GOLDEN TALENT | VKOOK ✓

30 | WELCOMING TRAIN HUG

Jeongguk was dithering. Procastinating.

They had sent their guests away, the dinner had continued, and everyone had gone to bed, but he was still fixated on the dinner. The exact feeling in his stomach and in his chest when you receive that one piece of news He got there because of it. The expectations loomed large, casting a shadow over his already burdened shoulders.

Even after his mother had checked on him an hour or two before, he couldn't sleep. And, to be honest, he feels like a jerk knowing that his mother still checks on him to see if he's sleeping at this age. Or perhaps it was because he was bitter towards his father.

The room was shrouded in a deep, velvety darkness. He was just lying on his back with his hands on his chest and stomach. He looked up at the ceiling and remembered how he used to put those light-up stickers in his old house in Busan. He even discovered a moon and wore it. Childhood, oh, childhood.

Thinking of his childhood made him feel sad. And now, if you told the young, small boy Jeongguk that all of the hard work would be assigned to him as part of a group, he would be perplexed. He's spent his entire life planning how he will be the one to shine. Alone.

Jeongguk had always been diligent in his studies, driven by a desire to meet the standards set by his strict parents. But this new venture felt like a leap into the unknown, a path fraught with uncertainties.

To be honest, he did find everything interesting at some point during his childhood. As he began with a single private lesson, his interest grew to broaden his knowledge of many things. And, being the fortunate child that he was, he got what he desired. All he knew was that he had no idea what he was getting himself into. At first, daily guitar lessons did not appear to be exhausting. When you add three more lessons related to singing practices, it gets a little difficult. Then there's the academic pressure for studying, for his private school, and so on. The highest possible score. The 100 percent marks were not attained in an instant. What about the hobbies that were never acknowledged?

It wasn't just the ability to play three instruments or have a golden voice. Photography was one of the side hobbies. Something completely unrelated to everything he was doing was because he had been told he wouldn't succeed in life and that clicking pictures would get him nowhere.

Then there was this, and then there was that.

Then he groaned and rolled onto his side, reaching for his phone from the nightstand. He had indeed activated the aeroplane mode.

''Fuck.'' He rose, his phone in one hand, scrolling through the messages. Taehyung missed three calls and sent seven texts. He didn't bother reading the texts and called right away, clearing his throat as the phone continued to ring.

''Taehyung, hey.'' He was quick to say as the other answered, ''Fuck, I was..my phone was turned off. Are you okay?'' He said this while holding the duvet in his other hand.

''You didn't read my texts, did you?'' said the line after a brief pause. He was aware of the others. His voice was a little hoarser than usual.

''No, I didn't; I called immediately. Wait, I'll check now.'' He was ready to pull away his phone and check while they were talking, but he didn't because he got told so. ''Don't. I deleted them. Just now.'' Short and to the point.

Jeongguk made a puzzled noise and pressed the phone against his ear once more. ''Are you..fine? It's getting late. It's almost two thirty in the morning,'' he said, pulling away so he could see the time.

''Would you be able to pick me up from the train station?'' Taehyung inquired, and the ravenette widened his eyes and yanked away the duvet in anxiety. ''What the fuck are you doing at the train station, Taehyung?'' He said this as he paced up and down his bed. ''Your return ticket was supposed to be valid on the 28th. We've been the 26th for about two hours now.'' He sighed, his hands becoming cold from the conversation.