G A M E O N

제36화 재회

CHAPTER 36 REUNION

TAEHYUNG's POV:

After the questioning at the police station, I walk slowly out of the questioning room, dreading what's waiting for me on the other side of the door.

All the girls have walked ahead, thrilled and not even able to hide their excitement. All if them have family members who managed to get here by now.

Stopping by the doorframe, I take a deep breath before finally stepping out, my eyes glued to the floor as I do so.

A light voice, lighter than any other I've ever heard, shrieks in joy and I feel small arms wrap around me and I look down with a smile playing on my lips.

"Hello on you too, Yeonjun", I say to the ten years old hugging me, and I gently place my arms around his small body and hug him back.

"Tae!" she screams again, "you're back!"

I gulp, trying not to cry, and finally look up.

I expect to see only Mrs. Hyun Yejin and Bin, but there's two other adults there who aren't hugging or participating in any other family reunion. I recognize them from the news, it's my biological parents.

Mrs. Hyun Yejin and Bin, my foster parents, steps forward from their seats by the door and hug me as well, still with Yeojun holding onto my waist for dear life.

Mrs. Hyun Yejin keep telling me about how everything will be okay from now on and about how worried they've been and how glad they are that I'm back and as she finally seems to got it all off of her chest, she and Bin pull out of the embrace.

I meet the grey eyes of my mother, my biological mother, and feel Yeojun releasing his grip around me.

I don't know if I'm supposed to be happy or mad.

Yes, my biological parents are finally here to see me, their Son, but they did leave me in the first place. They are my parents, but they are also the reason to why I've never found a place I can call home.

Is it just to forgive and forget? Can it really be that easy?

I don't know, but it suddenly feel like it doesn't matter either.

The child in me takes over. The lost child who has been longing for a parent.

My vision becomes blurry because of tears that fills my eyes and falls down my cheek. I don't care about wiping them away, I can't seem to stop looking at the two strangers in front of me, the two strangers who should be one of the ones I'm closest to.

"M-mom?" I hear myself say in a voice barely above a whisper. I think she starts to cry too but I'm not completely sure, my vision is to blurry, but as I take a step towards her she does the same.

Her arms are thrown around me, pulling me into her warm embrace. I put my arms around her as well and welcome the other body that joins us, my dad.

I stayed in the embrace for what felt like forever before I finally pulled away and got a closer look at my parents. I got my mother's figure and hair, and my father's icing brown eyes.

Whose personality I've taken most from is left for me to find out.

I'm in a moment of bliss until an officer, Gordon to be exact, interrupts us with a frown on his face and a cup of coffee in his hand.

"I don't really know any good way to put this", he says honestly and his eyes grazes over the room. All of us girls are still here and Gordon have caught our attention to the fullest.

"Well, uhm", he clears his throat, "we arrested three of the guys but three got away."

I feel my heart drop down my stomach.

"Which three?" I whisper, my hand gripping onto Carol's upper arm. Gordon shakes his head and gives me a sad look. "I'm sorry, Taehyung, but it was... let's see if I remember them right now... Hoseok? No, Namjoon, Bambam and Jeongguk."

"No." It feels like the temperature dropped as well and I start to cry again, but this time it isn't tears of joy.

"No, no, no..."

Arms wraps around me, belonging to more than just one, and I let myself get comforted by them as I quietly sob for a while before I get myself together and angrily wipe a tear away from my cheek with the back of my hand.

"I shot him", I say even though I already told that to the police during the questioning - I got away since it was in self-defense. "I shot him and I don't know where the bullet hit, but I know it did. He may not survive and even if he did, he wouldn't come back, right?"

Gordon shakes his head. "I'm sorry but I can't answer that question but it's highly unlikely that they would show up in the next few days and I highly suggest you all get home and rest. Let's take care of this tomorrow, one day at the time."

I decide to follow his advice.

This moment is special, and I won't let Jeon Jeongguk ruin it. Somehow, the police will fix the problem, they have to.

Pushing all the worries away, I return to the moment of joy.

Jiminie joined us later on, not a second too late though, and together we all went to a nearby café. I felt exhausted but I couldn't sleep, not yet.

I had a lot to catch up on and as we entered the café and I ordered a cappuccino, all thoughts about sleep disappeared. No one talked about Jeongguk either, which I was grateful of.

I enjoyed the feeling I got, sitting there in the booth with some of the most important people in my life. It felt nice, normal.

It was all I ever wanted.

I don't need fame to feel special, because I have people that love me at home.

Taking a sip of my cappuccino, I return to reality and the conversation my two pairs of parents are holding.

Everything is nice, cozy and simply perfect, until we leave the booth and step out of the café.

Everyone goes ahead of me as I walk in the opposite direction to throw my now empty mug of cappuccino, I drank the last of it as we walked out of the door, and just as I throw it in the trashbin, I see movement by the corner of the building.

Blonde hair, tucked under a hood, and hands in the front pocket of the washed out jeans.

A tingling sensation spreads from my heart out to my fingertips, fear, and I blink and look at the corner again.

Nothing.

Did I just image it?

Shaking my head, I walk towards the corner as fear holds me in a stranglehold.

I half expect someone to pop up right in front of me as I peek around the buildings corner, and I half expect to see the back of a jacket disappear further into the darkness.

The street is completely empty and death silent. No movement at all, no back disappearing further away from me.

Once again, I shake my head and tell myself I'm being paranoid.

It couldn't have been Namjoon hyung, right? He wouldn't show up here and then just leave again, would he?

Honestly, I don't know and therefor I keep telling myself I'm just being paranoid, but if that's the case, then why do I feel my nostrils stick by the smell of smoke?

Paranoia, I tell myself before heading back to the others, to my loved ones.

I can't ask for anything else because now, I have everything I need.

A smile, as pure as driven snow, makes its way onto my lips.

THE END...