Sweet Tooth | k.nj. ✔

십육: fated to perish

Otherwise an unarguably petulant individual, Namjoon— over the course of these past few days— had become a repository of forbearance. Although not a single attempt was made by Youngmi to connect with Namjoon, the latter had not harbored malice against her. After all, it was not too long ago that a petty misunderstanding between them ended up escalating into an awful disaster, aftertaste of which still evoked a pang of nostalgia in Namjoon's chest every now and then. However, that did not imply that the repercussions were harrowing enough for him to shut out all their pleasant memories as well.

For it was evident how it would take a lot more than a couple of weeks for Namjoon to move on from Youngmi.

To get over his first love.

A defeated smile crawled up to his lips as he reminisced about the baneful episodes from his past, back when their relationship was cordial and had yet not been infiltrated by an outsider. Little was he aware at that point that their bond was fated to perish from the get-go, and that a new introduction into their lives was all that was required to achieve the same. Youngmi did not even bother to spare a retrospective thought, and Namjoon could not identify an action more heart-rending than such neglect of hers towards him.

Had Namjoon been nothing but a mere supporting character in her life all this while?

Judging from the condescension that he had been repeatedly subjected to in her hands, that was what seemed most likely of all at the moment.

It was comparatively endurable for Namjoon a week back, when their ties had been freshly severed. But as time continued to tick away, so did the man's patience. In his hourglass of mental composition, he was barely hanging by a thread— desperately dependent on that one grain of sand that clung onto the upper barrel and assured him that he had not yet started to run out of time.

But for how long was that supposed to work for him? For how long was deluding himself going to offer him protection from the challenges that stood at his threshold?

A total of two weeks had passed since Namjoon last heard Youngmi's voice, let alone saw her. It was natural for him to fret about the woman, whose whereabouts were no longer available to him. No matter how hard he endeavored to withstand the cynicism that was keen to overpower him, as a human, he was bound to surrender to it one day or another. His volatile emotions were not helping him either, and in turn only tended to exacerbate the male's already-disturbed mental make-up.

"It cannot go on this way forever!" Namjoon gritted his teeth, impelling Nora to suspend her kitchen duties for a while and steal a peek at him.

"I know I'm nowhere near you in terms of cooking but I'm trying my best, okay? Either don't assign the days at all or shut up and eat whatever I'm capable of making—"

"It's not about you, Lieutenant." Namjoon replied curtly. Nora's brows furrowed.

"Is something troubling you?" She mumbled, though audible enough for Namjoon to respond to her query with a sigh.