Promises

22

Five years ago.

The alarm blared through the apartment and there was a groan. He was about to throw the phone when the alarm turned off and there was a banging on the door. He groaned again and got up from the bed, stumbling in the process. He opened the door and flinched.

"Kim Namjoon! Why aren't you ready?"

Namjoon sighed, "I just woke up, hyung."

Yoongi rolled his eyes, "Don't be late. You know we need the money."

Namjoon nodded and got dressed. He wore a grey hoodie and jeans and ran out of the house to catch the train on time. He was lucky that he ran fast enough. But he was still late. He ran to the building and as he was about to enter, he ran into someone. The coffee in his hand spilt all over himself and he looked up in anger.

As soon as he saw the person, the world stopped for Namjoon there. His anger disappeared like a vapour. He saw the literal incarnation of an angel. The person in front of him gasped, "Are you alright?"

The person behind him gasped as well, "Are you okay, Seokjin-shi?"

Seokjin looked back with a worried expression, "I am fine, don't worry. But I am worried about him."

Namjoon looked away and then cleared his throat, "I am fine. I am sorry, I was not looking."

Seokjin smiled brightly, "Don't worry." He looked at the person behind him and pointed at Namjoon, "Give him one of my hoodies to change into and buy him a coffee."

"No, it is okay," Namjoon said meekly.

Seokjin shook his head, "Don't worry about it. You spilt your coffee because of me. Just go with him, okay?"

Namjoon followed the man to the greenroom and changed to a light grey hoodie that the man gave him. When Namjoon looked at himself in the mirror, the hoodie was too big for him and it smelt like vanilla and cider. "Thank you," Namjoon said as he was given the coffee cup.

The shoot went on for three hours and for three hours, Namjoon admired Seokjin and watched him engage with the staff so sweetly. Namjoon couldn't believe he was watching him work so hard. After the shoot, he got the money and went home. Namjoon washed up and made himself a cup ramen and sat in front of the laptop. He searched for Kim Seokjin and he was blown away. Kim Seokjin wasn't just in his prime but he was so huge that people would kill to make him their model. A little more snooping told him that he was born with a silver spoon. Namjoon chuckled and slapped both his cheeks, "Know your place, Namjoon-ah! He is way out of your league!"

Present

"After that day, I would search up for any vacancies in your shoots and pick up small work on the set." Namjoon smiled, "We needed the money for the company anyway. So it was killing two birds with one stone."

Namjoon looked at Seokjin and smiled, "This went on for a year. For one year, I saw you work hard and then politely thank the staff. You were so confident, on and off-screen that it made me feel happy. It made me feel like I could win the world as well. Watching you be so confident yet so polite always made my day. It made me who I am today. And it is not like I have not worked with other models, I have. But you were different. You made sure that everyone around you was comfortable. Never acted like a spoiled brat. You were like the diamond in the coal mine." He gulped and licked his lips, "But after that, it became harder to keep up both the work at your shoots and at the company, so I had to drop working at your shoots. The last day, I came to you with a bouquet and I was going to confess." Namjoon looked at his lap and chuckled, "Like an idiot."

He shook his head. "When I approached you, your manager took the bouquet and told me to leave. That you were very busy. When I insisted on meeting you, he warned me to call the security upon me and told me that I should know my place." Namjoon looked at Seokjin again, "He wasn't wrong. I had forgotten who you were, who I was. So I made sure to be worthy of you before coming in front of you again. So I started focusing harder on the company. But it wasn't hard to not see your face. You were on the billboards and the TV ads. It was quite easy to find your ads and ramp walk videos. But after half a year, you announced that you were quitting. After that, I lost you."

"I found you again after four years, sitting on the bench on the verge of crying and it made me sad and angry at the same time." He smiled sadly, "I wanted to be there to pick you up from that pit and make sure that you are your old, smiling, bubbly, humble self again."

Seokjin listened to him carefully, trying to digest everything that Namjoon just said to him. "I am sorry, I really can't remember you."

Namjoon smiled softly, "Not your fault. It was really a small and insignificant meeting."

Seokjin nodded. " I am also sorry but I can't-"

"You don't have to accept my feelings." Namjoon cut him off and smiled, "Honestly I am just glad that you know about my feelings. It was getting really hard to hide them." Namjoon chuckled and got up, "I am really tired, I will go to sleep first."

"Namjoon." Namjoon stopped and turned back. Seokjin looked at his lap, "I know I am being selfish but can we go back to being friends again. You are the only friend I have, besides Hoseok."

Namjoon nodded, "Of course, we can. I'll be glad to do that too."

When the door of their bedroom closed, Seokjin sighed. His head fell on the backrest of the couch and he closed his eyes.

"Five years, huh?"