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ㅡSEVEN YEARS EARLIER. "beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development. inevitably excites the human soul to tears."
the boy sits at the table, silent.
he is resting at the far end of the oak dining room table, a pastel blue party hat still resting atop the black hair his mother had so carefully combed back that morning. three soda cans sat at the middle of the table, on a pink placemat. the cake was chocolate, with purple frosting in swirls on top of it.
there was one slice taken out of it.
the balloons were stored at the corner of the room, varying from green to blue to purple to pink, merely for the amusement of the party guests. the paper plates decorated with yellow polka dots were still in a stack at the center of the table, along with a bounty of red solo cups.
yoongi began to cry. his mother becomes frantic, pacing around the room with her arms held high. she has mascara running down her cheeks and a flustered expression on her face. yoongi's eyes are looking down, focused on anything but his mom trying to make the situation better. as a matter of fact, she only made it worse.
he didn't need her pity.
he bites his lip to keep from screeching and clenches his fists. he slowly breathes in and out, in and out, in and out. he leans his head back against the top of the chair and looks up at the ceiling. his mother still has the banner hanging from the front door to the foyer.
it says 'happy tenth birthday yoongi' in big, fat purple letters written in cursive across the blue fabric. it pains yoongi just to look at it.
happy birthday, indeed.
when his mother finally comes to term with the fact that there's really nothing she can do, she results back to the only thing her mind can thing of doing; comforting him.
she pulls out the chair next to her son and hears a small sniffle come from his direction, sending a pain to her heart. it really destroyed her, seeing her son like this. glancing up at him, it only makes her heart break even more.
his hair she had combed back that morning was still tucked carefully behind his pointy ears. his party hat almost seemed sad, now, resting on the corner of his head. his brown eyes had a gleam of sadness in them only she could see. he usually hid his emotions so well, but at this time, he broke. there were still traces of pink frosting and crumpled chocolate at the corner of his lips.
the sun had just began to set to the west, leaving the sky a mix of reds, blues, and purples, visible from the window pressed against the far wall of the room. the party was supposed to start at 2:00 that afternoon.
they had been waiting for many hours and only then did the boy realize that no one was coming.
just as his hopes had dropped, a ring at the doorbell sent a squeal out of the boy's mouth.
"oh my god, mom! someone's here!" the woman's lips curved upwards into a warm smile as she saw her son's face light up with joy. she walked towards the door and placed her hand on the knob.
"maybe it's hoseok! or jungkookie! or tae tae!" the boy's head was racing with who it could be at the door. he had invited his whole class, after all. someone was bound to show up eventually, right?
"ah, it's okay that they're late! there's still cake left!" the woman peeked out the door and her heart sank. all she saw was a brown package set on the front steps.
"yoongi..." she begins, a quivering tone to her voice. "it was just the mail."
the boys face dropped and tears once again well up in his hopeful eyes. "oh, oh... okay. it's uh, it's fine, i guess."
unable to hold his emotions anymore, the boy collapses to the floor in a fit of furious sobs. the woman can feel a tear slide down her cheek, too. she slowly makes her way across the room and crouches down so her face is level with her son's.
"yoongi, hey." she says, planting a soft kiss on his forehead and placing one of her hands on his right shoulder. "don't worry about it. third time's a charm, right? i'm sure someone will show up next year."
the boy nods, looking up to meet a certain gleam in his mother's eyes. a gleam that said she knew just as well as he did that it wasn't true.
