Christmas was past. New Year’s Eve was tomorrow. Snow blanketed the landscape as far as the eye could see. Tae had traveled out into the country. To the farm on which he’d grown up. His beloved grandparents’ home.
He was lying in bed. Staring up at the ceiling. He could already smell the breakfast his precious eomma was preparing to celebrate his twenty-sixth birthday today. His boxy grin was in evidence this morning as he breathed in the delicious aromas emanating from her kitchen. He missed his mother’s cooking. And so many other elements of home.
Sometimes he wondered if he would ever overcome those melancholy feelings. Every boy grew up and moved out eventually. They didn’t spend their years wallowing in regret because they were no longer living with their parents. But there were certain experiences in life that he could only enjoy at his eomma’s table. Certain feelings that he had felt nowhere else. Not even at a sushi bar in Los Angeles or a café in Paris or a bistro in London.
Nobody could replicate the authentic touch with which his eomma graced his life. No one ever would. The best he could hope for was that one day he would meet a woman who would both steal his heart and possess her own amazing touch in the kitchen. And that she would become every bit as important to him as his mother always had been. His future wife would not replace his eomma; rather, she would carve out her own unique niche in his heart and life.
He was looking forward to that. Though, he was fairly certain such an occurrence wouldn’t happen for many years. BTS was his life now. They would continue to be so for a long time in the future too.
But today he didn’t have to make any choices. This morning he could bask in the comforts of home. In the glow of his eomma’s smile. In the aromas of her love poured into dishes that never failed to tempt him. In the laughter of his brother and sister. In the affection of his appa’s grin. Yep, today was going to be a beautiful day.
So he finally rose from bed and dressed in something comfortable that still managed to make him look quite sharp. The boy was a born model. Even when he was just lounging around.
He scooped up a sleeping Yeontan off his bed and crooned to him affectionately in a breathy whisper before tucking him under his left arm. Tae opened his bedroom door and stood still as his eyes took in the purple present resting on the floor outside his door.
How odd. This was just like the last four birthdays members of his band had celebrated this year. Jungkook, Namjoon, Jimin, and Jin had all awoken to find a wrapped present outside of their bedroom doors. But Tae had not expected to receive one himself. He wasn’t staying with the boys this week. He had come home for Christmas and remained for his birthday. So…where on earth had the box come from? Had his parents left it for him? Or maybe his sister? Or his brother?
But as he gazed at it, he accepted a fanciful thought. It looked like a gift from ARMY. It was wrapped in a shiny purple paper that just screamed ARMY’s name. And that of BTS. Had the guys somehow delivered his birthday present to his parents’ home?
There was only one way to find out. So he bent and retrieved it, carrying it with him to the kitchen. His mother greeted him as he walked through the doorway.
“What’s that?” she asked as she eyed his gift.
Surprised, he glanced sharply at her. “You don’t know?”
“Mm-nmm.”
“This present isn’t from you and Appa?”
“No, honey. I’ve never seen it before.”
“Wha—? I thought it must be from you.”
“Where did you find it?”
“It was on the floor outside my bedroom door.”
“Well, it must be—”
“Eomma! What is that fabulous smell?” his brother interrupted her in mid-thought.
“Tae’s favorite,” she beamed.
So did Tae. Then his brother noticed his violet box.
“What’s that?”
“You don’t know?”
His brother shrugged. “Why would I?”
“I don’t know,” Tae mimicked his brother as he rolled his own shoulders up before letting them fall down. “I thought maybe it was from you.”
“Nah. You know I’m not much of a gift giver.”
Tae’s boxy grin suddenly surfaced again as he reached out to ruffle his little brother’s hair. “Maybe it’s from—”
This time the interruption came from his sister. “Ooh! What a pretty present! Is it yours, Tae?” She turned wide eyes on him.
He grinned at his baby sister. Whom he adored. He reached out, and his arm snaked around her waist as he drew her close to his side.
“It appears so,” he murmured in his deep voice.
She turned her gaze up towards him. “Well? Aren’t you going to open it?”
“Do you think I should? I don’t even know who it’s from.”
“Maybe that will become obvious when you open it,” she reasoned.
“Well, I think it must be from Appa. Who else could have left it in front of my door? There’s only the five of us here. And all of you,” he glanced at his sister, brother, and eomma, “have denied having any knowledge of its origin. So, it must be from Appa.”
“What’s from me?” another deep voice joined the fray.
“Tae’s present,” his sister explained as she pointed at the purple package Tae had set down on the table.
But his father shook his head slowly as he gazed at the gift. “Never seen it before.” His eyes lifted to meet Tae’s. “You don’t know where it came from?”
Tae shook his head. “I don’t. I just found it outside my door this morning.”
“Hmm. It appears someone snuck into our house to bless you, Tae,” his appa theorized as a smile danced upon his lips.
“But who would have done such a thing?”
Tae could think of only six people whom he knew would do such a thing. But they were all back in Seoul by now, weren’t they?
