burnt memories | markhyuck

ten

"how's your day, sweetie?" haechan's mother eyed him pulling out a chair across her as the maid was finished putting the food on their plates.

haechan took a sip of the orange juice, satisfied that his dry throat experienced the cool sensation that he had been missing for the last few hours. looking at his mother, he sighed as his mind recalled all the new information he just discovered earlier at his workplace.

"it went pretty well, how's yours?" haechan tried to avoid the attention given to him.

"the usual. nothing interesting happened. just have a new project with our client from japan," she replied briefly, shoving the food in her mouth afterward.

haechan didn't want to question any further. he wasn't that interested anyway.

"where's dad though?" the seat that was always occupied by his father was empty. it was a rare sight because the three of them always had dinner together.

"he went out to meet with his friends. he'll be back soon," she said.

haechan wasn't close with his father. he never knew his father's circle of friends or even that he actually had one. that middle-aged man was so serious all the time that haechan himself was afraid of him even though he was his biological father.

it had the tanned male questioning too and it sometimes made him wonder, was it always like this even before the whole incident take place?

"why aren't you eating?" his mother's voice brought him back from his trance.

"i... just thought of something but... never mind, it doesn't matter anyway," haechan cleared his throat and picked up his spoon, ready to dig in.

his mother noticed how uneasy her son looked. heaving a heavy sigh, she stopped eating. "you can tell me, haechan. don't pile it up, share it with me," she muttered, voice laced with gentleness.

haechan swallowed the bits of food slowly as he looked at his mother, putting the spoon down. "i've always been curious how close i was with dad, mom. i barely know anything about him except his birthday and his name. i want to remember so badly the good memories we have together... wait, do we even have one, mom?" haechan chuckled bitterly.

she was softened. reaching out, she held haechan's hand that was on the table. "haechanie... you will always be a good son to him and he loves you so much more than you can imagine. it's just... things just got complicated after the accident happened..."

haechan sucked in a deep breath. the accident. the one he couldn't remember until now. the only thing that he recalled was when he woke up from the two-month coma was the white ceiling that greeted him once he opened his eyes. nothing came to his mind no matter how hard or forced himself to evoke the memory, it wouldn't want to appear.

his parents helped him by telling him first his real name. lee haechan. then his birth date and all the important information about him. the cause of the accident was said because of a car crash. haechan was driving back from the mall at night when it was raining cats and dogs. he couldn't see the road really well and he drove into the other lane that led to a collision between the two cars. haechan's car was bumped into really hard that it went for another collision with the road barrier.

fortunately, he survived the severe accident although he lost his memory. when he recovered from the physical injury, he continued his study at the college where his father owned. he was lucky that he was right on time to be back because his batch was still learning the modules of the first semester.

"mom, why can't i remember a thing from the accident and who i was before?" haechan asked sadly.

"son, i think it's better for you to move on already and stop trying to look back what you have in the past. it's for the best and besides, i like this side of you better..." she trailed off.