time diplomat | kim taehyung ✔

| Dead Is Dead |

3:31 AM

A funny feeling erupted hard in Astra's stomach as she sat up on the bed, looking over to the boy next to her who had his eyes closed and a tint of red spread over his cheek. 

The unit where Taehyun lived was stuffy—much different than what she imagined, with powder-blue wallpaper covering the walls. The ceiling had two broken ceiling fans. The floor was tiled in jade. Ornaments such as porcelain and cement figurines adorned his tabletops. The kitchens reflected off the moonlight that paved their way through the lacey curtains, illuminating the pink couch in the living room. Yellow embroidery swirls complimented its velvety finish and old books were squeezed into the tiny bookshelves. A purple static radio sat by the little fish aquarium and the entire place reeked of Pine—a fragrance that Taehyun always carried around with him. It was odd.

Taehyung was out there, nearing his end and Yeonjun on the other side . . . was still somewhere there.

She felt suffocated and looking at the boy sleeping sound with his lips made into a pout just made it worse. 

_ _ _ _ _ 

Taehyung slid the chains from his main door free from its track. He pulled the door open, shivering in his dark gray fleece and blue jeans with those Adidas shoes. He once again nodded to himself and sighed.

He turned off the lights and walked, locking the door behind him. Heading for the elevator, he paid final attention to the scenery outside. The moonlight surfed through the roofs and over the puddles of water on the roads. The Christmas season was still not over but, he missed the rainy months more.

Taehyung approached the elevator. He twirled the keys to his bike in his fingers—waiting for the metal door to shut off, restricting him from leaving back to his safe haven.

I don't wanna sit and rot there.

He got to the ground floor safely. Taehyung's hand hovered over the lobby door. I can't do it. He was ready to retreat back upstairs until a heavy blow of wind hit his back, as if pushing him forward. It felt warm—like an encouraging pat.

"Go ahead," Taehyung said to himself. He was being pressured by his own self, but that was the whole point of his mind's dynamic. He didn't want to disappoint himself.

He exited the lobby but stopped once the door was behind him. He was last outside yesterday afternoon when he was coming home from a short grocery shopping. But being out there now was different. Taehyung checked out the buildings he had grown up with but never paid any special attention to. There were lights on in his neighbors' apartments. He could even hear one couple moaning; the roaring audience laughter from a comedy special; someone else laughing from another window, possibly at the very loud comedy show or possibly because they were being tickled by a lover or laughing at a joke someone cared enough to text them at this late hour.