Phobias

Part 3

11 years ago

Min Junho walked into his backyard holding a bowl of potato salad. He heard his daughter shriek with joy as she chased her teenaged cousin around the garden. Junho set the salad down and smiled at the two playing together. His daughter and nephew were very close despite being 13 years apart. It made him happy. They were like brother and sister.

"OPPA!" The little girl shouted while trying to tag her cousin.

"You can't catch meeee!" Yoongi shouted back teasingly as he easily dodged her and ran on sticking out his tongue.

"I will! I will!" Y/n shouted back determinedly. Yoongi glanced back at her and saw she was red in the face from running, so he decided to give her a break. He slowed down and allowed her to grab his leg. "Tag! You're it!" She shouted triumphantly. "Ah! She got me! I'm down!" Yoongi cried dramatically, allowing himself to fall to the ground. Y/n burst into giggles sitting on his stomach looking down at him. His eyes were closed, pretending to be unconscious.

"Oppa, wake up."

No response.

"Oppa." She shook him lightly.

Still no answer.

"Op-"

"RAWR!" Yoongi shot up and grabbed his 5-year-old cousin. "Haha, I got you! You're it you're it you're it!" He teased holding her on his lap and tickling her belly.

Junho chuckled as he watched his baby girl giggling and squirming in his nephew's lap. Y/n had always been shy and didn't get on too well with the other kids in her kindergarten class. She was uncomfortable around other kids and became anxious in crowds. There were no other kids her age in the neighborhood they moved into, so she had entered kindergarten unprepared to face other children. Junho and his wife had hoped being around children her own age would help assuage her discomfort, but so far she only sat away from her classmates refusing to play any games with them. Y/n didn't like a lot of people. She only liked her parents. And her cousin. He was her best friend. They loved each other.

"Kids! Lunch is ready!" Jiyeong, Y/n's mother, came into the backyard holding a tray of sandwiches. Yoongi stopped tickling Y/n and stood up with her in his arms, smiling as she continued to giggle.

The family was just sitting down to eat when the doorbell rang. Junho looked towards the door. "You guys expecting anyone?" Yoongi asked as he cut a piece of watermelon for Y/n. Junho shrugged and got up to answer the door.

As soon as he opened it, he immediately regretted his decision. "Inho. What are you doing here?"

His older brother glared at him. "Where is my son?"

Junho sighed. "Your son is 18 and he doesn't live with you anymore. I asked you to stop bothering him."

Inho looked disgusted. "He is my son! I am his father! You have no right!"

"Inho, stop yelling. Now your son is a legal adult. Therefore- hey! What are you doing you can't just walk into my house!"

Inho rudely pushed passed his brother and stormed into the house making his way to the backyard where he heard his son's laughter.

Yoongi was happily chatting with his aunt and cousin when his father came storming out. He looked up and his grin immediately faded. "Dad?"

Inho glared at him. "I've had enough of this nonsense, young man. We're going home. Now." He turned and stepped back into the house, actually expecting Yoongi to follow him. Yoongi narrowed his eyes and defiantly stayed put. "No."

Inho stopped in his place, his face slowly turning red. He turned around, his expression livid. "Excuse me?"

Yoongi glared back at him. "I already told you, 'dad', I don't wanna be a pastor. I wanna go to college. And as soon as summer ends, that's exactly where I'm going. I'm not going anywhere with you."

Throughout his senior year, Yoongi has been secretly applying to different schools with his uncle's help. His parents wanted him to follow in his father's footsteps and become a pastor, but Yoongi didn't have a religious bone in his body. You wouldn't expect him to if you saw what his parents have put him through. Forcing him to kneel on uncooked rice. Smacking him whenever he did anything they deemed 'sinful' such as swearing or saying 'Oh my god'. Locking him in a closet to pray for 'forgiveness' like he was fucking Carrie White. He had claustrophobia because of them. Couldn't wait to get away from them. Worst part was he couldn't even go to the cops because no one would ever believe a pastor would abuse his son. Once Yoongi's mother found out about her son trying to report him, she sent him straight to the sin closet.

After being accepted to his dream college, Yoongi moved in with his aunt and uncle, who lived near the school. It was the happiest he's ever been.

"Yoongi, don't you dare take that tone with me!" His father snapped. Yoongi flinched but stood his ground. Y/n whimpered. "I am your father and you will do as you're told! How dare you! You know how I feel about you associating yourself with these people!" Insulting his own brother and his family as if they weren't even there.

"'These people?!'" Yoongi was so angry he forgot for a second he was afraid of his father. "He's your brother!"

"He is no brother to me!" Inho eyed Junho in disgust. Junho merely snarled. "Refusing to pray to the Lord. Procreating outside of marriage. Having that bastard child!" He glared at his niece who started to cry. Y/n was born out of wedlock. Inho had tried to pressure his brother to marry Jiyeong before she was born but they didn't wanna be the couple who got married just because the woman got knocked up. They married two years after Y/n was born. Inho never forgave his brother for that and despised his niece because of it.

Now Yoongi was very protective of his cousin, so when his father said that, he was prepared to punch him. But his uncle beat him to it. Inho held his cheek, looking at his brother with shock and fury.

"Get out!" He shouted. "And stay away from my family!"

"How dare you!" Inho raised his hand, but Jiyeong rushed forward and grabbed his arm. "Don't you dare touch my husband!"

Within seconds, chaos ensued and all four adults were yelling at each other. But in the process of yelling at each other, they failed to notice the 5-year-old girl running away in terror. She couldn't stand yelling. As she ran, tears streaming down her face, she suddenly stepped in a hole, twisting her ankle. Crying out, she lost her balance and fell. That was when she landed in something very sticky. Then she felt them.

Yoongi heard it first. A scream. A scream filled with terror. And pain. He turned around and was horrified to discover his little cousin was no longer there.

"Y/n?" Another scream. Coming from the woods that connected to the backyard. Where Y/n was forbidden to go.

"Y/N!" Yoongi rushed for the woods. His aunt and uncle followed. His father defiantly stayed put. Yoongi found Y/n, writhing and screaming in pain, covered in what appeared to be little black bugs. As Yoongi got closer, he panicked when he saw they weren't bugs. They were black widow spiders.

He rushed forward and grabbed his cousin, swatting the spiders away getting bit a few times himself. He started crying. She was covered in angry red patches. And was starting to lose consciousness.

"Call an ambulance!" Junho shouted at his wife, who was already on her phone.

Both Y/n and Yoongi were rushed to the hospital with spider bites. Yoongi got by with some medicine, but Y/n suffered a severe allergic reaction to the spiders' venom. And with the number of times she was bitten, the child nearly died. Doctors were able to save her, but she wouldn't stop crying, absolutely traumatized.

She was afraid of spiders before, but this incident scarred her for life. She hasn't been the same.