Storyteller | JHS ✓

Chapter thirty-three; The Epiphany Untold

╭˚❀ ⋆｡˚❃─────────────────╮

I want to love in this world

A little

Shining me, precious soul of mine

If I had the courage to stand before you

I finally realized so I love me

Would everything be different now

Not so perfect but so beautiful

I'm the one I should love

╰─────────────────˚❀ ⋆｡˚❃╯

_

'It's okay,' I told myself as my hands shakily grasped the keys to my house, 'Reach out, Minami. Reach out.'

My resolve strengthened enough to open the door, and I instantly regretted that action as I saw my mother sitting at the kitchen table. Her head rested on her palm, held up by her elbow. She turned her head toward me when she heard the click of the lock turning.

"Mom..."

"Minami...?" She rubbed at her eyes as if I were a hallucination rather than her daughter in the flesh. And to her, I might as well've been.

Dark circles rimmed the bottom of her eyes, painting them almost black. It looked like she hadn't slept for days, and I felt immense guilt at the sight.

"Why are you here...?"

"I...Well, I technically live here..."

"Then why don't you ever come home anymore?"

'This hasn't been my home for a long time,' I silently shot back.

"...I...I thought I didn't have a reason to."

At this, my mother scoffed.

"No reason to, child...? No reason to?! Absolutely none?! Am I not a reason to come home then, huh! Am I what's keeping you away then?"

I didn't dare to answer. But the silence spoke all the words I didn't.

"...I see, then. So I'm a bad mother, huh? Your friends are better than I am, huh?! Everything I do is a nuisance to you, right?!! That friend you always go to is so much better than me, right!"

"You dont understand, mom! He...I met the most enchanting and most charming boy, mom...He taught me how to care! He taught me how to be a better person! He listened to what I had to say! He was there for me when you weren't, mom!"

"THAT'S WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO THINK! YOU THINK HE'S PERFECT AND THAT HE'S GORGEOUS AND CARING AND SMART! YOU NAIVELY FOLLOW HIM AND LISTEn TO HIM AND BE WITH HIM AND HE TEACHES YOU WHAT 3RD GRADE COUNSELORS TEACH YOU! TO BE KIND! TO HELP OTHERS! THAT'S HOW YOU GET KILLED, MINAMI!!! Your sister...your sister learned that too and...and look where that got her...!"

My mother crumpled to the ground, sobbing.

"And you've come here to tell me you don't want me to be your mother anymore, isn't that right?! You despise me, right?! You wish I wasn't your mother, right?! My existence makes you angry, right?!"

None of that was true; even after she berated me or scolded me, my mother was still my mother. She was the one who raised me, gave life to me, and it was because of her that I was able to meet Hoseok. I never truly hated her, I realized. There were only times when I wished things would go back to the way it was. It never was a secret that my sister was more successful than I was; she always got more trophies and more awards than me. She always had a better personality than me.