noctivagant | park jimin | ✓

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ chapter one ⋆｡°☽° ｡⋆｡☁︎°｡⋆

Jimin knew there were many beautiful things in the universe. He understood a sensation of beauty was spurred in the hearts of many; when life bursts from the petals of a blossoming flower and when joy colors a child's laughter. Society named specific objects and situations beautiful all the time. It was natural for humans to categorize and relate beauty to their personal and shared experiences.

Beauty was represented by an object, yet did beauty itself exist?

Jimin thought so.

He believed beauty was an entity that existed somewhere beyond the reach of humanity. Someone must have known of this entity in the past, and in their attempt to name such a creature, they related its presence to things of the world to represent it.

It was all in vain, of course. But Jimin found comfort in thinking of the elusive creature of beauty, masking itself and hiding from the naked eye.

He thought of beauty as he walked along the beach. The sky was painted with velvet peach and ballet-slipper pink. The clouds were pulled across the sky like cotton candy with fluffy strings floating from their ethereal bodies. The sun lowered to the horizon of foamy waves and deep blues. Its honeydrop brilliance illuminated the sea in melting waves as it fell to the sea in slow progression. This beach was one of the few that faced towards the south, allowing Jimin to gaze upon the sunset on the eastern coast. And it was gorgeous.

The ocean whispered and sighed as its waves washed up along the gray-sand shore. It reached and grabbed at stray rocks and an occasional piece of stringy moss. Jimin watched its repetitive pattern as he walked along the water's edge, feeling himself become hypnotized by its consistent moves.

He held his shoes in one hand, allowing his feet to sink into the sand with every step. The soft sand squished between his toes and stuck to the bottoms of his feet. He enjoyed the sensation and occasionally pressed harder into the ground to emphasize the feeling.

Like the small pebbles on the shore, the intensity of his stress began to smooth. His rough edges and irritated nerves calmed as the ocean pushed up onto the sloping sand.

Today was a difficult day.

Most of it was out of his control. He was helpless to the trials of the day and left to drift aimlessly in the violent waves.

It was a slow build of annoyances that led to his evening walk.

It was the sudden rise in his apartment's rent; the message delivered via note underneath his door. It was an almost accident on his way to work. It was too many angry customers to handle in one moment. It was a shattered pickle jar on the ground and a sliced hand on the broken glass. It was his supervisor chewing him out for putting the new shipment of cereal boxes into the storage room instead of immediately stocking them, despite it being the busiest time of day.

Finally, it was a phone call from his mom that his dad wasn't doing well anymore. He'd recently had a heart attack and underwent double bypass surgery. It was terrifying, and Jimin had never felt so distressed in his entire life. He stayed with his dad for as long as he could, but was forced to return to work when he couldn't get more time off. He received updates from his mom over the phone in between his shifts. It seemed like everything was looking up, until that ominous phone call about his dad's now-worsening condition.

He was afraid, and there was nothing he could do to help.

Jimin lived five hours away. What could he do except comfort his mom's sobs over the phone?

This was why he found himself wandering the lonely beach as the sun set. He couldn't stand the thought of staying in his apartment, cooped up and alone. He felt so lonely these days.