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I learned to love my scars by forgiving those who gave them to me, including myself.
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Nov 23, 2026
Author's POV

It was Monday morning.

"MinJun ah, It's time to wake up, honey... time for a wake up cuddle," Amy said cheerfully, ruffling MinJun's hair and trying to wake him up for school.

"Eomma... cuddle," MinJun sleepily stretched out his arms, smiling cutely with his eyes still closed.

Amy hugged him tight and planted kisses all over his cute face and ruffled his hair.

"Eomma... I love you. You're the best," MinJun hugged his mom breathless.

"I love you more, my darling. You're the best son. It is because of you I'm a super mom," Amy chuckled, wriggling out of his bone-crushing cuddle.

MinJun sloppily kissed her on both cheeks and she pinched his cheeks gently.
"Come on.. brush your teeth and join me for breakfast. I've made your favourite French toast with strawberries today," Amy chimed.

"Wow, really?" MinJun clapped and jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom.

MinJun was almost seven years old in Korean age. He was attending the kindergarten school near St. Mary's hospital. Amy drove him to and from school every day, and she was now working as a senior counsellor.

Amy's POV

I picked out a fresh set of uniform and set it down on the bed for Minjun.

I was full of hesitation to send MinJun to a regular school since I feared that he would start asking about his dad after seeing other kids being with their dads. I wanted to hire a home tutor for him, but after considering many other factors, I decided to go ahead with regular schooling. And to be realistic, for how long will I be able to hide it from him? Not that I wanted to, but I really didn't find the need to tell him yet.

He has been attending school for almost a year now, and he hasn't yet asked me anything about his father, but I know the day is probably closer than I think it is.

Scuttling over to the playroom, I cleaned up his shuffled books, and I happened to flip through his drawings from last night.

My heart stopped beating inside my chest for a moment.

He had drawn stick figures of a father, a mother and a son—all holding hands and standing at a river bank, smiling broadly and watching the sunset. My eyes welled up instantly.

My child IS missing out on growing up with his father. Kim Taehyung would have been the best dad ever. Taehyung missed out on MinJun, who is the best son ever. Why is my life so hard? I only wanted a simple life with the one man that I loved. Was it too much to ask for?

For most other parents, this would have been such an endearing and simple, almost dismissable thing by a normal six or seven year old kid. But for me, it is an absolutely heart-shattering encounter.

My fears have taken over me to such an extent that I completely shut off all kinds of screens from MinJun's life. Giving up on the little pleasures of snuggling up to my son while watching The Lion King or Moana or anything else on TV, just so I wouldn't have to face the dreaded question about his father for which I still had no proper answer was only killing me from the inside. Yet, now I know that he has reached a stage where he is out in the world, though he's still a baby inside my heart, and there's no way that he wouldn't know about a child having two parents. I know that he knows now. Maybe he knew it all along, but it is just now that his thoughts have manifested on paper.

My tears dripped down on his picture. I quickly wiped off my tears, put the picture back inside his notebook, arranged everything inside his shelf and headed to the dining table. I sat there resting my chin on my upturned palm.

Don't think about him!

MinJun called out to me, "Eomma!"

"Coming," I responded, and went in to help him get dressed for school, after which we ate together. He didn't utter a word about the picture, and I didn't ask him about it either.

Maybe someone else drew it for him?

I decided not to over think.

After breakfast, I collected our things and locked the door, and we drove straight to MinJun's school.

"MinJun ah... be a good boy as always. Eomma will pick you up in the evening," I kissed his cheeks and unbuckled him.

"I love you, eomma," he kissed me back and got down, flashed his father's boxy eye smile, waved to me and ran into school.

My heart melted as I watched him disappear into the school building with a smile on my face and then drove away to work.

For a long time now, I never missed Taehyung or even thought about him until today. MinJun deserves to grow up happily. He deserves a father. He deserves his father. But am I ready to accept Taehyung back? Is Taehyung ready to accept us?

Never mind!

How do other single parents handle this shit?

I decided not to overthink and just go with the flow.

I don't want MinJun to hate his dad ever. But I don't want to lie to him either by saying things like his dad died, or he lives in another country. I have to seriously think about an easy way to give him honest answers.

After a while, I decided to distract myself by reading up some news since that was the only things I could do as I had already deactivated all my social media accounts, and the first news headline that caught my attention was 'Superstar Kim Taehyung announces indefinite break from mainstream acting'

What?? Really?
Great! Did I have to read this today?

