washable markers ➝ taekook

sixteen

man im excited for this chapter

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   With sweaty palms, Taehyung grasped the girl's hand. The spit in his mouth went dry and a lump of uncertainty formed in his throat. Quietly, he cleared his throat, put on a sheepish smile, and began, "Mom, Dad... This is Sorah. She's my girlfriend."

    His mother and father, seated in front of him on the couch, moved their heads in unison to take in the sight of Sorah, who stiffly stood beside him. Their blank faces furrowed and darkened into deep frowns.

    "You're lying to us, Taehyung. Didn't we raise you better than that?" The voices of his parents blended together unpleasantly as they rebuked him, as if they were lines that had been planned and rehearsed.

   "What?" Taehyung choked out, letting his fingers slip away from Sorah's. "I-"

    "You let us down again. You've disappointed us. How could you, Taehyung?" Possibly even scarier than the simultaneousness of their words was the way they uttered them without the slightest hint of emotion. They were perfectly, eerily calm.

    The lump in his throat grew and his entire throat tightened and convulsed until he couldn't breathe, and while he fell to his knees, his father's went past twisted and furious to quite literally blackening; his suddenly growing teeth poking through his lips as his eyes were engulfed by darkness, the only color in them coming from bulging, bright red veins.

    Taehyung forced his eyes away, refusing to watch his father melt away into a petrifying, revolting monster any longer. As he continued to struggle and fight for a breath of air, he tilted his pleading face up to beg for Sorah's abettance, but the girl, looming over him in a slightly menacing way, only gave him the same cold stare he'd watched her give to Chul the day before.

   "S-Sorah- Help-" A deep growl came from in front of him immediately before dark, deformed arms wrapped around his neck and-

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Ah!" Taehyung uttered as he shot up, panting, beads of sweat dribbling down his temples and soaking his thin t-shirt. "Gahhh, what a weird dream." He kicked away the covers and pushed the hair out of his eyes, dragging his palms along his cheeks afterward.

   No, that's not how it's going to go. There's no way they would  suspect it. He hummed. Unless.. No, no, quit thinking about everything that could go wrong. You'll only make it worse, like always. This has to go right. This is going to go right.

   Finally, he picked up his phone that had fallen to the floor last night when he fell asleep with it in his hand, and turned off the aggravating alarm.

   He shoved his phone into the pockets of his shorts, then pulled his damp shirt off by the neck, tossing it into the hamper as he left his room and shuffled across the hall into the bathroom.

    Cold water carried away any of the remaining sleepiness that clung to his eyes, and ate up the sticky sweat that decorated his forehead, temples, and hair. He shoved a toothbrush into his mouth to rid himself of the bitter taste of anxiety that had settled on his tongue.

    Washed up and changed to leave the house, Taehyung hurried downstairs to make extra time for a conversation with his mother. He refused to let himself leave for school without speaking with her. He had to do it.

    "Mom," Taehyung started as he poked his head into the kitchen, squinting slightly at the bright morning sunlight that invaded his eyes.

    "Yes?" The woman answered, looking up at him as he entered the room. She set down the knife she'd been using to slice an apple.

   "Will you and Dad be busy this evening?"

    "No. We're both getting off at the usual times. What's up?"

    "I uh..."

Quit stuttering, get it together.

   Inhale, exhale.

    Taehyung gave his best attempt at a slightly cheeky smile. "I've got someone I want you two to meet. I'd like to do it tonight, if that works." Just for a moment, he knew he recognized a flash of worry in his mother's eyes. He wondered what that was about. However, he pushed it to the back of his mind as she replaced it with an amused, questioning look.

    "Oh? What kind of someone, hm?" 

    He gave a little chuckle. "You'll see. It's a secret."

    "No fair! You're gonna make your poor mother wait all day?"

    "Yes."

    "Kids these days. No respect," His mother groaned.

See? That went fine. It's going to work. If I say that just a few more times, maybe I'll believe it.

 Taehyung just smiled and shook his head. "Here, have some smoothie." She leaned over the counter to hand him a tall glass of pink smoothie. Taehyung would almost have to chug it to finish it before leaving for school. Still, his heart sung at the kind gesture and the way his mother's words seemed to have become a bit warmer again today.

xxx

    "Mom.. The someone I mentioned earlier," He paused to glance over at Sorah, who gave him an encouraging nod, "was this girl. Mom, Dad, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Sorah."

   This time, though just as in his dream, his parents were seated beside each other on the living room couch, they did not scowl at him, and his father definitely did not turn into a soul-eating monster. Sorah smiled politely and muttered, "Nice to meet you."

    It seemed to be going fine. His father was quiet, but not necessarily in his usual, intimidating way. His mother was smiling earnestly, until all of the sudden Sorah changed. Sorah was not herself anymore. She was no longer a girl a little shorter than Taehyung with shoulder-length hair, cold eyes and, most often, lips twisted into a disinterested frown. She was no longer a girl.

    Sorah was now Taehyung's height, if not a smidge taller, dark hair parted down the middle and hugging the sides of the face and reaching to hide most of the ears, a few strands obscuring sparkling, sweet doe-eyes, with lips neutral and slightly parted. This was Jeongguk. His very presence made the room glitter, sunlight pouring in through the windows, flooding the room with hazy happiness and urging Taehyung to smile.

   But the sunlight wavered, as if a bullying cloud covered it up, when Taehyung saw the way his mother's face dropped, her smile wiped off her face. Again, the scene became his dream. "You're lying to us," they said. "Didn't we raise you better than that?"

   "No! Not again!" He shut his eyes. Covered his ears.

     SLAM!

    His eyes were open; ears uncovered. A textbook sat upon his desk. He gulped. He brought his eyes up, and there was his teacher, hands on her hips and staring at him sternly and expectantly. "You should know by now, I don't appreciate students dozing off during my class."

   "O-oh- Sorry, Mrs. Lee. My bad."

 

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okay so it was getting towards 3000 words so i decided to cut it in half and finish the rest tomorrow :'( but that means more exciting stuff to look forward to :DD