1994.

13. NEW ARRIVALS

NEW
ARRIVALS

                           AFTER THE NIGHT before, the two were quite hungover. they had visited five more bars (but two more incidents resulted in them being banned and leaving with bubbling hearts and laughter in their lungs), and ended up drinking until they were content. taehyung rubbed at his tired eyes whilst raesun woke from her short nap, the car ride quiet due to the lack of music.

they entered a new city, away from dried grass and small towns. both of them smiled at the welcoming sign that went by in a flash, a new feeling erupting inside of her: she was one step closer to finding jeongguk.

taehyung looked beside him for a split second as he realised his new friend had awaken, "hey buttercup. we're gonna have to stop in a bit, my car's gonna need some more gas soon."

"that's fine, i need some fresh air anyway," a lazy smile appeared on her face.

she hadn't felt so... good in a long time.

"so," his fingers tapped a random beat, showing his slight boredom, "how about you tell me how you met the infamous jeon jeongguk?"

sitting up straight, raesun's smile widened. it didn't pain her quite as much to remember the honey boy, so to think back to the time in the classroom, it made her almost happy.

"i didn't pay much attention in school to those i didn't hang around with. in my art class i always sat at the same table; one day, there was two boys sat at that very table. i was a little intimidated, i admit. their tattoos, smirks, carefree demeanour... it was something i never really noticed in people before,"

"as the lesson went on, i had created a small sketch," a laugh escaped her unwillingly, "funnily enough i don't even remember what it was, but it was the thing that caused him to come up to me. he complimented it, and just after i thanked him, he was accidentally pushed from behind. his palette fell on me and he was mad, picking this poor boy up by his collar,"

wasn't it all so simple back then?

"he demanded the boy to apologise to me, and even helped me clean it," her smile turned sad, a small frown pulling her brows inwards, "he didn't even know me. but he was so kind, and rumour had it that jeongguk wasn't nice to just any stranger. i just knew that in that moment, he was different to everyone else at school. he didn't care for cliques or labels or anything, and just wanted to help."

remembering how his caramel hair shone from the sunlight entering through scuffed art class windows, how his palette resembled himself — burnt oranges and rustic blues, for the fire inside him and the unimaginable sadness he kept at lock and key. he was beautiful, even at first sight, yet then she didn't know the trouble he'd bring or the secrets he swore to keep hidden.

maybe she should've listened to the warnings she heard in his aura from the very beginning.

the car ride had turned oddly awkward, her smile no longer there as she kept her eyes on the road. taehyung cleared his throat, nodding.

"i didn't know jeongguk did art," he spoke, "was he any good?"

"he's a very talented guy but, i've only seen some of his work, the ones he kept in his closet," jeongguk was even secretive about his creativity — was it because he really didn't want anyone else to fall into his trap? "i don't think he wanted anyone to see them to be honest."

"he's always been like that," taehyung shrugged, "hana didn't know much about him either, only what he wanted her to know."

"he's... protective of who he is and what he owns. he doesn't really like to let people in," it made her wonder what was so special about her that made him open up (though not fully). the guilt felt heavy as she realised how selfish it was to demand answers from him, when he was lost to the idea of letting people inside his small band of close friends.

she should have respected his decision of taking time to open up about his feelings and his past.

"you said something about how he helped you overcome your loneliness?" taehyung shifted the topic slightly, seeing her distraught look, "i'm sorry if this is a sensitive topic but... what about your parents?"

raesun scoffed — could she even call them parents, if all they did was use her to make themselves look good? "surely there's rumours about the kim family by now, taehyung."

"all i heard was that their 'troublesome daughter ran away with a felon and was never seen again'," he shrugged, "nothing more, why?"

"well that sounds like something they'd say," her eyes rolled at their close–mindedness, knowing they wouldn't hesitate to pull the wool over everyone in the neighbourhood's eyes and blame her instead of themselves. perhaps if they brought up a different way, she wouldn't have resorted to running away from home, "but hasn't anyone said anything about what they did?"

taehyung frowned himself, "no, there was nothing about them. a few people criticised them for not teaching you any better, but a lot of them gave them a lot of sympathy. why?"

she sighed.

seems like everything is my fault, her thoughts sighed with her, "they were violent. father liked to beat me, mother liked to stand and scream when our shoes scuffed the marble flooring. both were money hungry, always after some form of success,"

her face turned blank, void of her evident anger, "i grew up around it, who was i to defy them? then he came into my life and i opened my eyes for the first time; they hated it. the last time i saw them, my father punched my face and my mother demanded i left and never came back. so i did."

she watched as taehyung's eyes glinted with some sort of pity, but she understood it for once — it's not exactly nice to hear that someone was abused, "they didn't even visit me in hospital when i was dying, funny huh?"

a humourless laugh left her: she tried to put on act as if she couldn't care less but she did. once upon a time they were her mother and father, two people that were oh so very important in her life. now they were people less than strangers and, even if she hated to admit it, it hurt her.

more than she wanted it to.

"didn't think they'd do such a thing, i remember them gushing about you at some event my father had to bring me to once, said you were succeeding well at school and bringing good to the family name," and taehyung was clearly infuriated too, in disbelief that so called parents could do such a thing to their own flesh and blood.

raesun shrugged one shoulder, "yeah, they would. but it's in my past now, and they can deal with whatever guilt they get, this is their own doing and they can suffer with the consequences," she shook her head, "anyways, how far are we from hoseok?"

though taehyung started the conversation, he was glad the topic was forgotten, "not too far, we could probably get to him by tomorrow," he turned to her and for once, she didn't get irritated by seeing him — she felt... all warm, all smiley and happy. weird, "i'm going to stop at this store, you want anything?"

she smiled, "i'm okay."

was this friendship or the start of a rebound?

— 雨 —