Black Swan (Kim Namjoon x reader)

Chapter 2

At the dinner table, your eyes were pinned to your laptop. You were using it during dinner under the pretense that you had an urgent presentation to finish before tomorrow. And while your parents were a bit annoyed, they were happy that you were complying with their strict rules about focussing only on school. But it wasn't a total lie. It was an urgent matter. You needed to know if a human could walk into walls or disappear into thin air. It could have something to do with genetics, according to WebMD. Conspiracy websites suggested that it could have been a government-funded experiment with superhumans, or that he was actually dead and what you see is his soul. Surprisingly, that made the most sense. Nonetheless, it didn't make you feel any better. You were either going to school with a superhuman, or a ghost.

But again, it made a lot of sense. You've never seen Namjoon outside of school nor seen him with any friend. At school, he kept to himself either with a book or a deck of playing cards. He had been like this for as long as you've known him when he moved to your small town just at the start of high school. Throughout the years, he gained a few inches, his dimples got deeper, and he shielded himself from the rest of the world. High school kids only grew crueler once they found out he didn't have parents and was living with his grandmother. You'd like to consider yourself his friend only because you weren't the worst person in his life at school. And yet the most you've ever said to him was thank you whenever he passes out an assignment for teachers.

You continued the scenarios as you tried to go to sleep. Maybe all the bullying pushed him to join a gang where they injected a nuclear serum into him that changed his genetics that would allow him to pass through walls or any other solid object. All through the night, you couldn't get him out of your head. It was like a spell and you imagined him making a deal with the devil to gain a superpower or got cursed by a witch when he was born because she was jealous of her sister.

Morning came sooner than expected. Dark circles colored your eyebags as you dragged yourself to school. You took the same path as last night just to see if the brand new day has brought any clear resolution for you. When you approached the area, you paused, The alleyway was nowhere to be found. You looked around and saw the same convenience store in the corner, the same movie posters with graffiti, the same dumpsters with overflowing trash next to the wall. And yet there was no alleyway. Out of nervousness and anxiety, you started laughing. A few passersby, and some students from your class, exchanged glances with another and walked speedily past you. You were definitely going crazy.

Namjoon was seated at his assigned table, a deck of cards in his hands. He was always the most punctual student at the school, not to mention the most studious. No matter how hard you studied, you were always second to him. He picked up on the conversation around him, some girl was staring at a wall and laughing to herself. He chuckled quietly, there are still some fascinating things in this world. "She helped Namjoon pick up some paper yesterday," a girl from the far side of the room with a high ponytail whispered to her friend, who wore a little too much blush on her already tanned face. "Maybe it made her crazy." The group of girls abrupt in laughter as they glanced over at Namjoon, who pretended to not have heard anything. The door to the class slides open. Namjoon turned his head in that direction even though he knew it was you. All around, the chatters began and you sighed, keeping your head low. On your way to your desk, you saw Namjoon staring at you for a brief second then returned his attention to his deck of cards. You tried to scan his face or exposed hands for bruises or any sign of abuse. With the way his hair was covering his face and how fast his hands moved, it was impossible to tell.

A thought occurred during class: why did you care so much about it? He's one ordinary guy at school that has never said a word to you, why have you been investing so much time thinking about him? The simple answer would be that you care about a fellow classmate. The more complicated answer is that you were hoping it would lead to some sort of venture for your already dull life. That explanation was the drive for you to do the stupidest thing you could think of, following him. Luckily, Taehyung understood that you needed to take the afternoon off for school research. You would miss his cute yawn so this trip better be worth it.

After school, Namjoon's first stop was not the alleyway, but instead the town's local library. He went through the aisle and looked at each and every single book with meticulous care. While you were there, you also looked through books relating to magic or human mutations but yielded nothing more than folklore. Namjoon was on the move an hour later, this time, it was to a LINE cafe nearby. He ordered an iced Americano while you hid your face behind the menu from afar. Your eyes darted to the new drink they had and couldn't resist getting it yourself. Namjoon was halfway done with his drink by the time you got yours and he stood up to leave.

He walked down the familiar road but this time, the alleyway was where it was supposed to be. His body disappeared from behind the corner, you waited for a minute before proceeding. Once again, he was gone. With the little light from the sun, you saw that the alleyway was a dead end with no doors leading into the surrounding buildings. So there was nowhere for him to go. The wall where he stood in front of yesterday was cold today and there was no remaining glimmer. You sighed, nothing again today.

As you turned around to head home, you almost screamed. Namjoon took off his glasses and tossed his hair back. He smiled a mischievous grin. "Do you have a death wish?"