Moonlight | Kim Taehyung

13: Luna

A few minutes later, we pay for our food and leave the restaurant, then we walk to Aurora's apartment. Once we arrive outside the building, she begins to tremble and she's biting onto her lower lip, I'm afraid she'll make it bleed.

"Hey..." I say, "I'm here with you. It'll be okay."

She nods and takes in a deep breath before walking inside. We wait for the lift and her trembling worsens. Drops of sweat appear on her forehead and her hands are shaking so much. I place a hand on her shoulder, hoping to calm her, but she doesn't.

The lift doors open and I see Taehyung inside. He looks as shocked as I am as we stare at each other. He looks to see Aurora beside me and he looks even more confused and baffled. Aurora looks up as well and her trembling stops.

"Hey," Taehyung says to me as he steps out the lift, "What are you doing here?"

"Wait, you two know each other?" Aurora asks as she looks at us back and forth.

"Yeah, " I answer her, "You two know each other too?"

They both nod and Taehyung chuckles, "What a small world. These weeks have been filled with so many coincidences."

Aurora's mood seems to lighten as she beams in delight, "It sure is."

"So, what are you doing here?" Taehyung asks me.

Aurora's smile fades as she looks down, Taehyung notices as he looks at me with eyebrows raised in confusion.

"We're here to confront my real parents," Aurora replies simply before I can say anything.

Taehyung looks even more confused, "Real parents?"

"Yeah, I'm not actually related to Coral or her parents," she continues to say, "I used to be an orphan and her parents adopted me."

"What?" Taehyung says in surprise and Aurora just nods.

Taehyung's phone suddenly beeps, notifying him that he has a message.

"Oh shit, I'm late to work," he says in realisation as he hurries out the door, "Catch up later, I gotta go."

Aurora and I giggle and we head inside the lift.

As soon as we reach the third floor, the door opens and Aurora is breathing heavily as she cautiously steps outside and I follow behind her. When we walk to the front door of her home, I see who I assume are her parents standing outside by the door. They don't look at all like they've been looking in poverty. The man is wearing a suit and his hair is slicked back with gel. The woman is in a dress and has pearls around her neck, as well as a designer handbag in her hand.

"Hye-yun," her mother says as soon as she sees her daughter.

Aurora's mother holds onto her arms as tears fall down her face, her husband coming over as well and tears appear in his eyes.

"My daughter..." Aurora's father whispers over and over again as if he doesn't believe that Aurora is standing right in front of him.

"Please don't call me Hye-yun, nobody calls me by that name anymore, I'm Aurora now and I'm not your daughter anymore," she says in frustration, "Not since you left me in that orphanage."

"You must understand that we had no other choice," her father says as he begs for Aurora to understand their situation, "We were poor, we didn't have enough money to support a child."

"But, eventually you did. Didn't you," Aurora says and pushes her mother's hands away.

"Yes, but—" her mother begins to say.

Aurora interrupts her as tears begin to slide down her cheek, "Then why didn't you come to find me as soon as you had enough money?"

"We wanted to," her father says, "Seven years ago, we went back to the orphanage to find you, but you were already adopted. You were only ten at that time and probably having a good time with your new family and probably still adjusting to your new life, so we didn't want to see you. We wanted to let you live happily with them. You are happy right?"

"Yes, I am. They're the nicest people I've ever met and I love them. They treat me like their own daughter, sometimes I forget that we're not even related." Aurora says and continues after a moment of silence, "Why are you here now then?"

"Well, we actually kept in contact with your new parents ever since we had stable jobs. And since now you're not living with them anymore... we decided now was a good time to come see you." her mother says.

Aurora doesn't reply, instead she just stands still as she observes her parents as they look at her with guilty, sad eyes. Aurora's parents are so focused on their daughter, they don't notice me until this moment.

"Hey dear, are you Coral?" Aurora's mother asks kindly.

"No, she's not. She's a friend, her name is Luna," Aurora replies for me before I can open my mouth.

I nod and smile at Aurora's mother and she returns me a smile.

"Aurora," I say and she turns to look at me, "I have to get going, why not you and your parents go inside and talk?"

She nods, though I now she doesn't really want to. I know this is hard for her, but she must face reality that her biological parents are now here and are right in front of her. She can't keep denying and believing that Coral's parents are her real parents. Even though her parents left her when she was young, all that matters is that they are here now and they didn't forget her.

Aurora takes her keys out from her pocket to open the door. Her parents follow behind her as they enter her home. The door closes gently and I'm left outside in the silence.