Mommy Mine

To Be A Man

Ever changing, never ending.

That's how Taehyung felt about the flickering candles placed around his mother's erected shrine. They were always burning and never once in his entire life has he ever seen them go out. Of course, that's only because he was never there late at night when the maids blew them out and early in the morning to light them again. To him they were eternal, but he knew it was all just an illusion. Everything was all just an illusion. The picture of his lovely deceased mother was framed and resting on the alter, her expression hadn't changed from that smiling face he hadn't seen in years. The wreath of yellow flowers adorning the picture frame emitted a pleasant scent, filling Taehyung's lungs with the familiar perfume of his mother, at least as far as he could remember. White candles surrounded the picture frame, along with ten pink ones in the front, representing each year Mrs. Kim had been dead.

He thought about his mother often, about the memories they had shared, and the ones they would've been able to make had she survived the accident. Especially today, on his 18th birthday, he felt especially alone in this big world. Of course he had his father, but ever since his wife's death he never let his son out of the house ever, for fear of losing his child the same way as his wife.

Namjoon stood in the open doorway of the small mausoleum built in the backyard of the magnificent Kim manor. He watched as his younger cousin, Taehyung, sulked before his mother's honorary grave on his birthday. He, of course, was accustomed to this, Taehyung was home-schooled all his life by an aging nanny, he had no friends, and he had never really been outside of his house, let alone the watchful gaze of his silent body guards. Namjoon normally never really came to visit him with the exception of holidays and special occasions. Even before his aunt died Taehyung had always been one of those 'rule-following momma's boys', which resulted in his Hyung finding him a buzz kill, and honestly, he still did. He was only here because his father, Taehyung's uncle, had insisted on it.

Namjoon cleared his throat gaining the attention of the grieving boy.

"Oh hello Hyung." Taehyung greeted, as he stood up from the woven mat he had been kneeling on.

Namjoon nodded, "Happy Birthday, Taehyung. Wow, you're eighteen I can't believe it."

Taehyung revealed a small boxy smile. Namjoon noted that the older Taehyung got, the more he looked like his mother. He shook the image from his mind and continued with his rehearsed lines.

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to head out tonight, y'know to celebrate your birthday."

Taehyung shrugged and dusted off his knees, "I don't know hyung, would father allow that?"

Namjoon sighed and lulled his head back, "Probably not, but hey, you haven't lived until you've snuck out at least once or twice in your teen years." He sent a wink to a still unconvinced Taehyung.

"Thank you so much hyung, but I've never really been out of the house, and I've got plenty to do around the house to keep me busy."

Namjoon scoffed, "Like what?"

Taehyung held his fingers up as he counted, "Well I can help the maids with the cooking and cleaning. And I have a few buttons that I need to sew back and.."

Namjoon blinked as he half listened to his cousin drone on and on. He didn't hate Taehyung. But he damn sure made it really hard for Namjoon to like him.

"Listen, Tae," Namjoon interrupted, "As fun, as all that sounds...you are no longer a little boy. You're a man now, which means you need to start doing man things."

Taehyung cocked his head, "Like what hyung?"

Namjoon thought for a minute, and Taehyung could've swore he saw the exact moment when his cousin's face turned devilish when the idea came.