Everything Special Has A Flaw
'I crossed your heart, husband, now it's time for you to take my name, only your husband's name,' I thought and smiled.
Taehyung and Yoongi bump into each other by chance at an airport lounge. Six months and many meetin...
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3 September 2020
He was a blur when I first saw him. And that's probably why things were always clear between us. I was at Seoul's International Airport, waiting to board my flight to Busan, which was delayed because of a technical snag and rescheduled for 2 am. It was just the kind of day, in hindsight, when one thing led to another.
I think I fell in love with places more than people. And empty airports had an introspective vibe to them. I was having dinner at the executive lounge wben I spotted an old client. He remembered me clearly but I took some time to recognize him. That was typical of me. I took time.
He was the same guy who had this bad habit of picking his nose all the time. That evening too he picked his nose while talking to me and then used the same fingers to grab an onion slice from his finner plate and stuff it into his mouth.
I felt like throwing up. I just couldn't tolerate things like these. That's why I avoided watching gory horror films while eating. I cut short my lounge time, lying to him that boarding for my flight was about to commence, and headed straight for my departare gate which was more or less empty.
I picked up a magazine on the way. After two hours, I had flipped through it twice. I found myselt stifling a yawn. The lights by the gates had been dimmed, and soon I fell into a fitful sleep.
I was not sure how many minutes had passed when I opened my eyes, squinting against a bright light that was directly falling on them. I sat up and realized it was from someone's phone. The man in the seat beside mine was talking on his phone. He had accidently left the flashlight on. I think seeing me move, he understood something was wrong. When he realized what it was, he quickly disconnected the call and switched off the flashlight.
'I'm so sorry,” he said. Before I could respond, he added, 'I didn't know this stupid light was on. Did I disturb you?'
I was confused. I didn't know what to respond to first. That's how I was, always a little alert when a man approached me or spoke to me. Not an awkward kind of alert. The kind where I wanted to say the best line, be my best self and flash my best smile. Not that my zeal to impress would take me or us anywhere. Still.
'It's all right. If you hadn't woken me up, I wouldn't have known I was asleep,' I said. Smart enough? Funny enough? I got my answer in the slight smile he flashed.
'Sorry once again,' he said and turned away from me. He had a husky voice, like he was recovering from a sore throat. For no particular reason, I always wanted to know a man with a naturally husky voice. He began to fidget with his phone. I didn't go back to sleep and, for reasons unknown, observed his from the corner of my eye. Maybe I didn't have anything better to do right then. He grabbed his battered Samsonite by its handle and stood up and pulled it in his direction, but the handle gave way and came off in his hand. He cast me a quick glance before looking at the suitcase disappointedly. Perhaps checking if anyone had noticed and if he should be embarrassed. I didn't want to but ended up looking at him. We held each other's gaze for a few seconds before he said, 'Just that kind of day. My phone misbehaves, my suitcase betrays.'
