𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘. Han Seojun

𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐨 - 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐄 from Seattle to Seoul landed, the brown-haired girl named Jeong Areum continued staring through the window almost in disbelief she was back to her home country. She stayed away for two long years, but was now forced back here due to her mother undergoing surgery soon.

Her mother had been diagnosed with brain cancer earlier that year. She had gone under all treatments available and had taken all the medications needed. This surgery was as the doctors said the last treatment she needed to undergo.

After this surgery, she would be able to come back and live in her house once again and not in the stinky hospital. And so once Areum heard these news, she immediately planned to come over and take care of her mother. Not that she didn't think she was able, but Areum wanted to be there if anything was needed.

She had already spent most of her life with her father in Seattle after their divorce, and not staying and helping her twin brother had almost eaten her alive. She saw this as a way to kind of redeem herself, even though she felt she didn't deserve it one bit.

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the woman sitting next to her "We're getting off dear. Don't get lost in your thoughts." Areum only nodded and turned to put her headphones on before she got off the plane.

It was still early in the morning, somewhere around four in the morning to be exact. Areum waited for her luggage and listened to music in the meanwhile. It was one way she felt connected to her brother, even though she had not gotten the gift of dancing and singing, she was the one out of the two who played instruments better.

But due to his suicide two years ago, she completely stopped playing and only listened to music from then on. She'd just listen to music to not focus on her thoughts of self-hatred and other. It was a way to escape reality for her, and she desperately needed it.

Finally, once her pastel pink luggage was seeable, she picked it and headed outside to catch a cab to her childhood home. The house resided in the better off part of Seoul, and close enough to her new high school, and her old middle school.

Her parents weren't rich, but they weren't poor either. Her father was a businessman, having two of his own companies back in Seattle. And her mother worked in marketing prior to her diagnosis. So Areum and Seyeon were well off as kids. But Areum cared for nothing of that, she cared for having a family again.

One where the parents actually talked to each other, and not only in dire situations. Her parents had gotten the divorce back when Seyeon and Areum were ten. Each got custody of one child, and Areum's father took her straight to Seattle with him. She had come over to Seoul a few times, mostly during summer. But most of her time was spent in Seattle.

Seyeon never came to Seattle due to his pursuit of being a kpop idol, and Areum supported him unconditionally, as so did his friends. The only two friends of his that Areum had met, Han Seojun and Lee Suho. As a child she used to have a small crush on Seojun, but that was put to a stop after his actions at Seyeons' funeral.

She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts and got into the first cab she saw. She told the driver the directions and they were on their merry way. Areum looked out of the window and admired how busy the town seemed even at four in the morning.

Seeing friends laugh and drink with each other felt like a stab wound in the heart. After everything happened three years ago, she closed herself to her friends at the time, and slowly all of them left her to rot alone. She only had one friend from Seattle so to say, and that was Alice.

They weren't the closest or anything, but at least Alice would keep her company during school when she had been ostracized from everyone else. She was thankful to have had at least one friend from her Seattle high school, which was overfilled with spoiled kids.

Nonetheless, she was here in Seoul. And as the driver came to a stop, she paid him, took her luggage out and stood in front of the house she once used to reside in. It looked so unlived in, so different from how she remembered it. It used to bring her warmth and happiness thinking of this place, but there was none of that comforting feeling here.

You could tell that her mother hadn't been staying home due to the flowers in her garden slowly withering away. The white tulips she remembered were now dirty and dying. There was also visible dust and bugs near the window and door.

A big spider took its place in the corner above the window, and Areum mentally remembered to swat him away later. For now she stepped into the house, which once again had none of that warmth she had grown used to. It was dusty, dark and nothing like how she remembered. "Home sweet home." she mumbled.

Areum locked the main door before fully stepping into the house. Looking at the mess which had been created, she designated tomorrow for cleaning after going to see her mother. Her luggage was dumped into the living room, as she had no energy to carry it upstairs to the guest bedroom where she would be sleeping.

She had no courage to even step inside her once shared bedroom, much less sleep in it. It felt like something she wasn't supposed to do at all, like a disservice to her brother. How could she allow herself to sleep in their room when she had effectively done nothing to stop him from dying.

She opened the window in the guest bedroom for the room to clear out a little bit, while she went down to get her pajamas and wash her face. The pajamas were of course pastel pink as it was her favorite color from when she had been a child.

Stepping into the bathroom, she was met with a dirty mirror, she wiped it quickly just enough so she'd be able to see her reflection more clearly. Her night time routine had been over in s span of minutes, and finally the lack of sleep seemed to have caught up to her.

She quickly climbed up the stairs, went to close the window, but kept it open instead. As she laid down on the old covers, she gazed out the window, which was showing stars. It was about an hour to the sun rising, so she had time before the stars abandoned her. Stargazing had always been something she loved as a child. And so as she stared, she soon enough fell asleep with the moonlight shining on her.

(𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘 ♡ 𝐚𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒)