☾
taehyung took me inside the house, and it looked nothing short of haunted.
cobwebs collecting in each corner, broken floor boards, the stale scent of alcohol, and the undeniable presence of-
"taehyung, is that," i couldn't finish my sentence because the word got stuck in my throat.
we passed by a wall that was splattered with a rusty copper color, and his response immediately made the house even more scary than it already was.
"yes yoona, that's blood."
"he got violent when drunk, especially upon me and my mom."
taehyung continued touring me to every spot in the dark house, the most horrifying ones being the bedroom and kitchen. there was old blood everywhere, decorated with broken beer bottles. he spoke of all the terrifying things mister byun had ever done.
"taehyung, why is your last name different from mister byun's if he's your father?" i hesitantly asked, hoping to change the topic, since it had made me nauseous.
"i took after the last name of a nice doctor that visited the village when i was younger. he would treat me as an equal patient, despite being poor. he actually gave me his old house, to stay away from mister byun." taehyung said with a small smile.
"it was as if nature itself loved him. flowers bloomed in his wake and the sun always was a little brighter when he smiled. although he stopped visiting, he used to fix up my bruises from...mister byun."
"what was his name?" i asked, my curiosity getting the best of me.
"kim seokjin." he said, the name rolling off his tongue like sweet honey.
the floorboards then creaked as a rat scurried by, and my head darted at the sound of a crow flying out a hole in the old ceiling.
"but other than that," taehyung reverted back to his earlier mood prior to talking about seokjin. i could tell that mister byun was now on his mind.
"that man is absolutely insane, and i have no idea why he's back, or why he's being so kind to you, but please don't fall for his acts." taehyung said as he led me to the exit.
although this was all a lot to take in, i believed taehyung. because he was my first friend, and the first person to treat me kindly. and he always had my back before, so why would he ever lie?
but despite that, there was a small piece of me that wanted this all to be a lie, that wanted that kind mister byun to actually be a good person.
as taehyung opened the door,
both of our hearts dropped.
smiling maniacally as his eyes met taehyung's,
was mister byun.
