Chapter Text
If paradise was an apartment complex in which the residents could get into their apartments from an outdoor balcony, where the doors were as pale as snow on a winter’s night, where the air always remained clean from any smokey blemishes, then he had finally arrived in the promised land of South Korea.
Welcome to paradise, Kim Seokjin sighed as he stood in front of his brand-new apartment in Seoul, snow-white doors, smiley-face patterned welcome mat and all. The small little doorbell attached to the side of his apartment door was painted silver, with some of the paint chipping off around the edges, as if it was an elder giving up its precious life to the inevitable monster called time, if time even was a monster to begin with. Seokjin had always thought of time as a two-faced deity, as if it was both an angel and a demon at the same time, for it certainly had its benefits, though possessed a darker side to its bright glory. Time had made him grow as a person, providing him with the access of knowledge and experience each person was bound to obtain within the brief moments of their lives, though time had also snatched away pieces of life as well. As much as time crafted his life, it also deteriorated bits of it as well, for he knew that his time left on the world would shrink with every second he decided to waste.
Seokjin dug around inside his pocket for his new house keys, knowing exactly what was located in his left sweatpant pocket, knowing how the candy wrapper from the drive here was right next to the straw wrapper from yesterday’s dinner with his best friend Hoseok. Within the mess inside his pocket were his new keys, given to him the moment he stepped inside the apartment complex. The key was an elegant shade of silver--luster extracted directly from the moon, it seemed.
The moment the keys locked into place with the doorknob, Seokjin’s breath hitched, his heart beating inside of him like a young child excited for his first day of school, thrilled for new adventures laying ahead of him. He was no different from the little kid within him, for adrenaline began to pump through his veins upon the sight of his brand-new apartment, all empty, all his, the walls painted angel-white and the floors squeaky clean, as if nobody had ever lived there before.
To Seokjin, his new apartment was a carbon copy of those he had seen on magazine covers, completely clean and almost perfect for the lifestyle he had been dreaming of as a broke college student. He had scraped up every last coin in his savings account to pay for this new apartment.
The moving trucks would arrive soon, and Seokjin would begin to decorate his new apartment once and for all. But for now, the building was bare and stripped to the bone, completely vacant like an empty crater formed by the asteroids up above the world, falling from the sky like rhinestones strung up in the universe.
Slowly closing the door behind him, Seokjin began to explore his new home, eyes drinking the beautiful scenery laid out in front of him, from the large windows to the vast kitchen in the center of his apartment, electric stove and all. He was already thinking about what to make for dinner that night, mind scrambling between simple kimchi fried rice to take-out from the fast food restaurant across the street.
Seokjin opened the fridge, half-expecting food already prepared for him, disappointment settling inside his stomach like a stone the moment he was greeted with emptiness. Back at his childhood house, his parents always made sure the fridge was full of food, whether it’d be ingredients for that night’s dinner or some cold desserts in need of a cold atmosphere. Grabbing an ice cream bar after a long day’s worth of work was the best feeling in the world.
He had found a new job in Seoul, which was the primary reason he moved to this new apartment. Nothing too big, of course, as he was just some university graduate with a pocketful of money from his parents and his first workplace. A nice, stable job was all he needed to kickstart his independent life in a world full of mysteries and dangers.
His mother had told him stories about the outside world when he was a teenager. She told him about the usual; drug dealers, burglars, criminals, serial killers, and other messed-in-the-head bastards that roamed on the streets scot-free. It all sent shivers down fourteen year old Seokjin’s spine, but he knew better than to be afraid of such things.
Luckily, he hadn’t ran into any criminals and other jerks like that so far, but he was always frightened when he sauntered down the street at night.
He sighed, leaning his back against a bare wall, fatigued. The ride from Gwacheon to Seoul wasn’t the thing that tired him down to the bone, but the pressure and anticipation of living on his own drained all of his energy. He had been overly excited and nervous the entire ride to Seoul, too jittery to relax and too anxious to feel pure euphoria.
