The People In Our Lives [KTH] ✓

14

Chapter 14: Ugly Truth

WARNING: Contains mature themes that can trigger some. Please read at your own risk.

☱

It was half past midnight when they reached home. 

The constant pushing of trollies over the slope had woken them up a bit, but they still craved sleep like they craved air.

Ella dumped their bags on the kitchen counter tiredly. She plopped on the sofa with a huff. Taehyung joined her as well.

The moving of the minute hand of the rusty clock filled the silence. Both rested their necks on the back of the sofa. Taehyung closed his eyes as he attempted to rest them.

He couldn't say much about that anyway. The alluring dark shadow of the place had already started to lure him into sleep. 

But a voice suddenly spoke up.

"Taehyung, are you sleeping?"

The man almost groaned at the disturbance. She's that kind of a person.

"Not now", he spoke annoyedly. Ella let out a small smile. But she suddenly grew serious.

"If I talk, will you listen to me?" she let out carefully. She nervously bit her lip as she anticipated his response. It was the first time she wanted to talk about the incident.

Taehyung slightly jolted as he looked her way. She looked so vulnerable. Like a twig that could break at any moment.

His eyes softened at that.

"Yeah, sure."

Ella nodded and sat up. She almost regretted opening her mouth, but continued anyway.

"I really thought he was the one, you know. Whenever I thought about the future, I always figured he'd be in it. I mean, we had been through our ups and downs but we were still together. I thought we'd fight against any obstacle. But this is different."

Taehyung continued to gaze at her. Ella's voice broke as she spoke.

"If he would have just talked to me about how he was feeling instead of sleeping with someone else behind my back, all this would have been different. Everything would have hurt a little bit less. We would have been friends. A-and I would have been there for him."

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she shifted her eyes to the ceiling. 

"When you found out about Sue, what did you do?"

The man began to observe the intricate details of the vase on his coffee table. He tried his best to not let her question trigger any unwanted memories, but nothing ever went his way.

He never listened to himself.

"I remembered being angry. So angry. Angry that even when I wanted to scream at her and make her feel horrible, I couldn't because I was scared of hurting her."

"Didn't you tell her how you felt?"

"No. I never got the chance to. I was a coward in a way."

Ella wiped her tears as her fingers began to play with the leather of the couch. Her mind began to picture the incident. 

"Maybe you should go see her."

"What?" Taehyung looked at her quizzically. Her suggestion almost made him choke in his own saliva. 

Was she crazy?

"Are you crazy?" Ella looked at him, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Maybe that's what you need. Tell her how you feel. Be honest with her. Let out everything you've been keeping in for two years. Some kind of closure."

Taehyung listened to her attentively. He really needed to be brave in order to carry on an act like that. It had been two years and he had even began to forget how she looked like, but still even the tiniest details set him off.

"I'll think about it", he said, already knowing the answer to her question.

Ella was mad to think it. There was no way he could ever come face to face with Sue. 

Not because he wouldn't be able to handle it, but because it was physically impossible.

After a couple more chats, Ella bid him goodnight and retired to her room.

Taehyung followed to his room and closed the door carefully. He made sure to lock it twice.

With slowly antagonizing steps, Taehyung made his way to his nightstand. His fingers pulled open the last drawer as his eyes caught sight of a single envelope.

A letter. One that he had read too many times. He was sure he had memorized it even.

His trembling hands unfolded the wrinkled paper. The sheet engraved with Sue's cursive handwriting.

The date highlighted itself from the top corner of the page.

5th February. What was supposed to be their third anniversary.

His lips began to mouth the unspoken words of her writing.

His eyes skimmed through the numerous sentences.

I'm sorry I had to do this, Taehyung. I can't live like this anymore.

He read and read. His chest rose up and down as his mind remembered the ghastly sight of her body on the floor. He remembered the terrible nightmares that came after that scene.

The pills. Her sickly white hand. The bathroom floor.

He remembered drowning in shock as his traumatized self screamed in agony at her broken self.

Ella was mad to suggest him going to meet her.

Because the last time he had seen her was on the hospital bed. The last time anybody could have seen her was on the hospital bed.

5th February.

The day Sue took her own life.

☱

A/N:

Oof..

All confusion will be cleared in upcoming chapters.

Thanks for reading❤