Layover

Rainy Days

A soft melodic tune seeped into Kim Taehyung's ears, taking him far away from his current situation. He tapped his foot in mid-air in time to the beat as the rain outside continued to splatter patterns on the window. From where he sat within the airport, he could barely make out the halted planes on the tarmac. A television set that was jacked up in a corner of the terminal displayed a muted news channel where the meteorologist was gesturing with an equally stormy expression at the clouded-up map. It was a storm that had turned his layover into a delay and eventually a cancellation, leaving him stranded in some small town he had never heard of before.

A crack of thunder made the chair Taehyung sat on feel like it was vibrating. The lightning that streaked across the sky afterwards highlighted the quivering puffball nestled on his lap. Taehyung paused his music as he looked down to see that his puppy had curled in closer to him at the thunder. It acted as if the thunder were a beast that was about to devour him.

"Hey, you're okay..." said Taehyung soothingly as he reached out his fingers to run gently through his fur. "This storm will pass, Yeontan. Every storm in life always does."

The petting seemed to calm Yeontan as Taehyung looked down at his music player to see that it didn't have much of a charge left. He shut it off, wrapping his earbuds about it before tucking it into his jacket pocket. Standing up from where he had been sitting, he moved to walk through the semi-crowded airport terminal. Every flight was grounded because of the storm outside, leaving a crew of disgruntled strangers trapped inside the same four walls. He tried to navigate his way through everyone as he found his way towards one of the side doors. He was sure that Yeontan had to use the restroom. As Taehyung stood near a set of automatic doors, he heard the crack of thunder again which made Yeontan retreat deeper into his arms.

"It's okay..." said Taehyung as he began to count the seconds as the lightning lit up the sky.

He remembered being afraid of the thunder too when he was younger. His mother would always whisper the same words of reassurance to him as she tucked him back in underneath the covers. His mother had been his steady rock growing up since his father had died shortly before he was born. When she wasn't telling him words of reassurance, she would be telling him words of encouragement. She always passionately encouraged him to chase his dreams. His most recent and still active dream was to become a singer. Though people in the town he had grown up in told him he had the looks but not the talent, his mother encouraged him to try for it anyway. She encouraged him even through her treatment. She encouraged him right up until the day she died. Taehyung now only had his dream and his dog to cling onto. Leaving his hometown with nothing but Yeontan, his music player, and the clothes on his back, he jumped at the first opportunity of a singing audition in the hopes that he and Yeontan could find a new place to belong.

Taehyung's glassy eyes continued to stare out the window as the thunder clapped again. Fifty-two seconds were between each thunderclap now as opposed to thirty. The gap was starting to widen. Deeming it safe enough to take Yeontan outside, Taehyung stepped outside the airport with him. He stayed under an overhang where there was a small patch of grass as he kept the leash wrapped about his fingers. Yeontan sniffed about the grass for somewhere he felt safe going to the bathroom while Taehyung began to look at what little he could see of his surroundings. He saw that the town he was currently in was small enough that everything of importance was situated near the airport. Through the sheets of rain pouring down, he could make out the lights of various buildings. If it wasn't for the rain, Taehyung might have been tempted to explore.

Another crack of thunder sounded out ahead of the schedule that he had tried to count out. It resulted in Yeontan yanking the leash out of his hand suddenly as he tried to run away to safety. Taehyung hadn't been prepared for him to do that and felt the leash fall free from his hand as Yeontan ran off into the storm.