The Fourteen Of Majestia || Book 2 ||

Chapter 5

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"Honey, it's okay, you're fine,"

A man was on the ground, his body wriggling and churning. His eyes remained completely loose, he shook with a violent thrust. Chunks of his curly black strands were on the ground where he had yanked them from his scalp with his own hands. He lay in the women's lap helplessly, as she tried to calm him down.

"Shinjae, Shinjae look at me, look at me okay? You're okay, you're not in the war anymore everyone is fine. It's all okay," she continued to mutter the empathetic words, trying to be some source of comfort.

Jin walked into the room, a small toy car in his hand that he had been playing with. He cautiously looked towards his father. He didn't know what was going on and his mother was too concentrated on his dad to notice that he had entered the room.

His heart started beating faster, hands trembled at the sight. Was his father okay? He didn't seem fine.

"It was just a glass, the glass broke. Nothing else. Please, breathe," she continued stammering.

He noticed tears in her eyes, something quite uncommon for his mother.

"Breath, one, two, breathe, one, two, come on, slowly, breathe," she encouraged and soon he started to follow her repetitive words. Taking short quick breaths, and as he followed along, Jin noticed he was becoming calmer, no longer trembling and quacking.

"That's it, shush," she breathed, her voice low and comforting. She whispered mellowing words, encouraging him to lay down on the couch and rest. He continued to follow a repetitive pattern of breathing as if he had forgotten how to breathe.

"Seokjin,"

His mother called out.

He didn't realize it, but his hands had almost gone white from tightly holding onto his car. His grip lessened and it fell to the marble floor with a clang.

His mother flinched at the sound, eyes immediately going back to his father. But he was okay, now breathing more calmly. His hand was on his chest and the other on his belly as he took long exhales and inhales.

She released a sigh of relief before looking back at Jin.

"What're you doing here?" She inquired, coming closer.

She bent down to look at her four-year-old son, hands on his shoulders. Seokjin couldn't figure out why she seemed so concerned for him. He was completely fine. It was his dad that needed help, why wasn't she staying with him?

"I heard something break, and then I came down to check what happened," he whispered in a somewhat sloppy Korean.

"It's okay, we're fine now. Your father probably had a panic attack after hearing the loud sound. You know he gets nervous this time around the year," she explained.

"The anniversary of the war is coming in a while. But he'll be okay, you know that." she smiled at him. He beamed back her, knowing just how strong his father was and nodded his head.

She grabbed the car toy from the ground and put it back in his hand.

"Now go back upstairs to your room. Mom and Dad will be there soon okay?" He nodded his head before running out the door and back upstairs.

There were many attacks before and after that. Jin witnessed many and he always tried to help his dad. Whether it was in the moment to help ease his pain or afterwards to cheer him up a bit. And slowly when he started adopting the other kids, he healed himself.