Strawberries & Dreams | Taekook |

Chapter Eight 🔥

The sky was grey and a slight drizzle fell from the skies as the seven mourners stood around the traditional Jeollanam-do gravesite, an auspicious place of several little burial mounts up in the hills above the little farm. After the five days at the hospital, Kim Young-Sik's body had been cremated and the urn had been buried within the same burial mount of the ashes of Taehyung's grandmother. Over the last decades it had become customary to put urns in columbarium all across the big cities. However, here in the rural part of the outskirts of Daegu, the old burial mounts were still used for family burials.

Yoongi looked around the small terraced plateau where several burial mounts with wooden commemorative plaques told visitors of the loved ones buried here. He saw a lot of Kims but also a few Mins here. Not surprising when both lines had connections to the old Royal Korean dynasties and this site, high up in the mountains, had been an auspicious site for centuries. This part of Daegu and its surrounding county and countryside was old land, the heartland of some of the backbone of Korean myths and tales from Silla times.

The young man's gaze turned from the mountains back to the mourners gathered around the burial mount. He watched his parents who shared an umbrella, their arms intertwined as his father held the umbrella. Yoongi smiled when he saw how his dad turned his head slightly to place a soft kiss on his mother's temple. He had always known their marriage was a solid one, even though there was not much PDA as was custom in their society. But he had always known that his parents had an imperturbable bond and he had noticed it in the smallest things, a look here, and a soft touch there. Looking down he suppressed a smile and his gaze turned to his hand at his side where it clasped another, even smaller hand. He felt the slight squeeze and squeezed back, even daring a small sideways glance to the person whose hand he was holding. Jimin's hair was starting to get plastered to his skull due to the drizzle. While the younger man had completely forgotten that he kept a tight grip on the umbrella in his hand.

That was so Jimin, Yoongi had to admit. His little airhead. He was still not sure how they had ended up together. Jimin was a very outgoing, open guy, kind and funny and all the things, he, Yoongi was not. And yet they had fallen for each other. Jimin often softening the grumpy and sometimes depressed phases Yoongi experienced without being too overbearing or cavalier about it. Today, at this burial site, Yoongi put a lot of things into perspective and he was glad Jimin was with him, with his mom and dad and Jungkook and Taehyung. Squeezing the smaller hand in his again, he watched the two figures that were standing in front of the burial mount.

The urn had been interred and the grassy part of the hill was to be restored when their mourning party would return home. Yoongi watched as Jungkook and Taehyung placed handfuls of earth onto the urn in the hole. Their white hemp gloves in stark contrast both to the black suits they were wearing and also to the dark, rich soil they distributed with their hands. For years he had worked side by side with the younger of the two, had shared secrets, soju and banter with him. Jungkook had always been his little brother, the maknae he never had in his own family as he was the youngest of the Mins. Watching him now, Yoongi felt proud to call him his brother. Jungkook might be the youngest, but in the last week he had done and said the right things, had been a rock to Taehyung and a friend to both him and Jimin.

And Taehyung? Even though the only connection was Jungkook and his own mother, he liked the young farmer and began to understand why his mother liked him so much. He had never come across a human, male or female, that was so – for lack of another word – pure. Sure the guy had flaws, he was human after all, but Taehyung seemed to be a genuinely nice person, kind, and guileless. He was the perfect partner for their maknae and Yoongi hoped those two would be there for each other for a long time.

Inhaling deeply, Yoongi watched as Taehyung offered the final honours. Beside him, Jimin looked up and sought his gaze. Squeezing hands, the two men shared a small smile, and then both looked over in unison, watching Jungkook taking Taehyung's hand in a mirror to their own holding hands. It felt almost surreal to see so much love and care at a site that was for mourning the dead.