Way Back Home

MAMA

Failure
is the mother of
success

Chaerin peeled her eyelid back and yawned lazily. The sun was already up and shining outside her window. Throwing back the covers, Chaerin went through her usual morning routine, which included breakfast with her grandmother, and then she was off.

She skipped down the front steps of her house one at a time.

Hop.
Hop.
Hop.

The steps ran out and Chaerin took thirty two strides (she counted) to the right of her house and up the walkway to Yoongi's front door. Her little fist rapped quickly against the stained wood and she waited impatiently, bouncing on her toes, until Grandma Min appeared and opened the door for her.

Chaerin smiled widely, "Good morning, Grandma Min!"

"Morning Chaerin," the older woman stepped aside and allowed the girl to wander inside, just like she did every day. They had both grown used to this comfortable routine. "Yoongi is upstairs."

"Okay!" Chaerin climbed up the familiar steps and turned left at the top before stopping in front of a plain white door.

She knocked. It was more of a courtesy than anything else. Yoongi didn't really care if she knocked before coming in, he told her that. But it was polite to knock so she always did. The door swung open easily, letting out a familiar little squeak.

One year.

It had been a whole year and a few months since Yoongi had moved in with his grandmother. Chaerin came over to his house every day. He didn't seem to mind her being around—and if he did, he didn't show it—so Chaerin took the opportunity to make a friend.

She liked having a friend.

"Hi Yoongi," Chaerin let herself into his room and plopped down in his desk chair. He was laying on his bed, staring up at the plain white ceiling like usual. He nodded towards her in acknowledgement but didn't say anything.

They didn't talk much, they never did when she came over. Mostly they just sat around quietly, watching TV or reading or playing some board game that Grandma Min would give them. Yoongi seemed to like the quiet and Chaerin didn't mind it, so they didn't talk much.

Chaerin made herself at home, plucking up a pen and blank paper from his desk and scribbling random lines across the unblemished surface.

Yoongi's eyes wandered over to the girl sitting at his desk. He didn't know why she kept coming over when he didn't even speak complete sentences to her. His eyebrows crinkled. Chaerin was strange. She seemed to be completely comfortable with just sitting silently in his room for hours before going back home. She was strange. But he didn't mind.

"Chaerin?"

She jumped at the sound of his voice, the pen twitched between her fingers and was accidentally launched across the room. Her chubby cheeks flushed a light shade of pink.

"Yeah?" Chaerin's voice came out a bit unsteady. In all the time that they had been friends Yoongi had never been the one to start a conversation. This was a new hurdle for the both of them.

His earthy eyes locked on hers, "Why do you keep coming here?"

She froze when the question left his lips. Did he not want her to come over? Did he not like her? She had tried so hard to not be too loud or too annoying. What had she done wrong?