I looked up and read more, my fingers decided on their own to do it. He had announced it last week since his contract with his agency ended.

God! I shouldn't have chosen to read the news! Damn!

Cursing my messed-up brain, I called Jay to distract myself.

"Jay, how are you? How is the little one doing?" I asked her.

Jay has an almost one-year old baby girl, and she's now two months pregnant with their second child.

"She's all good, Amy. I'm due for my next check-up for the second one this week. Been extremely hectic here, babe," she sounded exhausted just answering my question.

"Take care, sweetie... hope Allan is doing good. I'm sure he'll care for you like a baby," I said as I mindlessly spun around a pen between two fingers in my left hand, something that Taehyung taught me as a fun thing to do when my right hand was unusable after the accident.

Realizing that the action reminded me of him, I quickly slammed the pen down and retracted my hand from the table top, placing it on my lap instead.

"He sure does. He is a blessing, Amy," she said softly.

My heart ached thinking of my own blessings in life being so twisted. Not that I was jealous of Jay. I never would be. But I too longed for a lover to grow old with.

We spoke for a while more and then ended the call with me feeling no better than a complete wreck.

Ever since our breakup, Jay had always been careful not to talk about Taehyung to me. Allan knew about us, but he never spoke about it too. Not that it was helping much, but at least they were being considerate of my mental state.

To be fully honest, it has been impossible for me to completely stay away from Taehyung's presence. Had I lived in any other part of the world, it would have been enough if I had cut myself off from my social media accounts and stopped watching k-dramas and movies. But living in Korea only made it harder for me all these years.

I stopped using social media and reading news. In fact, I completely stopped watching TV too, but it was still not enough.

The hardest part of all these years were around the 30th of December every year when the whole of Seoul turned into Taehyung land. I never stepped out of home during my Christmas holidays until most of the birthday billboards were removed.

I sat at the cafeteria table almost lifelessly, meddling with my food. I had no appetite, and my mind was disturbed. Casually glancing up at the TV, I couldn't move my eyes from there. Taehyung was being interviewed on a news channel.

Talk about timing! Did I really have to be here when he was on TV? I mentally slapped myself left and right for having looked at the TV.

But my eyes kept darting back to the TV even as my hand mindlessly meddled with the fork.

He spoke,
"It had always been my dream right from childhood to be an idol. I auditioned for a few companies. But I was rejected everywhere. And one day, I randomly auditioned for an acting agency and got selected. It was totally...." he kept on talking.

He looked paler and thinner, but he seemed happy.

Good if he's happy...

I turned away to the opposite side and tried hard and successfully ate my food without watching the TV again, even though hearing his voice on TV made it extremely hard for me to contain my whirling emotions that threatened to burst out through my eyes.

I couldn't hate him even after going through such a turbulent life. I was so drunk in his love that I chose to support him even when he didn't trust me. I was ready to lose myself to keep him.What a fool I was!

But, the small part of my heart that he lives in and refuses to vacate, still loves him and longs for his love—that small part of my heart that unapologetically belongs only to him. He was the only man who made me feel loved. He made me feel everything that I hadn't felt in life before. Taehyung found me when I lost all hope in true love, and he was the one who showed me how to love. There was a point in life where he meant the world to me, and yet today he's unaware of my existence. I would give anything to go back in time to relive those beautiful days with him...talking with him, laughing with him, waki-

What the fuck? Shut up! Stop thinking about him!

Time didn't heal all of my wounds, and it never can. MinJun reminds me more of Taehyung. But I only love him more with each passing day.

I packed up my boxes and left the cafeteria. My head hurt from all the internal debating, and I felt totally off-colour. I decided to take the rest of the day off and relax. So I quickly dropped an email and informed the floor manager and left the hospital.

I still had a couple of hours before I could pick up MinJun from school. Driving down to the Han River, I parked my car in a corner, rolled down the windows and let the calm and soft breeze blow through my hair and face.

Amy, Taehyung chose to do this to you. How can you still think of him as anything in your life? He hasn't even been part of the toughest years of your life. You've been through all of it on your own when he should've been there by your side all along in every step as parents to the precious life you created together with him.

Don't hate him. I know I never can. But don't think about him too. He must have definitely moved on and after six whole years, there's no way on earth that you could even think about having something together.

Forget him.

No.

That's impossible.

Try not to think about him.

Yes. Don't think about him.

I repeated the one thing which I kept repeating to myself countless times over the years—Don't think about him.

