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It’s times like these where I wish I knew more people at uni. Like, people I can just call to hangout, or help me carry a twenty-year-old man home. But I don’t even know where his home is.
I hear a chime, the sound a phone makes when a text message is received, and after checking my own phone, even though it is set on vibrate, I realize that it must be coming from Taehyung’s phone.
I’ve never looked at his phone before.
It feels strange to have it in my hand while he dozes soundly in my lap. I’m surprised when my finger easily slides it open, with no password or anything. I always must have a password on mine, even though there’s nothing particularly embarrassing on my phone. So does that mean Taehyung has nothing to hide on his?
The text message that appears on the screen is from someone called ChimChim💕. The message is just a photo of the cutest calico kitten behind a glass, with the caption Should I buy it? 😆
Who is this? I wonder. Then my heart skips a beat. Is it a girl? I stare at the contact name, with the heart emoji. ChimChim…is that a nickname? It could be a girl…
I glance at the sleeping boy, appearing even more sweet and innocent with his eyes closed. No, it can’t be a girl. He doesn’t have other female friends…does he?
Aish, why am I even worrying about this? It seems like I completely forgot about the situation at hand, or rather, on my lap. I have no choice but to wake him up.
“Hey, Tae-tae,” I ruffle my fingers through his soft locks, leaning over to whisper. “Wake up, Taehyung.”
He remains asleep, or should I say knocked out, and judging by the immense heat radiating from his head, he is still feverish, shivering slightly as a cool wind blows. We can’t stay here any longer.
I frantically scroll through his contacts, searching for someone who can help. And then one name catches my eye. Namjoon.
“Hello?”
The voice that answers sounds thick, as if he is chewing something, and I sigh in relief. He must be on his lunch break.
“Hey, Namjoon? It’s Aria.”
“Aria? Why do you have Taehyung’s phone? Did something happen to him?”
He sounds so genuinely concerned, just like a true hyung, so I explain to him the situation and he hangs up after assuring me that he’ll be there in two minutes. And he wasn’t lying.
“Oh, man, poor guy,” Namjoon sighs when he sees Taehyung, curled up and burning up. “Have you tried waking him up?”
“He doesn’t respond,” I reply.
“Let me try, then,” Namjoon crouches before Taehyung, poking his cheek. Taehyung flinches, furrowing his brow and grunting softly. Namjoon does it twice more, eliciting the same response every time, and I stifle a giggle. “Interesting,” Namjoon frowns slightly, dimples piercing, before standing up to his full height. He looks at me. “You said you have to go home, right?”
I nod. “Yeah, that’s why I called. I can’t exactly take him with me.”
Namjoon chuckles. “He’s not the lightest feather in the pillow, that’s for sure. You know what, you go, and I’ll take care of him, okay? Don’t worry, he’ll be fine,” he gives me a reassuring smile, and I nod again, returning his smile.
“Thank you so much, Namjoon. You’re a life saver, really.”
Namjoon gently moves Taehyung off me so that I can stand, grabbing my bag and slinging it on my shoulder as I watch Namjoon carefully handle Taehyung. I slowly walk away, not taking my eyes off them, off him, wishing I could stay and help, but the sound of my mother’s helpless sobs rings in my ears, so I force myself to tear my gaze away and run, faster than I’ve ever run in my life, because although Taehyung needs me, my mother needs me even more.
【★】
I have never dreaded coming home as much as I do in this moment, but as soon as I step through the front door, everything seems normal.
Until I walk into the living room where my mother sits, head in her hands. I join her, an arm around her bony shoulders. She grips my jumper with her fists, crying, “Oh, Aria!”
“What happened, Eomma?”
“Oh, baby, what are we going to do?” she continues to whimper. “I’m so sorry, baby.”
“Just tell me everything, Eomma, so I can understand,” I rub circles on her back, knowing its soothing effect on her, and she leans her head on my shoulder as she begins with a sigh.
“I knew this was going to happen sooner or later.”
I reel back to look at her in disbelief, and she meets my eyes with a sad nod. “Yes, Aria, our shop wasn’t exactly thriving financially, plus, with you starting university this year…” Another sigh. “It was bound to be hard for us.”
“Wait, what do you mean? I thought we had money saved up in the bank…” I falter as I realize that a lot of this money was spent on me, specifically my education. But I had no idea that it would be this detrimental…
“Aria, honey, I don’t want you to worry too much about the financial side, because you’re young and that stuff is boring, even to me,” I can’t help but chuckle as she rolls her eyes, before continuing. “However, I think it’s time you know the truth.”
