하루만 ~ Just One Day (Taejoon)

Just One Day

A rustling noise catches Taehyung's attention and he sees his mom packing a bag, sobbing quietly. Taehyung moves around more, which causes his mom to stop moving and to look in his direction. He notices it, and he pretends to be asleep, eyes shut tight. Convinced that her child is asleep, his mom continues to weep a little and pack her bag.

Taehyung's mom finally gets up and leaves her home. Taehyung hears his mom leave, and he gets up. He tiptoes over to the door and opens it silently. He looked at the street and saw his mom's long hair.

Taehyung slowly climbed down the stairs, wondering where his mom was going so late at night.

Taehyung followed his mom, silently. He wanted to call her out and ask where she was going. He wanted to ask if his mom was going to come back. He wanted to ask if she's leaving him. Taehyung just wanted to run up to his mom and hug her.

But, something held him back, made him silently follow his mom.

Taehyung kept following his mom from a distance, wishing his mom would turn back, and walk up to him and take him home. Wishing he had the courage to just grab her hand and take her home. But, she never did and neither did he. Taehyung abruptly stopped, disappointment took over him and he walked back home.

Although he was young, he knew. He knew that his mom did this to protect herself from his dad. And that's what he wanted, his mom to be safe.

He wanted him and his noona to be safe too. Didn't his mom ever care about that? About him? Or at least about Noona?

That was the last time he ever saw her.

The memories of that night rush back and given what just happened, I really don't want to remember them. The feeling of being abandoned, the feeling of disappointment. The feeling of failure. The feeling of being hurt by someone whom you loved once.

I sigh, and crumple the polaroid. I close my eyes, and face towards the sky. The sun is too bright, the sky is blue. The birds are chirping away in the forest. I can hear rustling through the leaves, as if someone was walking on them. Chatter, I can definitely hear chatter.

I open my eyes slightly and lift my palm to block the sun rays fighting through the branches of the trees. Some rays do find their way through my fingers and heat up some parts of my face. It's not too cold to be winter, nor too hot to be summer. It's just in the middle, a thin jacket or sweater is enough for this kind of weather.

Thoughts take over me, memories resurface. The way dad was hitting noona when I saw him through the door. The way Noona fell on the table, and dad grabbed her hair pulling her up only to push her down again. The way she screamed in agony. The empty soju bottle scattered on the floor and on the side table. The way anger purged through me, I wasn't thinking...all that I saw was, that monster hurting her. I grabbed the bottle and slammed the door open, stomping my way towards him.

The way he looked like he was going to retort and slap me, but the anger on his face slowly turned to shock and then pain. The face he made when he realised. The way the blood splattered everywhere. I didn't stop, kept going on. The way noona screamed at me to stop, but then she became silent. The way his dad's body went limp, the way the broken bottle felt against his dad's body. The way he felt. It was-

"What are you doing?"

I hear someone asking and I feel them tapping my shoulder. I open my eyes, fighting the bright light. Not the light from the sun, but the bright light from the person in front of him, the sunshine surrounds him like a halo. Only one thing had changed, his hair. His hair is now blonde. But everything else, his dragon eyes, his smile, his tiny nose, his dimples.