Private Finished Digging Up Old Wounds

Shit. Jae winced in sympathy with James. Was family a bad topic for him? Shit and shit was there a reason James never talked about his family much? Jae began to apologize but was cut off by James' answer. So he lived with his aunt and uncle too, to think they would have that in common. James asked what his family was like and Jae hesitated to answer.

Not that he couldn't, or did not wish too, but that flinch. . . "Um, they were very supportive." Jae said. James wouldn't have asked if he didn't want to know, right? "My auntie loves to cook, and she has a garden in the backyard where she grows her own vegetables.

"Uncle loves to talk. He could talk for hours about electronics or his favorite television shows. He's really mechanically minded and the neighbors would come to him all the time when something broke down. The only thing he could never figure out was how to set up wireless internet routers." Jae smiled more when he talked of his aunt and uncle.

Maybe James was okay. . . so long as he didn't try to talk about James family. That was the feeling Jae got as James grinned and cracked jokes. Why did he feel unease still? Jae thought maybe he was looking too deeply, and was seeing problems that didn't exist. "Auntie Sol plants all sorts of herbs and vegetables. Whatever was in season but especially cabbage for making kimchi.

"We'd make a new batch each year and burry it in-ground. Then we'd bring up last year's and make a big meal out of it."

Jae jumped, not expecting James to suddenly shout like that. "Shi-bal, James. Give me some warning next time." He grumbled, but quickly forgave James as he must have seen something big. "Um, where?" Jae searched around, eyes sharp for any sign of movement but saw nothing out of place. "What did you see? Was it big?"

He moved towards where James had pointed, but still saw no sign of whatever was supposed to have been there. "James, did you really see something or did you just want me to shut up?" Jae said it teasingly, but secretly he worried that it was exactly that.

Jae was about to comment on that very fake sounding what when James went on to describe the supposed creature as bear-sized. "Dude, how could we not hear something the size of a bear moving about the woods?" Shit, would he want to meet something that large that could also move silently? There were a lot of awful things that lived deep in the woods.

"I mean, if you say so. . . but, James, if you don't want me talk about something you can say so. I won't mind."

James didn't sound fine, and Jae would know. He was practically a master of faking "fine". Then James admitted to making up the sighting, which, even though Jae had his suspicions, it was frustrating to hear it confirmed. "You're not fine. If something is bothering you then why can't you just tell me?" Jae's stubborn streak was showing, but why would James act like this? Weren't they friends?

"You don't have to act like it's nothing."