Etude of Memories

Chapter 21

Daegu, Present Day

Tiffany took one last look at her highschool. With each step that she took, she walked on a memory lane.

Taehyung ah, do you remember that we talked to each other for the first time on our school rooftop? Do you remember that place keeps so many memories of you and me?

Tiffany couldn't help but shedding a tear when she remembered every memory she had with Taehyung ten years ago.

She gazed at their school's old building that didn't look old anymore. They had renovated it years ago. Taehyung ah, do you still remember that you gave me a piggyback in our school yard because you wanted to stop me from crying?

Tiffany passed the school garden. She sadly smiled. Do you also remember that you used to sleep on my lap during our breaktime? Do you remember that you even asked me to hold your milk carton and let you sip it through a straw just because your arm was broken? I knew you could use your left hand to hold the milk carton, but I was really happy when you were acting so spoiled like that.

Tiffany felt her chest was twinged by these memories. And when she passed by the street that connected their school with her house, she knew she would see a place where she pecked Taehyung for the first time. And she knew she would also pass the place where Taehyung grabbed her elbow and gave her their first kiss.

And since then, everytime she remembered Daegu, she would only remember Kim Taehyung. Her Kim Taehyung.

Tiffany got into her car and drove away.

She drove her car towards Taehyung's old house in Daegu. And some painful memories immediately played in her mind like a cinema.

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California, 10 Years Ago

It had been a few weeks since Tiffany came to California to live with her sister. Her father had decided that Tiffany would stay in USA and give birth there. Her father didn't say anything about Taehyung even though Tiffany asked her old man over and over again.

Tiffany was really sad and frustrated since she hadn't heard any news from Taehyung. She couldn't contact her boyfriend since her father had confiscated her cellphone and forbade her from using computers or laptops. Tiffany insisted that she had to call Taehyung. She had to know how he was doing. But her father only said that Taehyung must've been fine.

And Tiffany couldn't talk back at her father. She realized she had made that man sad and disappointed. Her father had become so quiet ever since he found out that his youngest daughter was pregnant. And Tiffany just didn't have a heart to make that old man become more worried about her.

But keeping her longing for Taehyung had caused a huge stress for Tiffany. She had to talk to Taehyung. She had to hear his voice even if it was only for a few seconds. She wanted to tell Taehyung about the baby in her womb. She wanted Taehyung know that sometimes, she felt the baby kick her womb. Although she knew she only imagined it since her fetus was only three months old.

Tiffany's older sister knew what had been troubling her. She loved Tiffany and it was really hard to see that teenage girl sad especially when she was expecting like this.

"Fany, ah. You want to call Taehyung, right?" One night, Michelle came to her room.

Tiffany quickly got up. She nodded.

Michelle smiled. "Do you memorize Taehyung's phone number?"

Tiffany nodded one more time. Her own number and Taehyung's phone numbers were the only numbers that Tiffany memorized really well.