Them

8. RM

KNOCK!

KNOCK!

KNOCK!

Three knocks. Three loud, echoing knocks. "Namjoon! Can you please quiet down your loud music?!! Your mother and I are trying to sleep peacefully here!!" screamed Mr. Kim.

Immediately, Namjoon turned down his fast beats and apologised. His younger sister opened the door once his father had gone away, "You really don't know when to stop, do you?" Kyung Min stood opposite him, as she fiddled with the door handle.

She was a beautiful girl yet she had the mysterious setting behind her eyes that maybe she was beautiful just on the outside, and ugly within. Yet, she still loved her brother with all her ugly heart. "We we're happy once, weren't we?" Namjoon sighed, "before all of this."

Kyung Min sat beside Namjoon on the bed and watched as he inhaled and exhaled deeply, and she spoke softly, "People talk about us in mere tragedy, as if all we did was hurt and break until time crystallised and we slept a hundred years, Nam. But all I remember are the crows feet at the corner of your eyes and laugh lines that feel like the gravity of the universe. And I loved you, I loved Mum and I loved Dad. We all loved each other. People talk about us in mere tragedy, but infrequent are tragedies that do not have a speck of hope, a drug of happiness; a split second joy. Many times we were tragic. But many times we were happy too."

She turned around from where she was sitting beside Namjoon and she managed to bring out an old dusted photo book. Inside was layered pictures of Kyung Min and Namjoon when they were young. When they had absolutely nothing to worry about at all. Namjoon turned the page, and suddenly a cold dread touched his spine.

He quickly turned the page back and waited for the feeling to dissolve. It didn't take long. "Sorry," He muttered. Kyung Min didn't always read as fast as he did. "Look at this one!" He laughed. It was a picture of Kyung Min and Namjoon going swimming on the coral reefs together and this time, Kyung Min had her snorkel the wrong way around and Namjoon's goggles were all twisted.

To make matters worse, Namjoon's pants were half way down and his tiny pale butt was sticking out cutely. "Come on, you've got to admit that was funny." He laughed. Then Kyung Min stopped holding her breath and burst out into giggles.

They'd had so much fun those days.

And now?

Those days were over. And their friendship as siblings wasn't supposed to end this way. But he couldn't escape it. Everything had gone wrong.

The world was basically in flames around him.

And it was all his fault.