Survive - Taegyu

Chapter 4: Starting Over

Italics = Thoughts

Bold = Dialogue

Beomgyu enters the bookstore and walks behind the desk, clocking in for his morning shift and putting on his employee tag. Already wanting to cuss out the evening shift for leaving him with seems like hundreds of books that needed to be placed on the shelfs. He takes off his padded jacket, revealing his creme sweater paired with black jeans and combat boots. It was winter time in Seoul and learned that it was a lot colder in Seoul than in Malaysia.

He sits down at the front desk and enters his ID to log the books back into the system. Entering the barcodes number one-by-one and placing them into a different pile since the gun scanner broke two weeks ago. This process took a total of five hours, only having to stop to help a handful of customers look for a book. Now that all the books were logged into the system he could start putting them back on the shelves. Beomgyu stands up from behind the desk, filling a total of five carts to put back on the shelves. This may seem like simple and annoying work, and it is for Beomgyu, but it helps him keep his mind off the past. It also helps him clear his mind so he can try to sleep at night. Keyword Try.

Every since leaving that night 8 months ago, he's never truly gotten a good nights sleep. Always being on edge, feeling of always being on guard to prepare for the worst. Beomgyu moved in a small apartment that gave off a cottage vibe. Over the last few months he's tried to get into a normal routine. Planting, painting, baking, and reading of course.  Trying to find a hobby that could possibly help with his sleeping, but the only thing that truly helped was organizing books. The feeling of the covers, the sharp edges that made its shape. The feeling of placing a book in its proper place like it never left. That is what brought the black hair boy a sense of peace.

After finishing putting the books back in their rightful place, Beomgyu got ready to switch with the evening shift. He clocked out, taking off his tag and making his way outside the bookstore. He walks up the sidewalk and goes into a leafy alleyway, walking up to the fenced gate that separated the apartment building from the busy city of Seoul, taking his key out that is given to the residents of the apartment building to unlock it.

"Good afternoon Beomgyu"

"Good afternoon Mrs. May, how's starship doing?"

"She's doing just fine, just being lazy as always."

"Well I'm glad she's feeling better."

Starships was a three-year-old back cat that belonged to Mrs. May, an elderly woman that lived three floors down from Beomgyu.

"Have you had dinner yet", asked Mrs May.

"Not yet, I'm actually on my way to make some right now", said Beomgyu

"Okay, I just want to make sure your eating well, I remember when I first saw you, ohh poor things you were noting but skin and bones".

When Beomgyu first arrived in Seoul he made his way straight to the apartment to put down a payment for the first year of the rent. Mrs. May happened to see him in the lobby, taking notice of how tall but skinny Beomgyu was. She decided to introduce herself by showing up to his door and bringing him food for the first month until she decided he had enough strength to take care of himself, and Beomgyu being the kind person he is couldn't refuse.

"Thank you Mrs. May but I'm eating well", said Beomgyu. Showing her a kind smile before heading inside and onto the elevator for the 6th floor. Beomgyu stepped out taking his keys and walking to the corner apartment and entering. Beomgyu had been lucky enough to get the apartment that was tucked away in the corner out of sight, just how he liked it. Inside the apartment when you first walk in is a lovely living room that wasn't to big nor too small. Everything was closed together but not screaming over each other. Only enough to give that homey feeling. To the right was a kitchen with a island and a door that led to the balcony that was a bonus of being in the corner of a building. The balcony went into a L shape that led to Beomgyus bedroom.

Inside Beomgyus bedroom was a queen sized bed, with a mounted TV on the wall that was done by the building manager. Next to Beomgyus bed was a night stand that may or may not hold a gun in it. The room had a few plants and fairy light hanging on the ceiling of the room, Beomgyu putting them there to help with the darkness. Ivy Green decorated the bed  along with a stuffed bear that was gifted to him by Mrs. May as a welcome to the apartment. No major decorations besides a few dream-catchers on the wall above his bed to help with nightmares, sometimes they worked. Most of the time he'd have nightmares about the horrible things he went through, and the painful memories caused him scars on his back to itch, wanting to itch but never being able to truly satisfy it.

Hmmm I should get some light curtains, I still want the sun to peak into my room but I don't want people to look inside my room.

Beomgyu stepped outside onto the balcony that he could access through a door in his room. He watched as the sun started to set and listened as the birds started to sing their song, confusing dawn with dusk. That's when he noticed a grey hair boy enter the locked gate with a few moving boxes on a cart making his way into the buildings lobby.

Huh, a new tenant.
Wonder where he's gonna stay.
I'll run a background first thing in the morning.

Now beomgyu may be paranoid, but can you blame him that is literally what he was trained to be. Beomgyu made his way to the kitchen by balcony and stepped inside. He decided that it would be a lazy day and just cook Ramen. As Beomgyu set down at the dinner table in the dining area, he heard voices outside in the hallway.

There's no way, right?

It never occurred to Beomgyu that there would be a possibility that the gray haired boy could move into his floor let alone to the apartment next to him. The black haired boy heard shuffling of boxes next door, which confirmed his paranoia to be true. The gray haired boy, he saw, entering the apartment building earlier, was in fact, moving next door from him. It wasn't the fact that a person was moving in the building it was the fact that it was right next to him. That was one of the bonuses of moving into this apartment, it was practically empty as there were only a few tenets and Beomgyu and Mrs. May that were living in the building. Not only did Beomgyu have the corner room with the advantage of a balcony, but no one lived on the six floor besides him, well as of now. But that would change very soon as he looked out the window and saw the boy from earlier bringing in more boxes along with what look like a few workers from a moving company. Beomgyu just hoped that his soon to be neighbor wouldn't be loud at night. But the black haired boy was in for a few surprises.