From the other side of the wall, he heard a voice--his neighbor from next door--talking to presumingly a friend or a family. He cocked an eyebrow as he listened to his neighbor talk in a low, calm, soothing voice.
“Alright, Mon-ah,” a chuckling voice said. “Let’s go on our evening walk.”
Okay, definitely not a friend or a family. A pet perhaps? But what kind of person takes their dog out on a walk in the evening? As far as Seokjin knew, most people walked their dogs--and other pets, but that’s another story for another day--during the morning or the afternoon, for their evenings were most likely preoccupied.
Seokjin rushed to the front window which displays the world outside his humble little apartment, peeking sneakily out the window, hoping that his neighbor wouldn’t notice and have a strange first impression of him. Seokjin wasn’t a creep or a stalker, but simply a curious man. To make his neighbor think that he was some sort of weirdo who spied on other people would probably convince him to move to yet another apartment residence. It wasn’t worth the risk to be caught.
From his window, he could see a tall man with honey tinted skin and medium brown hair slicked back to reveal his forehead, wearing a dark blue top with matching pants, holding a hot pink leash. The leash was attached to a blissful looking, fluffy, white dog that jumped around excitedly. An American Eskimo dog, Seokjin smiled slightly at the sight of the man trying to calm down the hyper dog, giggling as the man became dragged forward by his pet’s rapid actions. It was such a wholesome scene.
Watching the man disappear around the corner, Seokjin stepped away from the window, his smile stretching from ear to ear. He had a white dog too, but he was back home. Jjangu, his partner in crime for over twelve years, was happily spending his life with Seokjin’s parents, where he was soaking up all of the attention he and his brothers had when they were children.
“You sly dog,” Seokjin light-heartedly laughed, shaking his head. “Taking all the attention.”
Of course, he didn’t mind, for he was glad to be alone for the first time in his life. After living under his parents’ rules for a grueling twenty-five years, he was finally ready to have a breath of fresh air, free from his mother’s, ‘no dessert after 10pm’ rule that virtually nobody followed anymore, for everybody in his family had grown up to be adults.
He checked the clock on his new stove, noticing how evening had already rolled past. He had spent most of his day packing up the last of his belongings, sending them off to the moving truck, and saying his goodbyes before finally driving to Seoul. The last time he ate was eleven o’ clock in the morning, and it was already six. He was nearly starving to death.
Kimchi fried rice or take-out? He pondered as he strolled around in his new kitchen. To cook some homemade meals would require a quick run to the supermarket, and his stomach was already growling with hunger that needed to be satisfied within the next thirty minutes. Ordering some nice food in celebration of his new life would be great, even if he had nobody to celebrate it with.
Picking up his phone, he spotted a new message from Hoseok, asking if he had made it to the apartment safely. He responded with an assurance that he was safe and that he had arrived without any faults. Hoseok sent him a picture of himself giving the other a thumbs up in response.
“What’s good around here?” he asked, to seemingly nobody as he scrolled through the restaurants in Seoul. There were fast-food restaurants, some fancy, expensive restaurants, diners, and more. He had no idea which one to pick.
Eventually, he settled on a nice, homey restaurant that had all of his favorite, homemade meals. Not too cheap to make him question the quality, nor too expensive to make both him and his wallet cry. It was nearly perfect.
He ordered some japchae, hotteok, and kimbap for the evening. The delivery, as he was told, was going to arrive soon, satisfying his hungry stomach, depleted of his favorite foods. After paying for the meal, he checked the text message given to him by the moving truck company, telling him that they would arrive in forty minutes. Something about being busy with other customers, but Seokjin wasn’t in the mood to complain about moving his furniture late at night. He wanted food as soon as possible.
