Umi: No, I'm not doubting you. I'm questioning the professionalism of the national team. How come they kept someone dumb like you as the leader. You don't even remember the date.
Tae: (smiled) I really thought it's 15th June as you said that you'd join Pride Parade. So it wasn't today? (pout)
Umi: (smiled) I can't!! I really can't, not with this kiddo at least! I really wonder sometimes. Are you sure you were born in '95? Am I really 4 years younger than you? Well, you got this handsome face from your dad, cuteness from your mom then?
Tae: Hell, no! She's sassy.
Umi laughed out.
Umi: You're hilarious! God knows from where did you learn this way of joking, won't even leave your mom alone.
Tae's smile dropped in a second that didn't get unnoticed by Umi. She cursed herself immediately as she knew well whom she reminded him of.
Umi: Tae, I'm hella hungry. Let's get something to eat first, shall we?
Tae: Oh, my poor Umi! Alright. Let's go. I'll make you taste the most delicious food on earth.
They left the greenroom of the auditorium and reached a restaurant nearby. Tae wanted Umi to taste Japchae but she insisted to have Makguksu. When the food reached, Tae was on the ninth cloud as the dish was unbelievably delicious.
Umi: My goodness, Tae! I can't believe some mere noodles could be so delicious.
Tae: You might not believe but I feel the same. I never had such delicious Makguksu ever before.
Umi: We gotta tip the chef here then.
Tae: I wish we could. But it's something disrespectful in our country.
Umi: Bro, you can't be serious!
Tae: It's true. I'm not lying.
Tae and Umi enjoyed the rest of the meal silently. When they left the restaurant, Umi pouted.
Umi: Are you sure it'd be disrespectful to tip him?
Tae: (chuckled) If you're really that much concerned, I'll buy something for him later OK? It's closer to my house anyway.
Umi: But I remember your location was a bit away from this neighbor.
Tae: That was my brother's house. I shifted here last week. Now tell me what you wanna do now. Wanna go visit the Queer Fest or take a little nap first?
Umi: Nap..... we can think about it later. I'm not tired yet. Let's move to the festival first.
South Korea doesn't support to register same sex marriage, but they allow Queer Culture Festivals. As June is the Pride month officially, the queer community hold a festival in Seoul every year. Since the first Pride festival in the South Korean capital in 2000, the event has traditionally been held in the city's main plaza.
This year's Seoul Pride, also known as the Seoul Queer Culture Festival, has been moved to the Euljiro district, about a kilometer away. And the pride parade was scheduled to be held on 15th June. Taehyung never joined the parade before, but he's quite familiar with the festival.
When they reached at the festival, it was already crowded. Tae took out his mask as he knows he got admirers from this community too. He doesn't wanna draw their attention.
After roaming around till 9 p.m, they went to Tae's apartment. No sooner they entered the house, a little Pomeranian rushed out happily and jumped on Tae's lap. Tae bend down and kissed him. Umi patted his head gently.
Umi: Is that Kim Yeontan you mentioned before?
Tae: Yeah, that's my baby Tan. Cute, isn't he?
Umi: Yes, indeed. Aw, sweetie, come to me.
Tae passed him to Umi and turned the other lights on. As none of them could cook, they ordered food from the restaurant they had their meal earlier in the afternoon. The food was as delicious as they expected. Yeontan seemed to be satisfied with his meal too.
As they both were so tired after a busy day, Tae showed Umi her room and went back to his own with an intention to sleep after brushing teeth and washing face. Yeontan usually stays with Namjoon and Jin. But he brought him home as he was missing him. After taking a shower, Tae fall asleep with Yeontan in his arms.
Next day when he woke up, he found Tannie already woke up and left the bed. Umi also left a note on the dining table beside the breakfast she ordered, "I gotta go shopping. I'm sure you're not gonna wake up any sooner so I called another Korean friend to help me out this time. Don't worry about me. I already had my meal. Don't forget to finish your part of the breakfast. I ordered it from our favorite restaurant again."
Tae smiled and finished his meal. Then he prepared food for Yeontan and headed towards the balcony to find his baby Tannie. Tannie was playing with a purple diary Tae never saw before. He took Tan on his lap and feed him. He definitely was curious about that diary but feeding his baby comes first.
Soon after that Namjoon came to pick Yeontan up with him. As he was on his way back to home from the grocery shop, he left some groceries for Tae too. But he didn't stay for long. "Your brother in law is gonna k*ll me if he's late for office." That's what Namjoon said before leaving. Tae chuckled as he knows how dangerous Jin can be sometimes.
After Namjoon left, Tae went to the balcony to pick up the diary Tannie was playing with. He couldn't remember seeing it ever before. It was a fine diary with purple velvet cover. Tae sat on his bed and opened it.
Tae's POV: The diary was quite unique. That diary was from 2013. The front page of the diary was decorated with newspaper clips, forming a symbol. The owner is pretty creative, I must say.
Thank God we have Google now. I quickly took out my phone and turned on Google Lense. Google said it's the symbol of peace. Was he a philanthropist? Or a philosopher? It's not really a good thing to read someone's diary without permission, but it's not my fault if someone leaves it in my apartment, right? So let's see what's inside.
The next page contained a sketch, sketch of someone's hand. Judging from the length it should be of a boy.
So, he's an artist? The hands look pretty familiar. The next page is also filled with those same hands. The hands are firm and tender at the same time. And his way of pointing out the curves.... it proves that he had been observing those hands for quite a long time. Wait, is it a He? Well, my gut says it should be a girl.
The next one is the sketch of the eyes. She drew them pretty eloquently. Even a kid can say, that those pair of eyes belongs to the same person, just the emotions are different.
These eyes is expressing something unexplainable. It reminds me of a drama I watched recently. The protagonist had a secret crush on the female lead. But he was too egoist to admit it, even to himself. He always used to pick on her and these two used to fight for silliest reason, even sometimes with no valid reason.
After he started to discover his feelings, the protagonist of that drama used to stare at the female lead with this look in his eyes. And inside he used to say, "Why does it have to be like this between us? I wonder, what would have happened if we never started fighting like this. But that's the only way you wouldn't look at someone else."
Wah, this artist girl is pretty romantic, isn't she? Is the boy her crush? Then his crush must be a dumb one like that protagonist.
This one seems sad and lost, a bit scared too. But the question is, why was he sad? The date was 24th November, 2016. So it's a sketch drawn 3 years later.
He's furrowing his eyes here, or should I say he's hella pissed off? But this reaction doesn't seem like someone angry totally, more like whining with a lovely glare in his eyes. She's quite skilled, a professional one I should say. But if it's not because of her profession, I would definitely wonder how much she likes this boy to draw out such an amazing sketch with detailed and hidden emotions.