Chapter 23:  Denouement

"But if you see me walking by, and the tears are in my eyes,
Look away, baby, look away.
If we meet on the streets someday, and I don't know what to say,
Look away, baby, look away."

3 years later

He took his first step out of the building, and breathed in the air that felt completely different from inside. He’d been inside the youth detention center for three years, and he definitely longed for the fresh air of the outside world. Yes, they were allowed out once in a while, but it wasn’t the same.

He thanked God for being released, and that he had a chance to see the world again. This would be his third time of being able to survive, and unlike before, he would treasure this chance and not waste it. He’d spent the preceding years of his life by wasting the second chance he had of living his life, but now, he would make sure that he spent it thoroughly.

He would not make the wrong choices again, and unlike in the past, his mind was much clearer now. His thoughts were no longer clouded or tied to the past, and now he only focused on what to do with his future, and what he should do next. He’d never thought that this day would come, and he shook his head with a small smile upon remembering what he used to do in his life until three years ago.

“TaeHyung.” A voice called, and it took him a moment to realize that that person called his name. It felt so foreign to hear his name now, but he turned nonetheless and locked eyes with that person with a smile.

“Hi, HoSeok.” TaeHyung said with a beam, and HoSeok immediately took him in for a hug. TaeHyung hugged him back and couldn’t help but feel so relieved to his friend again. In fact, he couldn’t believe that HoSeok would be here today, on the day of his release. After all that TaeHyung had put HoSeok through before, he was grateful that HoSeok remained his friend, and not for once gave up on him.

“How are you, man?” HoSeok asked once they extricated themselves from the hug. He patted TaeHyung’s shoulder and the boy answered, “Happy, calm, all of which I’ve never thought I would feel again.”

HoSeok smiled. “Ready to go home? Everyone is waiting for you. They all wanted to be here but we didn’t want to overwhelm you, and besides they are busy preparing food for you at home. They’ve been fighting with each other on what to cook that I decided to stay away from it and come pick you up. Everyone wants to do something in the kitchen.”

TaeHyung laughed and nodded his head, and they both started walking back to TaeHyung’s home, which didn’t seem to be that far. Besides, walking gave them more time to catch up with each other. TaeHyung had to admit, he was a little bit nervous to walk with HoSeok at first, and he was also somewhat glad that the others weren’t there too, because he wasn’t sure if he could look at all of them in the eye. He was still ashamed by what he did, and he wasn’t sure how the others would look at him.

“Oh, I have something big to tell you.” HoSeok suddenly exclaimed, and TaeHyung looked at him in anticipation. “What is it?” He asked, and HoSeok looked at him with a grin. “I’m not sure if your aunt has told you but we boys found out that she’s seeing someone right now.” He said, and TaeHyung’s face broke into a very wide smile.

“She didn’t say anything about having a boyfriend!” He said in surprise, and HoSeok laughed before shaking his head. “We didn’t know either! The ones who found out were NamJoon and JiMin. They went shopping the other day and saw your aunt holding hands with someone. According to the two lads, she looked genuinely happy.”

“And I am glad that she is.” TaeHyung said warmly. “I really am. It’s about time she lives for herself. She’s spent her entire life caring for me, that now when I come to think of it, I don’t think she ever did anything for herself. It’s good that she’s thinking about herself now.”

HoSeok nodded and hugged his shoulder as they walked. “She misses you a lot. She may have visited you from time to time but she really misses you a lot. She’s the head chef now at home, preparing nice food for you and at the same time minding childish 19 year olds.”

TaeHyung laughed and asked HoSeok how the other boys were doing, and HoSeok filled him in on how they were college boys now, but the fact itself didn’t seem to change their immature demeanors. They were just as rowdier, noisier, and drove SeokJin mad day by day.

He was also a little bit shocked to learn that YoonGi was the first amongst all of them to have a girlfriend, and like TaeHyung, the other boys didn’t seem to believe it at first, until YoonGi introduced them to his girl himself. Knowing the grumpy YoonGi, they all expected him to be the last one to ever get a girlfriend. But lo and behold, he was in fact the first.

“He smiles a whole lot more now, and he really cares for the girlfriend. The girl too, much to our relief, loves YoonGi just the way he is. We’re also very grateful to her for being able to bring the best out of YoonGi, like making him smile more and loosen up often. He’s changed a bit, but in a good way.” HoSeok explained, and TaeHyung had an aww look on his face.

“The others, including myself, are still single, but we’re not in a hurry to find any girls anyway.” He added, and TaeHyung threw him a playful grin, to which HoSeok knew meant he was going to .

“I still have to go to school. I’ve missed three years.” TaeHyung said, suddenly a bit down, but HoSeok patted his shoulder and assured him that everything would be fine and he didn’t need to rush anything.

HoSeok continued filling him in about their friends and whatnot, and as much as TaeHyung was happy to listen, he couldn’t help but to anticipate HoSeok mentioning one particular name. Until now, none had mentioned her, and TaeHyung couldn’t help but to hope that HoSeok would say something about her.

He wanted to ask him himself, but he didn’t know how. Throughout those three years, she hadn’t visited him, not even once. On second thought, he was glad that she didn’t because he didn’t know how to face her. Shame spread all over him upon recalling what he did, and in the end he was glad that she never showed up, though he had to admit that sometimes he did wish for her to come.

“Well, I guess that’s just about everybody.” HoSeok said finally, after feeling sure that he’d mentioned about every one of their friends. TaeHyung blinked at him and just nodded, while inside his head he was trying to form the question to ask.

“Oh, how is uh ... how uh ...” His question trailed, and TaeHyung mentally slapped himself. It wasn’t even that difficult of a question to ask, yet he was stuttering for the first time. He must’ve looked like a loser right now.

“How’s YeonAe, right?” HoSeok finished for him, and looked at him with a soft smile. TaeHyung’s eyes widened as he looked at him, and nodded as he looked away. HoSeok chuckled and lifted his