even on a cloudy day

[strutsandfrets]

 

Name: Nam Taehyun
Nickname:n/a
Band/Solo: Winner
Journal: strutsandfrets 
Aim: # heartshaped.boxes
Age: 20
Year: Sophomore
Fraternity: Delta Tau Delta
Major: Music Theory & Composition
Clubs/Sports: Music club

Biography:

Before Taehyun was born, it was said that no one could master a straight face quite like his mother. She was soon to be outdone. Even as a child, Taehyun was already beginning to master the art of letting nothing slip through the cracks; a feat that would have been concerning if not for the source. His mother's stern face and nature were well known throughout the Hanam neighborhood he grew up in, a cluster of hodge-podge housing thrown down and stitched together with housewife gossip. What was mistaken as a strict parenting style was actually a mother's love and fear mixed into one single, potent concoction. Rumor had it that Taehyun's father had skipped town the moment he realized he'd conceived a son, taking his money with him. "The most important part," his mother often complained over a third cigarette, before it was even noon.
 

No ill feelings were between mother and son, which disproved the rumor that they had a strained relationship. Taehyun played the part of good son and was allowed a healthy amount of teenage rebellion for it, with an understanding that he'd be home by nightfall. His life was more or less surrounded by rumors, though he largely ignored them. Sometimes, he even entertained them. He'd wiggle his fingers at the shopkeepers that whispered about witch craft running in the family, or sigh and wipe a fake tear away when they murmured about his father "mysteriously lost at sea". His personal favorite? His mother snapping one day and doing his father in with a kitchen knife. As far as he cared, that may as well have been the truth.
 

Despite the lies, Taehyun wasn't without friends. He found companionship in school with his mellow, fun-loving personality. It was with his new group of comrades that he began experiencing life, began to grow. He experimented in love, whether it was behind the school or in a cramped backseat of a car, and things were good. Ideal, even. They were invincible. A group seven boys strong, all brought together due to broken homes or simple boredom. Taehyun counted himself among the latter. A lax in parental supervision led him to summer days spent wandering Hanam with his group, navigating both rusty train tracks and the tedious roads of the teenage years alike. Closely-knit, it was as if nothing could tear the group apart. Whatever any one individual was suffering - abuse at home, issues in school, uncertainty of the future, they shared as one. Their bond was held together by music, whether it was Nirvana CDs or their own garage renditions. Youth has a way of seeming eternal. It's strange, then, what twists and turns our lives take. 
 

Late August, 2011. A high school boy is discovered dead in his room, curled up on his bed. Cause of death, seizure. No warning. Estimated time of death, sometime between two and six a.m. An entire family rocked, a group of friends down to six. Taehyun would never forget the call he received that day, how fast he broke down. The next weeks were filled with mourning, alcohol, cigarettes. Anything to escape reality. As the years went on, Taehyun's group dissipated, what with their lives changing and time creating divides as it does. Each person went their own way, and soon even phone calls weren't as common. Taehyun struggled to adjust with that change, the feeling that he was all alone. In that time, he grew up fast. As Murakami says, "I used to think that people grow up gradually, little by little... It turns out, they don’t. A person grows up instantly."
 

Reflecting on his friend's death, Taehyun decided to do something with his life. He wanted to make something of himself, especially when his friend never had the opportunity. He wanted to do what he loved doing. Following high school, and his penchant for creating music, Taehyun applied and got accepted into Yonsei University for a major in Music Theory and Composition. He was given a warm welcome into Delta Tau Delta, and even kicked his smoking habit (mostly). The year he began university was the official new start that he'd been craving, having teetered so close to the edge. Though the pain of his loss still nags at him in quiet moments, Taehyun can only move forward.