A Tweak In Time (KTH) •Ongoing•

▶ Chapter XII

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We may have our differences,

but we all are just troubled teenagers in an adult costume.

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A cold sigh brushed past his lips as his feet stamped their way to the only place he could retire to. Autumn was finally settling in after the last few days of monsoon ended.

The trees were beginning to reign the warm colours and lay as a carpet on the seemingly desolate pavements of Seoul. His boots trod on the soggy red leaves as they became moist after a light afternoon rain that day.

Due to a collaborative project with a company he actively despised, his boss managed to hold him back to do overtime. As a result, he missed all of the buses at this hour and the cab service was shut down.

But at least he got some time alone to reflect on these past few hectic days. His mind was occupied with the project and a certain girl who created a turbulence in his life as soon as she entered.

Frankly, he didn't even know why she was staying at his house. He could kick her out for all he cared but for some unknown hesitance, he couldn't bring himself to do that just yet.

Maybe he wanted to make sure her mental health was all good before she left? Yes, that was it. He just wanted her to leave his house as a normal person.

As he clapped his hands in excitement of having found a reason, his gaze drifted towards a big LED screen on the most expensive building in the district he was residing in. The tiring brightness wasn't what caught his attention but a face of an unequivocal person did.

And that smile immediately morphed into a frown.

His fists clenched at the sight of him smiling so perfectly, as if he had no care in the world. His perfect features and proportions, his ability, everything was faultless. His life was so smooth while he had to walk on burning coal for most of the time, and he had to witness all of this simply because he was the youngest one.

Because...

Taehyung was always envious.

Envious of his surroundings, his friends, his brother. It was just a silly act at first when it first surfaced as a teenager. Taehyung brushed the feeling off and kept it bottled up inside for most of the time. But, every bottle has a limit to what it can store and just like that, the jar of ill feelings finally broke loose.

He was tired being constantly compared to his siblings. First up was his sister, and the second one was his brother. His parents weren't so much proud of his sister because she chose not to follow the old customs of their family and walk on a separate path herself but that was fine, because the line she chose paid well.

But his brother was a goddamn hindrance. An obstacle that changed its difficulty level every time. Somehow, he'd always be better than Taehyung, in every aspect. Even at an early age, his brother excelled at everything and Taehyung was left at scraps to survive. In order to stay and earn his respect in the house, he had to surpass his brother which was next to impossible.