The weather was cold, and my mind got calmer and more composed after relaxing there for a while. My mind didn't feel so clouded anymore.

I drove back to school to pick up MinJun. On the way I picked up his favourite sweet rice cakes. I had prepared the answers in my mind for MinJun's questions whenever he decided to bring up the topic.

Author's POV

Amy picked up MinJun from school, and the little boy sat by her side eating his snack.

He spoke with his mouth full,
"Eomma... thezzz shinging contesh..."

"MinJun ah, eat up and then talk. I can't understand what you're saying," Amy told him calmly without moving her eyes from the road ahead.

The little one nodded and ate his snack and spoke,
"Eomma... there's a singing contest at school tomorrow. I'm selected for it too," He said excitedly.

MinJun, like Taehyung, was brilliant at singing even at a tender age.

"Wow, honey bun!! That's amazing. I'm sure you'll do well. What are you going to sing? Do you have to pick the song or did the teachers pick one for you?" Amy prodded him curiously.

"Teacher said that I could sing any one of these songs," he said handing her a list of songs.

"I'll check it out once we get home," she said, getting the list from him and putting it inside her coat pocket.

"Is there something happening at school? What's with the sudden singing contest, honey?" She asked him.

"Eomma.. school culturals is going on now. This is also in the culturals only," he replied innocently.

"Oh, oh, okay... I get it now. Can parents come too?" Amy was curious again.

"I don't know," he shrugged, swinging his legs beneath him.

"Don't worry. I'll find out from the teacher tomorrow," Amy smiled, ruffling his hair.

*That night after dinner*

"MinJun ah, honey, can we check the list of songs once?" Amy called out to her son.

"Yes, yes," he clapped and ran onto his mom's lap.

She hugged him tight, nuzzling his neck and tickling him, making him laugh and wriggle.

Laughing, they both flopped on the couch to skim through the list of songs. They finally decided on 'The Family Song' which MinJun loved to sing. He practiced singing it twice, and then they both headed to bed.

Nov 24, 2026

This morning, as usual, Amy dropped off MinJun at school and headed to work.

Nov 27, 2026
Taehyung's POV

"Eomma...I'll be leaving in ten minutes. Don't pressure yourself. I'll grab something to eat on the way," I told my mom as she hurriedly made gimbap for me.

"It's almost done, Taehyung ah...I'll pack them for you," she said with a smile, scooting around the kitchen hurriedly.

"Okay.. I'm only going there to award prizes. Not to attend classes" I chuckled

"Whatever.. eat well even when we're away. Okay? Don't skip meals and don't sleep late," she spoke seriously, and I chuckled.

Appa and eomma would be leaving today to our hometown to relax for a couple of months.

"I will. Don't worry," I got the box of gimbap that she packed for me and bid goodbye to both of them.

Dressed up in a crisp formal shirt and trousers, I let my now black bangs cover my forehead and wore a mask and left the house.

I have been invited to award prizes to the kids at a private kindergarten school today, and I accepted the invitation since I had nothing better to do. I felt that being around some kids would make me feel better.

The school was close to St. Mary's hospital.

Does Amy still work here?

Shaking off the thoughts from my head, I shifted my focus back to the road and reached the school.

It was my first time attending an event all by myself. Once I stepped out of my car, the teachers greeted me and escorted me to the waiting hall. The school was prettily decorated with all of the kids' drawings and their written works pinned to the boards lining the walls. I walked around looking at the drawings.

My heart melted seeing the creations of so many tiny fingers.

If I had kids, they would have probably been drawing pictures like these and attending school too.

Just then one particular name caught my attention.

Kim MinJun.

Tilting my head to one side, I leaned in closer, adjusted my glasses and read the name again. The name was scrawled out in pencil at the bottom of the paper, and the handwriting was prettier than mine. I smiled and looked up at the drawing.

It was a picture of a father, a mother and a son standing on a river bank, holding hands and smiling while watching the sunset.

Maybe he drew his family.

They were stick figures, but the picture was still fixed in my mind, doing something strange to my heart.

That could have been my son's name, and that could have been my family.

Unknowingly, my eyes moistened, but I held it back.

The next thing which I did was something totally creepy. Taking out the picture from the board, I carefully put it inside my trouser pocket. I knew it was wrong and completely creepy, but still something about that picture made me do it.

»»-----　⚜　-----««

No more time skips.

But, do you see it coming?
Will they meet?
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