Upon A Time (JoongNine AU)

Upon Lifting The Veil Of Truth

Joong

I knocked repeatedly on his door. My call was unanswered, "Nine, I know you're in there. Please, we need to talk", I finally just called him to open the door. Silent. No sound of movement or answer. I sighed heavily, "I'll be out here. When you feel better, just let me in, alright...". I sat on the floor, and lean my back on the wall. For a week, I kept trying to reach Nine, to no avail. I didn't want him to wallow in uncertainties and confusion. Whatever he felt was valid, his anger and avoidance of me was valid. He must had felt that I am now, some stranger that he didn't know. 

I didn't know when did I fall asleep, but the day was tiring, a shoot at the outskirt of town. But, the sound of the door opening, woke me up in surprise, that I felt a little disoriented at first, looking at my surrounding, and then when the fog of sleepiness fade away, immediately I stood up to look at the haggard face of my beloved. He left the door open and went to sit on his bed, without uttering any word to me. I came in and closed the door. I stood there, for a while, didn't know how to approach him, nor how to start. 

"Could I come closer, or this distance is more comfortable for you?", I asked before anything else. 

"It doesn't matter, Joong. Just say whatever you wanted to tell me, and then leave", he said coldly, but I could see the anxiousness that he was trying to hide.

"I am still the same Joong, Nine. It hurts me to see that you're afraid of me right now".

"No. I am not afraid of you. But, still, whatever this is, not something that could be dismissed and laughed about, isn't it? You're not playing a joke on me, right? You're an actor, but still, don't you think this is too much, to act around me for more than a year, now?", Nine said with a simmering anger. I threw caution to the wind, and decided to just face him head on. He was on the verge of exceeding his own limit of sanity. 

The moment I grabbed him and embraced him tight, Nine struggled and trying to push me hard. I remained firm and bear all his punches on my back to let him go, until he was tired of fighting, and just let me stroked his back to comfort him. "I know Nine, the words that you said just now, must be something that you keep telling yourself, to make sense of all of this. But, it is not an act, nor something that I could explain logically, to you, too". I let him go as I felt that he was calmer than when we started. He looked at me with tired eyes, he wanted me to say the answer that he wanted to hear, but I really couldn't let this go on anymore, or Nine would feel worse. 

"You must have remembered, on the night after you rescued me from the sea, that I said we're involved in a plane crash. To tell you the truth, I didn't know whether this is real or not too, or whether I am actually stuck in a dream world that somehow felt too real. But, whatever the reality is, I just wanted you to know, that in this one year, I feel the happiness that I'd started to lose little by little, in the future where you and I, are not even friends, anymore". Nine's eyes were full of questions, but he remained quiet listening to my words. He was assessing not just the truth from my eyes, but also, the extent of absurdity of all this, that he could accept. 

"Future? Hmm, that explained your maturity, then. So, you're older than me, right now. How far is the future that you talk about here, Joong? How did we lose each other?"

"I am already in my mid 30s, Nine".

"And married...", Nine added immediately.

"How...how did you know?", I was a little surprised at his guess.

"I remember you said, that you're already a father of a five years old".

"Ahhh, you and your sharp memories", I laughed quietly, amazed that he remembered things from a year ago, which was said in a confusing moment, too.