Up In The Clouds || Jungkook and IU

Stop Crying Over The Dead

Some things are too strange and too strong to be coincidences

Tae Oh stared at his father's picture that was now placed behind the glass doors. The place was full of pictures of the dead. They were all someone's mother, someone's father, someone's sister or someone's brother. Everyone, there was dressed in black and seemed to have someone with them as they paid their respects to the dead. It was a memorial house after all. The only thing that separated Tae Oh from the rest of the people there was that he came alone, he was 8 years old and his mother was missing. Tears dropped from his eyes as he stared at his fathers smiling face through the glass.

"Appa, why did you leave me? How could you leave me here?" he cried and yelled at the photo that sat behind the glass.

"Where's omma? Do you both not love me anymore?"

At this point, the few people there had turned their attention to him. They all felt pity for the child. The poor abandoned child that was crying his heart out yet no one comforted him. Instead, most of them left the room as they were uncomfortable with all the crying.

Tae Oh sat down and cried into his tiny hands.

"Come back, please. I promise I'll be good. Please come back" Tae Oh stuttered through his tears.

He then felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Stop crying now. Here, take this candy. You like lollipops right? Almost everyone your age does." a voice said

Tae Oh looked up and through his blurry vision, as his eyes were still filled with tears, he could see a girl with a ponytail handing him a lollipop while smiling.

"I don't want it," Tae Oh yelled and smacked her hand away. He expected her to leave him alone after his rude outburst

"Is this your appa? My appa is right next to yours. He passed away when I was 9," The girl looked at Tae Oh and sat beside him.

"My name is Ji Eun, Lee Ji Eun. What's yours?"

"Tae Oh,Kim Tae Oh,"

"You don't like candy?" Ji Eun noona asked him

" I like them," Tae Oh said looking at his feet because he felt shy and sorry that he smacked it out of her hand when she was just trying to comfort him

"Here," Ji Eun noona took off the wrapper and handed it to Tae Oh and this time he placed it in his mouth. Sweetness is what he felt and it somehow conquered the bitterness that was in his heart.

"Tae Oh, the ones that love us never really leave us. They are with us right here," Ji Eun noona said while placing her hand on the left side of his chest, his heart.

"Who is this?" She asked while pointing to the woman that was beside his father. "Is this your omma, Why didn't she come with you?"

"I don't know where she is," Tae Oh said after he had calmed down.

Ji Eun noona stood up and stretched out her hand to him

"Let's go, I'll help you find your omma."

Tae Oh looked up and took her hand standing up.  They both left the hall and walked around the neighbourhood. They both asked random strangers that were passing by if they knew the woman in the photo. By 'they', he meant noona because he just kept quiet and held her hand tightly whenever they approached someone. He was scared. Scared she would leave him alone on the streets like his parents did. She asked everyone and finally stopped infront of the police station.

"This is the best place to ask," Ji Eun noona said. She approached a police man that was standing outside of the building having a cup of coffee. She showed him the picture.

"Ah, this woman is wanted by the police but why do you have this picture? Are you two perhaps her children? She only had one son though," he said looking at the two curiously.

"Mr police man— " She started to say but got interrupted

"I'm not a policeman kid. I'm a detective . Detective Hoon. So tell me who are you two,"

"Detective Hoon sir, this is her son," she said pointing to Tae Oh. Tae Oh suddenly got really scared when he saw the detective laid his eyes on him and he tried to pull Ji Eun noona away.

"Are you serious? Where is your mother ? Tell me, where is she? Do you know how much paperwork we have to do due to your mothers disappearance. Where is she?" He was now grabbed Tae Oh and was shaking him violently while yelling.

Ji Eun quickly pulled Tae Oh and apologised to the detective.

"I'm sorry this was a prank. We picked this photo up on the street and thought it would be a good deed if we found her because it was stated on the news that she was missing . This boy is actually my younger brother. We should go home now, our mother will be worried. Annyeong!" Ji Eun grabbed Tae Oh's hand and broke out running

"Wait!" The detective shouted but didn't chase after them. They ran for quite awhile and reached the orphanage that Tae Oh stayed at.

"Listen, I can't help you find your omma now but I'll come back for you okay? I promise! Just stay away from the police station"

"Pinky promise?" Tae oh held out his pinky

"Pinky promise!" Ji Eun noona said

That was what kept Tae Oh sane after all this years . He had hope. He was hopeful .

Will she come back for him?