Travel with Me - V (aka Kim Taehyung) BTS COMPLETE

Chapter 1 - It started in the park

Prologue

Life isn't always how you think it will turn out. You find the love of your life, marry them, have a child, settle down to build a future together. And then it's over. Dragging yourself through every important date without them for the first time, watching your child grow up and hit milestones, celebrating those special times in a much quieter way, always tinged with sadness. None of that was what you ever planned and the world seems grey and muted.

But sometimes the universe has other plans for you and through the grief, on a perfect Autumn day, you pick yourself up and start again.

Chapter1

Marley POV

The breeze ruffled my hair as I pushed the swing forward, the Autumn sun beginning a slow descent into it's sleep. Sophia let out of a peel of laughter as she kicked her feet with excitement. "Higher, higher," she shrieked in her sweet voice, bringing a huge smile to my face. She had just turned three and was the light in what had been the darkest of years. When I had married my childhood sweetheart four years ago, being a widow at 25 hadn't been on my radar. I wouldn't have made it but for Sophia and moments like this.

The momentum caught up with her, sending her back and forth and her joy was infectious. Grabbing the swing next to her, I propelled myself forward, using my legs to send myself up and up towards the changing sky. As I leaned back and felt the wind rushing past me, I felt the stirring of a change. Even if Winter would be heading our way soon, I could feel like part of my soul was beginning to lift. I might actually be happy again.

The swing slowed down and I jumped off reaching for Sophia and catching her hands in mine as it came to a stop. As I lifted her out and set her onto the ground, she took off across the park, spinning and galloping as only small, carefree children can. I stopped on the ground for a moment to watch her, scanning the surroundings to make sure it was safe to have her a little distance from me. It was a quiet neighbourhood on the outskirts of town, right on dinner time so most families would be home by now. It was a day of sun after a few days of rain so I wanted to let her play a little longer and burn off energy after being stuck inside.

There was an elderly couple sitting on a bench, a small dog tucked in at their feet. A teenager zipped casually past on a scooter and off under a tree, a young man sat writing in a journal, his satchel tossed on the ground next to him. Out the corner of my eye, I saw her stop and flop to the ground, rolling over and over in delight and I grinned noticing that everyone in the park had seen her and were smiling at her antics before returning to what they were doing. After a few minutes, my super extroverted child stood up and started walking over towards the guy under the tree so I jumped quickly up from the ground, heading off to intercept her. She was quicker however and raced up, coming to a stop in front of him before I got there.

"What you doing?" she asked curiously as I jogged up next to her. He held up his book. 

"This is my words," he said, repositioning himself so he was sitting cross legged in front of her at eye level. "I write what I see and feel."

"Why?" she asked reaching out to touch the book, then shyly tucking her hand away behind her back. A smile broke out across his face as she asked, mesmerised like so many by her innocence and sweet face. Her little blonde pigtails were in disarray from rolling on the grass but her charming way had always won her many new friends so this interaction with a stranger wasn't new to me. 

"It is what I like to do to think," he answered and his accent made me realise English was not the only language he spoke.

"She is very beautiful," he said in a low, smooth voice, watching as she skipped off again to ask the elderly couple if she could pat the dog. He stood up and turned to me as he spoke, the impact of his brown eyes immediate as I got my first look at him. My breath caught momentarily as I noted that he might just be one of the most beautiful men I had seen.