he was never necessarily "normal" from the beginning. or, perhaps he was, yet he'd never felt like it. the question lingered within his mind through his elementary classes, even as he drew taunting images in art. "why doesn't she want me?" "why doesn't mommy love me?" remaining unanswered, the question is often pondered. was there something wrong with him from the beginning? had she grown to hate him? if his own mother couldn't love him, how could anyone else? the pain continued to taunt the boy, even after his adoption was finalized that next year, yet what came to him was the unexpected. 

quiet. 

love. 

parents.

albeit unexpected, the unanswered questions had begun to dissipate, for they no longer mattered to him. what mattered was the foundation of a family that he now had, a mother that finally fulfilled his heart with so much love that it felt as though it would explode, a dad that taught him how to swing a bat rather than how to not treat a woman. two parents that attended school plays, despite his inability to perform. this family brought him his best friend, chungha. this. this was everything, and suddenly the past had become just that: the past. 

middle school. 

or, as taehyung would address it for the rest of his life: hell. 

quite frankly, it wasn't far from the land of the devil. to the young boy at the time. even now, within his college years, the days haunt his darkest nightmares.  

finally, after everything that'd happened, the universe must've had some kind of happiness in store for him, right? his biological father seemed to have different plans than the universe. legal battle after legal batter influenced his attendance at school, often flunking his grades down the drain, and even holding him back two entire school years. the battles often exhausted him, yet he never wanted to go home. fear instilled within, churning his gut alongside his intuition. even in middle school, it was strong enough to know that something wasn't right. yet, that wasn't enough to prepare him for what would come next. 

"16 year old's living hell -- biological parent killing spree?"

his visage decorated the front page of each and every newspaper given out his final year of middle school, encouraging the bullies down the hall. though, he wouldn't be there long enough to have to attend classes alongside them. his own father, whom was vocal within the legal battles, had taken the lives of his own parents. a stranger, he seemed to be. what had he gotten out of this, he wonders? he didn't get taehyung, and lost his freedom. he'd been taken in by his bloodline, and although he despised his biological parents for what had happened, there was simply no where else for him to turn. 

as he grew up, taehyung recognized what he wanted to do. he wanted to go into a career that would give justice to those deserved, and take it from those undeserving as such. he would get lost within his studies, better his swing at baseball and paint, although he at it. but he was far from perfect, often running from what he fears the most, and certainly not allowing himself to recognize his own feelings. more apathetic than anything, he enjoys controlling what he can, for so much had been taken from him so early on. 
 

Le coucher du soleil remplissait tout le ciel de la couleur profonde des rubis , embrasant les nuages. Les vagues se sont écrasées et ont dansé le long du rivage, se déplaçant de haut en bas dans un rythme gracieux et doux, comme elles dansaient. La peinture était un champ de fleurs, avec des bleus et des jaunes profonds et riches sur des tiges vertes vibrantes qui semblaient vous inviter à entrer et à les ramasser.

Le coucher du soleil remplissait tout le ciel de la couleur profonde des rubis , embrasant les nuages. Les vagues se sont écrasées et ont dansé le long du rivage, se déplaçant de haut en bas dans un rythme gracieux et doux, comme elles dansaient. La peinture était un champ de fleurs, avec des bleus et des jaunes profonds et riches sur des tiges vertes vibrantes qui semblaient vous inviter à entrer et à les ramasser.

Le coucher du soleil remplissait tout le ciel de la couleur profonde des rubis , embrasant les nuages. Les vagues se sont écrasées et ont dansé le long du rivage, se déplaçant de haut en bas dans un rythme gracieux et doux, comme elles dansaient. La peinture était un champ de fleurs, avec des bleus et des jaunes profonds et riches sur des tiges vertes vibrantes qui semblaient vous inviter à entrer et à les ramasser.