LOVEGAME OVER

7 - Quit?

Mrs Kim wakes up to the sound of loud screaming, coming from her son's bedroom. She quickly gropes for a shawl to put on her naked shoulders, which her gown barely covers, and runs through the house, opening Taehyung's door wide.

"Baby, what's happening? Are you hurt?"

"What the fuck, mom?" Taehyung shouts, turning around to face her.

He is sitting on the floor, a joystick in his hands, facing the bright TV screen. Seokjin frowns, finally more conscious, as she realises her son is perfectly fine.

"Taehyung, it's six in the morning. What are you doing up?"

"It's none of your business. I'm with my friend, and you're interrupting."

His mother cringes at his cheek, and spits back, "Watch your attitude." As her son shrugs and gets back to playing, she resumes bitterly, "Turn that thing off."

"As if you were gonna make me."

Taehyung is staring at the screen with small, red eyes, and he is smirking at his mother's apparent helplessness – he knows she would never dare to confront him. But he has maybe taken her for granted too much.

Mrs Kim strides through the room, and unplugs the console. His son gasps when the screen goes black, and immediately reacts, "Seriously? Plug it back, right now!"

As his mother keeps silence and picks the console up, she reaches out towards the boy. "Give me the joystick."

"What are you fucking doing?" Taehyung yells once more. "Give it back to me!"

He jerks up on his feet, trying to take his console from his mother's hands, but she gently pushes him on his bed. "Give it. Now," she orders sternly, her hand still outstretched. "Now!"

As she has raised her voice, Taehyung shudders but eventually obeys, unable to utter one word. "You're grounded. I'm tired of you messing your life up, and messing mine up. No video games for the whole weekend. You'll thank me later." As her son is about to speak, she cuts him off, "You can start by tidying your room. And try to go out of this place."

When she leaves his bedroom, taking the console away, Taehyung looks down, completely stunned. How did that just happen?

He is so angry, and yet he feels powerless. As if his whole life had been taken away from him. As if he had no more landmarks. But at the same time, he feels a surge of potentialities opening up to him.

Without really knowing what he does, he starts tidying his room, folding shirts, piling his school copybooks up, taking leftovers to the bin. He walks by his mother who is drinking her morning coffee on the sofa. They exchange a cold look. Taehyung wants to tell her he hates her. But he figures he just does not have the strength to do it.

After a few hours' resting on his bed, thinking about what he can do now he does not have the possibility to play video games, thinking about Jungkook he left in the middle of a game, about how he already misses the little guy, Taehyung finally sighs and takes his phone.

Jimin is quick to answer. He is astonished when his best friend announces he has been grounded. He is even more taken aback when Taehyung suggests they meet outside.

After dressing properly, and heading for the hallway of his apartment, he hears his mother call after him in a worried tone, "Tae? Where are you going?"

"Relax, mom, I'm not running away," Taehyung replies. "I'm just going out to see Jimin. I'll be back for dinner. That okay?"

"Yes, yes. See you later. I love you, baby."

"Mmh" is Taehyung's only answer.

Jimin is already waiting for him in a nearby park, in which they end up having much fun. Jimin actually drags his friend on the playground, and after much reluctance, Taehyung finds himself sitting on a swing, laughing his head off, as Jimin pushes him from behind.

Afterwards, they just lie in the grass, beholding the cloudless blue sky, and Jimin asks, "So what's that grounding all about?"

"I don't even know. My mom just barged into my room and took my console away. Like, why would she even do that? It's not like her. She said it was because I needed to focus on my priorities or something, but what does she know about priorities? She doesn't do anything all day, she's just desperately waiting for dad to come home, just like a dog."

"Hey, don't talk about her like that. I like her. She's a great mom."

"She's not. She doesn't know anything about parenting. She just lets me do whatever I want. I'm not complaining, mind you. I'm just worried that dad gets bored of her."

"What do you know about that? Maybe she'll get bored of waiting for him."

Taehyung shrugs and Jimin turns slightly towards him to detail his best friend. He does not know if he should rejoice of this situation. Yes, he is thrilled that he can be reunited with Taehyung again, just the two of them. But at the same time, his friend is not quite into this, not quite with him, because he is thinking of his games, and particularly thinking of someone else than him...

Upon coming back home, as Jimin has kissed his best friend's soft cheeks, Taehyung distantly greets his mother, and starts doing his homework, given that he has nothing else to do. But the buzzing of his phone disturbs his painful efforts.