The Flower of the Dark | k.th

.Thirty-Three.

"You want to meet your dad so bad, Jieun? Fine." The arms wrapped around me become tighter. "Let's go see who your dad really was." I start to get a funny disappearing feeling, like I am slowly vanishing while awake.

Suddenly, Taehyung jumps out at me. "You're not getting away from me this time!" He tugs at the arms around my torso, eventually setting me free.

Something pokes around in my mind, as if someone else was roaming carelessly in my thoughts. I look towards Taehyung, who isn't focused on me, but of the other man behind me. Jin.

I wrench my head over to see the expected person. He's staring at me, almost into me. The smirk he wears on his lips seems so evil. Fear builds up inside me and I begin to feel weak inside. I feel as if I have given my entire consciousness over to him. My eyelids grow heavy.

Taehyung's fuzzy movements look to be speeding up while he continues to obtain Jin's attention. Then, my eyes close.

~~~~

There's the sound of plates clattering, a strong smell of fried chicken, and people talking amongst each other. I happen to catch a conversation between two men. Immediately I recognise the voices: Jin and my father.

My heart races at the sound of my fathers voice. He's so close but I can't see him. My eyes feel pinched shut, as if they are held together by some other outside force.

The two men sound like they are walking around as they speak.

"You can make it, right? Doseok, im counting on you to be my partner in this business."

"Of course im going to make it. It's my priority to go. You can count on me."

The voices fade away and my eyelids start to ease, but i still can't open them. What did my dad promise Jin? Did he go? Another set of voices fade in, taking me by surprise. This time it's in a quieter setting.

"What are you going to name the baby?" Jin starts.

A young woman replies with my name. "We want to name her something beautiful. Just like a flower."

The feeling in my eyes go away and I am finally able to open them. Tears manage to swell up as I look at my parents together and happy again.

"Oh!" My mother puts her hand on her enlarged stomach, "She kicked."

I blink away tears, and as soon as i do, the young world of my happy parents together disappears. I take a look to my right. I notice the room im in. It's similar to the skyscraper of a house that the pink haired Jin lives in currently.

Two people, my father and Jin, are arguing with each other. The dark haired jin stands tall, but his shoulders are slumped over slightly in sorrow. My father, known as doseok, stands in front of him. Instead of a huge fountain, a dark wooden office desk acts as a border between them. Outside, an image of a mellow and dull sky slips through the open glass window.

Jin takes in a shaky breath. The room is silent as he begins to speak. "I...I thought I could trust you. You said I could count on you."

"You could!" my dad says in such a tone that makes me jump. "But this time I had to do what was right."

"So you ditched me?" Jin speeds through with his words, trying to keep himself under control. His breathing pattern shortens in a shockingly small amount of time until he takes, again, another deep long breath. "I know that your wife is pregnant with your daughter, and I understand if you couldn't have made it in the first place. But...you promised me that you would come and that she would be alright."

My father adjusts the hems of his wrinkled sleeves. His tone is much softer now. "Jieun and Gayoon were fine. They weren't the ones that needed me at the time." He runs his hand through his thinning hair as Jin raises an eyebrow, urging him to continue. "They were a man. A man a few years younger than you. I saw him acting very suspicious as I was driving over to Eat Jin. I thought that he was some type of criminal or thug, but as I got closer I realized that it wasn't what I thought it was. This man wore a shirt with blood stains. His hair was messy and cut poorly. And when I looked into his eyes, it was like all the life had been sucked out of him!"