BTS SMERALDO THE NOTES 1 (Edited & Translated)

Taehyung: 24 July Year 22

After Returning from the Sea
Part 17.1

I darted up the stairs, taking three or four at a time. Liquor bottles, cups and plates were strewn across the floor. Dad was on the floor in the corner, his head bowed.

"Whatever you're thinking, nothing happened." That's what my sister told me.

"Dad's voice was a little loud, and someone must've called the police, thinking he was beating us," she explained further.

Then the police officers came. Women from the neighbourhood who were gathered in front of our door walked away clicking their tongues. My sister never stopped bowing and apologizing to the officers.

"Nothing was broken and no one was hurt."

I didn't need to be ashamed of this situation. Dad's drinking habit had long been the gossip of the neighbourhood. I just turned the other cheek.

Dad seemed to be asleep now, with his mouth open slightly. His face was sunburnt and he'd grown a beard. He worked long hours at the construction site. It was hard labour. His hair had greyed since the last time I saw him.

I used to dream of killing my father. I almost stabbed him in real life once. Maybe that's when it started. I began to sympathize with him. I hated myself for that. Could he really be called a parent? He wasn't qualified to be one at all.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder and snapped me back into reality. I turned around and was met with the sight of a familiar face. He was a police officer that had been dispatched to my house a few times before. When I got caught for my graffiti, I saw him at the station a few times too.

I didn't say anything to him. Instead I just bowed my head as a way to say: "I'm sorry for making you come here for nothing." I didn't know how to look at him either.

"Your neighbours must be worried about you two a lot. The lady who phoned us kept telling us to come quickly before someone got hurt. She didn't sound annoyed at all. Make sure to find her later to thank her," the officer told me.

"Was her voice low? Maybe husky?" I asked.

"I don't recall her tone, but it could've been."

My sister turned to look at me.

"Do you keep n touch with mom?" I asked her once everyone had left.

She was busy cleaning up the apartment as I sat against the wall. Dad was still asleep in the corner. It was already evening and the window above dad's head let the dark sky in.

My sister picked herself up and sat at the table. She didn't say a word. Her silence answered my question.

"Do you have her phone number and address?"

"No," she answered, "but I know she live in Buk-gu, Munhyeon in a rented apartment. But...Taehyung, why do you want to contact her?"

"To ask her," I replied. "To ask her what she was thinking, leaving like that. Why she decided to appear again all of a sudden."

My sister came to sit next to me.

"Taehyung, mom misses you."