The Beauty in You [Discontinued]

ONE

From the time he was three, Park Chanyeol had developed a love for photographs. When he was young, while he didn't understand what he was looking at, he recognized the faces in the pictures and it made him smile or giggle. As he grew older, he began to understand what truly made him so in love with photos in the first place.

To him, photographs told a story and captured memories. Both good and bad. Happy and sad. It would keep them or lose them. Some memories were fuzzy even with a photo, but it was the fact that someone thought to cherish the moment in a photo for the future that made Chanyeol smile.

That's why when his parents gave him his first camera for his 13th birthday, he couldn't have been happier. He wore the biggest grin he'd worn in years and it grew when they gave him an old photo album. Chanyeol didn't recognize it at the start, for it was foreign to him. It wasn't until they had encouraged him to open it that he understood- it was his original family's photo album.

He was put up for adoption when he was 8 after a near-fatal incident due to his abusive father. With the man being put behind bars, Seoul PD and CPS didn't deem his mother financially stable enough to take care of Chanyeol. It didn't help that she neglected him as well sometimes when she was busy. He had admitted this information to the investigators when he was stable. The poor boy didn't know that it would get him taken away, but as time went on he realized it was for the better of his well-being. He was in foster care until he was 11, when his current parents adopted him. Once they discovered his love for photography, they made a promise to one day make his dream come true, and they did.

Chanyeol was currently sitting in the living room with his new family, flipping through the album. He never wanted to forget his biological mother's face for she was kind and loved Chanyeol with her whole heart. She would tell him he was her pride and joy, her cub- and he believed it. He still does even to this day.

"Omma?"

he calls out to his mom who was cuddled up on the couch with his appa.

"Yes sweetheart?" She smiles to him.

Chanyeol loved her smile. It was kind and nurturing, something he didn't have for a long time but longed for so much.

"How did you and appa get this photo album? And why give it to me?"

he asked curiously. He had always wondered what made them gift it to him, but he never got around to asking.

"Well, your eomeoni actually. She wanted you to have what she knew you loved most. It was shipped to us with a letter from her. I still have it if you ever want to read it yourself," she explained.

"While you're with us for a good reason son," his appa jumps in, "We never want you to forget who mattered the most to you when you were young. Nor do we ever want to stop you if you ever decide you want to see her again," he smiled.

He loved how caring and thoughtful his new family was. He wished it could've been this way with his biological family, but it didn't work out that way unfortunately...

Chanyeol smiles brightly at the thought of one day meeting his mother all over again after all these years. His smile, however, soon fades as he looked back down at the photos.

But would she want to see me...?

"But what if... she doesn't remember me.. or.. doesn't love me anymo-re?"