I immediately recoil from his hand, my own hands now cradled against my chest as I take a step back.

He drops his hand immediately and lifts an eyebrow before smiling apologetically.

I clear my throat and let my hands relax back at my sides. "Sorry, nothing personal. My name is Clara."

"Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything wrong," he says, motioning me to walk forward with him as the line shifts.

"I don't know. I'm just used to people thinking I'm weird for not shaking their hands," I shrug.

"Okay Clara, so I now know you like to sniff people and you apologize for no reason."

"I do not-"

"Here you go," Jin says, turning towards me with an orange in his hand.

"I can get my own food," I mumble, seeing his bare hand on the food he's offering to me.

"Germaphobe, huh?" Jin asks, smiling as he takes his tray of food in his large hands.

"Yeah, I guess."

I glance over my shoulder and see that he hasn't moved from his spot next to me even though he has his food now.

I clear my throat and ignore him as I take my tray of food, keeping my hands in the sleeves of my shirt so I don't touch the tray with my hands.

When I turn around, he's still there.

"Where do you want to sit?" He asks, cocking his head to the side.

"Huh?"

"You don't want to sit with me?" He smirks, watching me intently as my eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

"No, I mean, sure."

"Let's go then," he chuckles as he leads me over to an empty table.

He pulls out a chair for me while holding his tray of food with one hand and I smile politely at him before carefully sitting down in the seat and placing my tray on the table.

Jin sits right next to me of all places and his tray smacks down next to mine.

His clothed arm is only a couple of inches away from mine and I can feel myself getting worked up over the close proximity of him to me.

Especially since I need to take my hands out of my sleeves to eat.

I tap my foot against the leg of the chair to calm down.

1, 2, 3... 1, 2, 3... 1, 2, 3...

I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay.

The food is not going to make me sick.

Jin is not going to make me sick.

I slowly roll my oversized sleeves up to my mid-forearms and then I warily glance down at the food in front of me.

"It's good!" Jin exclaims through a mouthful of toast.

I smile uncomfortably as I try to convince my brain that the food is safe.

"I-It's safe to eat?" I ask quietly, tears in my eyes.

I hate myself for not even being able to eat food without being terrified.

Am I crazy?

Am I broken?

Can I be fixed?

"Clara."

I blink a few times and wipe away the falling tears with one of my sleeves before looking over to Jin.

"I'm eating the same food as you and I'm fine," he says softly.

I stare into his eyes and I can tell that he's being genuine.

He doesn't think I'm crazy.

I nod gratefully before picking up the banana and peeling it. I'll start off with something easy since I know nobody's touched the part of the banana that I'm eating.

Slowly, I make myself eat my breakfast, with occasional pep talk from the stranger who thinks I was sniffing him.

I finish my breakfast and Jin offers to take my tray for me.

I thank him and nod as he walks away.

A small victory. I ate the breakfast.

I sigh happily as I pull my sleeves back down over my hands.

"Are you ready?" Jin asks from behind me and I jump in surprise.

"Ready?" I ask.

"Group therapy. You're coming, right?" He asks, gesturing to the door of the cafeteria.

"Well yeah. I just figured..."

"That I'd run off after seeing your issues?"

I nod slowly, keeping my eyes trained on the floor.

"Clara, I'm in here for a reason too. We all have issues here. We won't judge you or treat you badly. I won't. Now come on, I want to get a good seat!"

I stare up at him in awe for a moment before slowly rising from the chair and following him out the door.

"So what do you feel comfortable with touching?" Jin asks as we walk side by side down the hallway towards the group therapy session.

"Anything in my own room and bathroom because I know I'm the only one in there using everything," I say.

"What's with the food thing?" He asks bluntly and I turn to look at him.

"What? We're strangers and I don't want to be. We could be friends, I think," Jin exclaims, smiling brightly at me.

I sigh. "Don't make fun of me."

"If you weren't afraid of being touched, I would playfully push you right now. Clara, I will never make fun of you unless it's for the way your hair looks right now."

I gasp and my covered hands fly to my hair.

"I'm kidding!" He laughs, holding his hands up in defense. "But really, tell me. Aren't you supposed to share your thoughts and feelings around here?"

I scoff. "Fine. I have a phobia of throwing up. So my fear of germs stems from that because my brain becomes convinced that everyone and everything has germs that will make me throw up. And since food poisoning can make you throw up, I'm very selective and picky about food and how and when it was prepared."

I keep my eyes trained straight ahead even though I can see Jin watching me from the corner of my eye as we continue along the hallways.

"I know it sounds crazy. I know it makes no sense. I'm just... a broken human being. But that's why I'm here, I suppose. To get glued back together."

Jin doesn't say anything. We just keep walking together until we come up to a closed wooden door.

"I'll cook for you one day. My hands are very clean and I'm a very good cook, I'll have you know," he smiles at me before opening the door to the room and motioning for me to enter.