Worlds Apart - Taekook - Book 2

Triggers

"I just hate seeing him like this! I could kill those people with my bare hands... how anyone could abuse the gift of parenthood... they don't know how lucky they are!"

Marie took a deep, emotional breath as she couldn't quite manage to calm herself down, even with Ara's support. She looked down the passageway to the door, behind which Sukmin sat wrapped in his blanket with Phoenix telling him a story about the fluffy, grey, Persian cat that had become quite the celebrity at Halo.

"I understand and I agree with you. That boy has been treated a way that no one should and I get the feeling that you have a lot more to come." Ara looks down the passageway too, following her friend's line of sight.

"I should have known... I should have not allowed him to sit back down with us... he was anxious before the ceremony started... but..."

"You didn't know... that is the 'but'. How could you have known? I didn't know that people took part in such events? I thought I was quite knowledgeable about the world but I obviously don't know what goes on outside Seoul."

As the ceremony started, Marie could see Sukmin's chest rising and falling quickly. She'd asked if he was okay? Did he want to go outside but he hadn't answered. His face was impassive, she thought he was coping with whatever was going on. Usually, the young lad would be vocal when triggered, he would ask to leave or he would get Billy's attention.

He was just sitting there watching the stage where Kyong and Jara stood in all of their finery, speaking the words of further commitment and love.

Marie thought he was watching but he was lost... preoccupied with a scene from his past playing out before him... frozen in a moment that forced his breaths to quicken and fear to climb up from his gut and take his throat hostage.

Like many others sitting there, Marie dabbed her eyes, soaking up the emotion that spilled over onto her cheeks. The ceremony was near conclusion when she offered Sukmin a tissue, presuming that he too, was overcome with the sweetness of the day...

... and he'd turned to look at her... Marie had only given him a nudge but the look on his face made her skin ashen... it was an expression of extremes... fear, panic, alarm, dread. Sukmin looked as if he was frozen in time, caught in terror, experiencing something no one could comprehend.

Marie came close to freezing when she registered his appearance. She'd witnessed a lesser version a couple of times and the reality that sat behind the reaction was always shocking. She'd asked herself many times if the stories could get any worse?

The strength of the feeling in her gut... said that she was going to find out.

"We don't know any details yet... we can't rely on whatever Google told you." Yejoon says. He was sitting on a small bench that looked like a low shelf where the corridor opened up near a stairwell. He could only presume that it was a seat, so he did what any normal person would do and sat on it.

"I only put in the words that Sukmin said and it came up with that baptism event. Yes, it should be taken as a suggestion but we know his parents were part of a religious group, so is it really that far-fetched?" Ara asks.

Marie puts her hands over her face and shakes her head. "I hope it was far-fetched. The more I hear, the more I want to hunt those people down."

"Billy said a similar thing before he went off to get some bottles of water." As sad as it was that the diner owners were left without children of their own, Yejoon firmly believed that regardless of that, this was their calling, this is why life brought them Ash and Jungkook because their path was always to find Sukmin.

"Where is Billy now?" Ara asks.

"He has gone up to speak to Jungkook and explain what happened."

Marie looks towards the door once again, "That poor boy will get himself worked up over this. He's always worrying that he's ruined something and this is going to be worse for him because of the occasion."