Body And Soul

52. Monster

Mrs. Kim stepped outside the police station after pressing charges against who she thought was Yoongi. He hadn't actually caused much damage to her externally besides a possible bruise here or there from landing on the ground. She didn't know what had come over Yoongi. Even if that cat she had kicked had been his pet, it didn't excuse him from tackling her to the ground.

Any pain she felt though was sapped from her body as she stood on the steps of the police station as an audible 'thump' sounded out through the air. Her eyes turned towards the source of the sound where she could see two people lying motionless on the street. The longer she stared the more she realized that she knew those two people.

They were her sons.

Mrs. Kim barely caught sight of a car speeding off into the distance as people close to the road started to spill onto it to check and see if the unresponsive boys were okay. The people that had been in cars in the lanes of traffic behind the hit and run driver were spilling out of their cars with phones in their hands, trying to call emergency services despite being right outside a police station. One woman that was standing on the street ran past her and inside the police station to see if they could get help faster.

Mrs. Kim just stood there paralyzed, looking at the scene before her. It felt as if she was stuck in slow motion. The concerned people surrounding her sons seemed to blur and slow down; a spotlighted focus on the all too still bodies of her sons. It took her a moment to realize that the real reason why the concerned people surrounding her sons were becoming blurry was because of the tears rushing down her face.

When she had hired that man to send a message to her sons, she had only meant for him to scare them. She thought if they had a good scare that maybe Jungkook would willingly fade back into anonymity and Taehyung would be an obedient son once more. That was all she wanted since she didn't want anyone to find out she had another son that she abandoned. Apparently - in her haste to get some sort of message across - she hadn't been clear enough to him and he had done the unthinkable. Even though she didn't know what vehicle he drove, she knew it was him. That thought was confirmed when she heard her cell phone ding. Turning her gaze to the purse dangling off her arm, she dug out her phone to see she had just received a text from an unknown number.

'The job is done'.

'What have I done?' Mrs. Kim thought as she let the phone drop from her hand onto the ground beneath her feet.

Her purse dropped off her arm shortly after as she was propelled towards her sons lying on the street. She made her way past the small crowd that had gathered until she was able to kneel right down between the two of them. The tears continued to streak down her face as she looked at their still faces. What kind of monster was she? She hated that it took this happening for her to realize how awful of a mother she had been.

A flash off to her side turned her attention off her sons to a person nearby who was obviously more concerned with taking pictures of the situation than they were about getting help. Mrs. Kim felt anger rush through her, glaring at the photographer as they looked at her.

"Get them help now and put that phone away before I break it. Understand?"

The stunned photo taker just nodded as he quickly moved away. Mrs. Kim turned her attention back to her sons, moving her hands out so that she had one hand gripping each of theirs. She sat there as the tears continued to silently make their way down her face, wondering if it was too late to make it up to them.

- - -

Hobi had just received the clipboard with the paperwork he would need to file charges against Mrs. Kim when a scream filled the entire station. The scream captured everyone's attention so that all heads in the vicinity turned to look at the hysterical woman that had just entered. She was pointing a finger outside the station as she screeched, "There was a hit and run! Two people got hit!"

Hobi heard one of the chief officers swear before he signaled for two of his underlings to follow him outside; the three of them exiting the station in a jog. The officer that stood in front of Hobi let out a sigh, telling him he'd be right back before going near the entryway where the other officers were starting to gather to see if he could be of any help. Even though Hobi couldn't see who was involved in the accident from where he was, something gave him a bad feeling about it all.

"I'll be right back," Hobi said to Yoongles before heading back towards the waiting room where Jimin, Seokjin, Namjoon, and Yoongi were.

Before Hobi could ask any of them if they knew what was going on, he heard a name drop in the snatches of gossipy whispers filling the station.

"Did you see Kim Taehyung get hit by that car? What do you think he was doing coming this way?..."

Taehyung. Hearing the name made his heart sink - and when Hobi thought about how they mentioned two people being hit - he knew exactly who they meant. Jimin turned in his seat to hand Yoongi off to Seokjin.

"Please watch him. I'll be back," said Jimin as he and Hobi rushed to the door, shouldering their way past the spectators so they could get a clearer view of the scene taking place on the street.

Hobi didn't know what shocked him more. The sight of Jungkook and Taehyung lying unconscious on the street or the fact that Mrs. Kim was knelt between the both of them looking visibly distraught. An officer or two from the station was near her and was trying to get her to back away as ambulances arrived on the scene. Hobi and Jimin made their way down the police station steps and over to where Mrs. Kim was. An officer had managed to peel her up off the ground and was keeping a consoling arm about her.

"You need to save them," she turned to instruct the paramedics who were working to load them onto stretchers.

"We will try our best, madame," said one paramedic as they rushed by with the stretcher, hollering at the crowd to get out of the way.

Mrs. Kim just nodded her head, shifting her gaze so that it landed on Hobi and Jimin. They stared back at her for a moment before Mrs. Kim broke the awkward silence between them.

"I'm sorry," she said to the both of them.

Before either of them could reply, she slipped out of the officer's grasp and moved to walk away from the scene. She looked at the doors to the ambulances as they swung shut on her sons, moving to signal a cab so she could follow them to the hospital.