Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
༉‧⁀➷
The operation takes hours. One of the policemen stays with him - probably to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid or tries running away.
He tells Taehyun what happened, even without the boy asking the question. "She walked over a street, although the pedestrian light showed red. Witnesses said that seemed to be in a hurry and very tired. She kept grabbing her head and mumbling things. A car hit her because the driver did not expect someone to suddenly walk onto the street. Of course we are investigating the case, since the driver should've been able to step on the breaks in time."
Taehyun doesn't react to his words. Instead, he just stands up and starts pacing up and down the corridor. He doesn't allow himself to show weakness, to break down and cry. His mother will be fine.
There is no reason for worry. Life couldn't be so merciless to him, could it?He holds his breath when the doors to the operation room slide open.
A doctor walks out, his expression saying absolutely nothing and yet everything at the same time.
"I'm sorry, boy. She did not survive-"
Taehyun feels everything go numb as he listens to his words. The doctor's voice seems far away now, as if he is standing on another side of a wall.
"-blood loss. And she seemed to be carrying an untreated form of bronchitis around with her. It has probably been bothering here for a while and it caused damage to her lungs, which led to further complications-"
That's when he hits his breaking point and the boy just runs. He runs and runs, fleeing from the hospital, from the policeman, from the doctor and from his dead mother. Running until he can't run anymore.
Crying until the last tear has fallen. Screaming until his voice breaks.
Until Taehyun himself breaks.
-- In the orphanage is where everything starts. The castle of lies is being built slowly in the years he stays there. The range of lies is wide - from making up a better and more exciting past to win the other children's favor up to tricking the caretakers at night, so he can go out to work.
He makes some money through small part-time jobs, after successfully lying about is age. Taehyun saves up the money for the time he gets out the orphanage. It's not a bad place - the people are nice and under different circumstances, he would've become friends with most of the kids - but Taehyun has lost his childhood innocence already, while the others still have it.
He has seen the reality of the world and he doesn't know how to turn back time. How can he believe again after being disappointed so often?
The orphanage is far away from the area where he used to live, but Taehyun doesn't mind. He does not go back even once. He doesn't want to face the bad memories that place holds.
Taehyun remembers the reason for his mother's death. She overworked herself to get enough money for both of them. Her colleagues had told that to the police. Apparently, she rarely slept and seemed sick often, but she still pushed herself to work every shift she could.
Taehyun tries to remember seeing her sick, maybe hearing her cough, but he couldn't find any memories of that kind. He doesn't know who is to blame. Taehyun is out of people to point his fingers at. He used to blame his father, but now he is gone.
There was a time he blamed his mother - gone as well. He can only point the finger at himself now.He finishes high school during his stay. It gets paid from the money his mother left him. Taehyun never gets adopted - he's too old and he does his best not to get selected. On the day he leaves the orphanage, he makes a promise to himself.
He's going to be someone else from now on. If life can't give him the happiness he needs, then he will buy it. He will become a person that can obtain happiness with money - because in the end money is all you need.
And so his endless circle of buying brand stuff begins. The castle continues to grow, the walls grow thicker and keys to locks get thrown away. Thick curtains appear on the windows, beer crates block the doors and Taehyun stays behind in the everlasting party. In a crowd that has no face, but it surrounds him, supports him and he can't fall.
At least, he believed he can't fall.--"Excuse me? Sir?"
Taehyun snaps awake. He didn't even remember sitting down or falling asleep, but apparently he did. He stares blankly at the nurse looming over him.
"Are you here for Mijoo-ssi?"
His eyes widen and he stands up, scaring the nurse for a second. She stumbles back and gives him a shocked look.
"Yes! How is she? Is the operation over?"The nurse nods.
"The operation is over. She was brought to the ICU. I can only give you out exact information to family members. Are you-"
"I'm her son." He lies quickly, but not quick enough to seem suspicious. Is it even a lie? After all, they are like mother and son.
Taehyun adds a smile to his words, because he knows it looks charming and makes women more likely to accept his lies.
"The doctor took the bullet out successfully, but it damaged a part of her stomach." She explains and then continues on about the medical complications. Taehyun is glad that he is studying medicine, because he understands every word she is saying.And when she is done and he can finally get to see Mijoo from away.
Taehyun knows that it's not sure if she is going to make it. The doctor had to put her into artificial coma to help her body recover, but there is a high danger of complications happening.
A vital organ was damaged and Mijoo is not exactly the youngest. Taehyun leans his head against the window separating him from the old woman.
He clenches his fist as he watches the lifeless looking figure.
