Crook | K.th

Crook 17: Lonely Child

/ Taehyung K's POV /

Flashback:

It was odd.

So many people who shared the same characteristics. With actual regard and respect for those who walked beside them on the sidewalks. The traditional long skirts on women and loose, business casual blouses on men. This was a complete contrast of the world 17 year old Taehyung had been used to all his life. He supposed his time spent in South Korea as a child didn't matter seeing as he has no recollection of experiencing a society like this once before.

There was the occasional mental depiction of the summers he had spent here as a child on vacation. He remember the amazing weather. He remembered the old ice cream vendor whom his parents would take him to visit on the weekend before it became just he and his father. Some of the buildings hadn't changed. The old convenient stores were still old and convenient. So Taehyung wasn't completely unaware of where he was.

"Don't stare."

The deep grumble of authority pulled Taehyung from his trance of interest and fascination. Looking to his left, he seen his father sparking up a cigarette as the driver stuffed their bags in the trunk of the vehicle that would be escorting them to... well Taehyung didn't know where.

His life hadn't been filled with such luxuries before. Now all of the sudden he and his father were riding first class in planes, hiring drivers to get them from one point to another. And doing it discreetly, too.

"It's a good thing you're wearing those shades. Had you not been, you probably would've been reported for staring." His father chuckled, a thin cloud of smoke coming out of his parted lips.

Taehyung furrowed his brows. "Daegu." He mumbled. His father nodded.

"Daegu."

"No." Taehyung shook his head. He didn't need confirmation that they were here. He needed an understanding of why they were here.

"Why are we in daegu?"

His father turns to him with a questioning grin. His wild eyes seeming to glow with a type of knowing, a type of awareness that Taehyung did not have. The 17 year old found himself lost right then and there. He was here but he wasn't at the exact same time. He just wanted to go back home. The home he had known for most of his life. The home that included Liyah.  

Liyah. He could still smell her perfume on his leather jacket. It could be the hottest of summers and he would wear it. She smelled of cherries. Everytime he walk he caught a whiff of her scent and could even feel her presence. Fuck, if she were here she would calm him a weirdo. She would say he was out of his mind and belonged in the looney bin. And he would only laugh and pull her closer, saying that as long as she visited him he would happily be institutionalized.

"Because, Taehyung" the man starts, carelessly ashing his cigarette on the sidewalk. "You're becoming a man. A man explores and a man works. I have to train you."

A man explores and a man works...

Couldn't they have done this in Chicago? Taehyung already attended business meeting with his father so why did they have to be in Daegu in order to do this?