Tae lay in his old bed staring at the ceiling, he guessed at some point he'd fallen sleep but he certainly didn't feel like he'd slept, his eyes were puffy and swollen from crying and every muscle in his body ached.
He didn't want to move, the house was silent, both his parents would be out working the farm at this time in the morning.
Growing up he had always assumed he'd follow in his father's footsteps and work the farm but luckily fate and music had stepped in and changed all that.
Of course now Tae had money his parents didn't have to work as hard as they once had, they had their own small farm now and were quite self sufficient, he just offered to help as and when they needed it, like when they needed a new roof on the cow shed, things like that.
In the absolute silence of the morning Tae could even hear the cows mooing and the chickens clucking in the distance. He smiled softly, he had many good memories from growing up here.
His tummy grumbled loudly reminding him he hadnt eaten since... Since his date!? A sharp stabbing pain went through his chest and he had to tell himself to breath calmly until it passed.. Another growl.. "okay okay" he mumbled to his stomach.
Dressed in shorts and a baggy hoody that he must have left here at some point in the past, Tae made his way to the small low table in the middle of the living room. On it under a couple of large mesh pop ups were several dishes including Korean egg bread, Kimchi fried rice and bibimbap, Tae's mouth actually watered, his mum really was a fine cook.
He sat on a cushion on the floor and then in his mind thanked his mother for the food and started to eat, after several moments of just eating, thoughts started to creep back into Tae's head, first one was after he'd finished the rice, " JK would love my mums cooking"..he thought, then when he dropped a bit of toast in his lap he thought JK would have laughed at that..
The more JK thoughts he had the less hungry he became and in the end gave up, cleared and washed up and then made his way back to his room.
Around 11 o clock he heard a car pull up and saw someone take his suitcase out of the trunk, he went back down to answer the door, thanking the delivery driver and taking his belonging back up to his room with him.
The first thing he found when opening, was a large A4 envelope with a contract edit inside... He didn't even want to look at that right now, he was looking for his phone, practically pulling everything out of the case he eventually found it, fumbling and dropping it in his haste to see if JK had messaged... It was dead! "Argg!! Tae thought searching through the remnants of the case... No charger!! ., his wallet was there and even his face creams but no bloody charger! He scoured his old room for one but although several wires were found none fit!
He wanted to swear, the only thing that had kept the tears and frustration at bay all morning was knowing he'd have his phone soon.
Felling dejected he laid back down on his bed, no Internet, no cell phone, nothing, he felt so isolated having no idea what was going on outside of this room.
Suddenly he thought, "ill go into the city and buy a charger " and that thought got him going.
He jumped in the shower, and scrubbed quickly, forgoing his morning skin care routine.. "it was practically afternoon now any way" he thought as he ran down the stairs.
Leaving a note telling his mother he'd borrowed her car and wouldn't be long Tae started the short drive into the city.
He was dressed in baggy jeans, a baggy shirt, face mask, sunglasses and floppy hat, he hoped no one would recognise him, he wasn't technically supposed to leave the farm unchaperoned but this was an emergency.
He almost made it, but the desk clerk in the mobile phone shop, who must only have been about 17 or 18, had recognised his name when he used his credit card to pay and then confirmed it by looking in his eyes and then.. She screamed!!
"seriously!" Tae thought "who screams in the middle of a shop?" the manager had come over thinking he'd done something to upset one of his staff and had grabbed Tae by the arm.
Tae turned to him arms up in an innocent gesture and tried to explain it had all been a big misunderstanding. But the manager was old and insisted Tae come with him to the office, He would have had to go too if the now less hysterical assistant hadn't jumped in between the two of them.
It had taken a few minutes of explaining but the manager got it eventually, Tae just wanted to go, luckily no one else had been in the shop when this happened, but he was still starting to feel very vulnerable,
Being fully aware that without Army him and the other members were nothing he had always tried to be patient with fans.
"I'm so sorry" she kept gushing, and bowing each time she apologised, really sorry." Tae smiled beneath his mask," it's ok, "he said.
" May I take a picture of you please, she asked, jumping up and down and clutching her hands in a prayer sign,
Tae remembered what Bang had said about a social presence away from JK so he nodded his head in aggreament and allowed the still apologetic manager to snap off a couple of the pair of them before collecting his charger and leaving.
"There Bang" he said out loud to no one in particular, are you happy with that? "
He couldn't wait to get home and drove off quickly.
Once he had his phone charging he went and made himself a cup of tea, he watched from the corner of his eye as the phones screen logo came to life indicating it was turning on and practically bounced back over to the phone, squatting down he waited.. After five minutes Tae had to admit to himself though that JK hadn't txt.
With heavy footsteps he walked back up to his room leaving the cup of tea on the side, "did this mean Bang had managed to convince JK to leave him? , did JK not want him? Nothing from the group either! Did they all think it was his fault? Had JK told them all about him getting drunk and coming to his room?
With each unanswered question fat tear drops fell from his eyes, he looked at the silver band of a ring that JK had given him, how much of he's words were still true of JK? " he thought.
Tae's tears came hard and fast again, he curled back up into a ball under his blankets and stayed there for the rest of the day, thoughts couldn't form clearly any more in his head, all he had pain.
