Prologue
It was still winter, in Seoul. The streets which were lined with plants and blanketed with snow, were still glittering with morning dew.
I was in the car with my parents, on the way to my first day of middle school. The roads were slick with ice; my father should have driven more carefully. However, he and my mother had to attend to an extremely important press conference about one of their k-pop idol groups who were debuting for their very first time, after dropping me off.
Although, thanks to me, they were going to be late because I did not want to go to school out of fear that I wouldn’t fit in.
My mother spent almost a good half hour trying to convince me that it would all go well in a sugary sweet tone.
“Please, Jimin, you have to go to school. You will make a lot of friends and you will learn many wonderful things.”
While she was speaking, I was crying soundlessly on her shoulder, her attempts of comforting me continuing with her warm hugs and kisses.
During all this my father was leaning against the door frame of my bedroom, staring down at me with an almost disapproving look. Despite all this, I still did not change my mind and carried on with my sobbing.
In the end, my father decided to take matters into his own hands. He started dragging me roughly by my left arm out of the house and into the car, with my mother looking worried in tow.
When he realised that they were going to be late, he started driving carelessly, not thinking twice of the dangerously icy and slippery road.
Nearing the crossroad, my father was trying to slow down the car, but the brakes just wouldn’t budge, and we kept up our near illegal speed.
Out of nowhere, a car showed up on the road to the left and even after my father took his foot completely off the gas pedal, we kept on skidding ahead with a screech.
We collided with the other car and then hit the adjacent side of the road with so much force that I was sent out of my seat, slamming my head against the back of the driver’s seat.
After that, all I can remember is hearing a familiar voice shouting my name, slowly fading away and replacing itself with darkness and silence...
