A New Home... For All of Us (Part 1)

This chapter has a different part and title for each main character, and there are thirteen of them. So, this is from Junghan's POV (part one of his intro story).

Jeonghan (Jung Han)'s POV

As I walked through the halls of my childhood home one more time, I tried to take in all of the scents and all the little things that I had never noticed before until now. I was going to be gone for quite a while, and I couldn't help but be reluctant about leaving the place that had offered me comfort my entire life.

 

"Junghan! Are you ready, dear?" A voice that I would always recognize as my mother's called me from the kitchen and I gasped slightly, turning towards the voice, startled despite myself.

"I'm ready, eomma," I spoke softly, my voice traveling through the quiet house like an echo. I made a confused face, thinking that it was too quiet in the house for my liking. Something was wrong.

 

"Oppa!!" I heard a shrill scream as my 8-year-old younger sister, Dae Sung, came bounding down the stairs of our house to tackle me to the floor in a tight hug. I laughed softly, thinking that everything was right, now that it was a bit noisy. I then looked up to see my 10-year-old younger brother, Jin Soo, standing a few feet away, attempting to smile but failing, as he fiddled with the hem of his sweater. It hurt my heart to see him sad, especially if I was the one causing it, but I had no choice.

 

"Hyung..." he whimpered quietly, looking at me with traces of tears in his distraught eyes. Meanwhile, Dae Sung nuzzled her face into my neck, oblivious to how her other brother was feeling.

I opened my arms and reached up to him, hoping for a hug, and Jin Soo jumped into my arms as if there were no tomorrow. Well, there practically wasn’t.

 

I heard the floorboards creak and I turned towards the sound to find my mother standing outside the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel and smiling sadly at the scene.

 

“Eomma…” I trailed off, not knowing what to say.

 

“Kids, your brother has to leave soon, so say your goodbyes now,” she said, sniffing and taking a deep breath before turning around to go back into the kitchen.

 

Dae Sung stood up and ran to the kitchen, seemingly excited about what our mother was doing, though I didn’t know what it was, which made me even more curious.

 

Turning my attention back to Jin Soo, who had taken Dae Sung’s place in my lap and buried his face in the crook of my neck, I hugged him closer to my body and stroked his hair gently to calm him down. I felt wet tears fall to my shoulder and his body began to shudder, his shoulders jolting from holding back his sobs. His small hands wrapped around my chest and grabbed at my back, rumpling the uniform I had washed and ironed the night before.

 

A few minutes later, Jin Soo pulled his face back from my shoulder and sniffed hard, then gratefully took the tissue I offered him from the pocket of my uniform jacket and rubbed at his face furiously to rid of the unsightly crying face.

 

Looking at his face now, I could clearly make out the streaks on his pale, flushed skin where warm tears had fallen from his wide, light brown eyes. He smiled, determined not to let me leave with a sad expression on either of our faces, then patted my hair that was just like his.

 

After Jin Soo had found out that I was leaving, he dyed his hair a grey-blue shade and grew it out to look similar to mine, so that he would be able to have a piece of me with him at all times. I found it quite endearing and made sure to compliment and play with his hair as often as possible without it seeming forced because it really wasn't.

 

He smiled again, his cheeks pink and chubby, then hugged me tightly before jumping up and running off to the kitchen, leaving me alone with my fingers clutching the strap of my book bag and my hand closed around the handle of my luggage.

 

This place that I’m going to, I know it will be something good for me and my family. I’ll make sure that my mother and father remain proud of me. Looking around me once again and listening to the faint voices of my family in the kitchen makes me determined to make it so that I don’t disappoint them.

Author's Note

I'm trying to decide how I should spell/stylize his name: Jeonghan, Junghan, or Jung Han? Same with the siblings. Dae Sung or Daesung? Jin Soo or Jinsoo?