As he waited for his food to arrive, he began to talk to Hoseok, telling him about the new life in Seoul, about the neighbor who walked his dog when the sun went away, about the abundance of food around his apartment complex. Seoul was known for its diverse number of foods, becoming a hit place for tourists when they visited Korea. Hoseok only whined about his job and the same food in Gwacheon, wishing to accompany Seokjin in his new life. Seokjin only laughed teasingly.
Around ten minutes had passed when he heard stirring outside his door, head perking up and eyes peeking out the window to spot the source of the noise, only to see his handsome neighbor with his American Eskimo dog, who had seemed to calm down during their bizarre walk. The walls were as thin as paper, for Seokjin was able to hear almost everything, from the laughter in the neighbor’s voice to the dog’s barking when it smelled food from inside its owner’s apartment. Privacy was probably the last thing on the builders mind when they created this apartment, Seokjin snorted, not annoyed at all.
When the chipped doorbell sang a melody inside his apartment, he rushed to the front door to greet the delivery man, who refused his tips and offered him a smile and a bag of delicious food that made Seokjin’s mouth water. He thanked the man and bid him a good evening, taking the food to his granite kitchen table, where many more meals were to come. This would be his new cavern of creations.
Humming, he opened the bag carefully to see his japchae, hotteok, and kimbap, wafting an irresistible aroma that filled the apartment, making his stomach growl even more than before, his hunger growing bigger. The abundance of food made him wonder how he was going to eat it all, for he couldn’t simply eat all of this in one sitting. He had to either invite other people or save it for later.
His brown-haired neighbor came into mind. Come to think about it, did he perhaps have dimples? Seokjin tried to recall the moment in which his neighbor laughed at his endearing dog, remembering how two small depressions formed on his cheeks the moment he laughed. It was a rather small detail, but somehow, Seokjin managed to remember it like it was a vital part of his identity, like his name.
Should he bring some food to his neighbor?
Shaking his head, he decided to simply save the food for tomorrow. He would eat some of it for breakfast and go grocery shopping for some food so his wallet wouldn’t strain from the first week of being alone. Living all by himself was proving itself to be much more difficult than he originally thought, he sighed. He would have to be careful with his money, for he had promised his parents that his new job would ease the worry of being broke and poor. He had promised them that he would be wise with his money, and that calling them for some more wouldn’t be needed.
He used the wooden chopsticks to eat his japchae, delighted at the delicious taste, glad that he wouldn’t be a poor man living off of instant noodles and strange combinations, like he used to as a university student. Having some good food was always an accomplishment, he had learned.
His mother had taught him to cook when he was in school, worried that he would continue the rest of his university life eating processed food. It started out rough, as he would often burn pans and stove tops and leave the food raw, but he soon turned into a decent chef that could easily cook for himself if he wanted. Fried rice? His speciality. Kimchi jjigae? He was a master at making that. Samgyeopsal? He could make it with his eyes closed.
Well, the last one was quite a stretch, but Seokjin’s cooking skills were never to be doubted.
While he ate, he reached for his remote control and turned on the television in the living room, watching the news as he scooped some kimbap into his mouth. Some random stuff about the weather clearing up for the first time and a famous rapper dropping some sort of love song. Seokjin pretended to be interested while he ate, his eyes widening only at creative commercials that appeared here and there. The news that night was pretty boring.
His phone buzzed from beside him, his head perking up with japchae noodles still in his mouth, quickly eating them and wiping his mouth with a napkin before reaching for his phone. A small message popped onto his lockscreen--which of course, was a picture of him and Hoseok at a local cafe--telling him that the moving trucks would arrive in around five minutes. He looked around his empty apartment, glad that it would be filled soon, the vacancy evaporating to give him the smallest bit of company. He didn’t have a roommate, but figured that his furniture and framed pictures of his family would keep him from feeling completely isolated.
Along with the message informing him about the arrival time, another one popped up.
“Apartment 511, correct?”
