Keep Kim's Secret

Part Seven

Sol Gyeong

Two weeks have passed. Two weeks without Minjae.

A lot has changed in the last fourteen days. Coming back to my reality, I had
to continue the lie I had told Namjoon.

The day after Taehyung and Minjae left, I had the hardest time making eye contact with him.

An old friend's behavior changed overnight. I noticed more evasion in his conversation this time. There were no second opinions. He was so surprised to see Kim Taehyung in my house, he still couldn't decide if he could ask me something about my "unstable" relationship.

For Namjoon, I wasn't a single parent
this time, but Taehyung's broken relationship and the mother of his child.

The embarrassment caused by him wasn't enough. On the day of Soobin's
discharge, the owner of my apartment was very happy to inform me that the apartment was to be given to a new resident the next day.

I was lucky in only one thing. It was easier for me to find a reason to move to my mother's house because of my sister's help.

Thanks to Namjoon's generosity, I was able to temporarily house my sculptures and art books in his shed.

To hide my new job from my mother and sister, I would walk an hour away
every day and return after a full day with Sua.

The two weeks spent without Minjae were hard and difficult to cope with.
After two weeks of conflict with myself, I finally came to terms with the fact that I would never see Minjae again.

It didn't matter how much I missed cuddling him at bedtime, messing around in the kitchen with my little chef in the morning, and sculpting new figures together, he was returning to his world and adjusting to his invisible life just as I once did.

I silently watched the long bus ride and tried to find the reason why Minjaw had become such a dear person to me.

Some strange, close feelings connected me with him. Feelings I've never felt for a friend or a child before.

These unknown sensations didn't give me rest during the entire period spent without him.

Thanks to him, the first five minutes after opening my eyes were no longer
easy to pass, because, from the first moment after the awakening of my mind, I began to care for him unconsciously.

I wondered if it was still as difficult for him to live with his father after talking to Ttaehyung.

Did he still feel lonely? Unlike in the old days, now he had the opportunity to know what it meant to have a caring parent. Was he still feeling that Taehyung didn't care about him like Namjoon did Sua?

The fact that I didn't know how he felt made me lose my rest.

The bus stopped noisily at its next stop. Deep in my thoughts, I stepped out of the transport like a programmed robot and looked at the unknown street.

Thanks to lies with my mother and sister, about work, I had to leave the
house hours early.

Thanks to the free hours spent outside, I calmly started
looking for a new job.

Over the past two weeks, I've approached numerous art schools and
art exhibition spaces, but each one has politely turned me down. The reason was the same everywhere. Not having many years of experience. No school or museum needed a low-paid art teacher.

I hopelessly walked towards another small exhibition space and tried not to lose my optimism.

I stopped for a moment in front of the white, compositionally arranged
glazed building.