Mental - HyunSeungI.N.

Chapter Nine

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

---

Jeongin walked into the group therapy room, five minutes early. He was a bit anxious about meeting and talking to other people that were similar to him, so he came early to "get it over with".

Even though getting there earlier meant that he would be there longer.

Nice logic, Jeongin.

There was only one other person in the room. The person looked up as Jeongin walked into the room. "Oh, Jeongin, how are you?"

It was Taehyung.

Jeongin looked at Taehyung a bit confused. He thought there was going to be someone else as the group therapist. "Uh, hi. I'm good. Are you uh... leading this?"

Taehyung raised his eyebrows. "I am. I guess I forgot to tell you that I'm also leading the group therapy sessions for impulse disorders. Take a seat."

Jeongin went over to the circle of chairs in the center of the room and sat down in the seat directly next to Taehyung. Jeongin mentally sighed a sigh of relief. He was glad that he didn't have to meet a new different person.

Taehyung wrote something down on a clipboard he was holding before turning towards Jeongin. "So Jeongin, you will meet many different people with different impulse disorders. There is actually one other person that has kleptomania here, just like you. Just remember to be honest and speak up if you feel comfortable, other people will likely have good advice for you, okay?"

Jeongin nodded.

People started filing into the room. Many people fell into casual chatter. A lot of people looked extremely normal.

It's interesting how looks don't always show what a person is really like.

Someone could look almost perfect but be extremely broken on the inside.

Jeongin's thoughts got interrupted by Taehyung loudly clapping his hands together. "Okay, let's get started."

Everyone immediately went quiet. Taehyung smiled. "Today, we actually have somebody new."

Taehyung turned towards Jeongin. "Jeongin, do you want to introduce yourself? If you're not comfortable, you don't have to."

Jeongin looked up at everyone else, seeing many pairs of eyes staring straight at him. Jeongin gulped. "O-okay."

Jeongin gave everyone a small, nervous wave. "H-hi everyone. Uh... my name is Jeongin and I have kleptomania. Some things about me, uh... I like to sing and drink chocolate milk."

Jeongin looked up and saw most of the other people in the room smiling, one of them even gave Jeongin a small wave.

It gave Jeongin a bit of reassurance.

Taehyung smiled. "Thank you, Jeongin. Okay, starting off, has anybody had any improvements to controlling their impulses this week?"

One girl raised her hand. Taehyung looked at her. "Siyeon?"

The girl described her account on being able to control her impulses in the past week.

Jeongin wished he knew how to control his.

---

The rest of the group therapy session went quite well. Listening to other people going through similar experiences to him gave Jeongin some reassurance.

Jeongin stood up and was about to leave the room when he heard a voice. "Hey, you're Jeongin, right?"

Jeongin turned to see a boy, standing next to him. A small smile was on his face. Jeongin nodded slowly. "Yeah."

The boy's smile grew a bit wider. "I'm Minho. I have kleptomania just like you."

Jeongin raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh really?"

Minho nodded. "Yep. My b- good friend Chan actually told me a bit about you since you're his roommate now. I was quite surprised when I found out there was someone else with the same mental disorder as me."

"Chan has actually told me a bit about you too."

Minho chuckled. "I kind of expected that because he's so rambley. It's honestly quite cute."

Jeongin raised an eyebrow. Minho seemed to realize what he said and immediately looked to the floor. "I don't think I should've said that. Uh, I'll walk you to your room, I was going to visit Chan anyways."

Jeongin nodded. "Okay. I'd like to have company."

Minho led Jeongin out of the door. The pair walked in silence for a while before Minho sighed, looking around the hallways. "I think I might miss this place, I'm doing so much better and I think I might get discharged soon. The people here are mostly so nice and caring and they all really helped me so much."

Jeongin turned towards Minho. "Yeah. From what I've seen so far, the people are quite nice."

"Mmhmm. They really do help. My impulses to steal are pretty much nonexistent."

"Really? How did you get your impulses under control?"

Minho chuckled a bit. "It takes a lot of time. Talking to other people, especially your therapists, helps a lot because it helps you feel so much reassurance and positivity. It helps keep your mental health quite well and, for lack of a better word, healthy. Controlling your impulses requires motivation and dedication."

Jeongin nodded. That made sense.

Minho continued. "More specifically actually, when controlling my impulses to steal things, I used this one little trick. If I ever felt the need to steal, I just hold my breath, close my eyes, and count to ten. Then I try to clear my head and remind myself that I need to get better and I can't give in."

Minho scratched the back of his neck and chuckled nervously. "It sounds kind of ridiculous, actually, now that I say it out loud, but let me tell you: It worked for me. It takes a lot of willpower and time."

Jeongin nodded and stopped walking because they were outside his room door. "I see. I'll try that next time. Thank you, Minho."

Minho smiled.

"No problem."

A/N I'm actually writing this illegally lol I'm supposed to be sleeping and i have school tomorrow rip my sleep schedule.

I hope this doesn't seem too repetitive because I just realized that this chapter and the two before are literally just Jeongin and another character having a one on one conversation. oops. dw tho the next chapter wont follow this format.

naove a jood mifhes

unedited