Whack! That's what gets up Taehyung from his abyss slumber, which is not even more than three hours of it.
Even though he has gotten used to it, the daily cry of his mother, and the scary voice of his father every day and time he's home, yesterday's dusk is not various.
His father arrived home barfly as ever, demanding sustenance that he didn't even provide.
When his mom attempted to inform him that there was no sustenance in the cottage, he lashed on her mercilessly without any justification for it.
When Tae tried to alleviate her, the beating was passed on to him, he was beaten and insulted until he could feel nothing, and he became numb to the pain.
They waited outdoors until his dad fell asleep, and that's when he and his mum came inside to try and have some rest, it was 3 am at dawn but they still needed to rest even if it was only a few minutes of it.
Now it's just 5:30 in the morning and his dad is up again fighting his mother again, on top of the hunger eating him up and his sore body now he needs to deal with another fight.
He requires to be in school by 6:30, he tries standing up ignoring the distress on his body, and stepping out of his small room.
The only thing in the room is an old mattress on the floor and his clothes inside an old basket.
He runs toward the kitchen where his mom was screaming, meeting her on the floor harms folded hugging herself, and tears flowing down, she stands up obediently quickly thinking that her husband was the one entering the kitchen, and to her relief, it was her son Taehyung and her little daughter sora.
"mummy! Are you crying again?
Sora questions her, and she immediately wipes her tears faking a smile for her daughter.
"No dear Mommy is fine, something just got in my eyes that's why I'm trying to get it out.
She said trying to convince Sora. but she was so clever to be fooled easily, at the age of seven which she is now, she witnessed her mother cry and be punched by her father even today morning she saw everything, so the excuse her mother is trying to make will not work on her.
"You are defending the bad guy again Mom!
Her mother instantly gets serious and straightens her posture.
"Your Father is not a bad guy here, don't you ever say that again sora do you understand me?
The tone she speaks with scares the kid, and she runs away without saying anything else. Taehyung frowns shaking his head in disbelief at his mother's behavior towards Sora.
"Really Mom! Not a bad guy huh?" so what then? Who are we supposed to blame? You? Me? Or Sora? "when will you be able to stand up for us Mom? Do you expect us to live like this forever, will you ever be able to get us out of here Mom?
He shouts tears threatening to leave his eyes, but he blinks them away avoiding his eyes to be swollen again.
His mom glares at him in anger before uttering some hurtful words toward him.
He didn't want to argue with his mom so he brushes the words away, heading back to his room to change into his school apparel.
He looks around trying to find something presentable to wear, but there were none, so he puts on a pair of black torn jeans and a white long sleeve old t-shirt that is now veering brown, because of how often he has worn it and washed it.
He looks around for his daily black shoes torn on both flanks and sol almost over.
He then grabs the comb, combing his hair making his hair fall on his neck and his face to cover up the bruises on him.
The long sleeve was to cover the bruises too, even if it's sunny these days.
He takes the ointment bottle and tries to find something inside for his face but it was over.
With a heavy sigh, he closes his eyes and then breaths in counting from one to ten, to calm himself down.
After that, he picks up his handbag and throws it on his left shoulder then closes the door on his way out.
Before leaving he walks into Sora's room to say his goodbyes, Sora hugs him tightly while Taehyung kisses her forehead and then breaks the hug.
On his way out, he meets his mom washing his dad's clothes, he is very hurt by the scene because he wanted to wash his school clothing yesterday, but his mom said that there was no soap for that.
But now seeing her just reminded him that her mother had hidden the soap from him just to be washing his dad's clothes.
He keeps his head up looking at his mom expressionless.
"I can explain dear is not what you think.
His mom tries to talk to him but he just says goodbye and proceeds with his way out.
He wants to scream for help, he wants to run away, and he wishes for his savior to come to get him out of this hellfire he's in, but all these wishes seem just dreams because he believes that no one will ever save him.
As he walks to school it will take him 30 minutes to reach, that is if he jogs very fast, he feels dizzy and vulnerable, and his legs are trembling due to the pain.
His mind was clouded with too many questions without answers, he wants to sob but was afraid of being seen as a weakling.
He blinks his tears In, keeping his smile as he continues to jog away, he walks and runs to school even though the situation at school is no different.
The only reason he might take it various is that at home it's his family but in school are a bunch of rude rich kids who despise the poor kids.
He reached the school gate taking in a little breath before he steps inside muttering to himself.
"Welcome to another hell hole Kim Taehyung.