Brush Strokes ✓

37.

The old wooden flooring creaked portentously, a few panels rotting away. The roof looked as if it could collapse any moment, time and weather definitely hadn't been kind on the little wooden shed far away from the main house. Huge cobwebs now covered every corner of the small hut and it was hard to cut through them.

Taehyung had a strong grip on the hem of Aera's shirt as she fearlessly got rid of cobwebs, not even flinching at the sight of spiders. On the other hand, he was trying to make his tall form as small as possible in an attempt to not make contact with any of the creepy crawlies around.

She had told him time and again that he could wait outside ever since they had walked the small distance from Aera's family house in Jeju to the little cabin in the middle of a tangerine orchard. But he wanted to be with her as moral support. He couldn't just let her go in alone not knowing what was waiting for her.

Aera smiled triumphantly when the path was cleared enough to take an inventory of what the cabin held. The large box Lee had told her about stood in dead centre, covered by a transparent tarp as if to protect the wood. Such boxes were definitely costly if one went to buy them and it was a good thing the old beauty had survived the harsh weather all these years.

"You can let me go now, Taehyung," Aera turned around, her hand gentle on his tight fists. Gulping, the tall man nodded and loosened his grip though he stood close to her. Just in case.

She took a deep breath as she stepped forward, her heart beating as if she was running in a marathon. But it had nothing to do with physical exertion but everything to do with fear of the unknown. She had absolutely no idea what the box held but steeling herself, she moved past the farming tools, all used and old, and stood before the box.

It was shorter than she thought, only reaching her knees. It was wide though, almost as big as a hundred by hundred centimetre canvas. Not lingering on the thoughts of what was inside, she held the hammer the old lady living in the neighborhood gave her. The lock was old and rusty and she hoped she didn't hurt herself while breaking it, she had no idea where the key was.

"Should I break it?" Taehyung voiced, making her flinch, completely forgetting he stood right behind her. She settled on giving him a thin smile. "No, it's okay. I just need a moment." He rubbed a comforting hand down her back. "Take your time, Aera. We are here for two days anyway."

Chuckling lightly, Aera turned around again and crouched down on the floor. Taking a deep breath, gathering her energy and courage, she raised her hand high and made the first blow. The lock didn't break on the first try but one more blow, this time harder, the sound of the hammer against the metal loud in the otherwise silent surrounding, had the lock breaking away. Her heartbeat picked up with the broken lock and she wasn't so sure if she should look inside like this.

But it belonged to her mother. She had made sure to keep this box safe and it could finally help her be free, be at peace with herself. Maybe, she could put the past away for real this time and be genuinely happy with the people she loved.

And so, with her breath held, she opened the box with a creak and let it out in a shaky gust as she saw what was inside.

The first thing she saw was a canvas. It took up almost half the space in the box. With brows drawn together in curiosity, she pulled it out carefully to see it more clearly in light. Taehyung was right beside her, shining the light of the torch on the small canvas. "Who is this?" he asked, studying the painting.

Aera shrugged, staring at the painting of a woman sitting on a wooden chair, working on what looked like a sculpture. The colours were simple, monotone; there was no particular pattern to the paint strokes. It was as if the painter had followed pure instincts to draw this side profile of the woman. The painter wasn't her mother, Aera was sure. She was always inclined towards working with clay and metal and when she painted, she never drew living beings.

"It's my mom," Aera gasped, suddenly recognising her silhouette. "Your mom?" Taehyung repeated and took a closer look at the painting. "There must be a name on it," he said, searching for it but not finding anything. He took it in his own hands and turned the painting over and his face lit up.

Curious, she leaned forward to see a sentence written in a strong, bold writing at the bottom right corner. It read:

To my love,

I wish to draw you in a hundred different colours because you make my world colourful.

Yours only,

Sanghwa.

"Sanghwa," the dazed woman tested the unfamiliar name, seeing how it rolled off her tongue. Was that her real father's name?

"Could it be..." Taehyung trailed off, mirroring her thoughts just as she dove back in to inspect the contents of the box.

There were a few old books, the ones she had seen many times in her friend, Hwayoung's personal library but they were not important right now. Below the heavy books were colourful letters and she had no doubt seeing the hearts on it that they were love letters. Uncaring of what she had learnt about respecting privacy of a person, she pulled the top most letter and scanned it for the sender's name. Again the same name in every letter, Sanghwa.

Just as she reached for the tenth letter while Taehyung was silently reading the contents of the first letter, Aera found a photo peaking through the thick bunch of yellowed letters. She felt it in her bones, the feeling of the crescendo reaching its end, the climax as her shaking fingers reached towards it.

She paused a moment, giving in to the internal battle as one part told her not to discover something she wasn't meant to. But the other voice was louder as it told her that seeking the truth was her right and with that thought, she pulled it out in the light.

By the looks of the yellowed edges of the picture, it was clear that it was taken long ago. In it stood a tall man, grinning happily at the camera. He was dressed in a military uniform and it added to his careless, boyish charm. He had his arm wrapped around a woman who must've been at least a foot shorter than him but the way she leaned against the man, it was clear that their height difference meant nothing when it came to their relationship.

"Is that...is that your mom?" Taehyung asked in a low voice, breaking her stupor as she looked up into his concerned eyes. "Yes," she answered simply, a sob stuck in her chest as she looked back at the couple's photo. Her mother had her hand over her slightly swollen belly and the man had his hand over it too and that's when realisation struck her and the sobs broke free.

She felt strong arms wrapping gently around her shoulders as she continued to cry. She wasn't exactly sure why she was crying. Maybe because she had never had the chance to meet her handsome father. Or because she couldn't witness what true love looked like growing up. Or maybe because she just missed her mother. She might have been crying for her sweet, gentle mother who lost the love of her life to cruel destiny.

Maybe she cried for all of those reasons but she hoped that if there was an afterlife, her parents would be happy with each other. She wanted them to be happy just as she was happy in the arms of the love of her life even while she cried over lost young lives.

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A/N:

Sorry for the delay in updating. I was going through a major writer's block and I just had to take that little break.

I hope this chapter was good. It was especially hard to write this scene because I usually tend to write happier scenes. I'm really bad at sad scenes but I'm happy with the outcome.

Thank you for reading 💜💜