five
Identify Me (ON TEMPORARY HOLD UNTIL "THE OUTCAST CLUB" IS FINISHED)
5 | HOMESICK
“What a show,” Vernon grinned for the first time that night, “didn’t know it had it in you, noona.”
“Girl, are you crazy?! Five million dollars… wasted! Poof!” Hwasa shook her shoulders.
“The seats for familiars are over there,” Choa pointed to a table far away from them. It was a dingy table that was much too small and too crowded already.
Beside her, Taehyung shifted uncomfortably. Clearly, it was a table for the outcasts. Harin narrowed her eyes at the embarrassing placement.
Servants are never allowed to sit at the same table as their masters, her father had once told her.
Biting his lip, Taehyung headed in the direction of the table when Harin grasped his arm, giving him an odd look. He flushed as his eyes traced the spot where Harin had touched him.
At once, she pulled him to the seat beside her.
Another heiress at the table grimaced and moved away from Taehyung, but Harin’s face remained calm. “Sit.”
Taehyung sat.
Ignoring the stares and murmurs from the social figures seated around her was easy for her now. Inside, though, she cursed her good-natured heart to high heaven for actually taking in a familiar. And she’d spent the entire five million her parents had given her, too!
She could feel Taehyung’s eyes probing her in curiosity and awe. In fact, she could smell the warm, musty stench of his hair, making her retch, but she pretended not to be fazed. The poor guy was already embarrassed enough.
Vernon was the first to nod at him.
“Taehyung, right?”
Taehyung shyly nodded.
“If you’re eighteen today, then you’re my hyung,” he grinned. “I'm Vernon. Just turned seventeen.”
Taehyung blinked before slightly curving his lips into a timid grin. Harin stared at him. So he can smile, too, she thought.
“I’m Choa,” Choa smiled.
Hwasa, on the other hand, said nothing.
Vernon turned to his cousin with a displeased look. “Noona.”
Hwasa pursed her lips together before drawing out a long sigh. “Fine. Hi, I’m Hwasa.”
Taehyung dipped his head in greeting. Hwasa looked quite lavish to him, with her fur shawl and all. In fact, all of them looked rich and famous. It felt quite awkward to be dressed so plainly in comparison to the sea of sequins and sparkles.
“You have the same birthday as Rose. That’s quite surprising,” Choa tried to alleviate the tension.
That made Harin perk up. “It’s your birthday today?”
“You didn’t hear, noona?” Vernon leaned back in surprise.
“At least listen to your familiar’s self-introduction. Even I knew that.” Hwasa sipped her drink.
“Oh, be quiet.” Harin’s cheeks flushed with colour, making Vernon and Choa laugh. Even Hwasa managed to crack a friendly smile. Taehyung felt warm, for some reason, and the tension began to dissipate. The atmosphere was rudely ruined thanks to the wallowing voice of the host.
“Our next candidate is – oh God – another candidate from Gapsun Orphanage, Mr. Min Yoongi.”
“Yoongi hyung,” Taehyung suddenly blurted, extremely alert. He had gotten so lost in the atmosphere that he had forgotten about the real matter at hand.
Harin monitored his reaction. Yoongi? Someone he knows?
“Come on up,” the host bellowed with fake enthusiasm. “Hopefully he’ll have a talent to show, huh folks?”
“’Leggo of me - I said - get your grimy hands off’a me!”
Taehyung could easily pick out Yoongi's angry scowl and deep voice miles and miles away. The television monitors displayed his friend’s pale face, rendering him helpless in the forceful clutches of security guards.
“So, Mr. Yoongi, what will you show the audience toda—my word!”
Yoongi had wrenched the microphone from the host’s grasp and peered through the crowds of people.
“Holy crap,” he muttered into the mic, “I haven’t seen this many people in my life.”
A few snickers and chuckles filled the room.
Taehyung didn't find any of this funny. With shaky fingers, he grabbed Harin's arm, earning an appalled gasp from Hwasa.
“P-Please, please," he begged, "you have to bid on him, too!”
"Hey, watch where you’re touching! Get your grimy hands off of her, familiar!” Hwasa yelped, but Harin raised a hand to stop her.
She watched him curiously. “Why? Do you know him?”
“Y-Yes,” he nodded, letting go of her at once, “he’s m-my best..."
“KIM TAEHYUNG! Taehyung, where the hell are you?” Yoongi’s voice echoed through the banquet hall. “We’re leaving!"
A spotlight shone on Taehyung, jaw slacked open in extreme mortification.
“There you are!” Yoongi grinned in relief, chucking the microphone aside and making his way across the hall.
“Wait, kid! S-Stop right there!” the host, with his microphone back in hand, pointed wildly at Yoongi, but the boy paid no attention.
All eyes followed him as he jogged over and yanked Taehyung up onto his feet. Harin and the rest watched the scene unfurl in front of their very eyes.
“We did what we were told to do. C'mon, let’s go before those jerks at Gapsun come for us again."