She pauses to take a deep breath, and I frown. “Eomma…what did you do?”
“Nothing!” she counters shrilly. She then takes my hands in hers, looks deep into my eyes and says, “Aria, you have to drop out of uni.”
“What?!” I explode.
“Sshh, honey, just listen to me first,” she rubs my arms, but it does nothing to tranquilize my raging heartbeat. “We can no longer afford the rent here in this house, because for some stupid reason, it has gone up by a ridiculous amount. And, to add to that, or should I say, in addition,” the fact that my mother is delivering all of this in English means she is extra pissed, and I have to hold back a laugh because my mum being pissed at people other than me is hilarious.
“In addition to that, we have already made too many loans from the bank, the only way we can pay them back is to sell the shop and both get jobs somewhere else, prefreb – preferly? Perfeb…Ah, I hate English!” she continues in Korean. “Preferably multiple part time jobs.”
“Seriously?” I groan. “And you’re saying that the government will no longer support us?”
“Not unless we repay all the debts and loans and whatnot,” she replies curtly. “And who knows how long that’s going to take.”
“But Eomma, do I really have to drop out of uni? Now?” Just when I was beginning to enjoy it?
“Aria, honey, darling, sweetie,” she caresses my face with her small slender hands, gazing at me with drooping eyes. “We can’t even pay this semester’s fees, that’s how bad it is. I’m so, so, sorry, baby. Really.”
“No,” I whisper, feeling tears well up in my vision. “No, this can’t be happening.”
“I’m sorry, really, Aria,” my mother says while holding me, stroking my hair. “I really wish you could have everything, because at your age, I had nothing. And I was not even twenty-one when I was pregnant with you, moving to Melbourne with your father to start a new life, running away from our disapproving parents in Daegu. I never got to go to university, never got a degree, because I threw it all away for a love that didn’t last, and now you won’t even…”
She begins to sob again, and I grip her tighter, my heart aching. I know this story well, of how she came to Australia to get away from a stagnant life in Korea, but it wasn’t even four years when my father fell in love with someone else and decided to leave my mother and I for good. We never had a glamorous life, because life was just survival. We got no child support from my father, because he completely disappeared, so my mother worked a lot, and as soon as I turned fourteen, I began working too, to help.
I worked all throughout my high school life, and yet still managed to achieve an ATAR high enough to be accepted into my dream university and study my dream course – science. But science is expensive, too expensive for a single mum working in a gift shop that she took over once the old owner passed, writing in her will that if anyone should own her shop, it would be Do Chae Ri, the greatest gift of all. But who would’ve thought that a gift shop would cause such a burden. Perhaps I should have gotten another job this year, but with a packed schedule and difficult subjects that require lots of hours outside of class to study, I didn’t think it would be possible. Plus, taking shifts at the gift shop seemed to be more than enough, since helping Eomma take care of our small business stole the remainder of my free time.
We are a team, Eomma and I, and the only reason we survived all these years alone together was because we helped each other, so I sit up straight and cup her cheek, wiping her tears with my thumb as I speak.
“Eomma, we’re going to be fine. Everything is going to be okay. Okay?“
“Okay,” she nods, sniffling.
“We may have lost everything, but…we still have each other, right?” I take her hands and squeeze, and she continues to nod as tears fall. “We’re going to get through this, together.”
“But Aria, there’s just one problem,” my mother snivels, looking up at me with watery eyes. “The house…where are we going to stay?”
“What do you mean? They’re not…are they actually kicking us out?”
“We have one week,” she states weakly. “One week to pay our debts, or find somewhere else to stay, and there’s only one thing we can do.”
“A week? That’s not enough time,” I wail. “Surely they would give us more time?”
“This is the final warning,” my mum says sheepishly. “I really didn’t believe it when they sent a letter a month ago, but today a man and woman came to me at the shop and told me in person, since it was so urgent.”
“Wait, you’ve known for a month and didn’t think to tell me?” I exclaim, furious. “Eomma, come on, I’m not five! You can tell me these things!”
“I’m sorry, Aria, okay? I didn’t want to accept it, and telling you would’ve only made it even more real,” she pouts, and I gasp.
“Is this why you were drinking more than usual lately?”
The silence I am met with is guilty, so I say, “Eomma, this needs to stop, okay? I thought we were a team.”
“Yah, you’re more than welcome to drink with me,” she grins cheekily, pinching me, and I yelp.
