BURN AFTER READING

VIII. Epilogue

It's been said the sun shines brighter in the Southern hemisphere. Or maybe now you just had time to notice it more.

A funny thing, time. Before, you'd never had enough of it with Seokjin - your paths always crossing, tangled up in a frantic frenzy of never knowing what would happen to the two of you next. You'd been so sure that this time would be different. But it wasn't, and now he was gone. And suddenly it all felt like too much.

The days dragged by like lead weights on your feet, the minutes on the clock ticking and ringing in your ears. The artificial sunlight the sealing touch in a cruel prison that left you with the biggest reminders of what you'd lost.

A whine echoes from the next room, and you seal the blinds shut.

Tip-toeing down the hallway, you're careful not to make a sound, not knowing what you'll find on the other end of the door to the lone bedroom in the tiny home you'd made your refuge.

Rounding the corner, your shoulders tense, and then immediately sag in relief when you see a wide pair of brown eyes looking at you. Seokjin's eyes.

Hana was awake.

Her eyes continue to bore into yours, surveying you with her fist smushed in her mouth, and you have to look away for a moment. Your heart throbs with guilt at the moment of weakness, knowing you needed to be stronger for her. The last piece of Seokjin you had remaining.

"Mmmmm-," she hums, tiny hands reaching for you, and you make your way over to the crib that stands next to your mattress.

Taking your daughter in your arms, you rock her back and forth, content to hear her giggles and squeals as she wriggles with happiness in your embrace. There's so much she doesn't know about the world, so much you have yet to share with her. But you know the time will come eventually. For now, you hold her closer.

That's when you hear the knock on the front door.

Kim Namjoon looks older than when you'd seen him last. His glasses have become a near-permanent fixture on his face, highlighting the lines that have taken up permanent residence between his brows. His hair is slick, which alerts you to the fact that the sunshine had moved aside for a storm to roll in.

There's no look of shock on his face when he realizes you aren't going to step aside to let him in. You remain at the threshold, shoulders squaring up against his tall figure, the last boundary separating him from the new life you'd created. From Hana.

You wonder why he's shown up after all this time. The visits and calls from Jungkook you'd come to expect, the doe-eyed young agent turning into somewhat of a friend. At least, on your end of things anyway.

But there was no love lost for Namjoon in your heart. The man before you had once been like Yoongi, a dear friend. You wondered when that had all changed, and whether regret clouded his heart for all the years he'd spent pushing others away, chasing the greater good, destroying countless lives in the process, yours and Seokjin's included.

"___," Namjoon croaks out, taking you by surprise when he doesn't immediately address you by your code name. "There's something I need to tell you."

Bile rises up in your throat, hot and angry, and you close the door behind you, stepping out into the rain. You watch Namjoon stagger back, hands up in his defense before you can do anything.

"We caught them. The men who killed Yoongi. They've been dealt with."

It should ease the ache within your heart, knowing that vengeance has won. The world thrives on the game of give and take you'd played for the last however many years. But it was all a lie. There was no such thing as justice, fairness. The balance that you'd sought to achieve, that Seokjin had died for - all it did was create more chaos.