ㅡ TALLY MARKS.

tally marks || o n e

tally marks || chapter one

hoseok sprinted towards his work place, he was a bit late due to his alarm not going off and he barely had time to grab some coffee, uh-oh

"hobi hyung, good morning" jungkook calls from the receptionist's desk and hoseok waves at him quickly, hanging his coat and dashing towards nurses' room

he opens the door and sees a cup of coffee and two doughnuts on the plate, he is surprised, as he walks up to coffee that smells so warm he sees a note

i figured you'd be late today since your phone was glitching yesterday, so i prepared this for you hyung

— jungkook

hoseok smiled softly and thanked the gods above for creating jungkook, he drank his coffee quickly and put on his white coat, he put a face mask and walked towards the room

he opened the door and somewhere twenty elderly people turned around to greet him, hoseok smiled softly and greet all of them

"good morning mrs. yeona"

"ah, good day, ms. park"

"good morning, good morning"

hoseok was a nurse at nursing home care, he loved taking care of old people, they're the only ones who are very patient and praise you any way they get

all these elderly people here were abandoned by their children, hoseok could never imagine how you could just leave your parents in someone else's care and just take off

if only he had his parents back... hoseok shook his head from ridiculous thoughts and started watching after old people. they didn't require much really, they just needed a little bit of love

since hoseok started working here he noticed that almost all people here had tally marks on their arms, scarred and black ones, and some didn't have any, hoseok grew interested but never actually dared to ask anything about it

what if it's something very personal?

besides hoseok had no right butting into other's businesses

"hoseok-ah, you want to ask about them?" ms. park smiled gently and hoseok flinched, did she notice him staring? oh god...

"it's okay, we can tell" ms. baro giggled cutely. she was the youngest one here, well she was somewhere 65 but still

"you see, hoseokie, the world is made this way-" mrs. ah roo was about to go on but jungkook walked in and interrupted them

"oh s-sorry" he said and blushed when he saw everyone looking at him

mrs. cho laughed quietly "it's okay jungkookie, come here, you listen too, this youth isn't taught these things"

"it's a weird thing, boys" mrs. ah roo said and frowned "they don't teach you these things anymore and then when you grow up and get one you start to freak out"

"get what?" hoseok asked confused and then wanted to facepalm himself when he realized

"tally marks" jungkook whispered

"in this world when you fall in love with someone you get a red tally mark on your wrist" mrs. nam said and rolled her sleeve up a bit, two young boys stared black tally mark on her skin

"if the love is requited the mark turns black" mrs. lee added and raised her arm, she had one black mark on her wrist and one scarred mark on the other one

"if someone you love dies tally mark scars" mrs. lee sadly pointed towards her arm

"sounds really scary" jungkook shivered visibly

"you're afraid to fall in love, aren't you, jungkook?" mrs. hani spoke up suddenly

"h-how d-d-do you-" jungkook fidgeted uncomfortably and mrs. hani laughed quietly

"we can see everything, dear, it's okay to love jungkook"

"what about you 'seokie?" mrs. ah roo asked and hoseok thought about it for a second "i don't think something like love is really mine, i haven't had feelings for anyone, ever"

mrs. lee looked at him for a moment "so that means..." suddenly everyone's face paled and hoseok sprung up, startled that people looked like they'd pass out any moment

"i'm sorry, hoseok" mrs. hani said and hoseok looked at her weirdly

"d-did your mom have any blue tally marks on her?" ms. park asked shakily and hoseok nodded slowly

"when the tally mark t-turns blue... it means- oh god, it means that the person was... raped by someone they love" hoseok gasped, his breath hitching

"u-usually the product of rape doesn't know how to love because their parents leave almost always" mrs. baro said and patted hoseok's shoulder

"i-i was left when i was three years old, maybe mom couldn't take it anymore..." hoseok sat down, devastated, mom, i'm sorry

"it's okay hyung, we're here for you" jungkook chipped in and hugged his hyung

old ladies gathered around hoseok and started comforting him, hobi felt a little better but still...

he has never seen his mom, he can vaguely make out the erased parts of a woman standing over his bed. she's deleted, and her hair won't stay in focus, she blurs every time hoseok tried to remember her

mommy, i never knew you, i'm sorry, sorry this happened to you

▬▬

first chapter is up now, let me know what you think of it

good ; bad?

should i continue?