Taehyung wasn't convinced. The Director, in fact, could be watching this all happen right now. Even if they fled, both him and Yoongi could be tracked down in a matter of moments and be hauled back to Gapsun, or worse, be sold off at another one of these peculiar biddings. Taehyung knew what the Director was capable of. They would never survive alone....
...But maybe, just maybe, they could be safe with her.
Before the host could cut in again, Taehyung whirled around with sheer desperation in his eyes.
“Please, Miss – we have nowhere to go anymore. You’re our only hope!”
“'Oi, Taehyung - what are you talking about?” Yoongi was baffled. “I thought we were going to rent an apartment—”
“We can’t afford to do that anymore, hyung. I understand now, they’re always watching us – they always have been,” Taehyung whispered fearfully.
Yoongi could see the innane terror in his eyes. The message he was trying to convey was clear: we’ll never be able to escape Gapsun.
“Uh-oh, Madam Creepy alert,” Vernon cut in.
The five turned their gaze to Madam Hong, who was rising out of her seat to bid once again, with a sort of hungry desire in her eyes.
Taehyung grew frantic. No, not her. Anyone but her. If he was desperate before, he was frantic now, whipping his head around to search Harin's eyes. To his horror, Harin shook her head.
“I’m sorry, but I used all my money on your bid.”
He tried hard to swallow down the sense of defeat that rose up from his stomach. Even as he sent SOS gazes, Vernon only stared back apologetically and Hwasa couldn’t bring herself to say anything.
Madam Hong cleared and raised her hand, “Twenty—”
“Fifty-thousand dollars!”
Everyone turned to gape at Choa, who had her thin arm raised up high in the air. A defiant glint twinkled in her eyes as she glanced back at Taehyung.
“With this, the two of you will be fine, right, Taehyung-sshi?”
The boy sighed in relief and flashed a wide, grateful smile.
“Yes!”
*
At last, the 25th Annual Familiar Auction had finally ended.
The wealthy hurried into their limousines and sleek cars, zooming away to their homes. The air was frigid and nipped at their noses, but right now, nothing could change the fact that Taehyung and Yoongi felt alone more than ever – not even the winter weather that they had once yearned to experience when they were locked up at Gapsun.
The two boys stood along the stairs of the entrance, under the watchful eye of the moon overhead.
“I can’t believe you’re making me live with some stranger,” Yoongi muttered, “even if she is pretty.”
Taehyung's gaze was pinned to the floor. The dream they both had was shattered by his own hands, and the words he tried to say to comfort his friend came out as meaningless gibberish. He still said them.
“We’ll be safe this way, hyung. I’d rather live like this than put our lives at risk for freedom.”
“But now we’re not even free. Now we’re forced to be ‘familiars,' whatever the hell that means.” Yoongi ruffled his hair in frustration. “What do we do now, anyway?”
They didn’t have cellphones, let alone know how to use them, so they couldn’t contact each other privately, nor did they have a way to see each other. The future was looking bleak.
Yoongi stared at him and heaved a slow, heavy sigh. It was one that started off quiet, then became louder and louder as it tapered off at the end.
Taehyung could see it –Yoongi was disappointed, devastated, and angered by the whole ordeal. Taehyung felt the exact same way, but honestly speaking, Yoongi's words were right. What could they do now?
Taehyung and Yoongi had the exact same unanswered question lingering in their minds.
“Is this what happened to Namjoon hyung and the others?” Yoongi whispered. "They were sold off like this?"
“I don’t know,” Taehyung responded.
What did they know, really? How much of their lives were based on fact? Were they simply pawns of the Director?
Neither of them knew, and it bugged the hell out of them. Perhaps the secret behind Gapsun Orphanage went even deeper than they had imagined. Perhaps it was just too much for them to handle.
“We’re leaving!”
Both Yoongi and Taehyung spun around to see Harin and Choa in the distance, waving them over in a hurrying motion.
“I guess this is it, hyung,” Taehyung forced himself to smile, “be safe. Don’t do anything reckless.”
“Can’t promise you that, Tae.”
They both stared at each other as Yoongi broke the awkward silence, squeezing his shoulder.
“Don’t force yourself to smile. It’ll hurt more if you do.”
And with an unreadable look in his eyes, Yoongi turned away and left for good.
*
The car ride, unfortunately, wasn’t very comfortable.
There was a tense silence that made Harin shift in her seat uncomfortably. Her gaze hesitantly slid over to Taehyung, who was sitting about a foot away from her, eyes turned towards the window in deep thought.
He seemed to be watching the blurs of the scenery outside, but Harin could tell that he wasn’t really all that interested as he appeared to be.
Her new familiar seemed to have a lot on his mind, and Harin knew that feeling all too well.
Before she could contemplate about whether or not to break the silence, the car had already pulled into the Rose Mansion – Harin’s home.
“We’ve arrived, Miss Rose,” a servant held the door open for her.
As she got out, Harin found herself constantly glancing back to see if Taehyung was following. He was, and Harin was slightly relieved to see that a faint look of wondrous awe had begun to replace his hollow one.