He typed back, assuring the person on the other side that they, indeed, had the correct apartment number. Having an apartment above ground was one of his dreams, as childish as it sounded, for he had always lived in a house that was planted on the ground. Being able to walk out onto a balcony, with the city circling beneath him, the wind blowing past him, was a big dream of his. The most of his dreams he had experienced as a child was staring out his bedroom window on the second floor. He never got to feel the chilly air brush past his hair.
Now, living five stories up, Seokjin felt at ease with his new life. The building only had seven floors.
Seokjin stood up from his chair, packaging the extra food he couldn’t finish, tucking the containers away inside his new fridge. He made a mental note to eat these tomorrow for breakfast before closing the door, sighing with a content feeling coursing through his veins. A filling dinner was just what he needed to ease his hunger.
He shut off the television and decided to invest his time in doing something more interesting, such as exploring the new apartment from left to right. The first place he walked to was the balcony; the place he was most excited about ever since he looked at the apartment’s reviews months ago. The glass doors of the balcony were transparent, allowing him to see the darkening outdoors, the sky already a shade of orange as the sun slowly dipped its head beneath the horizon, like a monster admitting its defeat. The stars were slowly blinking into place, the moon strung up in the sky, translucent. He unlocked the door and slid it open, breath hitching as his bare feet touched the cold ground.
The sky looked beautiful, with the hues of orange and shades of purples blending together to form a messy--yet breathtaking--portrait. August air was always chilly when the sun left the sky, making Seokjin shiver beneath its freezing touch. The balcony had enough room for multiple people at a time. It was strange, practically having two balconies--one up front, one in the back--but Seokjin found that he didn’t mind at all.
The moment he heard his chipped doorbell sing again, he lowered his head, the smile he had been wearing remaining on his face as he hurried to greet the moving truck people.
In the morning, he stirred awake to the smell of chamomile and vanilla, his mind not yet comprehending his new surroundings, as he was expecting to wake up in his childhood bedroom, geeky posters and all. It was unusual, waking up in a plain white bed, with a wooden nightstand next to him, holding nothing but a lamp. The rest of his new bedroom could be described in one word; plain. He didn’t have enough time last night to make his room all pretty, for he had to focus on more important stuff, such as arguing with the moving people on tipping. They compromised and Seokjin managed to leave the argument with a smirk, satisfied that he got to tip the moving worker, who only sighed as he gratefully took his five thousand won tip.
Seokjin yawned, stretching his arms as sunlight from his cream colored curtains bled into the room, blinding his still-sleepy eyes. His hand groped for his charging phone, which told him that it was already seven in the morning. Surprisingly early, and he scolded his body for waking him up so early in the day. As much as he wanted to go back to sleep, he knew that this entire day would be full with new things to do. Shopping, taking care of other errands, buying decor, and many more tasks were laid out for the day. No time left for sleeping in.
The good thing was that he wouldn’t have to go to work for another two days, his boss had told him. ‘He needed time to settle down in Seoul’ was what he said through the phone the moment he told Seokjin he had been hired. Frankly, Seokjin was just glad that he had gotten hired.
A good morning text from Hoseok made him smile. He replied back with a picture of his new room. Hoseok told him that it needed a major glow up. Seokjin rolled his eyes.
Rolling out of bed, the first thing he did was to draw his curtains, the early August sunlight making him hiss as he shielded his eyes from the sharp light. Rubbing his eyes to adjust to the foreign luminosity, he could see the world beneath his feet, watching people rush to work with hot coffees and biscuits in their hands. The traffic was rather packed in the morning, horns screaming and people yelling for taxis. Seoul, Seokjin decided, was much noisier than Gwacheon.
After letting the light into his room, he made a beeline to the bathroom, which was rather empty as well. The sink held nothing more than just his facial necessities, toothbrush, and toothpaste. He figured he didn’t need to glam up his bathroom, for nobody would step in there anyway. It was just for him.
His minty toothpaste tasted the same, his facial creams and washes still smelled the same, but he couldn’t help but feel like something was different. Well, that was an understatement, for he was literally in a whole new city, but his heart screamed homesickness. Though his new house was calm and quiet without the early morning chatter of his parents--seriously, who wakes up at six am?--he still missed the sound of his parents’ whispers and the buzzing of the coffee machine.
