Regret Me Not | 김석진

Twenty Eight

Would you stay with me if I had made a different choice?

June 18th, 2017

Soojung squatted down and drew circles in the sand-like rocks while Taehyung sat on a few stacked crates. He gazed lazily at the sky dotted with clouds, not bothering to shield his eyes from the blaring summer sun.

As he looked up, Namjoon's face floated through his mind's eye. What are you doing, he asked. Then Taehyung remembered when he and Namjoon spray painted pictures on the wall of the pool.

He smiled. He missed his best friend.

She noticed his grin and looked at him expectantly. He turned his expression to her. "Did I ever tell you about Jin and Victoria?"

"Only about a million times," she teased. "They hated each other and then they liked each other but his friend fell in love with her and yada yada..."

Taehyung met Soojung a few months back while they were both inside a liquor store much like the one in Namjoon's gas station. She was stealing, and he would have turned a blind eye, but then he remembered Victoria. He remembered how she wanted so much for him to find the right path and make good decisions. So with her in mind, he grabbed Soojung's wrist even though she was a stranger, and dragged her to the counter. He paid for what she stuffed in her bag while she stomped out. When he exited the store, she was there.

She looked him up and down before snatching her bag back and storming off. It didn't take him long to realize that she lived on the streets too, because they started seeing each other more frequently. She eventually started following him around, and he let her.

"Are these real people?" she asked while Taehyung continued to study her face. "Yoongi and Jungkook...Jin and Victoria...Hoseok and Jimin. I feel like you have a million stories. There's no way they can all be real."

He sighed deeply. "No. They're not real."

She sensed the tension in his voice, but didn't push it.

"We should go tagging," he said suddenly.

Soojung groaned. "Tagging's for losers."

"Exactly."

-

Although he rarely went tagging anymore, Taehyung still carried spray paint around with him all the time. The sun was beginning to set when they went searching for a spot.

They strolled along in silence, as he was half looking for an empty wall and half stuck in his memories.

Soojung stopped as they passed a bus stop. "How about here?"

He paused to look where she was pointing. It seemed clean enough. "Let's do it."

Taehyung pulled out two cans of spray paint and handed the pink one to her. She raised an eyebrow.

"I hate pink."

He smirked. "I know."

All he got for that was a playful hit to the shoulder. They began to write obscene things on the translucent plastic, giggles escaping them even though they were far from teenagers.

He liked being with Soojung. When he'd lost his friends, she was the only interest thing happening in his life.

He found himself just staring at her fondly while she laughed about the picture she was spraying onto the surface. She turned to look at him, a blush creeping up her neck. "What?"

Before he could do or say anything, the sound of sirens made him grab her hand instinctively and run the other way. He couldn't be arrested again. They would throw him in prison this time for sure.

He sprinted, pulling her with him. A narrow gap between two buildings beckoned him and he quickly pushed her in before getting in himself.

"How did you know they were after us?"

"Because," he started, out of breath. "I've been here before."

She was about to ask him what he meant, but someone else spoke first. "This is the Seoul Police," an officer shouted through a megaphone. "Step out with your hands where we can see them."

"Stay here." He knew his fate, and had no choice but to accept it. Sojung tried to stop him, but he shook her off so the police wouldn't see her.

Taehyung stepped out from the gap and raised his hands in the air. The police wasted no time arresting him, and he found himself this time in an interrogation room. His fingers toyed with the numbs on the side of the table.

"Name?" the detective sitting across from him asked.

He swallowed hard. "Kim Taehyung."

The detective gave him a hard stare. "You ever killed anyone, Kim Taehyung?"

Taehyung perked up immediately. That was two years ago—he thought the case would be closed by now. "No—no, sir," he stuttered.

"You might want to get a lawyer before you start answering my questions," the detective saids with a smirk. "We know you killed Kim Doseok."

Hearing his father's name made his skin crawl. The detective slid a bag labeled 'evidence' across the table to him as well as a few photos. The bag held a few pieces of hair, and the photos showed Taehyung covered in blood leaving his apartment complex that was captured on CCTV.

Taehyung wasn't good at lying, and they had him cornered. He felt tears prick at his eyes before he suddenly got an idea.

"Can I make a phone call?"