Haunted?

17. Impatience

Present (Jihyo POV)

Jihyo hadn't slept a wink since the second she came to know that Jungkook was moving back to Busan, right in front of their house. 

It killed her to know that Taehyung had killed himself. She couldn't digest the news for a really long time. 

When she first got a call saying Taehyung was missing, she begged Jungkook to let her come to his flat in Seoul. But he never let her come. He didn't want to be weak in front of her. 

But it completely destroyed her when the official statement was released. She couldn't bear to hear the emptiness in her son's voice. She and her husband had asked the tenants in their house to vacate within a week the moment they came to know that he was moving back there. 

They hoped he would live with them instead, but they knew that wouldn't happen. He was too stubborn for his own good. At least, they could live in front of him and make sure he was taking care of himself. 

Even though they decided to move within a week, Jihyo couldn't wait even for a single day. She knew that Jungkook was strong and stubborn only on the phone and that he would give in and lose his shit once he actually saw her. 

Thus, she left all the moving business to her husband and left for Busan right away. 

She missed Jungkook and Seokjin by half an hour and thus had to ask Dae Shin for the spare key of the house. She spent almost an hour catching up with Dae Shin before going to Jungkook's house to freshen up. 

'Such a sweet boy. It is a pity that he cracked up after his parents died. But he is still so sweet and nice' she thought as she walked out of Dae Shin's house with the spare key of Jungkook's house and her suitcase in her hand. 

'Ugh!! How did they manage to turn this house into a pig's den in just one day?' she thought as she put her suitcase in the guest bedroom. She pulled her hair back and tied a bun before starting to clean the house.

It was almost mid morning and she was busy cleaning the bedroom when she first heard it. 

A faint whimper.

Her first thought was that she imagined it. But the whimpers continued. She walked out of the house and went around it to check if there was someone outside or in the backyard. But there was no one.

After fifteen minutes, the whimpers died out. 'So freaky' she thought as she resumed cleaning the room. 

After cleaning the whole house, she set her hair and walked to the shop down the lane to buy a few candies that she knew her son would die for. 

"Ajeomma! How are you?" she asked once the lady in the shop recognized her. "I am fine, I am fine. How are you? It's been long" the lady said. "Yeahh. We didn't come back here after we moved out, but we are moving back into our house" Jihyo said. 

"Ohh, nice. How is Kookie?" the lady asked. Jihyo sighed sadly. "Did you hear about Tae?" she asked. "No. Why?" the lady asked. These kids literally grew up right in front of her. She knew them very well and adored them a lot.

Jihyo sighed again. "He killed himself four months ago. And Kookie isn't taking it well. He moved back here yesterday in the morning. I came to stay with him until my husband gets all the stuff" she said. "Oh my god" the lady whispered, her eyes shining with tears. 

"Where did Kookie move into?" the lady asked after a couple of minutes of silence. "Dae Shin's house. The one next to their villa" Jihyo said, flinching when the lady suddenly sat up with eyes wide as saucers. 

"Wha-" "What house?" the lady cut her off. "Dae Shin's house..." Jihyo said, trailing off at the end. "Oh my god. Ask him to move out immediately. I heard that the house is being haunted" the lady said. 

"What?!" Jihyo chuckled, amused at the sudden accusation. "I heard that you can hear whimpers in the house. Everyone keeps saying that a spirit keeps whimpering the whole night and sometimes even during the day" the lady said. 

"Ajeomma, that's a shit load of bull cra-" Jihyo suddenly shut up remembering the whimpers that she had heard that morning. 

"....whimpers...?" she asked uncertainly. "Yes. The guy who lived there told everyone about the whimpers and literally ran away from the house" she said. "Ohh my god. I'll tell Kookie about it. I need candies, Ajeomma" Jihyo said. "Kookie's favourite?" the lady asked. "Yeahh" Jihyo said. 

The lady picked up a lot of candies and threw them into a cover. "Don't pay. Let these be my condolences for Tae" she said. "Ohh, okay. Thank you, Ajeomma" Jihyo said as she picked the cover up. "See you later, Ajeomma" she said. "Yeah, sure" the lady smiled at her.

Jihyo walked back home, thinking about what the lady had said. 'Ughh. Maybe they are just rumours. I know, I heard the whimpers, too. But......ughhhh leave it' she thought as she entered the house. 

She began to cook for the three of them. She was almost halfway through when the door opened with a loud bang, making her flinch and throw the lid down. 

"Who is there?" Jungkook's harsh voice came from the living room. "We are armed" Seokjin's voice came. She rushed out of the room before they could take any harsh actions. 

"It's me, it's me!" she yelled as she ran out of the kitchen. Jungkook froze. 

"Eomma?" he whispered with his eyes wide open. She could see the tears that were already pooling in his eyes. 

She smiled warmly at him and spread her arms wide open. His face crumbled as he ran into her arms. "Eomma, Eomma, Eomma, Eomma" he kept chanting as he sobbed in her arms, just like she thought he would. 

"Shhh, it's okay. I'm here. It's okay, it's okay, shhh" she rubbed his back. Somewhere in the middle of the sobbing, he sat down on the floor with his face still buried into his mother's shoulders. 

Seokjin walked into the kitchen and noticed that Jihyo had been trying to cook for them. He decided to finish what she started while the mother and son had their time in the living room. 

The three of them cried themselves to sleep that night, once again missing the whimpers of the person right under them due to their own exhaustion.