RUNAWAYS 》kth ✓

TWENTY-THREE

October 07, 20XX-TUESDAY

"Why are you crying?" A soft voice asked me.

Startled, I looked away from the bathroom mirror towards Taehyung who stood timidly at the entrance.

"A-are you sad?"

He had caught me tearing up after staring at my reflection in the mirror.

I laughed a little and wiped my tears. "No. I'm not crying because I'm sad..."

I'm happy.

Away were my bruises and scars.

Along with the memories and past with them.

I finally felt...

"Beautiful," Taehyung said as he looked down at the ground with a wide smile before picking up his head to stare at me.

I blushed.

He reached out and pointed towards the bed with a tilt of his head.

Taking his hand, I followed him onto the bed that he threw himself on and made myself comfortable on his chest.

"My mother was that beautiful."

I think back to the conversation we had when we were at Jimin's. The one where he mentioned his mother for the first time.

"There was a time my parents were separated," Taehyung told me.

I watched the candle flame's shadow dance as it projected onto the wall. I was intrigued because this was the first time I had heard of her---even thought of her.

"During the time away, I would hang out with Jimin and his group of friends. We would get in a lot of trouble. My mother didn't like that. I made it harder for her to raise me all alone. Which is why... she ended up bringing us back to the house."

Taehyung licked his lips before running his hands through his hair, clearly distressed.

Was he blaming himself for bringing them back into an abusive relationship? Was this why he never tried to escape? Because he felt responsible?

"Where is your mother, Taehyung?"

Taehyung turned to look over at me. "That's a conversation for another day, I think."

He turned around and blew out the candle.

"Taehyung?"

"You're going to ask about her, aren't you?" He responded with a crack of a smile.

I closed my mouth and nodded.

Taehyung sighed. "Well, she was addicted to drugs. Not heroin or cocaine or anything, but barbiturates. She had really bad anxiety because of my father. He would emotionally abuse her real bad which eventually turned into a physically abusive relationship. I felt so bad when we came back to the house. I begged her not to go back, but my father was playing nice and my mother said she couldn't take care of me alone."

Taehyung swallowed a lump in his throat before continuing, "I should have just been better. I told her I would be better, but it was too late. The cycle continued and eventually, I told my mother just to run....to just forget about me and save herself. Which she did. She left me behind and as long as my dad had somebody around, he didn't bother to search for her."

He leaned back on the bed, his chest rising and falling faster. "B-but she came back. She came back the day of- the day of... she came back."

Taehyung started clutching onto his chest and my eyes widened as I realized Taehyung was struggling.

"I shouldn't have..." His voice was barely a whisper as he started to struggle to breathe, taking out his hands to stare at them while they shook.

I quickly pulled him into my arms. He kept his hands stretched out, shaking as he stared into the distance. I teared up as I held him close to me, making him know that I was there at the moment. I didn't want him to get back sucked into that moment.

"Taehyung..."

We stayed like that for a while until he no longer had tears falling down his face.

"What you did...I don't blame you. My dad was abusing me for so long, one day I would've-"

He looked at me with his sad eyes, "Do you miss him?"

I didn't "No."

"My dad scares me." I told him. "So much that I'm scared that if he finds me now... He'll kill me."

I replay a memory of the time my father so violently threw me against the wall I was unconcious for a day.

Taehyung took my hand.

"Don't worry."

"He'll never find you."

He smiled.

"I promise."

Taehyung was right, my father could never find me.

"Also, no more dwelling on the past. Let's move forward. I'll..."

He took my hand and kissed it.

"Make sure that from here on out, there'll be only good times."

I'm thankful for Taehyung.

I'll always be.