Idiosyncrasy 특질

Chapter Seven

"After all, is not a real Hell better than a manufactured Heaven?"
                                                  - E.M. Forster, Maurice 

Tentatively Taehyung stepped further into the room and was surprised to find a well sized space not unlike hotel rooms he had seen in photos of high end travel brochures. It was a beautiful room, in bold yet calming colours. Someone had painted the whole room in matte dark blue while the whole wall above the double bed was a painted seascape in blues, greens, greys and silver tones. The en suite bathroom was also in blue and green tones, with grey wooden and marble elements and the same kind of materials were used for the kitchenette that was separated by sliding glass doors that doubled as walls. It was stunning and beautiful and it terrified Tae somewhat to find this beauty in this kind of environment. The furniture was a mix of modern and delicate 18th century French antiques, something Tae had only seen in museums or online but never in real life.

The window was also floor to ceiling, like the one in the hallway. It showed the blinking lights of downtown Gangnam and Tae tried to recall if he ever had walked the streets below and had looked up at the skyscrapers making up this particular landmark of Seoul. He was not sure but his mind conjured up tall buildings with dark mirrored windows.

When Tae walked up to the king sized bed, he saw several bags on the floor by a wardrobe and when he examined them he found all sorts of clothes in his size from several high end designer brands. Slowly he sat down on the bed and stared at the bags. Bending forward, he opened some of the bags, frowning as he saw the exclusive labels. Labels that were highly coveted by a lot of his colleagues, especially the females but too expensive for him to ever acquire – apart from a cheap knock off at flea markets around town that was. There were sweats and hoodies, underwear, dress shirts in various dark colours, skinny jeans and even dress pants, as well as several jackets and coats. There were shoes ranging from trainers to glides to proper dress shoes and even two pairs of house slippers. Someone had gotten out of their way to get him a full wardrobe.

He wondered what would happen to his own clothes back in his old apartment, the memorabilia, his books and all the little things he had accumulated over the years – the photos, his computer and his - oh shit - gay porn collection.

The part of his life that had been so familiar to him was now beyond his reach and he had to adjust, had to make new memories even though it hurt that he had not been able to say good bye to this friends, especially So-Hee. Luckily his grandparents were not alive anymore. He lost them not a year ago due to a car accident so the only ones he had to worry about were So-Hee and his disinterested parents.

With a sigh he stood up and randomly put the bags with the new clothes into the wardrobe. However, he would not take anything from Jungkook. He would manage with what he had on his person and what he could procure through Jin.

Exhausted, he sat at the foot of the bed and just let himself fall back, staring at the ceiling. The tears came slowly, almost as if the shock of the past few days was coming slowly to the surface, like a delayed reaction. Only 48 hours ago he had watched the sunset with the kids from his ward and now he was in some sort of luxury cell in the middle of Seoul. Curling himself into a foetal position, he let the tears come, mourning his past life and after a while his body shut down and he fell into an exhausted sleep.

~-*-~

Jeon Jungkook sat at the head of an oval table that sat in the dining area of his apartments. While all apartments on this floor had basically the same size and layout each individual member had added their own touches to the space according to their style and preference. Jungkook's apartment - though furnished with exquisite modern furniture - looked just like that, exquisite and immaculate like a show room. It looked as if no one was living there and his friends often wondered if Jungkook just used the space to entertain but did not actually live there.