Deal With The Pain | Namgi

Chapter 8

I bite my lower lip roughly as I attempt to hold back tears. I remove my gaze from my father, trying to take a few deep breaths to calm myself back down.

It hurts. It hurst hearing all of it, being forced to remember all of it. It hurts hearing him bring up Mom. Hurts hearing him calmly talk about her passing as he apologizes. It's hard talking about any of it, wishing I could just forget all of it.

I know it's necessary though. It was necessary to all three of us for him to apologize to the two of us. It was necessary to explain where things fell apart and went to shit.

Taking a deep shaky breath, I bite my lip even harder as I look back over to my father. I can see the tears that have already fallen on his face, my brother on the verge of crying just as I am.

"It's okay, Dad. What's important is that you know what you did was wrong. What matters is that you came back to us. I missed you, Daddy." I whisper out, tears finally falling as I speak. I can't help but smile as he breaks out into a grin, wrapping one arm around Geumjae and reaching the other one out to offer for me to come over.

I smile at the offering, instantly getting up from my spot on the chair to go over to them. I immediately get pulled down onto his lap as he brings the three of us into a tight hug, all three of us crying a bit in the process. Neither of us say anything though, just staying wrapped up in each other's embrace for the first time in so many fucking years.

It takes us all a good few minutes before we stop the crying, but I don't move to get up yet. I'm smaller than the two of them anyways, so I just stay sat on my father's lap just like I would when I was little, curling into him a bit.

"You know, I've missed out on quite a lot, Yoongi. I'd love to hear about all the different things you've been up to these days." Dad says gently, rubbing my upper arm gently. I smile a bit at this, glancing over to my brother who's sat right beside us. He just smiles though, rubbing one of my legs that I have tossed over his.

"Well, I guess to start, the pastry shop downstairs is mine. Hyung helped me buy it when I moved in here my first year. It's been... What? Five? Six years now?" I begin, glancing over to my brother curiously.

"Six years, Yoongi. And to think you should know that considering you've had it since you started at the university." He chimes in, smiling as he shakes his head at me. I giggle lightly at this, shrugging innocently.

"Whatever. I've had the shop for six years now. I've got some of my friends that work with me to help me run the shop. They're all downstairs now actually. I also give piano lessons. I started doing that my second year here. I wanted to do something more than just be here when I'm not in classes." I continue with a small smile, enjoying getting to talk to Dad about all of this.

"And what're you majoring in?" He asks curiously, brushing his fingers through my hair gently. I hum softly at the feeling, shifting slightly.

"I'm a medical major. Depending on how serious of a degree you want, what kind of position within a hospital you would want, the years of schooling varies. I finished my undergrad a couple years ago now, but I have two more years to get the next level. I'm looking to get higher up though, so I still have two more years after this one before I'm finally finished with my degree. At that point, if I wanted to, I could take any position in a hospital that I wanted. I'm not going to though. I just want the degree." I explain quietly, my heart falling a bit again.

"You're doing that for Mom aren't you?" He asks softly, sounding to already know the answer. I bite my lip, nodding my head.

"The degree for Mom and the bakery for both Mom and Yeji." I mumble quietly, closing my eyes as I try to calm myself back down.

"Oh, Yoongi. You don't have to do anything for them. You know your mom would be so proud of you for anything and everything you do, for her or Yeji or not." Dad says gently, kissing the top of my head. I take another deep shaky breath, tears falling all over again.

"I promised Yeji we would run a bakery that had all of the best pastries and desserts in all of South Korea." I murmur through a pout, trying not to break down all over again at the topic of my baby sister.

"Yoongi, you gave up music for them both." Dad argues with a small frown. I shrug a bit, a small smile forming on my lips once more.

"The two of them will always mean more to me than music. Besides, I love what I'm doing now. I love what I have now."