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Tea
Jisung quietly tiptoed his way downstairs, his habitual early morning snacking waking him up as usual. The kitchen light was on, the artificial bulbs illuminating the distraught picture of Chenle's crying mother. Jisung moved around as silently as he could, not necessarily avoiding the woman, but also trying not to draw attention to himself. The clanking of her spoon against the glass teacup she was using was the only sound in the house as Jisung navigated the kitchen.
"I'm sorry, Jisung, " she whispered through her tears. The boy could just barely make out what she said and he spun around in surprise, nearly giving himself whiplash. "You're right. I'm jealous, so, so jealous." She gazed up at him through her hair, her eyes brimming with tears. Jisung didn't particularly care for the woman, but he understood where she was coming from and sat down at the table to listen to her words.
"I'm worried, Jisung, and for some reason, I think you can help me more than Chenle. It was wrong of me to call you out on your hair, and I apologize for that, but it's just traumatizing for me to see it." Jisung furrowed his brows in confusion.
"I think I," the woman paused to let out a deep sigh, "I think I know your mother, and not in a pleasant way."
"What? How?" Jisung questioned as he moved closer, his curiosity outshining his hate.
"Chenle's kidnapper had a wife. This is a far-fetched theory, and I'm not confirming anything, remember that." Jisung nodded.
"His kidnapper's name was Park something, I honestly tried to block it out of my mind so I don't remember much, but I know the man had a wife and a young son, a young son with a deformity. The deformity was never categorized, no one ever knew what it was, all he said was that the boy would change colors. Everyone assumed that meant his skin would change, maybe a blush or something, so everyone laughed at him, called him crazy." She took a sip of her steaming cup of tea. "He didn't want to be crazy, so, in his words, not mine, he got a new son. He took our child because he wanted a son without a deformity. He wanted to be normal, with a normal family. He didn't take my daughter because he didn't want to be suspicious. No one had ever met his son, but they knew it was a boy, so if he showed up with a girl all of a sudden, it wouldn't make sense. So for years, he told everyone that his son's deformity was healed. Jisung," the woman gave him a gentle smile and placed a comforting hand over his own, something his mother had never done for him, "the man started to assault Chenle after his wife left him with their son, blaming him for losing his family because the wife was so opposed to the kidnapping. She moved here, and she remarried. Her name is Park Miyung."
Jisung shook his head in denial as he heard the name he dreaded hearing.
"No, no way. She's not that awful, is she?" Jisung asked breathlessly, all the seemingly innocent things in his childhood taking on a more malevolent side. The more he tried to reassure himself that his mom wouldn't do that, the more it made sense. The never being allowed in the basement, the never being able to go outside, the random move all those years ago. Jisung stood from his chair on shaky legs but instantly collapsed to the floor, taking the chair with him. He wanted to cry, but all his tears seemed to dry up instantly, along with his throat. He couldn't have managed to cry even if he wanted too with the lump in his throat.
