Blue and Grey || Taejin

Chapter 1

Seokjin stared at the ceiling but his mind was miles away. He wondered for the millionth time that day if this was a sign from Heaven that he should end his life. There was a limit to which a person could withstand the weight of things; Seokjin was near to exceed that limit.

His eyes fleeted to the clock; time seemed meaningless at this point. Two months passed with a blink of the eyes but they also felt like an eternity at the same time.

"Young Master Seokjin?"

Seokjin did not reply to the maid and continued to dwell in his ocean of thoughts.

The maid knocked on the door three times and said, "Young Master Seokjin, your parents are here to dine with you and your brother."

A fist crumpled the purple silk bedsheets.

"I'm coming," Seokjin said curtly, voice not rising above a whisper, hoping the maid heard him.

His lips parted to release a long sigh. He never understood why his parents always wanted him to be present at the table during their visit when their only intention was to check on their oldest son and 'only' heir.

"You are a child of our mistake. Lower your head, Seokjin."

Seokjin scoffed as he sat up. Getting up from the cushiony mattress, Seokjin walked to the full length mirror and hoped his parents would disregard his creased shirt. Hastily, he ran his fingers through his hair to make it look the most decent he could afford within a minute before heading downstairs. The carpeted floor that led to the dining room scraped under the soles of his Gucci slippers. Upon arriving infront of the pair of tall, polished black doors, Seokjin hesitated for a while, his hand instinctively brushing his hair. Twirling the band of platinum around his index finger out of habit, Seokjin swung open the doors.

His parents sat next to each other while his brother sat opposite to them with a chair empty next to him. Adorned in a furry shawl and several tiny diamonds pierced into her ears and nose, Mrs. Kim sat upright as if she was attending a seminar, her eyes steely and demanding. Mr. Kim, in his expensive modernised hanbok matched with formal pants and a gold brooch in the shape of a lotus residing on his chest, looked void of emotion as ever but if peered at his eyes closely, one could see the obvious expectant look he directed at his older son.

"Good evening, Eommo-nim, Abbo-nim," Seokjin addressed his parents before bowing an entire ninety degrees, staying in that position for twenty seconds atleast before straightening up and occupying the vacant seat beside his brother.

"What is the purpose of this, Kim Seokjin?" Mrs. Kim spoke sharply as her eyes tried to incinerate Seokjin's newly dyed hair.

"I look better this way," Seokjin reasoned rather nonchalantly when brushing the purple bangs that fell infront of his eyes.

"Seokjin, must I remind you that you are a part of the Kim household, regardless of how insignificant your role may be. I do not want my son to go outside looking like some hooligan," Mrs. Kim said firmly with a threatening edge to her tone.

"I do not understand, Seokjin," Mr. Kim spoke finally. "Why must you trouble us like this? Only last month we were informed that the maid found several vape inhalers in your room."

"You don't know why?" Seokjin said with his teeth gritted.

"We do not care, Seokjin," Mrs. Kim sneered. "Whatever your reason may be, you must never do anything that will taint your family's image. Do you not care about your family?"

Seokjin's hands balled into tight fists on his lap, his knuckles turning white with bottled anger and frustration.

"With that aside," Mrs. Kim spoke with renewed calm, "How are you doing, Seokjung? I assume your first term results are released?"

"Yes, Eommo-nim," Seokjung spoke in his usual faded, hollow voice. His chestnut hair was combed in an unruly manner as well as if he too was not expecting their parents to drop by the mansion. His eyes were tinted with red and dark patches lay under his eyes as a miserable reminder that he was the 'only' heir to their parents.

Seokjin was never sure what to feel towards his brother.

"And...?" Their father inquired.

From the corner of his eyes, Seokjin noticed Seokjung gulp.

"With everything added, I received.... ei-eighty six percent," Seokjung said, tumbling over his words.

"Eighty six percent?" Mr. Kim asked lowly and slowly turned to meet his wife's eyes.

"My university results are out as well-"

But Seokjin's words were interluded by their mother's loud, disappointed sigh.

"Kim Seokjung, we have hired four individual tutors for you even though you are in your third year in university. I do not understand how you cannot even afford to achieve over ninety percent!" Mrs. Kim fired in exasperation.

"Seokjung, son, you know very well that the future of Kim Enterprise lies on you. If you receive such unacceptable percentages then how are we supposed to retire in peace? Don't you care about your family?" Mr. Kim manipulated his words carefully.

"I-I will work harder," Seokjung managed to mumble.

"You must, Seokjung. We cannot accept our children to have such results-"

"Eommo-nim, I received ninety three percent on my-"

"Seokjin, did we permit you to speak?" Mrs. Kim interjected before Seokjin could tell them about his exceptionally good results for his university mid terms. How foolish he was to expect a compliment or two.

"Seokjin, you know how impolite it is to interupt your elders when they speak. When are you going to learn?" Mr. Kim rebuked his younger son.

Seokjin just clenched his jaw and noded in forced submission, anger boiling inside him like lava.

"As we were saying...."

His parents' voices faded into the background as Seokjin dived into his own thoughts. He wondered if he should call the hospital again for updates but he vetoed the thought immediately as he was sure to receive nothing but the same old news which would ultimately throw him off his balance emotionally. The image of Yoongi, as pale as snow with a bandage around his head and more bandages under the white blanket, looking so void of life and fragile made Seokjin want to throw up his dinner. He blinked his eyes furiously until the tears dried away and inhaled deeply.

He looked down at the broth and it no longer smelled appetizing. He pushed back his chair and stood up; neither his parents nor his brother batted an eye lash. He bowed, to nobody in particular, and allowed his limbs to carry him out of the dining room.
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Seokjin's eyes flitted towards the clock nervously. He hoped his parents had already made their way towards their private bungalow. It was truly a blessing to live separately from his damned parents, credits to the university he and his brother attended being situated far from the family bungalow.

His mind began to generate last moment thoughts. The black card residing on his table seemed to tempt him to call the agency and cancel the request. However he had already paid a part of the amount in advance. . . .

He abhored wasting money.

He could just reschedule it, right?

Wrong, because there was a knock on his door the next second, startling Seokjin out of his internal dilemma. He stopped pacing around in his room and opened the door.

And his jaw dropped to the floor.