So Far Away | Min Yoongi

10

We walked on the empty quiet side streets as we welcome the sunrise. He kept of walking in front of me and I trail right behind him.

"Where are we going?" I asked, noticing that we've been walking for a while now.

"I want to eat." He replies as he kept on walking. We reached a stoplight that halted him. I eventually catch up to where he is standing.

"I know that, but where?" I ask, pressing the button on the pole so we can cross the street. There are no cars, but we still decided to stop.

"Just follow me if you want to taste something good." He smiles, wiggling both of his eyebrows.

"Aish, this is taking too long." He says before crossing the the street, the red hand still present on the stop light in front of us.

"Yoongi, wait!" I shout since he was walking so fast.

"Cross the street if you don't want to be left out."

I stepped on the street, looking to my left then to my right to see if there's any cars coming. It was empty, the wind swooshing leaves was the only thing I saw.

I sprinted towards Yoongi who is now on the other side of the road. As I made it, he slow claps while looking at me.

"Sometimes you gotta take risks."

"You better treat me because of that." We continue to walk again but as we turn into a corner, a food stand was just opening.

The smell of faint burnt brown sugar and tinge of cinnamon mixing together made me lick my lips.

"Sure." He says, approaching the hotteok food stand.

*

The last time I ate a freshly cooked hotteok was when I was still a kid. I became really busy with school and studying that I barely had time to go out, and even if I will, we would eat on restaurants and not get street foods like this.

"You like it?" He asks, taking a small bite out of his.

I chewed it until I swallowed before answering. "Mm-hm. Thank you."

He just nodded and continued to eat his hotteok. It felt warm against my palm, the cinnamon and sugar slightly becoming moist because of its heat. We walked back into the park, and sat at the bench where the geese were. And luckily, they were still there.

"They look so happy." I say out of nowhere, my hotteok almost gone.

"They're wild animals." He says, watching them and leaning his back against the bench while crossing his legs. "They're free, that's why they're happy."

What does he mean?

They're free, that's why they're happy.

In all honesty, that does make sense... but the way he said it... it's like he's talking from experience. Like reminiscing something that had happened before.

He begins talking again. "You should film them. Make that one the star of the show." He points on the white goose which is now on the water, finally playing with its friends.

He hands me the camera and I take it, pressing the record button. I took a quick film, zooming into the white goose, then zooming out so I can reveal the other geese. I hit the stop button, then handed it back to him.

"Your friend bailed on you." He reminds me.

I sighed embarrassingly. "Yeah, we didn't have a chance to film Minji's parts. I'm sorry."

We stayed silent. An urge kept on forcing me to try and open up a topic so it won't be awkward, but I just can't seem to open my mouth.

"Why don't you be Minji?" He asks, making me look at him. Our eyes met as we look into each other.

"But..."

"We're partners anyway." He says. "We can just set the camera somewhere and act. We don't need anyone."

Why didn't I think of that before?

Silly, of course I have. I just didn't know if he'll be fine with it. Him and I acting together... I don't know. I wasn't sure if he'll be fine with that idea. But now that he's the one who suggested it...

"Okay." I say, looking around for a place where we can put the camera before filming. "Maybe we can set the camera on that rock?"

He stands and puts the camera carefully on top of the rock where I was sitting a while ago. He presses the on button and jogs toward me.

"Okay, what should we do?" He asks, taking a seat beside me, but closer this time.

"Just... this." I say. "But act as if we're really close and that we're good friends and that you're problematic."

He looks on the ground while opening his legs, leaning both of his elbows against his thighs.

Is he acting already? He's acting, right?

I inched closer to him and rubs his back up and down, trying to comfort him. As I touch him, I felt his body stiffen first, but as soon as I rubbed it gently, he gradually relaxes. He sits back up and looks at me. His eyes looked hollow, empty inside. I've never seen this expression of him before. He looked so serious, yet vulnerable enough to make me feel awe for him. The mood was so set that I was getting carried away, feeling the tears pooling on my eyes.

Why the hell am I crying?

His eyes widen a little bit when a tear dropped down to my cheek. Then he quickly wraps both of his arms around me and I froze like an ice that formed on a winter night, enveloped by warm arms that made me melt.

"Am I doing good?" He whispers on my ear. "Because you are."

He's right. We were just acting and yet I felt emotionally strained that I even cried. What the hell is wrong with me? Am I that emotional?

I laughed at the thought.

"What?" He says, pulling away from the hug. "You ruined the mood!"

"I'm sorry, i'm sorry." I say, hitting my lap as I laugh. "It's just... I cried while trying to act, it's pathetic."

"Isn't that what we're aiming for? It's called acting for a reason." He snorts with a smug smile. "Or is it because I just have that effect on you?"

"Hell no." I scoff and gasped at the same time. "Never in a million years."

But maybe he does.