Philia [Taegi]

1. Welcome to the Magic Shop

"So." Mr Kim stated like it was a full sentence. "So what?" Yoongi asked back, staring down at his hands, which were nervously fidgeting with the cushion on his lap. "Do you want to talk about why you are here?" Mr Kim asked, his eyes fixed on Yoongi's face. He hated that feeling. It felt like he was trying to read Yoongi's thoughts, but he couldn't. Nobody could. So why did they all still try? "Because I just got out of rehab, I have no money and no home, and my sister's condition to let me live with her was that I have to go to therapy." Yoongi stated the depressing facts of his life. "But that isn't why you are here, is it?" Mr Kim kept digging. Yoongi had to suppress a big eye roll. Therapists were all the same. They would ask stupid questions and then expect you to pour out your heart. Yoongi looked up, properly looking at his doctor for the first time. He was muscular and had short black hair. He was wearing a tight black turtleneck which fit him extremely well, under different circumstances Yoongi may have found him attractive, but now sitting in his office as a client, he just couldn't feel that way. "No. That's not why I'm here." Yoongi said in a monotone way. "Okay, then why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" Mr Kim asked, looking expectingly at Yoongi, but he didn't answer. What was there to say? Mr Kim let out a small sigh: "Okay then, let me go first. My name is Kim Namjoon, and I am twenty-nine years old. Six months ago, I received my license to work as a free-lancing therapist." He made a short pause, then he continued, "I currently live with my partner of four years, and we have a dog called Moony." "Moony?" Yoongi repeated, "Like from Harry Potter?" A small smile hushed over Mr Kim's face. "No, actually, it's short for moonchild, but I like that too." Yoongi nodded, and then there was silence again. "So." his therapist repeated himself, "Your turn." Yoongi let out a big sigh, going through his hair with his fingers, it felt nice and soft since Jennie had forced him to take a shower before coming here, probably Yoongi's first shower in a week. "Well, as you know, my name is Min Yoongi. I'm thirty years old. I live in a small room in my half sisters' penthouse, and I don't have a job because instead of getting an education, I was doing drugs." Mr Kim nodded approvingly. "Okay then, and are you clean right now?" he asked. "I just got out of rehab." Yoongi chuckled nervously. Didn't he look clean? "Yeah, but that's not what I asked. Are you clean right now?" Mr Kim looked straight into Yoongi's eyes who felt like there was no use lying to him. Maybe he couldn't read his thoughts, but the man on the opposite side of the glass table was anything but stupid, Yoongi saw that. "Yes, since the rehab, I have been clean, but I don't think it will last." he answered sincerely. "Why not?" "It never does." Yoongi could feel a wave of bitterness going through his body. He truly was pathetic, wasn't he? Mr Kim nodded again: "Alright, we will try our best to not let that happen, but if it does, we will work our way out of it again." Yoongi didn't react. This kind of optimism felt very displaced. "I have some homework for you before you go." Mr Kim continued while pulling some papers out of one drawer. "These are some tests to see where your mental state is at right now, I know you've taken a bunch of those already at the clinic, but these are a little bit different." Yoongi just nodded and took the papers while getting up. At this point, he was used to filling out this kind of stuff after going in and out of rehab a total of five times over the past decade. Mr Kim also stood up and held his hand out to his client. "To successful work then, Mr Min." he said, smiling. "Yoongi is fine." he said, shaking the hand of the younger one. "Alright then, Yoongi. You can call me Namjoon."

Outside the building, Yoongi lit up the cigarette that he had been craving ever since he had sat down in the waiting room.
Now he was looking around him, the road was extremely busy, no wonder, it was five pm and he was surrounded by office buildings, everybody must've been desperate to get home to their families. Yoongi wasn't. He knew the moment he would come through the door, his sister would be there, interrogating him, making him look at job offers that made him even more depressed than he already felt. So, instead of heading towards the subway station, he went the opposite way. There wasn't much to see, just a lot of big grey houses he knew were filled with offices, some plain-looking hotels for business people to stay in and a few restaurants which specialized in making easy and fast food for the workers during their lunch break.
So nothing special. Only boring, depressing city things. That was until Yoongi came across a café. At this point, he had already smoked three cigarettes back to back, as he usually did, when he had the chance and didn't have to endure Jennies' disapproving looks. When he spotted the café, it looked out of place, way too nice and cozy with a big glass front through which you could see the wooden interior with blue couches and chairs, decorated with lots of cushions. Yoongi took a look at the shield over the door. 'Magic Shop' was written on it in blue, cursive letters. For a second, he just stopped there, puffing out the smoke that filled his lungs, contemplating whether he should head back. Just to then drop his cigarette on the floor, stomping on it with his black worn-out boot before entering the café. A small bell rang as he went through the door.