wouldn’t it be better to save the kid than regretting not to?”
Hyunjae sat there in silence, thinking about what the boy said. “Yeah, I guess you’re…huh?” He looked to his side and found the boy gone, a piece of paper left on the seat the boy previously sat. Picking up the paper, he found himself wondering who the mysterious boy was.
Son Youngjae
You could say that today is the worst day of his life.
Eric would believe you if you said the world was ending. But he will not believe the news he heard today.
Living without his mother never really bothered Eric that much. Though he did prefer using his English name because of his mom. His father is the sole person he cherishes the most. He was there for him, he provided for him, and he is the one he idolizes the most.
He was biking home from his soccer practice that ended up ending later than expected. Going past a parking lot he saw a boy, probably a bit older than him but still around his age, inside the telephone booth dialing a number over and over again. Must be a post breakup or something.
When he arrived home, the lights inside were off, which is unusual since his father should be back by now. Entering the house, there are no signs showing his father has arrived. His shoes weren’t even there! Worried, Eric dialed his father’s number.
Ring… ring…
“Come on, Dad, pick up…”
Click
“...Hello?”
That was weird… It didn’t sound like his father at all, heck it was a woman’s voice!
“Uhm… yes, hello? Is Son Hyunwoo there?” Eric nervously asked.
“Oh! Are you his son? I am a nurse at Seoul General Hospital. Mr. Son is currently in the operating room receiving surgery after being involved in a car crash.”
“What?!” Eric could not believe his ears. His father is in the operating room receiving surgery!
“Oh, uhm..i’ll- i’ll be right there-!”
When he arrived at the hospital the surgery was already finished. A doctor approached Eric and told him the news.
“Are you Son Youngjae?” the doctor asked looking at the files in his hand.
“Yes! Uhm...is… my father…is he...?”
The doctor looked at Eric with sad eyes “My deepest apologies, but Mr. Son did not make it”
“Wha- what..” Eric looked at the doctor waiting for him to say that it’s all a prank that it’s not true. His father is still alive, hiding somewhere and popping out saying ‘surprise’. But all he could see was pity, and Eric’s knees gave out and he cried, he cried all the tears he never knew he had. He cried and cried and cried.
After he calmed down a bit, a boy approached him and gave him bottled water. He let out a small thank you and gulped down the water, almost choking on it. The boy chuckled.
“Hey slow down no one’s taking it from you”
Eric nodded, and drank more slowly.
“You know… losing someone close to you is hard. Especially if that someone means the whole world to you. You would think things like ‘why did they leave me alone?’ ‘How will I continue living if the person I'm living for is gone?’ ‘what will i do from now on?’” Eric had to stop himself from crying again at the boy’s words.
“Healing takes time. Sometimes, healing takes forever because you keep going back to the past. But even when you’re not stuck in the past and you think that you’ve healed already… the pain keeps coming back. And that’s fine, It’s all part of healing and it shows how much you care for this person. And you should live for their sake and for yourself” The boy patted Eric’s shoulder before standing up to leave.
Collecting himself again, he saw a piece of paper fall down from his lap. He bent down to pick it up and immediately thought of the boy.
“...Carnival Hearts Amusement Park”