Chapter Twelve

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They made him feel normal.

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"Hey, Jeongin. Take a seat."

Jeongin walked into the room, closed the door, and walked over to the chair in Taehyung's office. Jeongin pulled the chair out and took a seat.

Taehyung put a few papers into a drawer and closed it, before turning towards Jeongin with a warm smile. "So Jeongin, how are you today?"

Jeongin gave a small smile. "I'm good."

Taehyung nodded, smile still on his face. "That's good."

Taehyung picked up a pen and clicked it. "How about we get started? How are your impulses? Are they more frequent, less frequent? The same?"

Jeongin thought for a bit before speaking. "I guess they've been the same. I have an average of two per day."

Taehyung wrote down something on his clipboard. "Okay. Have you been writing down every time you had an impulse in the little notebook I gave you?"

Jeongin shakily nodded. "Yeah. I h-have."

Writing down the amount of times and when Jeongin has had an impulse made him realize how bad his impulses are. He had so many. An average of two per day.

That's fourteen a week.

Sixty per month.

Jeongin shuddered at the thought. He really did need help.

Taehyung nodded. "Have you noticed any patterns with your impulses? Any places or times that distinctly have a higher frequency of impulses?"

Jeongin thought for a second. "No, actually. It seems that they are kind of random."

Taehyung wrote another thing on his clipboard. "Alright. So, continue writing in that notebook, sometimes impulses come from specific things so maybe we could find a pattern."

Jeongin nodded. "Okay."

Taehyung set his pen down on the table. "When we could identify the source, I think it would be easier to control your impulses."

Controlling impulses. That's something Jeongin wished he could do. The only time he was able to control his was when he used Minho's advice. Jeongin looked up at Taehyung, making eye contact. "I actually was able to control my impulses once."

Taehyung raised his eyebrows. "You have? Would you want to describe it for me?"

Jeongin nodded. "It was actually after the last group therapy session. I talked to the other person that you mentioned that had kleptomania, Minho I think his name was. He gave me some advice to will the impulse away. It worked."

Taehyung nodded, smile on his face. "That's good! I'm proud of you."

Taehyung reached under his desk and pulled something out and placed it on the desk. "I think you deserve a reward."

It was a bottle of chocolate milk.

Jeongin's eyes widened. "Really?"

Taehyung nodded. "Yeah. I usually bring in some comfort items I give to patients for making progress and for motivation. I was going to give it to you today anyways, but now is a perfect opportunity. I remember you said you liked chocolate milk a lot in our first session so I bought someone just for you and don't worry, it's still cold. I kept it in a portable cooler. You can drink it during the rest of our session."

Jeongin grabbed the bottle and opened it slowly. Boy, he hasn't had chocolate milk in decades.

Or it at least felt like it.

Jeongin took a sip, liquid gold filling his taste buds. Jeongin looked back up at Taehyung in appreciation. "Th-thank you."

Taehyung smiled. "Of course."

Taehyung sat back in his chair. "So, we still have some time left in our session and I've already gone through everything I wanted talk about so... how's your life going? Is your time here at the hospital good?"

Jeongin nodded and set the now half-empty bottle of chocolate milk onto the table. "It's good. I have some friends now. They all have their own struggles and we all... help each other. It's kind of nice to talk to other people that are also struggling, you know? It's kind of... reassuring(?) I don't know."

Taehyung nodded. "That's good. Talking to other people about your struggles is something not many people are brave enough to do, but it really helps."

"Yeah. I really do appreciate them actually. They're really encouraging and I'm so glad I met them."

"What are their names? I might know them."

Jeongin took another sip of his chocolate milk. "Seungmin and Hyunjin. Seungmin's really thoughtful and creative. He really likes making art, whether it be with paint or food..."

Jeongin thought back to the time that Seungmin and Hyunjin were making a tower out of literal breadcrumbs and chuckled. "...he just always is so creative. He always seems so happy and is quite encouraging to us. His smile is contagious and I really like that about him."

Jeongin put the bottle of chocolate milk back on the desk. "Hyunjin is quite different from Seungmin, actually. He's quite mischievous. He teases Seungmin a lot and I think it's really... cute(?) no, no, no... funny I guess."

Jeongin remembered the time when Hyunjin flipped the paint palette onto the table by accident and smiled. "He's very... likable. I'm glad to have them as my friends, honestly. We really help each other."

Taehyung looked at Jeongin with a small smile and a look that seemed like he knew something that Jeongin didn't.

"It's good to have friends that help you and you seem to be quite close with them. I think you should continue to keep them close to you."

Jeongin nodded. He can't really imagine his psychiatric ward experience without the other two, honestly.

Taehyung's smile grew.

"Maybe even closer."

A/N huff I'm very disappointed in my writing, actually i am so disappointed in the last few chapters I've written for this book honestly I just feel like it's paced so odd and its unrealistic help. I read the last few chapters earlier and it was kinda yike. idk fam.

have day

unedited

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