▬ Chapter 7: Year 22: Choice ▬

It was hard for Taemin to grow up without having a mother figure. This was especially true because his father was a demon who was still trying to get accustomed to the human world himself. Yet as he grew up, he learned to understand the flaws of his father, taught him what he learned in school, and in Jinki’s mind, was more of a teacher than he could ever dream to be to his own son. He was understanding, just like his mother, and to that, Jinki was forever grateful.

Jinki thought that human children were much of a hassle since they end up getting into trouble the moment you take your eyes off of them even for a split second. Demons didn’t have as many responsibilities as humans which therefore made it easier to care for their offspring. Kibum even had to rescue Taemin a couple of times because the little one loved to wander around when no one was looking. That’s how they ended up making a closed playground for Taemin at home. Yet even amidst his complaining, constantly reminding himself of how much his wife would have cared for their child in her own, loving way made him feel stronger.

SInce it was mostly just the two of them, Jinki and Taemin were close. However, there were times when their ideals clashed, with Taemin being half human and all. That never deterred him from continuing to love his son and found his own mistakes as chances for learning. Though it was different for Taemin once he knew of his history. With his human counterpart kicking in, he felt frightened of himself for being a demon and never thought of using his abilities to upstage his fully human peers.

He knew that he’ll never belong in one world due to his other bloodline and so deep down, all that he ever wished for was to just be himself without feeling the eyes of another constantly scrutinizing or feel frightened around him.

As he grew older and reason started becoming his teacher, Taemin figured, after constant internal deliberating, that his father wasn’t to be blamed. He knew how much his father loved his mother with the stories that he always told him either before bedtime or at random days. He admitted that a demon’s primal instinct to inflict pain onto their loved one is gruesome but if you look at it realistically, you can’t truly change strong, dominant instincts from kicking in. At least, not in a simple heartbeat — or for now.

“Dad, we’ve been walking for hours,” Taemin huffed as he landed another step upon a wobbly rock. He managed to catch his balance before he could fall over and placed his hands on each knee. He glanced up to find his father a few feet ahead of him and noticed that the older man’s breathing didn’t even stagger.

“You’re still half human so I guess some traits have remained,” Jinki snickered. “We’re almost there but I guess we can take a break.” He turned around and sat on a stable rock. Taemin did the same, feeling a few rocks in his path first to determine its stability before deciding to sit on it.

Since Taemin currently did not have classes — he eventually decided on taking the road of educating young minds much like his parents — Jinki offered to show him the place where he often met Taemin’s mother. They had to travel by plane, traverse lands, and finally, hike up a stoney forest trail to get to the place.

The young man was left thinking just how on earth both of his parents managed to accomplish this task. He was still young yet he’s already out of breath!

“Your mother had trouble crossing these paths as well,” a voice distracted Taemin from his thoughts.

“I didn’t know demons could read minds too!”

His father laughed at the incredulously absurd thought coupled with his son’s widened eyes of disbelief. “Nonsense! We can’t do such a thing.”

“But why does mom keep on coming here if it’s hard for her? You also mentioned that she sometimes carries an easel and have both hands full? That’s impossible.”

“She was stubborn,” his eyes softened and he pointed towards the top of the path. “And she kept mentioning how the view from up there was too breathtaking not to paint. Most of her art pieces are from there and despite me saying that the place always looks the same, she disagreed.” He looked to his right and stared off to the distance with whatever view of the sky he could see amidst all the trees surrounding them. “‘The sky always paints different pictures each day,’ she’d say.”

‘Much like each memory I have with you.’

His heart warmed at the words he vividly remembered she spoke to him. He still recalled that one mid