14.

Rigel

The memorial was over and done with. It was worse than Chen had initially expected it to be. In a way, he was extremely glad he had gone with Minseok, because there was no way he could have handled it alone.

There was something about his mother that was not right. Chen had a hard time pulling diagnostics on her, but he had come to the bitter conclusion that she had at least one kind of the personality disorders out there. It angered him to no end how she had acted today. Of course, as a mere guest there was nothing he could do but to endure it.

It had all started with the preparations. Chen and Minseok had arrived two hours before the ceremony would start. Minseok's dad had been well loved among the people of their village, so they were expecting a lot of guests. Minseok had a little thing he wanted to read in front of the audience, but his mother had said that it was not fit for him to do so.

It hurt him, Chen could tell, but it got worse as time went on. Basically Minseok sat all the way in the back with Chen, unable to participate. During one of her mom's speeches about his dad, she even- between the lines- put in a little jab at her son.

Minseok did not last until the end of the memorial and had quietly left the building. When Chen followed him outside, the cold hit him without warning.

He stood next to a tree, looking at the building in front of him. His eyes were somewhere else. Chen had expected tears, but there were none. Just an empty look on his face. Knowing his friend, this was worse than crying. Minseok was used to crying. He had always said that it was better to let things flow, than to hold them inside. People burst if they keep doing it.

With a trembling hand, he tried touching Minseok shoulder, in an effort to comfort him, but he received no reaction.

"People must know this is not right." Chen said. "They were talking about it. Your mother is wrong in every way. She should not-"

"I know." His lips were a thin line. "I lost both of my parents last year. That's what's hurting the most. She... She blames me for it, because of many things. Chen... I did not tell you the whole story."

"You don't have to." his voice was quiet. "And we don't have to do this here."

"Then where do we go? I have no idea what we're doing here. I shouldn't have brought you here. This is a mess." Now his expression did change. His face seemed to crack under all the chaos. Chen felt like he had to do something. But there was no cure for this.

Before Chen could actually say something, a man tapped his shoulder, almost giving him a heart attack. A letter was pushed into Minseok's hands. The man's eyes were filled with guilt before he turned around and started walking away.

"I'm sorry, kid. She wanted me to give you this." His voice lingered long after he was gone.

Minseok never said a word. He grabbed the letter harder than Chen would expect him to. He seemed to be nodding to himself, a grin slowly appearing on his porcelain looking face.

"What's that?"

"I don't know." he shrugged. "But it will be something bad. It has my mother's name on it."

Chen inhaled deeply, his airways filling with icy cold air. "I know you said that you didn't want to do this here but-"

"This is my hometown." he simply stated. "I grew up here. We're going to visit yours later. At least let me show you were I would run to when things were bad. Maybe it could help me right now."

They reached a small forest on the edge of the town within half an hour. Minseok had remained quiet the entire time and Chen had not dared to disturb his thoughts