TAEHYUNG’S POV

She stuck her head out of the car window as tears rolled down her smooth cheeks.

Her bottom lip was trembling as my teary eyes were locked with hers one last time.

I was stopping myself from blinking just in case her car disappeared in that split second.

The tears were aching to leave my eyes as my lip quivered and I blinked to let them silently fall.

I quickly opened my eyes again, but she was gone.

My flower was gone.

Minnie had left me again.

Before I knew it, the whole street shook with the roar that escaped my mouth.

I was wailing and crying, my knees gave way as I slammed my fists on the hard concrete road and the sound of a car was beeping loudly behind me.

“Kill me then!” I shouted, lying flat on the road in front as more beeps could be heard.

“Just take the pain away...” I croaked as my cheek fell on the hot, rocky ground.

Just then, I felt gentle arms wrap around me as they lifted me up and dragged me to the kerb.

I brushed them off and tried to run into the oncoming traffic again, but was roughly pushed back.

“Hajima! Stop it Taehyung!”

I looked up at the swollen face of Park Jimin as my tears instantly hardened.

“You!” I jumped up and pointed one finger at the person whom I once considered my unconditional brother.

Jimin stared back at me as I stepped closer to him, my fists were contracting and shaking with rage.

I wanted to punch all the softness from his face; I wanted him to experience the same pain he caused me.

I wanted to hurt him, but my body never allowed me to.

I lifted a fist up to Jimin’s face, but my hand was locked in position, I couldn’t physically force myself to cause impact with Jimin.

Instead, I my heel and let all my anger out on the brick wall behind as I hurled punches to it repetitively.

“Argh! You – ing – traitor! You tried – to steal my Jasmine and now – now – she’s – gone!”

Tears clouded my vision again as my blood was staining the bricks red.

“Taetae stop it, stop hurting yourself! Ya, hurt me instead!” Jimin sobbed from beside me as I tried to brush him off.

I turned to him and locked eyes with his before I pinned him to the stained brick wall.

“Eotteoke? How the am I supposed to hurt you Jimin? After all these years, all this time you loved her? WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!” I yelled from the top of my voice.

Tears were rolling down Jimin’s face as my shoulders were shaking from pain and emptiness.

I didn’t realise it, but my body had fallen into Jimin’s and we were hugging tighter than ever.

“Taehyunga! Jiminah!”

Namjoon hyung ran up to us as Jimin turned to him.

I realised what I was doing and immediately pushed Jimin away, so his body collided with the brick wall hard before I turned to look at Namjoon hyung who was trying to come closer to me.

I shook my head slowly as I inhaled the tears which were trying to escape.

“Taehyunga, she’s gone.”

Venom filled my eyes which darted to Namjoon, how dare he say that?

I continued shaking my head and stepping back.

“Taehyunga, let’s go back to Seoul,” Namjoon said softly to me as I laughed out loud like a maniac.

I was going crazy, I would kill whoever tries to make things better, they can never get better, the girl I was living life for decided to leave me.

She took what was mine and she left.

“Taehyunga where are you going?!”

I ignored Jimin and Namjoon’s voices as my legs were taking me away from this place, this street.

I ran and ran until I was out of breath.

I ran past students in their mustard uniforms, still celebrating graduation as they were walking around drunk and clumsy.

I barged past the crowds of passersby as I turned into a familiar park.

I ran all the way up to a familiar bench and stopped in front of it, my eyes glued on the patch of grass dipped beside it as my fingers reached out for the wood.

Tears clouded my vision and I let them fall from my chin to the ground.

“Oh Minnie, it was only yesterday when we spent your first night in Daegu lying here, underneath the stars, your laugh lighting up the night...where have you gone? Why have you left your Taetae?”

My voice broke as I let my knees drop to the ground; my head was resting on the bench as I was caressing the memories trapped in my mind.

I sniffed, “I know I’ve made more mistakes than there are fingers to count them on but it’s not right that you leave me all alone? You shouldn’t do things like that Minnie...please come back...jehbal...”

I let my head fall with me to the grass as I curled up in a little ball, trying to carry and hold the beautiful memories we shared.

Memories are all Minnie left me with, that’s all I have left.

What I wouldn’t do to go back in time, how did these misunderstandings happen?

How did Minnie learn to conceal her feelings from me and hate me?

How is this situation possible?

How can this happen again?!

“Yah!” I tried to shout out, but my voice became a husky cough as tears choked me.

I blinked and rubbed my eyes as I pulled my knees up to my chest, trying to be as small as possible, so that maybe I could get away and disappear totally.

I must have drifted off and gone to sleep with my troubled thoughts because when I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing, the sun was setting.

The warm orange glow pierced through the high trees around me as I slowly opened my eyes which had been momentarily glued together with my dried tears.

I straightened up and leant against the bench, hoping everything was a dream.

But when I looked around at the Daegu sunset shining in the park, when I pulled my phone out of my pocket, I realised I wasn’t dreaming.

I wished it was Minnie calling me, even to hear her voice would do my soul wanders.

I checked the ID, it was Manse.

My younger brother really knows how to use technology; I just hope he doesn’t grow up too fast.

