Admitting to Being Broken

Yonghwa and jhaesun rode back from training and washed up at home the general came home for lunch in time to pick up their meal delivery and eat with them

"Yonghwa! Jhaesun!" he called going up the stairs to Jhaesun's room,

the two boys had fallen asleep while playing a video game Jhaesun was sitting against the wall with a pillow behind his back Yonghwa was lying with his head on Jhaesun's chest

and his legs hanging off the bed they had a case of the midday heat snooze that had a tendency to hit people in Esperia in the afternoon hours,

when it was especially warm outside as it was now in the summer and it was reported there would be a heatwave today

the heat outside tended to make one feel tired and sleepy and you would find yourself nodding off without realizing it especially if you had been doing physical activity like training in the mornings

he woke both boys up from their sleep Jhaesun woke up groggy "dad!" he gasped "what time is it? I'm late for training?" he said

Yonghwa groaned "my head feels funny!"

"It's the heat! Gregory said, "you fell asleep in the bed and the windows closed too so no fresh air is coming in to cool the room, youre sweating in your sleep and dehydrating, you need to cool down come out of the bed! both of you get into the shower!"

the pushed the two boys into the shower and turned it on

cold water came on waking them both up

"aaaahhh!" Yonghwa cried leaning against the bathroom wall as the spray hit him

his head was starting to clear up

"Jhaesun! don't fall asleep and leave your window closed!" Gregory said "I know its closed because the sun is too bright but if you do that, when the heat rises it burns up the cool air in the room,

you two were cooking in your sleep you woke up disoriented you could have had a heat stroke Yonghwa already was experiencing the heavy-headed feeling and it felt like your head hurt right and kinda dizzy too?" Gregory asked

"yes," Yonghwa said "my head felt heavy, and it felt like my head was stuffed up with cotton wool"

"you would become unconscious after too much longer you must be careful," Gregory said

"do you guys feel alright now? he asked Jhaesun rubbing his head

"yea!" jhaesun said "I feel thirsty"

"dehydrated," Gregory said knowingly "come out, put on some dry clothes and come downstairs lunch is here theres cold water in the fridge dont drink soda you need water ok "

"yes dad we got it thanks for waking us in time sorry I forgot to open the window, " Jhaesun said

"you have to be more conscious now jhaesun Yonghwa is here" his dad reminded him

"by the way yonghwa I want to talk to you about something at lunch"

"ok Gregory" he agreed with a smile and a nod

after the unexpected near heat stroke, the two boys changed their clothes into dry T-shirts and shorts and went downstairs

his dad was waiting "here drink these" he said handing Jhaesun two bottles of water they were cold from the fridge

jhaesun opened Yonghwa's for him and passed it to him before opening his own he put it to his head and let the cool water slide down his throat

"ahh! that felt so much better," Yonghwa said after drinking several mouth fulls

Jhaesun's water was almost already gone

"urg! that was really good we really were in trouble my throat kinda hurt when the water went down it felt like my throat had been paralyzed or something," Jhaesun said

"not paralyzed dried out, dehydrated you exercised in the morning and didn't put enough fluids back in," his dad said

"I'm going to get a ceiling fan for your room its too hot this summer there is bound to be bad weather behind it"

"oh no da dont start your predictions about the weather please dont ruin our summer!" Jhaesun sighed

"why? do his predictions always come true?" Yonghwa asked

"yes my dad is better than the weatherman about the weather," Jhaesun said

"dad has this weird sense about it like his body can feel there are changes in the pressure in the atmosphere or something he says"

"he's talking about atmospheric pressure that can be caused by the weather," Yonghwa said

"When a storm is coming, the barometric pressure drops right before it arrives,

some people can feel the changes in the air, and a sense that the storm is coming, others cant it's just a funny thing that science doesnt have an answer for

animals and insects have this sense and thats how they know to take shelter but they think this sense no longer exists in humans because most of us dont have this sense anymore

but there are people like your dad that are sensitive to changes in the pressure in the air"

Gregory chuckled "Yonghwa our little smart boy" he ruffled his hair

"come to sit down and eat you two"

Yonghwa and Jhaesun sat at the table his dad served them the meal that was delivered and they began to eat

"Yonghwa you have been here two weeks this is your third week now with us how is it?" he asked

"I like it here," Yonghwa said smiling "I have started feeling better about some things

and I went to training too and it was good I had fun Jhaesun didn't want me to at first he was worried I would keep him back

but I actually helped him get better and I beat the obstacle course on my first try because I was smart" he giggled

Gregory nodded smiling

"Alright as long as you like the training you can continue I will get you both some training gear

also, I wanted to ask how would you feel about having your mother's memorial here with us?

there is a nice church here on base and there is a priest called Father Teagan who can do a nice small ceremony for you, would you like that?" he asked him

Yonghwa got up from his chair and hugged Gregory

"I would like that very much thank you," Yonghwa said

"It's ok yonghwa," Gregory said putting his arms around him "you need some kind of closure" he stroked his back "I'm truly sorry about your mother"

"the church has an organ would you like to try playing your mother's song for her memorial?" he asked gently

Yonghwa gasped with wide eyes "is it a big organ with the big pipes?"

"I can take you to the church to have a look after lunch how does that sound?" Gregory said

"thank you!" yonghwa said he hugged him again tears running down his face

"it's alright Yonghwa you'll be okay" Jhaesun got a napkin from the table and pulled Yonghwa to him drying his tears

"it's ok Yonghwa we will have your moms memorial so you can remember her, we have the photo albums so we will get a nice picture frame for her portrait,

and I'll pick some flowers from the woods we will make it really nice ok and you can play the organ and play her song"

"I dont know if I can anymore," Yonghwa said sadly

"why not?" Jhaesun asked gently sensing this was the reason for his tears

"What's wrong why can't you play?" he stroked his curls

"I can't play since a while ago" Yonghwa admitted "I'm broken"

"it's like every time I try to play something it sounds so horrible even songs I played and learned by heart I know them backward and I can't play them anymore now, Jhaesun what if I can never play again?" he cried

"oh my gosh!", Jhaesun said, "youre musically blocked!"

"It must be because of the depression, how sad you've been, and everything youre going through, it's ok Yonghwa" he stroked his hair to comfort him "it will get better,

you'll get better, ill help you get better, and then you can play again like before, we'll figure it out Yonghwa I won't give up on you you'll play again ok, believe me," jhaesun said hugging him against his shoulder

yonghwa nodded gazing into Jhaesun's blue eyes he felt like he was giving him hope

rubbing his head and his back to comfort him

"it's ok you'll play again I promise you Yonghwa"