“I don’t want to, Eomma! Seriously, am I the only responsible adult in this house?”
My mum’s face crumples again, and I realize my mistake. I shouldn’t have mentioned ‘this house.’
“No, Aria, I’m going to fix all of this. And of course, I won’t be drinking for a long time,” she says the last part sorrowfully, as if it is the hardest thing she must do out of all of this, and I have to roll my eyes.
“Of course.”
A sudden buzz in my pocket startles me, and my mother raises her eyebrows as I pull it out, checking the screen for the text.
Where are ya, Aria? I miss you…
Taehyung. How could I forget? My heart crumbles into a million pieces as I realise what dropping out of uni really meant. I won’t get to see him every day anymore.
“Taehyung, right?”
I snap out of my thoughts and nod at my mother. “Yeah, he just texted me.”
I stare at the message again, wondering what I should tell him, but mainly wondering where he is, since Namjoon must have taken care of him, yet if he’s with Namjoon, wouldn’t Namjoon tell him that I went home? Or is Namjoon not with him anymore…
“Are you going to tell him everything?” my mother asks. “Or does he already know?”
“He doesn’t know anything,” I quickly respond. “And to be honest…I don’t know if I want him to know.”
“Call him. Right now,” my mum orders.
“Eomma, I can’t. He’s sick, and I want him to rest,” I reply, and my mother gasps.
“Poor boy! He must’ve gotten sick from you, didn’t he?” she tuts. “I still can’t believe he came over to take care of you. He’s such a sweetheart, you don’t find many guys like him anymore.”
“He’s definitely not like other guys…” I trail off as I picture him in my mind, so vivid and so handsome. It still baffles me that people like him truly exist, but what baffles me more is that people like him could want to be with people like me.
“You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?” she regards me with a sly smile, and I feel myself blush.
“Of course not, what are you talking about…” I mumble.
Suddenly, my phone buzzes again, but this time, it’s a call.
“Take it!” my mother hisses, and I do.
“Hello?”
“Ah, I missed your sweet voice, my sweet Aria.”
His voice is deeper than usual, so deep that it sends shivers down my spine. I struggle to form a reply as my mother tries to listen to the conversation. “Where are you now? Is Namjoon still with you?”
“Sadly, no, but I am in his bed. He has a very comfortable bed,” I can hear the rush of sheets as he demonstrates the bed’s comfort, before his breath hits the receiver again. “I feel a little better, but I’m still very tired.”
“So, you’re at his place, then?”
“Yeah. He lives in the college, all by himself. I wish I could live with him, but my parents would never let me.”
His parents. For some odd reason, I haven’t met his parents yet. Or been to his house…Suddenly, an idea pops into my head, an idea that is beyond outrageous and humiliating, but I shake it away, because there is no way…
“Taehyung, I’m sorry I had to leave you, but I had some business to attend to at home.”
His reaction to that is a laugh. “Why do you sound like a robot? I had some business to attend to,” he mocks me. “You sound so formal.”
“Taehyung, I’m serious! It’s serious business, and I think…I’m going to need your help.”
His tone immediately changes. “What is it, Aria? You know I would do anything for you.”
His words clog my throat with emotion as I realize truly how genuine he is, and I wonder what I did in my past life to deserve someone like him so caring and ready to give you everything, even if you don’t ask. So, with a nod of approval from my mother, I begin to explain what happened, and how we are losing the house, the shop – but I don’t mention uni since it hurts too much to tell him. I tell him everything, and there’s a moment of silence until he finally speaks.
“Aria…I can’t even imagine how…oh, Aria, I wish I could hug you right now.”
My mother catches his words and smiles, while I have to look away to blink away the tears in my eyes, because I too wish he could hug me right now, hold me so tight that I forget everything, and the world stands still for a warm, safe moment, a pocket of time that I can climb into, no worries attached.
But I’m here, sitting on my couch in our house, a house that will no longer be ours in a week’s time.
“I don’t know what to do, Taehyung. We have nowhere to go,” I hate that my voice trembles when I speak, and I have to clamp a hand over my mouth to suppress the sob that threatens my composure, a composure that is already falling apart.
“Yes, you do,” Taehyung’s warm voice fills my ear, and it’s almost like he is right there. “You do have somewhere to go, Aria.”
My breath hitches in my throat as that outrageous idea pops back into my mind. I imagine it, and then I imagine it some more, but no matter how I picture it, it doesn’t seem possible. But still, I ask, “Where?”
And then he says it.
“You can stay at my house.”
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