"Life is about give and take; you know this better than anyone; the deal is clear, either you take an in, or war it shall be.
"It's indeed give and take, so why do I feel like the only one who gives without receiving anything in return?"
"Because th...
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The bell chimed, gathering his lost attention that wandered into the distance, cutting off his connection to the reality he was in and sending his brain into a frenzy of thoughts he had been fighting for days.
The sight of the running people captivated him and held him in his pensiveness. It was a long-awaited rainy day, quenching the thirst of lands whose lords implored the Almighty for a little mercy, for a soothing hand to caress their affection-deprived terra firma that needed love to bear fruit, to show the life it held, the wonders it had devoured to manifest the rebellious side and the rage against the people who lacked it respect.
Another chime was all it took to snap him out of his trance. The rain was a blessing to others but not to him; neither could the drops purify his consciousness, nor was he ready to embrace his present, the reality of what he had become.
The bell rang one more time, increasing his frustration, which grew like a healthy fetus in his stomach, making him feel all the symptoms that came with bringing a new life to this world, nausea and all.
The convenience store was a safe haven for Taehyung, a place where he escaped from his reality into a rosy fantasy that he knew was limited to the confines of the cozy store. The store replaced the family's warm living room and dining area, making meals a bit more pleasant than the silence that reigned between him and his father every time they ate together.
It wasn't like that, no, it wasn't; Taehyung used to love the time he spent with his parents; enjoyed Christmas dinners and family gatherings, delighted in every hot meal his mother prepared, and counted the hours until he came home again and devoured everything she prepared while drowning her skills in the same amount of compliments she made about his growing figure.
Taehyung never minded others calling him "mama's boy"; in fact, he enjoyed it and found it fitting and honest to describe his relationship with his parents. He was never very close to his father, but his mother made up for the lack of affection with every emotion she put into him to make him the fine man she always wanted to see in higher circles and, most importantly, to see him at the altar with the person who would value him as much as she did.
The bell chimed again, and this time he found himself berating his actions and every decision for disappointing the one person he never wanted to embarrass; the guilt was evident in his movements, in the hands that found their escape from his anger in stroking his raven curls and fighting the stray bangs that offended his eyes, and in the sigh that was meant to cleanse the filth of disappointment and regret from his lungs with an attempt to inhale a cleaner breath that he knew he didn't deserve and that he understood the place wouldn't provide.
The temperature outside dropped to its lowest point as he remained in the warmth of the supermarket. The steam from his cup of ramen, whose lid was still held safe by a pair of chopsticks as he waited for it to reach an edible state attainable in three minutes as promised in the instructions, encouraged the condensation that filled the room. Taehyung then realized how difficult it was to renew the oxygen in his lungs. It was no longer just a matter of the place that lacked fresh air but rather the weight of his own actions.