Shaking his head, he left the bathroom. Homesickness was inevitable, he told himself. He would have to get used to his new lifestyle, even without Jjangu and his parents.
When he stepped into the kitchen, he half-expected a coffee machine on the counter, his heart dropping when he realized that it was completely empty. He made a reminder to buy a coffee machine during his grocery trip later that day. He couldn’t live without a cup of nice, cold coffee in the morning. Hot coffee was only good for cold days.
Opening the fridge, he grabbed the leftovers from last night’s dinner, popping them in the microwave for a good minute or two, letting them heat up. Cold leftovers were probably the most disgusting food in the world next to fish. He shivered upon recalling his first memory with eating fish, which resulted in a quick hospital trip and tweezers down his throat. Definitely not his proudest moment.
As he stood around, waiting for his food to heat, he looked around his brand new apartment, now decorated and filled with furniture. Some couches were added to the living room, some newly-bought decor pulled the rooms together. He had finally gotten his cooking equipment. All he needed now was some groceries, he would finally stop living off of take-out and fast food.
His walls, however, were still rather empty. Though he bought some decor for his apartment, there wasn’t nearly enough to fill the vacancy of his living room and such. The beige, white, and watermelon pink throw pillows needed some friends in order to finally make Seokjin feel at home. He would have to buy some rugs, a coffee table, and maybe even some fake plants that day.
He peeked outside his window, noticing the beautiful blue summer sky, stretching across the world. The mornings were always the most heavenly time of day, even though he often missed them due to his screwed-up, never to be fixed, sleep schedule. The days where he woke up to the rising sun and thin clouds always filled his tired body with happiness, giving him the energy his six hour sleep could not.
When the microwave beeped, he quickly opened the door and took the too-hot containers out, yelping as the steam went inside his eyes and burned his fingers. Microwaves, he thought, were a dangerous thing. If he had heated his food for longer, his flesh would have most likely burned right off. He needed oven mitts for that shit.
He grabbed some wooden chopsticks from last night’s delivery service and began to blow on his food, reminding him that new silverware was much needed. Wooden chopsticks wouldn’t get him anywhere in terms of saving the environment, and he needed to purchase new utensils.
Fanning the steaming food, he scooped some leftover japchae into his mouth, savoring the delicious flavor that came along with it. Unfortunately, leftovers didn’t match the legendary taste of freshly made food, but it was still good enough to eat. Some areas may be heated more than others, and the fresh-off-the-wok flavor would be worn down from hours of being left in the fridge, but Seokjin found that he didn’t mind at all. Food is food, after all.
He turned on the news again, hoping that it would be more interesting than last night’s show. He was proven false and rolled his eyes, using the television as background ambience for his quiet morning in his new Seoul apartment, enjoying the view of the summer’s sky outdoors while half-listening to the news channel talk about the weather. He figured some relaxing music would better fit the mood, but the news worked as well.
It felt rather lonely, eating in an apartment all by himself, without anybody else around. He vaguely remembered middle school; his parents would make him breakfast the moment he woke up at seven-thirty, and he would watch some sort of show while scarfing down his blueberry pancakes while a baby Jjangu tried to eat some of his breakfast. He would scrunch his nose at the bitter scent of freshly-brewed coffee, not knowing that the drink would become something his future self couldn’t live without. His older brother would stumble down the stairs, messily pouring himself a bowl of cereal, claiming that he could make breakfast all by himself, when he couldn’t even wear his shirt the correct way. Seokjin would always tease him about that.
When he entered high school, he saw less and less of his brother, and his family soon faced what he feared as a child; independent. His brother entered university and he was always busy with studying for any quizzes and tests that following week, giving him less time to spend with his parents. It upset him, but he couldn’t take his attention off of studying.
