HOME - Taejoon

19. Other people

Namjoon was in the G12 building, but not with Taehyung.

He had entered one of the furthest rooms in the popular area, where people continued to fuck and kiss each other without shame, to think.

He had taken his homemade lunch to that place, but he didn't eat, he couldn't. He just stared at that rice, the spicy seaweed garnish and the fried fish without emotion.

Next to the plate on the floor was his phone, the screen turned on again with another message. From Taehyung.

< Where are you? What are you doing?]

What was he doing there? Namjoon bit his cheek inside his mouth. He himself didn't even know it. He had spent the entire day letting messages pile up on his phone without knowing why.

Or maybe he did know.

Taehyung had finished submitting the last credits that day, so he could upload them to the exchange page. They had given him the good news of having been chosen, so it was already a fact that he would leave as soon as the holidays were over. And is that, Namjoon may not have responded, but he did read every happy little phrase on the screen of his cell phone.

From the day they had made love in the living room, things became strange.

He had been late on purpose for days. Taehyung said that he preferred to sleep in his bedroom, and Namjoon couldn't condition him or ask. He felt that he had no right to meddle in Taehyung's private life decisions; for some reason he would have felt invasive to do so. Instead, he decided that everything else was as usual anyway: they still watched TV together at night, and in the morning, Taehyung made the lunches while Namjoon took care of the nutritious juices; They still kissed before leaving the house and read together in the living room on weekends.

In general, it didn't seem like anything had happened between the two. But it did.

Blurring the intrusive thoughts, Namjoon got up from the floor, took the phone and the container. He walked to the nearest window and threw the food; Afterwards, he searched for a name among his contacts.

***

"If you can't do it, ask your girlfriend to do it for you." The whole table started laughing and booing after the dyed blonde boy's comment. Jimin wrinkled his nose.

"Be quiet." Without saying anything else, he took the shot and drank it in one go. Everyone was silent, but then Jimin started to choke. Everyone laughed again while Chaewon tried to make him breathe again through laughter.

"My God, he's weak." Another boy, Taehyung's childhood neighborhood friend, spoke up. "Let's see, Taehyung, you try it."

The entire table turned to look at Taehyung, but he was lost in his own mind.

"Taehyung!" The same boy spoke, playing with his lip piercing. "Jeez, are you drunk already?"

Hoseok hit Taehyung's shoulder lightly, waking him up immediately with a frown. They didn't want to sit together, but Seokjin had insisted. Hoseok gestured for Taehyung to turn his stare towards Yoongi.

"Wow, Tae, you've really softened." Jin said, smiling. Taehyung snorted.

"More like you have become slower, it's age, isn't it?" The table laughed again. Not all of them were drunk, but they were happy.

Taehyung had passed the last credits, along with Jimin; As a reward, they had invited some friends to go out and celebrate. The list included Chaewon, as emotional support (because Jimin was not good at walking after several drinks); Yoongi and his fiancée; Seokjin, an old friend who was studying acting at another university; and Hoseok, who had been happily invited by Yoongi and who was there waiting for a particular moment. They were in a bar near the dorms, almost completely empty except for the two tables occupied by the college students.