THE HEART'S WEAKNESS,

Adoration could be mistaken for many things. Heeseung, of all people, should know this well because after seven years of sticking around Juwon, he'd mistaken adoration for something else hundreds of times.

Heeseung stared down at his phone, watching the time pass by as Juwon waited in line for their movie tickets. They had been waiting for around ten minutes, but he felt as if it had been an eternity. Riki peeked over his shoulder, "You don't have any notifications," he pointed out. "What are you looking at?"

"The time," Heeseung responded, turning the phone off and shoving it into his pocket. "How long do you think we'll be here?"

"Another five minutes," Riki said, holding onto the popcorn he had bought with Heeseung's money. "I think we'll make it before the last preview, though."

"Yeah." Heeseung sighed, looking down at his shoes. He lightly kicked the rock in front of him, watching it bounce away. Riki stared at him, wondering why he wasn't happy. It was a rare sight for him, and the boy preferred when Heeseung was joking around rather than sulking.

"Did you get rejected or something?" he asked. "You look like a sad dog."

"What makes you say that?"

"You haven't talked about Juwon this whole time," Riki said. "In fact, you haven't even been able to hold eye contact with her for more than five seconds all day."

It shouldn't have been that obvious to Riki. He shouldn't be able to tell when there was something bothering Heeseung, but he could. Heeseung smiles and looks up at the boy. "Riki," he called his name.

"What?"

"Have you even been in love before?" he asked. Riki stared at him blankly, processing his words in his head.

"No," he said, confused as to why Heeseung would ask him such a question. "Not that I know of. Why?"

"Love is the heart's weakness," Heeseung said, taking a handful of popcorn from Riki and eating it. "You have to give your all to someone not knowing if they'll except you for who you really are." He paused. "I think I've fallen in love too many times to count."

"Really?" The look in Riki's eyes made Heeseung want to laugh. They twinkled, clearly wanting to hear more. It was obvious the boy knew nothing about love. "How many times? How many people?"

"I already said too many times," he said, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Then how many people?"

Before Heeseung could have the chance to answer, Juwon walked back to them, holding the tickets in her hand. She had an annoyed look on her face (just like she always did) and was muttering. She glared at Heeseung, "Your card declined," she said, rolling her eyes. "You were supposed to pay but I had to because your stupid card declined."

Riki snorted, holding in his laughter while Heeseung took back his card. "Maybe it just didn't like your attitude," he said.

"Or maybe it's because you have three cents in your bank account!" Juwon looked at Riki, gently taking the popcorn from his hand and smiling softly at him. "Did the weird man do anything to you?" she asked him, patting his head. Riki giggled.

"I did not!" Heeseung said before Riki could say anything against him. "We were just talking! And I'll have you know he started the conversation, not me!"

"There's no need to get so worked up," Juwon said, grabbing onto Riki's hand. "Take the joke."

"Yeah, take the joke, Lee."

Heeseung groaned, following behind them as they made their way inside the movie theater. They took their seats near the center (thank goodness the theater wasn't crowded) and sat through the last bit of previews, which Riki had predicted. "Do you think we're gonna cry?" Riki whispered to them, stuffing a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"It's not fun unless we do," Juwon whispered back to him, smiling. Riki smiled back at her and the two continued to whisper to each other as they waited for the movie to begin.

Heeseung stared at them, watching them interact. He knew their whole mother-son skit was just a joke and a way for her to reassure Riki that he could lean on her but in that moment, they really did look like a mother and son — well, at least to Heeseung.

Once the movie had started, they went quiet along with the rest of the theater. For most of the movie, Heeseung's eyes were focused on it, watching the scenes pass by and even mentally complaining about how frustrating the character's relationship was. It wasn't until he heard sniffling from beside him that his eyes peeled away from the movie and turned to Juwon.

Juwon was crying.

He didn't understand why she was crying. As far as he knew, there was nothing sad about the scene. Maybe it was also out of frustration for their relationship but other than that, Heeseung couldn't think of anything else. Forgetting about the movie, he started at Juwon, his mind completely blank. He watched her try to blink away the tears and harshly wipe them away, but nothing stopped the crying.

Heeseung had been in love more time than he could count; that's what he had told Riki. How many people? The boy's question repeated itself in his head and he sighed, leaning his head on Juwon's shoulder, his attempt to comfort her despite not knowing the reason for her tears. Juwon sniffled, leaning her head on top of his.

Just one, he wanted to tell Riki. I've only ever loved one person.

• • •

seung the rat 🐀
imagine crying a the movie theaters and having the popcorn guy as a therapist
could NOT be me

juju tf away from me 👽