Worlds Apart - Taekook - Book 2

Chapter 298 - The Unknown.

The deck was beautiful. Between the few rows of seats, a dark blue runner littered with stars signalled the path that Jara and Kyong would take. There were flower arrangements with silver stars amongst them and small LED lights on sticks forming floral displays that no one had seen before. The area was under cover, protected from the chilly valentine breeze. The people that were hired to transform the yacht space into whatever event was happening had done a great job, as they always had done. The company were hired by Taehyung at new year when he had TATA and now that he had Euphoria and Jungkook, he needed the reliable company more than he ever had.

Each couple sat in their pair, the majority with hands clasped between them, with the exception of Billy and Marie who had Sukmin between them. He was quiet, which caused Marie to worry until Sukmin told her that he was saving his words for Emi after the ceremony. Billy thought it was funny and logical, sitting with Sukmin on one side and Ash due to sit on the other, he was reminded of how much his life had changed since his own wedding day, decades ago... when he was full of hope of having a family of their own, only to live through the despair that followed... to now... three young men that had inadvertently found him and chosen him as their father figure.

Marie was always moved at weddings, she was that person that welled up but she'd never felt as emotional as she had done at Jungkook's wedding. That's where her mind went now as she sat waiting for proceedings to start, because that was the day she felt like a real parent. Marie felt 'more' of a wife as she took on the role of mother. It didn't make much sense to her but what did she know? Her relationship with Billy was stronger now than ever before. They'd always been strong, unbreakable, but this was different now. There was a sense that the young man sitting between the diner owners would always need them, long into adulthood, he wasn't like Jungkook and Ash. They wanted to help him feel independent, whilst getting the balance right so he knew they would always be there for him. They had plans for the new house, it had possibilities for the future, such as a basement that could comfortably be a self contained living space but could also be anything they needed it to be. Marie often wondered how he survived on the streets alone, but the more they learnt of his past, the more they realised that he was probably safer alone because the people around him before that weren't good people.

When Jungkook told them about Sukmin, none of them could have foreseen the young man they had accepted today. He'd practically lived as someone else for the majority of his young life... masking, hiding, building a fort around himself as a way to survive, not only did he not know who he really was but he had little understanding of what was going on around him. Marie felt secure with the knowledge that should Sukmin's biological parents surface, they wouldn't want the boy he was and she could never allow them access to him, hoping that he wouldn't want it.

"Billy?" Sukmin turned towards the man whose facial hair had been cut a little shorter than usual. It made Billy look more refined, according to Marie. Ki-Joon had asked Billy why his beard was shaped like it was and questioned where the rest of the beard had gone? Billy had clutched his face, feeling his chin, then with a shocked expression he'd told the small boy that it must've fallen off because he didn't eat his kimchi. Ki-Joon felt his own small, smooth chin and announced he wouldn't ever have a beard because he didn't like kimchi, "it is too spicy!" he'd stated.

"Hmmm?"

"How many words should I save for Emi?" He whispers.

Billy gives it some thought, something he's had to get used to. He's also had to become more tech savvy, upgrading his phone to a device that enables him to Google on the sly. "Do you think that you will count the words when you're talking to Emi?"

It's Sukmin's turn to think, he ponders briefly, thinking about how long he should be silent for so that he can talk more later on (something that seemed so logical to him). He is looking forward to talking to Emi, he isn't sure whether he's ever spoken to an actual Japanese person before. He didn't know that Japan existed until he went to school. The best thing about school was all of the interesting subjects he learnt about, sometimes the lessons were really difficult and people laughed at him when he needed help so he stopped asking. At home he didn't get any sympathy or support and then his parents blamed school for 'filling his mind with demonic thoughts'. School was Sukmin's only escape and then he was being kept at home more frequently, with school cited as the cause of his illness.