“Yes Manse-ah,” I coughed down the phone as I ruffled my orange hair to make it sit down.

The gash which was on my forehead from the fight with Jimin had dried up, but my hair was still glued together with my blood.

He sniffed and I heard shouting in the background as my eyes widened, I was giving him my full attention.

“Manse, what’s happening? What’s wrong?” I asked more attentively as he sniffed again.

“E-eomma is crying...he’s...come home quickly hyungnim...I tried calling Samchon, but...” Manse started crying down the phone as anger shot through every one of my veins.

I clenched my jaw and spoke through gritted teeth, my hand holding on the phone so tightly that it was shaking.

I took a deep breath in and out, “Forget about Samchon, I’m coming home now...y-you make sure he doesn’t hurt Mum. A-arasso?”

Before Manse could reply, I heard the bastard who calls himself our stepdad shouting.

“When I tell you to come home, you get the home! You good for nothing !”

I cut the phone and slid it back in my pocket; rage was building up inside me like boiling water as I took short rasps of breath.

I needed to wait a minute before I got myself up, I’d never physically been so angry before and I just knew if someone came up to me right now, I would butcher them in cold blood.

This bastard has hurt my Mum and younger brother for too long, I’ll drag them all away and end his chapter.

This time, I’ll take them both with me to Seoul, I’ll take them far away from Daegu.

Daegu will always be our hometown carrying all my happy memories, but I’ll never forget how everyone left me isolated and all alone in Daegu.

I closed my eyes and got up.

The sun was close to setting and it was nearly 9 pm.

I could tell that tonight would be a humid summer night.

I turned to the bench and clenched my fists with rage, there was no one here so why did I stay here for so long?

I kicked the bench as hard as I could until it toppled back, before I fast paced out of the park.

I broke a branch from a hanging flora tree as I started hitting the walls beside the pavement.

The main road was busy today, it was a Saturday night and cars were everywhere, but there were hardly any pedestrians.

The blue night sky covered Daegu as I pulled my hood over my head, covering my bloody forehead and turning my head to the beeping cars as I spat on the floor next to me.

That bastard, how dare Mum even go back to him?

Part of me is saying that she deserves this for even allowing him back in her life, but a bigger part of me wants to rip his face off.

That ing monster.

As I to my road, I couldn’t help but look around.

I hadn’t come here in months; I was always living in our dorms in Seoul or was sleeping on the trains connecting the two cities.

I turned to Jimin’s house and as usual, it was dark and the doors were locked, he wasn’t staying here either.

When I finally approached my house, I saw the lounge light was flickering through the downstairs curtains and upstairs, Manse’s blue Robocar Poli night light was shining.

My hands automatically curled into fists as I opened the small gate and walked down the front garden, voices becoming louder through the open windows.

Boiling blood was exploding through my body as I turned to the sky, praying for help and patience.

I pushed the door and it was already ajar as I slowly walked in, shutting it behind me with shaking hands.

“...You can’t stop me anymore! Take everything, take this house, take the money but don’t think about stopping me from leaving!”

“Jagi...I love you...ya, you –you’re so hot...”

He was drunk and his voice was lazy as I gritted my teeth.

I walked down the dark front hallway; there were no lights apart from the dim ones flickering in the lounge which they were arguing in.

“Get away from me, you stink! You’re a drunkard bastard who I should never have let back in my life!”

I heard Mum trying to step away, but she must’ve tripped over something as I heard her yelp.

“Don’t ing talk back ! You’re a woman! Stay in your place – and ing make me happy for once! You haven’t given me any sugar in ages...”

His voice trailed off as I heard Mum trying to get away from his disgusting presence.

“You – you’re hurting me, get off!”

I peered through the open door and saw the bastard looming over Mum, his hands digging into her shoulders as he was pulling her into him.

He was wearing a ripped white shirt and his hair was overgrown, stubble all over his ugly face.

I heard a creak behind me as I turned around, only to see Manse in his pyjamas sitting on the last step of the staircase.

Tears were trickling down his precious, baby face as his small hands were cupped tightly around his ears.

When our eyes met, his bottom lip started trembling as he blinked slowly.

I wanted to run over to him and hug him better, soothe him and tell him everything’s going to be okay.

I want my little brother never to cry again.

Just then, I heard a thud as I turned back to the lounge.

My eyes instantly widened as I saw him pulling my Mum by her hair, he was hurting her, he was making her sob and weep.

My anger was at its peak, it was boiled and if I didn’t let it out now, it would kill me from the inside.

Everything was moving slowly around me, voices were becoming drowsy and muddled, Manse’s crying was slow and steady as I turned to the floor where there were empty glass bottles of soju and vodka.

I picked the largest empty bottle and smashed it against the wall so that the glass was broken.

I flung the door open and realised my heavy feet were running to where the bastard was beating my Mum up.

I pushed his worm like body into the back wall as I dug my palm into his shoulder for grip.

I held him firmly before I buried the uneven, sharp edges of the glass bottle in his stomach.

I felt the glass pierce his outer layer of skin before it slid smoothly into his gut and intestines, his muscles tearing and ripping apart.

