goodnight, my angel
as much as the war can change a person, deoksu makes a promise to not let the ways of battle and heart-wrenching bloodshed do that to him. even if, deep down, he knows it has. he’ll still go by his home, arms wrapped around his family with a healthy smile because in truth, he’s missed them. missed them a whole lot to a point that after years, he had a ghost of a thought that he’d never see them -- see her -- ever again.
yet, the years had passed and he returns home from duty: all intact. arms, legs and smile in place. everything choi deoksu had been before the war, all back together again. and the chance to come back is an opportunity not to be wasted and in his haste, he comes home past sunset as reds and titian swirls color the sky. everything in the same place he had left it, but also, very different.
unlike many others, deoksu returns home unscathed. he knows this isn’t the man his father wishes to see. somehow certain that the choi elder would have much preferred a plaque in his stead but he comes home, welcomed by arms that are much too warm to be the father he had known all those years ago -- the pain at his cheek a friendly reminder whenever he needed it -- but he says nothing, does nothing except take what has been given with his own, more familiar approach: what deoksu had always done, time and time again. taking it with a smile and a hearty laugh that he knows his father wishes was deeper, less carefree.
he takes it because he’s finally home, and the welcome was more than well-appreciated.
⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ━━ @dalxdeokhye 、 i promised i would never leave you ⋆
