When We're Us Again

Chapter Three

Kim Namjoon

The next morning was like any other. Kim Namjoon got out of bed, cursing himself for being ugly-especially with bedhead-making the 3000₩ priced coffee that tastes like recycled paper and drinking it, ate one piece of untoasted bread and going to work for another day at the petrol station. Lovely. Oh, and, let's not forget the loud ringing of his phone that always seemed to blow off whenever Namjoon was just turning around the corner down the street. He guesses the only good thing about working at the petrol station was that it's less than a seven-minute walk.

"How's life in the city for my special boy?" The sweet voice chirpily says from the other end of the line.

"Better than ever, mum." Namjoon replies, faking a chuckle into the phone when all he wants to do is crack then and there because this was his mother. There was times in his life where he could literally be honest and tell her everything wrong in his life. It's just not fair.

"Always the best, huh Joonie? I'm so proud of you." She says softly, sounding so endearing. It was the same voice she used when she'd hug him tight and say 'goodnight' when he was ten. And it was the same voice she'd use to console him that one time Namjoon had gotten second in his form. He misses home so much, and he misses being able to curl up into his parents' warm embrace at night just because he was afraid of storms. He misses the happiness he had throughout his childhood.

"Of course. I love you, mum." He says softly, sincerely.

"I love you too, Namjoon." His mother says before hanging up.

There was a tug on Namjoon's heart as it aches painfully, and he's pretty sure he should be used to the feeling by now. But it's still there. He's still experiencing homesickness as if it's the first week in Seoul and away from his hometown. He hadn't been home for a year now, and was guilty for it. Namjoon just wasn't ready to face the harsh truth. Perhaps, it could be because Namjoon was never ready for the real world-or his fate.

Kim Seokjin wanders mindlessly around Seoul. As a man who's gone through many eternities, he's watched many of his loved ones pass by. He's watched humanity destroy each other, and he was there through most of the wars. He's watched the world evolve into something greater only for it to fall apart once again on his feet. He used to consider himself a saviour of mankind, time and time again he alters history for it to become what it is now. However, all that eras he's gone through and the people he met, had come with a price. Now, Jin no longer finds the absolute adventure of travelling in time. He stopped all of that upon realising the amount of time that has been sucked into every atoms of his body that now begins to become somewhat a curse.

Immortality, as Seokjin believes, is more the opposite of a blessing.

All those years ago, he only wishes he'd listen properly. Time can be rewritten, but only if it's in flux. There were some things he could not change, much like the inevitable fate he has with love. He couldn't rewrite history and prevent death, it was against the deity. The man shakes off the thoughts in his head. And as much as he wants to cry, he'd lost that ability a long time ago. Seokjin stopped tasting the saltiness, with only the aftertaste of bittersweet in his mouth as he craved the feeling of letting out his loneliness.

Loneliness. It's a funny thing, if you think about it. One day you're hopelessly in love, and then it turns into ashes. It was a wonder on how many times Seokjin could fall in love but never gave up on it. He wishes he could be human again, and experience endless love. He wishes to grow old with the person he loves and see the greys start forming in their hair. He wants all of that mortality, all the laughters and short-term memory loss but never being able to forget the one person he loves most.

"Samcheon, why do you look so sad?" A small and timid voice asks. Seokjin didn't remember sitting on a bench until he looks up and see a male child staring up at him with wide round eyes. He looks so familiar that Jin wonders if he's met the boy before in his other life. Sometimes, a person is able to reincarnate and look exactly like they were before whereas other times they take another form of themselves and look especially different.

This boy looks too familiar that it seemed sketchy for Seokjin. "I'm not sad," he whispers finally as the little boy only tilted his head to the side with a curious gaze. "Just lonely."

"Can I keep you company?" The younger asks.

"Where are your parents?" Seokjin wonders.

"I'm not sure. I haven't been able to find my way home." It was then that Seokjin notices the bad odour that lingers in the air and the rips in the boy's shirt. His lips parted in surprise, wondering why nobody in this Godforsaken city-especially the police-had ever decided to take the little boy in. Or why there are no news of a missing child.

"I think I've been sleeping on the streets. I cried for days but then I decided I'm a big boy and... maybe mommy will find me soon. She did say we were playing hide and seek." The little boy giggles a little at the end. Seokjin was in pure shock. How could someone so small think that? How long has the boy been feeding off on the streets? How could he not cry like any other child when lost?

"Are you hungry?" Seokjin asks, and received a timid nod. "Would you like to come to my house?"

"Like a sleepover?" The boy asks, eyes gleaming.

"Yeah, sure."

Seokjin guesses it wasn't any harm to help a boy.

After Kim Namjoon he clocked out of his shift, he made to be properly dressed before going for another interview at yet another company. They didn't seem interested in him at all, and just mindlessly said 'if you receive a call tomorrow at 2.00pm, you're in'. He thinks he probably fucked it up and that call is never going to come. So he went for another interview (because he had two interviews on the same day) but that was a lot more worse. They insulted him and questioned his resumé and thought he faked it.

Namjoon fished out his phone from his back pocket and scrolled through his contact list. His thumb clicks on Jackson's number and puts his phone against his ear as he waits. "Hello?" The voice at the end of the line says.

"Do you wanna go for drinks tonight? I could use some soju and beer."

"Yeah sure. I'll call Ken-hyung too." The line disconnected and Namjoon was so glad to at least have some friends in his life and make it just a little better.

And as soon as he enters the club and met up with his friends, Namjoon got a little too drunk and may or may have not passed out in a stranger's arm. This resulted in his friends getting worried and promised themselves to file in a report if Namjoon didn't call back the next morning. Let's just say things got a little too messy.