Now, he was an adult who barely kept in touch with his older brother and recently moved away from his parents and Jjangu. He texted and called every now and then, but his family figured he had better things to do as a full fledged adult. He still missed them.
Shaking his head, Seokjin finished off the rest of his breakfast, popping the last bit of hotteok into his mouth. Still as delicious as ever. Nothing could beat the sweet taste of hotteok on an early, bright morning.
He quickly discarded the empty containers into the kitchen trash can, wiping his hands off with a nearby napkin. He had bought a napkin holder and stuffed as many as he could inside the folds.
Life in the new apartment, if he were to sum it all up in one word, was calm. Whether or not that calm was a serene, blissful, sense of tranquility, or an eerily quiet, unsettling, uncomfortable silence that made his senses intensify, the calmness was definitely prominent. He figured he liked the calmness rather than find it unsettling, though he craved the presence of another person as well, for he had grown up living around other people.
When he lived at his childhood house, his parents and brother were around. When he was at university, he always had a roommate, whether they’d be a complete stranger or Jung Hoseok, whom he spent third and fourth year at their local university with. No matter what point of time his life was at, he would always return home to another person. Facing silence and emptiness was foreign.
“What groceries should I buy?” he murmured to himself. An old habit.
He pulled out his phone, creating a small list of simple groceries he needed. Fruits like apples, bananas, berries, peaches, and grapes were a must, of course. Other necessities like kimchi, tofu, soy sauce, chilli paste, coffee, and sesame oil were also on the list. Rice and noodles of all different kinds were a staple for Seokjin. Onions, avocados, mushrooms, and even ice cream were also printed on his phone screen. He grimaced at the number of foods, telling himself that he needed to work hard at his new job in order to feed himself every week or so.
Buying groceries was a lot more expensive than he had originally thought, but he promised himself to purchase the cheapest sorts of each grocery. Saving money for food and decor was going to make him an extreme cheapskate. Next thing he knew, he would show the world how he managed to save the smallest bit of money in the craziest ways.
No. His job would make him enough money to stabilize his new life. He wouldn’t have to worry about keeping the same pair of pants for ten years or dumpster diving for food that would easily be purchased at crazy low prices.
After finishing his grocery list, he moved onto his decor list, jotting down the thing he wanted in order to beautify his new apartment. After all, living inside an empty shell would only make him feel even more isolated and alone.
“More pillows, some plants, a few lamps, a coffee table, vases. What else?” he whispered, eyebrows furrowing at his new list, lips pursed together in thought. A few new chairs would be nice. Some books to fill his empty bookshelf? Not that he would read those books anyways, for he hadn’t consciously read a book since high school, but it’s worth a shot. He just needed to find some books for the bookshelf and the new coffee table.
Maybe a few beanbags for his room? Stationary for work? The possibilities were endless, of course, but he needed to keep his budget tight. After starting his job officially, he would get the chance to purchase more things. For now, the allowance he had in his pocket wouldn’t last him all his wants, only enough for his needs.
Sighing, he shut his phone. He would be busy today, his free time robbed. He wouldn’t have a chance to explore Seoul and all of its shops, restaurants, and museums. He needed to do some paperwork before his first day at work, as well as buy all said objects he had typed inside his phone. There would be no time to relax and have a cold cup of coffee all to himself whilst sitting by his balcony. Life as an independent adult was constantly occupied. He would have to get used to it.
His phone buzzed violently, giving him a short heart attack, his fingers fumbling to pick up the call attacking his phone. A smile spread across his face when he saw Hoseok’s goofy profile picture; a photo of him grinning while wearing a pair of neon green headphones, petting the gray cat inside his lap. They were at a cat cafe that day.
Hoseok really missed him, didn’t he? Ever since Seokjin left Gwacheon, the latter had been spamming his phone with text messages and calls. He was grateful to have such a caring friend who constantly checked up on him.
He picked up the phone. “Hello?”
