TaeJin Short Stories

He was Mine

Kim Seokjin walked down the sidewalk as he held his daughter's hand. They were heading to the mall to buy her new shoes.

She was excited and was hopping along asking her Appa lots of questions.

"Why is the sky blue? Why can't cats fly?"

Jin answered everything as best as he could, loving how inquisitive his daughter was.

When they walked in the mall they headed towards the shoe store. Ever since he had his daughter, it was a struggle to get by. But he managed to get by with lots of help from his parents and his friends.

When his daughter saw the store she got excited and tried slipping out of his grip. But he held on tight.

"Hold on baby, we're almost there. You can't let go of my hand cause you could get lost or stolen from me."

She then tried pulling him along so he'd walk faster. She was just so excited to finally get some new shoes.

The kids at school sometimes make fun of her because she wears the same pair of shoes every day. She doesn't dare tell her Appa about it though, because he'll get hurt and start crying like last time.

So she keeps that to herself.

She runs over to the kid section and looks amazed at all the beautiful shoes she sees.

Jin tells her to pick three pairs she likes but can only get one. So she will have to choose wisely.

She smiles happily and runs her fingers across the pretty shoes lined up. She sees a couple of others she likes and grabs them.

Then she sees a pair that she really likes and also grabs them. She then sits down next to her Appa and he helps her try them on.

He sneaks a peek at the price while he helps her, and sees she has picked some very expensive shoes.

He starts to worry that he may not be able to afford any of them, but he keeps his smile for his daughter.

She is oblivious to his plight and walks up and down the aisle in front of him. Trying to get a feel for which one she'd like.

Jin sees her eyes keep landing on the most expensive pair of the bunch and he tries to help her choose the next least expensive pair.

But she seems to have her heart set on the expensive ones.

As he's debating whether or not to get them or pay one of his bills on time they see another little girl walk over and she grabs a pair just like the ones she wants.

She then continues to grab another 5-6 different pairs of shoes, all very expensive.

His daughter suddenly looks shy and walks closer to him.

Then Jin pulls her closer to her and tells her quietly, "Mia, what if I get you this other pair for now and then when I get more money I will buy you the ones you want. Ok?"

She then understands that she can't get the ones she wants because they don't have alot of money.

So she smiles and says, "Ok Appa, I will get those."

They then hear someone snicker towards them and he sees an ugly, vile witch that he hoped to never see again.

"Pathetic.. what kind of person doesn't do all he can to get his daughter the shoes she wants? They're not even that expensive."

Jin stood up and told her, "Mind your business hag."

He then grabs his daughters hand and the shoes she's getting and walks away.