Paper Planes (Taekook)

I

Chapter 1

Fourteen Years

Kim Taehyung stared out the window from the back seat of the car. His parents were in the front seat telling him about some schools which he didn’t really think was important. 

He didn’t mean to brag but he knew that he was a smart kid who could get into any school he wanted. So school wasn’t the first thing on his mind.

What he was more interested in was the subtle scenery of home. He had been living in the city with an uncle for the past three years. And even though he didn’t dislike the city, he missed his home town where everything was quieter and lovelier.

He continued to space out until he heard the voice of his mother calling out his name.

“Taehyung?”

“Hmmm?” he replied and turned to his ever so lovely mother who seemed a little more aged than the last time he saw her. He didn’t express it but he loved the way his mother called out his name as if his name was the sweetest thing in the world.

“Are you excited?” she asked with a warm smile. Taehyung smiled and nodded several times.

The father suddenly commented as he drove a car, “Still a man of few words, aren’t you?”

Taehyung could hear the tease in the tone of the sentence. “I’m a real man,” he joked back.
Taehyung heard both his parents laughing.

“How’s the clinic, mom?” Taehyung asked trying to start another conversation. It seemed like forever that they had a talk like this.

“It’s going fine. They kids are really nice to be with,” the mother replied and looked at him. “You’ll like them. They’re practically family.”

Taehyung’s parents ran an orphanage-slash-clinic where the less fortunate children lived.

When Taehyung left home at the age of ten, the clinic had only one child. But now the clinic seemed livelier with eleven live-in children and seven visiting patients. Others would have deemed it unlucky and pitiful for the children to be living in an orphanage home but Taehyung thought that it was better for them to live with his parents who were so good at taking care of children than others who had no idea on how to handle kids.

Taehyung stepped out of the car to be greeted by the warm summer breeze.

“Welcome home, Tae,” he heard his mother say. As his parents helped him unload his bags, he breathed in the fresh air. And even though he was just a kid of fourteen, he felt deeply inspired and moved by the clarity and welcoming scenery of home.
He knew that he was going to have the most memorable time of his life here. And strangely, deep down inside, he felt an icy cold feeling of the times ahead of him.

Taehyung’s mother introduced him to the staff members of the clinic. There were six nurses altogether and two junior doctors who helped his parents in the clinic.

Taehyung tried but couldn’t remember all the names of the staff. Oh well, he thought. It’s not like he has to learn them immediately.
He had better luck at
remembering the children. Some were around his age while most were younger than him. They all seemed nice and were cheerful.

A few days passed and Taehyung decided that a beautiful day like that shouldn’t go wasted so he did the only thing he wanted to do ever since he got news that he would be coming home. He decided to spend his day under a tree in his mother’s garden, ‘taking in the sun’ and ‘enjoying the fruits of nature’.

“Won’t that waste too much of your energy, dear?” his mother teased him. Taehyung gave his signature grin and ran off like the mischievous looking boy he was.