Them

3. V

'It wasn't supposed to end this way.' Taehyung thought. But he couldn't escape it. Everything had gone wrong. The world was in flames all around him. And it was all his fault.

****

It had started that summer, when the heat had reached the point where Taehyung would have to leave the windows open at night, to keep the hot air out and the cool breeze through the window.  He liked the winter though, and he always liked bears as well, which made sense because he thought that they were the epitome of the winters existence. 

"Where the fuck is it?..." He said under his breath frustratedly. He was at the library, looking for the book that his mother wanted him to get, the Spanish one. He couldn't find it anywhere in the big ass library and they had like ten copies of every book, specifically this one. Of course they were all gone when he needed it and Mr Chen, the Chinese librarian was on leave, leaving a American transfer, Sophie in charge. 

When Taehyung was about to turn around and give up, he screamed, covering his mouth, with one hand, the other reaching into his pocket for his handgun. Sophie, the American transfer student in charge, stood in front of him, wearing the beautiful smile that had always been his weakness. Her dark skin shining and her chocolate eyes glimmering.

Taehyung looked down to her hand, where she carried the Spanish book in her hand, "I think you were looking for this one." She smiled, noticing his expression. Taehyung thanked her and bowed, and received the book from her gentle hands.

"If you need any Spanish lessons, or English lessons more like, don't be shy to hit me up." She giggled. Taehyung never stuttered. Ever. Yet this time, he stuttered just like a bitch. "Look in your book, Taehyung." She said before giving him a last wink, and walking away back to her desk.

He opened the boon to her first page and his eyes nearly fell out. Her number was there and under it, it said: 'What's mine is yours x'  and at the bottom of the page, 'property of Sophie.' And Taehyung's chest nearly skipped a beat.

Sophie.

But his mother would never allow it. Would she? As he returned home, his mother, Mrs Kim, made him sit on the couch and his siblings soon appeared in the room. His sister, Kim Eon Jin, and his brother, Kim Jeong Gyu also came into the room as well.

His mother's eyes reminded him of a dying fire. Beautiful, but not the occasional Korean coloured eyes. Taehyung's mother was very pretty, with brown hair and she occasionally put her hair in messy braids. He always thought that her spirit animal would be a red fox with silver eyes, the red to match her fiery eyes.

Across the couch, thin blankets were sprawled like warm towels at the beach. As his sister crawled under one of them, a summer storm began to begin. "Listen to me. Your father is coming back from a business trip and I need to make sure that everything is going to go well from dinner onward." His mother told them.

His father was the leader of the Daegu Kim Mafia and he was an excessive alcoholic and he was constantly either drunk or involved with some kind of criminal activity. He had bright green eyes which weren't always brimmed with tears but they were sometimes there. Taehyung touched his forehead as he remembered the last time his father got so drunk, he screamed at him and threw a glass beer bottle at Taehyung's forehead. A scar was all that was left.

His father, Mr Kim, was broken. Just like that old oak tree in the front yard. Taehyung never really wore his glasses either. But his father broke them as well, well when he was drunk at least. One time he just sat on them. And that was really sad. And that was when his father left, leaving his mother, literally crying with no kiss.

Running water then became a problem because he stopped paying bills. And then his mother came into the business. And she rose it from the ashes like a phoenix. Like a proud phoenix. Outside, the howling winds whispered and the rain pattered down harder.

"I'm home!!" called out a voice.

Oh no.

Mr. Kim.