Chapter Eight

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⚠️⚠️This part contains mentions and descriptive scenes of eating disorders. Please be safe. ⚠️⚠️

The impulse to steal he had earlier was completely gone.

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Jeongin stabbed into his macaroni and cheese with his spoon, scooping some up and putting it into his mouth. Right now, he was eating lunch in the cafeteria.

Jeongin shared the last two mealtimes with Seungmin, the two were getting along quite well for having met only less than a day ago.

Jeongin looked up as he saw a figure set down their tray on the table in front of him. Seungmin sat down, immediately spooning some mac and cheese into his mouth. "What's up."

Jeongin sighed, stirring his own mac and cheese in circles. "Nothing. I'm just disappointed."

Seungmin raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Jeongin set down his spoon and playfully glared at the servers serving the food. "They don't have chocolate milk here. I'm going through withdrawal."

Seungmin shook his head and chuckled. "Really? I thought it was something serious. Your love for chocolate milk is kind of cute though."

Jeongin felt heat rush to his cheeks. "Oh, uh th-thanks."

Seungmin smiled, before scooping even more mac and cheese into his mouth.

Jeongin looked back down at his spoon. The memory of the time he stole a spoon coming back to his mind.

Jeongin suddenly felt like he should steal something else again.

Another impulse.

Uh oh.

Jeongin started to panic. He didn't want to do this again.

So Jeongin did something that nobody should ever do.

Run away from his problems.

Jeongin immediately stood up, feeling a bit lightheaded from standing up so fast. Seungmin looked up at Jeongin, surprised. "Where are you going?"

Jeongin stuttered, a bit of panic lacing his voice. "U-uh, I'm going to g-go t-to the b-bathroom. I'll e-explain later.

Jeongin saw Seungmin nod out of the corner of his eye as he started to walk quickly over to the bathroom. Jeongin walked in and immediately went to the sinks, turning one and splashing some water onto his face. Jeongin sighed, the impulse to take something still lingered in his brain.

How could he overcome this?

Jeongin would do absolutely anything to fix this right now. He was so tired of this feeling.

He would even sell his soul to the devil to fix his impulses.

Or maybe not. He would rather not be a slave to Satan for the rest of his life.

In a moment of desperation, Jeongin took a paper towel and stuffed it into his pocket, but the thrill and fear of stealing wasn't there.

He wasn't satisfied.

Jeongin was about to stuff more paper towels into his pockets when he heard the door open, somebody immediately rushing into one of the stalls. Jeongin cringed as he heard the person start to gag and throw up.

Jeongin froze. What was happening?

Jeongin heard the toilet flush and a tall boy came out of the stall. The boy had a quite thin figure, his slightly sunken eyes wide as they landed on Jeongin. "Uh... I'm s-sorry you had to hear that. I didn't even know you were in here. Please don't tell my therapist."

Jeongin looked up at the boy and blinked. "O-okay."

The boy turned towards the sink and turned it on, scooping some water into his mouth and spitting it out. The boy sighed and leaned on the sink, staring down the drain. "I feel so bad for giving in. I've been doing so well and I just ruined all of my progress."

The boy turned his head and looked at Jeongin. "I don't even know you and you probably didn't even need to know that and you probably don't even care so I'm sorry for telling you that."

Jeongin stuffed his hands into his pockets, his fingertips brushing against the paper towel. "I do kind of understand what you're going through. I actually came here to run away from my problems."

"Oh, so do you have an... eating disorder just like me?"

Jeongin shook his head before chuckling nervously. "No, I have an impulse disorder actually. I just can't stop stealing things."

The boy made an "o" shape with his mouth. "I have anorexia. I was doing so well and then I just had some thoughts, you know. Don't you think I would look better if I lost a couple more pounds?"

Jeongin trailed his eyes down the other boy's body. He was quite skinny, his long arms were visibly boney. Jeongin looked back up at the boy's face. He was actually quite handsome. "I think you're good the way you are. You'd probably rather want to gain some rather than lose some."

"You think?"

Jeongin nodded. "Yeah."

The boy chuckled sadly. "I guess I'll just have to work on thinking that way."

The boy looked back at himself in the mirror. "You know, you're one of the first people here to actually talk to me so... thank you."

Jeongin nodded. "Oh. Of course."

Jeongin noticed that the boy looked kind of sad. He must be quite lonely. Jeongin looked back up to the boy. "Do you want to maybe sit with me and my friend at uh... mealtimes? I don't want you to be lonely."

The boy's eyes widened in shock. "Really? You'd want to sit with me?"

Jeongin nodded. "Yeah. You seem like a nice guy. By the way, what's your name?"

The boy looked down at the floor, a small smile on his face. "Hyunjin."

"Hyunjin. My name's Jeongin."

Hyunjin looked back up at Jeongin.

"Thank you Jeongin, you have a good heart."

A/N I feel like this chapter is kinda yike, the interaction between Hyunjin and Jeongin seemed kind of unnatural(?) to me. Idk tell me if you agree or not.

During the day I think of things that I want to put in my a/ns but then when I actually write it, I literally don't even remember what it is. Right now I remember that there is something that I wanted to mention but I literally can't remember I'm dying.

nice day have a

unedited

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