This will teach him a ing lesson that he’ll never forget and I’ll be the last face he ever sees with his small, ratty eyes.

Blood instantly splattered from his sliced open stomach as he recoiled forward, but I pushed him back and dragged the bottle back out, before cutting through the same area which I stabbed before.

I heard a blood curdling scream from behind as Manse was crying even louder.

I ignored their wails as I stabbed him repetitively, he still had life in him, he was still trying to push my arm away, but I would only stop when he became limp.

He soon became lifeless and I became breathless.

His white shirt was drenched with his evil blood.

The warm, thick liquid dyed my hands and face red as the bottle slipped out of my hand.

He fell on his front as I staggered back.

Mum was still screaming as I heard the faint sound of a front door being opened and shut.

My knees were shaking uncontrollably as I looked down at my bloody hands.

My mouth was hanging open, I was struggling to breathe as I became physically sick at the sight, I felt like retching violently as my knees gave way.

I dropped down against the lounge wall with my arms sprawled out beside me.

Someone ran through the door and froze as they looked down at everything.

I sat in the same position, staring at the man who only minutes ago was slapping and punching my Mum.

My face was quivering as my mouth twitched into a grimace.

I momentarily closed my eyes.

“Taetae! Hahaha, did you miss me?”

I opened them again and the scene of blood flashed everywhere.

“YA! A-a-Ahhhhhhh! WAE?!” My voice was a shaking roar as I started crying hysterically.

 I banged my head against the back wall as I covered my face with my dripping hands, decorating my pained face with the colour of revenge.

“Taehyung! What have you done?!” Mum ran up to me and started pushing me hard, she was slapping me and crying.

I let her hit me, before someone pulled her hand away.

I turned to the side slowly and when I saw who it was, more tears clouded my red vision.

His eyes were already swollen as he locked them with mine.

“Samchon...” My voice trailed off as he walked over to where my stepdad was lying dead in his own pool of blood.

Samchon bent down and picked up his wrist before letting it drop back on the floor.

He turned to Mum who was holding Manse tightly, his small face buried in her legs.

“Go upstairs. Put him to sleep. Now.”

Samchon’s order came out as a husky growl, but Mum obliged and lifted Manse in her shaking arms before slamming the door behind her.

I stopped crying as my eyes dropped to the ground, I was empty and could only feel a wind drifting through my body which was merely a hollow shell.

There was a brief silence between us.

Samchon paced up and down, brushing his hands through his hair before sliding down beside me, leaning against the wall, both our legs stretched out in front of us.

“Go to Seoul,” his manly whisper broke the silence as I let out one lonely chuckle.

He turned to me and waited for me to look at him.

When I finally lifted my gaze from the dead body in front to turn to Samchon, I saw his face was glazed with a layer of fresh tears.

I stared at him as memories came flooding to mind.

All the times he took care of me, made me laugh, saw me growing up, taught me how to fight.

He treated me like his own son and even turned a blind eye to my relationship with his daughter.

Oh Song Jasmine...

If you were here, this would never have happened, you’d have told me there was another way, you’d have loved me and comforted me and you’d have said everything was going to be alright.

“Go to Seoul and debut with Bangtan. Don’t come back to Daegu until you’ve made it, Taehyung,” Samchon whispered.

My nostrils flared as I widened my eyes, looking at the ceiling, wanting so many things which would never happen...

I shook my head.

“I can’t do that anymore. I – I don’t want to live, I need to go to prison and never come out,” I stammered.

Samchon put his arm around me as I immediately lay my head on his shoulder.

He still smelt of the same cologne that Minnie and Seoyeon noona bought him, he’d never bought any other one since.

“Forget everything that’s happened today. Forget everything and move on. Taehyung, forget Minnie...” his voice trailed off into an inaudible croak as he sniffed.

“How can I? She’s everything to me! She was the only thing keeping me alive, I have nothing to live for anymore...”

Samchon rested his head on mine.

“She’s left us all. Ya she turned her back on me, what hope do you have Taehyung? I promised your father that I’d take care of you no matter what, I promised that you’d become someone successful one day,” Samchon forced his voice to become clearer as I shook my head.

“What’s the use of this success if I have no one to share it with? I have nothing, I’m a loser who’s left empty handed,” I choked back.

Samchon paused before he spoke again.

“Taehyung, I promise that Minnie will come back one day. You’ve worked so hard, you’ve all worked so hard. Even if she isn’t here, don’t forget that you still have each other, you still have what some people would die for,” Samchon muttered.

“What do I have Samchon? Huh?”

“You have a bulletproof friendship Taehyungie. You have six brothers who will make you smile again; you have thousands of fans who have given you their hearts. Don’t be so irresponsible with your blessings, my son.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I buried my face deep in Samchon’s shoulder.

“I – I wish Appa was here...”

I felt Samchon shaking as he sniffed.

“He’s never left you Taehyung, he’s always been in your heart. He’s always been watching over you, don’t let him d-down...”

We both cried on each other’s shoulders and if I wasn’t so distraught and overwhelmed, I would be shocked at S