“I’m home,” she automatically said as soon as she stepped inside.
“Welcome back, Miss Rose.”
Taehyung recoiled and hid behind Harin. There must’ve been at least eighty servants lined up at the front entrance to simply greet them!
But that wasn’t all. In the main foyer, at the top of the winding stairs, stood a curt-looking man and an elegant woman, watching with a sort of vague fondness in their eyes. They descended and stopped right in front of Harin.
“Welcome back, Rose,” the woman said, and Taehyung swore he saw Harin purse her lips in displeasure.
“How did it go? I’m assuming you made bids?” her father asked, not noticing the shrinking familiar behind her.
She handed her clutch and shawl to a servant who bowed and took it away. “I did, and I won.”
As if they were electrocuted, her parents straightened up in a mixture of delight and surprise.
“That’s wonderful news!”
“Well, where is he?” her father scoped out the area for a servant worthy of his approval.
Harin stepped aside to reveal Taehyung’s dirtied and unkempt self. He instantly felt embarrassed at his dirtied appearance and shrank back again, eyes pinned to the floor.
Her mother’s smile slipped off for a second at the sight of him, and her father raised an eyebrow in incredulousness. Harin, of course, already knew how they would react. Knowing what kind of people her parents really were made it simply obvious.
Inside, she was trying so, so hard to not die of laughter.
“Which orphanage are you from?”
Taehyung gulped. Her father's voice held just as much authority as the Director!
Harin’s father pursed his lips. “Boy, I’m talking to you. Look at me when I speak.”
“He’s from Gapsun Orphanage,” Harin quickly replied, stepping in between them. “I chose him because I saw potential. Now if you’ll excuse us, I’ll show him to his room now.”
Before her parents could utter anything else, she led the way down to an elegant hall adorned with picture frames and priceless paintings. Taehyung’s gaze darted everywhere – a mere pen would’ve probably sold for a higher price than all of his belongings combined.
She pushed a door open, and his eyes widened. He was staying here?
It was a large-sized room with a plush bed and giant closet with transparent doors. A flickering fireplace was in the corner of the room, and the only light source came from the dim lighting of the lamp on the bedside table, but that wasn’t what caught his attention.
As if he was hypnotized, Taehyung gravitated to the windowpane that boasted a snowy night view. It must’ve been at least a hundred times larger than the tiny window he had at the orphanage.
“Get some sleepwear for him please,” Harin murmured. A maid nodded, set down his belongings, and scurried off, leaving the master and familiar alone.
“Satisfied?”
Taehyung immediately faced her and nodded.
“This room has the biggest window in the mansion,” Harin stepped closer to him as she gazed outside at the glowing moon. It was a winter wonderland out there – almost picture perfect, with the suburban scenery and streetlights gleaming in the distance.
Taehyung watched her before staring through the window again. I wish the others from Gapsun were here to see it…
“Miss, the pajamas you requested,” the maid had returned with a dark blue silk shirt and pants.
“Taehyung-sshi."
Taehyung jolted and blinked at her. Nobody had regarded him so respectfully before. But Harin, dressed like a goddess come to life, nodded with comforting eyes and a subtle twitch of her red lips.
“I’m looking forward to working with you.”
Taehyung bowed wordlessly.
At the final ‘click’ of the door closing shut, his legs shakily collapsed under him. It was all too much. It'd been all too fast.
Even the silk pajamas his new master had gotten him didn’t seem to match him. He couldn’t bear to wear it. Ironically, the only comfort he received was from the musty scent of his ragged uniform.
The room was beautiful, but everything seemed so distant - too cold. He found himself desperately reaching inside his hoodie, fingers probing into the small, hidden pocket on the inner chest. It was the only pocket that the Deans had failed to check, and he’d always get away with sneaking out some extra candy or cheat sheets for tests at the education hall.
But it wasn’t a caramel square or a cheat sheet for an English test that he pulled out. Those things were of the past – they were irrelevant.
Instead, he took out a small, crumpled photo from the orphanage a photo that Yoongi had managed to steal from the Director’s desk without getting caught. It was Yoongi's present to him during his first birthday celebrated at the orphanage, when he was a mere Primary.
The photo had all six of his friends present - seven, if you included him. Taehyung listed them in his mind, one by one.
There was the intellectual Namjoon, 'eldest' Seokjin, 'mood-maker' Hoseok, ‘goody-two-shoes’ Jimin, 'eternally young' Jungkook, ‘heroic’ Yoongi, and Taehyung.
Taehyung, who didn’t have any redeeming qualities; no brains like Namjoon, nor friendliness like Hoseok. Taehyung, whose only good point was the ability to follow orders. Taehyung, the average one; the one that just managed to blend in.
Now, that same Taehyung, much older than the shy, grinning Primary in the picture, was all alone, crying himself to sleep.
[!!!] Identify Me is on temporary hold until The Outcast Club is finished! More frequent updates after The Outcast Club is completed! :)
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