Fateful Encounter

An obligation to tell me something? What is this something? As Kai walked me home, I couldn’t concentrate on anything but what D.O had said. I look at Kai as we walk – is he hiding something? No. He couldn’t be. I look away before he could notice, but there was an uneasy feeling in my gut, and I hated myself for feeling like this.
Kai walks me to the door, and he pecks me on the lips before leaving. I go inside the house, and go up to my room to study. Not that I could, anyway. Why was I so nervous? I would just have to sleep, and see what D.O says tomorrow.


I hadn’t slept well, tossing and turning the whole night. I wake up at 7, and decide to make breakfast. At 9, I’m dressed and start to walk to the park. My parents allowed me, because they encouraged me to leave the house and see my friends. Especially because they know I don’t have any, but when I told them I had met Kai’s friends, they were more than thrilled. I sit on the grass, in the same spot I had the day before with D.O, and wait anxiously.

10:00 comes, and D.O isn’t here. Why?
Cause no one comes exactly on time, maybe? The voice in my head chides. It is right, though. I’m being paranoid. Although several minutes later, I see D.O enter through the gates. My stomach churns, and I feel sick. I still can’t fathom why on earth I feel like this. It’s not like he’s going to tell me that Kai is a serial killer.
“Sorry I’m a bit late. Were you waiting long?” D.O asks, as he sits down next to me.
“No, I just came early.”
“Ok. Well, I don’t want to keep you here. I’m sure you’ll want to go hang out with Kai later, so I’ll just start talking. I want to ask, though, has Kai ever told you anything about his past?”
“He only ever mentions childhood stories and he once talked about when he first moved in with his cousin.”
“Ok. Umm, I should probably start from before we met you. Kai and I have been best friends for a long time, and we became friends because I had to walk him around school. Back then, his name had been Jongin, back when he was unapproachable and volatile. It was probably because his parents sent him here against his own will that he rebelled against his cousin.
It was after school, when I was walking home. I was thinking about the next week’s exams, and didn’t realize I had taken a wrong turn. So as a shortcut to get back to my usual route, I go through an alleyway. In the middle of that alleyway…was Jongin with a needle in his arm.”
My hand instinctively covers my mouth as it falls open in horror. This can’t be true! D.O glances at me, then quickly looks away and continues.
“It turns out, he had been doing drugs for several weeks. He smoked and drank any alcohol he could get his hands on. I didn’t say anything about it, because we weren’t great friends and I felt that I had no right to tell him what to do and what not to do with himself. So I acted as if I hadn’t seen him.
We acted normal in school, and our friendship grew. He trusted me enough to come to me when he was in trouble. Actually, about 2 years ago, he got into a really bad fight. Both of them were equally matched, and they both dealt heavy damage to each other… He didn’t tell his cousin, and slept over at my house until the damage done to his face and arms had healed.
After that incident, he got into street fighting. He took any form of taunting as an invitation to beat up that person. He was most dangerous when drunk.
I’ve been asking Kai to stop his bad habits for a long time. He never listened, and when he met you, everything changed. For the better.”
My heart skipped a beat hearing this. He really changed, for me?
“The day he fell out of the tree…he threw out his cigarettes, needles, powder and bottles of liquor. When I asked him why the sudden change, he said, “I want to be good enough for her. So from today onwards, I’m Kai. Jongin is gone.”
It took him a week to be fully clean. He was scared sh**less on the day he planned to go back to talk to you, but I told him to do it. The day he asked you out was the day he started to feel good about himself as a person. Before he got the courage to ask you, he would constantly be doing things for other people, studying and meditating. Everyday, he would tell me “I want to be good enough for her.”
So what I’m saying is, I’m glad you’re in his life. You’ve saved him.”

I feel tears accumulating in my eyes, and several of them flow onto my cheeks. I wipe them away hastily, before D.O sees. But he doesn’t look at me.
“At least now you know.” He says. Then he gets up and leaves without another word. I sit on the grass by myself, and watch the clouds go by. I let what D.O just told me sink in, and after about two hours, I get up and go home.

Notes

Tomorrow is the last day of exams! Yay!
Since I'm excited, I wrote something for you guys.
I hope you like it!