Hoseok’s voice came from the other end. “Hey! You’re doing alright, aren’t you?”
“Sure am. Feels a bit lonely, if I have to be honest.”
Hoseok laughed. “I bet. It’s lonely here in Gwacheon too, trust me.”
Seokjin’s hand brushed a thin curtain, fingers pulling it away to show the scenery outside his window. The sky was still as blue as ever, like a sapphire hung up among the stars. He wondered if Hoseok saw the same blue sky.
“How are you holding up?” he asked, letting the curtain fall. “Is your job doing well?”
“Yep. Got a promotion yesterday. Got too tired to tell you, though.”
Seokjin chuckled at his friend’s words. Hoseok was always a hard worker. “You fell asleep at two in the morning, didn’t you?”
“Hey,” Hoseok whined, caught red-handed. “Don’t act like you’ve never gone to bed after midnight. I remember catching you stirring by your computer at like, three, when we lived together. You can’t be one to talk.”
Seokjin rubbed his temples, recalling the good memories. At one point in his third year, he found it absolutely impossible to sleep, his body forgetting the natural instincts known to all of mankind. He would close his eyes, ready to fall into a deep, long-awaited slumber, but found his thoughts clamoring around inside his head. His thoughts would keep him awake until one or two in the morning, when he decided that enough was enough. He would quietly make his way to his computer, making sure not to wake a snoring Hoseok. Sometimes, he would be caught. Other times, he would go on his computer for about an hour and a half before falling asleep at his desk. It was a fucked-up lifestyle, but when you’re living off of instant ramen and monster energy drinks, there was nearly no dignity left.
“I agree, my sleeping schedule was pretty bad,” he admitted, laughing along Hoseok. “It’s still pretty screwed up nowadays, but I had a nice dream last night.”
“Oh? Tell me.”
Seokjin stepped onto the balcony, blocking the sun with his palms, smiling widely. “Well, I had a dream about hanging out with our friends by a beach or something. We were doing stuff little kids did. Y’know, running around, recording each other, racing one another, stuff like that. It was fun though. Super fun.”
Hoseok hummed. “That sounds beautiful.”
“It really was. I think Jeongguk was singing.”
“Jeongguk? That kid? You barely know him.”
“I know, but he was singing while Yoongi played the guitar. It was a really good dream.”
Seokjin could almost hear the grin in Hoseok’s voice. “I hope all of your dreams are like that.”
“Thanks, Hoseok.”
“Mhm. Hey, hyung?”
“Yeah?”
“I miss you.”
“I miss you too.”
Like that, Hoseok hung up. Seokjin couldn’t stop the wide smile spread across his face, for talking with his best friend--even for a few seconds at a time--always made him happy. It was some sort of magic Hoseok had. Whenever anyone talked or interacted with him, they would leave the scene with a bit of hope inside their hearts, as if Hoseok was some twenty-five year old despair-destroying god. Seokjin found it to be nice, talking to Hoseok and having hope flare inside of him.
He walked back inside his apartment, the balcony floor freezing his bare feet. He needed to wear shoes or slippers in order to step out onto the balcony, for the early morning summer wind was much colder than meets the eye. Summer, though warm and sunshiney, could also be as cold as the Arctic at times. Seokjin shivered as he slid the door behind him, letting the lock slide into place, securing the entrance.
The moment he stepped inside his apartment, he heard his next door neighbor speak, the thin wall doing a poor job of protecting his privacy. His eyes widened as he unconsciously stepped toward the wall separating the two of them, ears listening to his neighbor’s heavenly voice.
“You’ll be good for me, right Mon-ah?” came from the other side of the wall. “I’ll be back from my morning walk in a pinch.”
Morning walk? Seokjin raised an eyebrow. Who takes a walk at seven in the morning? Wouldn’t it be far too cold, even on the warmest summer days? This was the same neighbor who walked his dog at night. Was he not aware of the afternoon's existence?
Seokjin shook his head.
What a strange stranger.