Grown Man

Closure

Third Person's POV

Pissed. Livid. Furious. Enraged

Those were the kind of adjectives that could be used to describe him at that moment. He wasn't one for violence but at the particular point in time, he wanted nothing more than to throw hands at the woman standing before them. The same woman who had the audacity to leave a ten year old at the bus stop where anything could've happened to him.

He also had very descriptive choice words for her too; many colorful insults popping into his mind at the speed of light. He was seething, that much was clear to see. Understandably so, too, but what confused him was that the one person who should be pissed off the most...wasn't.

Jungkook looked fine.

He looked so calm and collected.

After his initial shock at recognizing the woman before then had worn off, Jungkook's demeanor became one of serenity. Like, his biological mother wasn't standing before him for the very first time in ten years.

Jin didn't understand how Jungkook was keeping it together so well while he himself so clearly wanted to slap her across the face. Sure, everyone has their reasons for doing things, but what could've been so important that she left a ten year old at a bus stop in the middle of the city where danger looms at every corner.

Jungkook noticed how worked up Jin was so he proceeded to placing a soothing hand on the older's back and rubbing small, calming circles there to ease Jin up a bit, which thankfully worked.

Jin visibly relaxed under Jungkook's touch though his hatred for Jungkook's birth mother was still very visible in his eyes.

It took her a moment for it to sink in, what Jungkook had called her.

Eomma? She thought,

That could only mean...

"...Jungkook" she spoke, voice barely above a whisper as shock overtook her entire being. She never thought she'd see him again. She wasn't even sure she'd wanted to. How could she after everything that she did?

"So it is you? I was right." Jungkook stated evenly, staring straight into her eyes. He looked collected, like he wasn't even phased by any of this, but on closer inspection, Jin could now tell that Jungkook was on the verge of breaking down.

He wasn't able to see it before because he was too focused on restraining himself from lunging at the woman in front of him, but now that he'd calmed down a bit, he could clearly see through Jungkook's façade.

Jin could see the same ten year old boy he'd met at that bus stop, the same little boy who had nightmares for years at the thought of being abandoned again. That very fear in those little boy's eyes were prominent in Jungkook's eyes at that moment in the grocery store, an entire decade later. He could see the wheels churning in Jungkook's head, forming countless unasked questions that he knew Jungkook would never voice out loud. He could see the hatred, the sadness, the hurt in Jungkook's eyes. All of which were not visible to anyone who hadn't known Jungkook the way Jin knows Jungkook. So to everyone else, Jungkook looked calm. Collected. Undisturbed.

"You're crying. Why?" There wasn't a trace of any kind of emotion in Jungkook's voice.

But Jin saw through it, he saw Jungkook's lips tremble a little at the side as his eyes raked down his mother's body as if her current physical state would answer every question Jungkook wanted to ask.

Questions like why'd you leave me? Did you ever love me? Did I ever mean anything to you? and most of all, did you regret what you did? Did my absence haunt you? Did you ever search for me?

She reached out her hand shakily, tentatively, like she was arguing with herself whether or not to carry out the action she was in the process of executing. Her hand caressed his face as another tear slipped from her eye and Jin had the urge to slap the hand away, but didn't because he knew if Jungkook wanted it gone, he'd have smacked it away himself.

"I'm sorry...I-" she paused, her eyes searching Jungkook's. She sniffled. "Jungkook... I made a mistake..." she started again, but trailed off when the right words to finish that sentence weren't coming to her.

"Excuse me," a stranger said as he tried pushing his cart past them and that's when they realized that they were still at the grocery store, which now seemed like a very inappropriate place to have a family reunion.

When the stranger had passed, a certain awkwardness had now settled upon the three of them and for a moment, no one said anything as they let the awkwardness settle.

Jungkook soon reached up to remove his mother's hand from the side of his face.

"I don't need your apology, you're ten years too late. Babe, let's check out and leave." Jungkook turned around and walked away, not waiting for Jin. He stopped halfway to the self-checkout to turn to Jin and the older noticed the slight shaking of the younger's hands.

"Actually, I'll be in the car. Could you check out for us?" Jungkook asked, "please?" He added, when all he was met with was Jin's eyes analyzing his features to see how he was holding up.

Jin could tell that Jungkook was at his breaking point so he simply nodded. He didn't miss the poorly disguised sigh of relief that the younger let out before turning away and heading for the exit.

He then turned to the woman, who'd now started silently sobbing. As much as he hated her and wanted her as far away from the love of his life as possible, he knew that Jungkook needed this. He needed the closure. She owed it to him.

"You better follow him if you want to talk things out." He advised, before taking his cart and heading to the self-checkout. From his peripheral view, he saw her heading the same way Jungkook had left and he sighed deeply.

He too had been abandoned. His parents didn't want him, which was why he'd ended up in an orphanage until Namjoon's family decided to adopt him. When he was much younger, he used to wish that his parents would show up at the orphanage and take him back but he'd long ago made peace with the fact that he'd been unwanted by the very people who brought him into this world and he wanted absolutely nothing to do with them now, but if given the opportunity, he'd still want to face his biological parents and ask them why.

Why they didn't want him, why he wasn't good enough to be kept, why they abandoned him.

So, he sighed a bitter-sweet sigh, sad that this wasn't going to be pleasant for Jungkook but happy that at least, Jungkook had the opportunity to receive closure.