I start walking towards him in the airport, with two cups of coffee in my hand.
The flight was at seven, and we got here at five in the morning. We didn't arrive at our gate until another hour later, adding the time we had to look for each other too.
It was really early in the morning, but we wanted to get there as soon as possible. The flight itself was only going to be around two hours, so it'll give us plenty of time to walk around over there.
"Are you tired?"
I sat down next to him, as he has earbuds plugged in. Which most likely means he can't hear me, so I'm basically talking to myself like a fucking weirdo.
But that's what I am.
Besides that point, I try nudging his shoulder, and he suddenly looks at me from his closed eyes. He unplugs the earbud of his left ear, and does a quick motion of lifting his head up to signal he's listening.
"What? Sorry I was listening to music."
He spoke again in his raspy morning voice, which I find quite appealing.
"I brought you coffee, maybe it'll help you."
He nodded, signalling a "thank you" before plugging his earbud back inside. I look around and observe everything like a little kid at a museum. Kids love exploring things and that tiny curiosity they have too. I believe kids are role models at times, better ones than I am. That probably explains why I love kids so much.
Just then I felt an earbud inserted in my left ear, as music starts to replace my thoughts.
The music was Lofi hip hop, relaxing type of hip hop. Not the crazy ones, which is nice to listen to in the morning.
I look over and was about to tell him he didn't have to, but he quickly waved his hand basically telling me to just shut up and listen.
And so I did, I replaced the new and old thoughts with the relaxing beats of music, and I took out my laptop as I insert the memory chip from my camera.
I looked back into files of not only photos and videos, but also the old memories captured. The times when I was crazy in love with photography and videography before taking the road of a business woman.
I look back to old videos of me, smiling. I can't help but smile myself from seeing how happy and joyful I looked. The little montage videos I made, they were all so beautiful, I forgot why I stopped in the first place.
I felt a tap on my shoulder, and then feel a sudden warmth in that area. Like a hole that was filled up, space that was gone. I slowly turn my head to see Taehyung's head laying on my shoulder.
I was in shock mode and didn't know what to do. I quietly close my laptop and sit it to the side. I try slouching a bit, so his head didn't have to go so low and his neck hurting after he wakes up.
"Flight 420 of Japan Airlines from Seoul to Tokyo will now be boarding."
Soon in the corner of my eye flight attendants begin to collect boarding passes as passengers quickly rush one after another.
"Taehyung," I whisper trying not to wake him up the wrong way. He wouldn't budge so I tried again.
"Taehyung?" I try with my normal voice. He only whimpers and continues to sleep.
I pause the music on his phone, and lift up his head.
"Dude, we gotta go now."
He then wakes up quickly, and without a word places his hat back on his head and stand up. I watched in surprise.
"You said it's time to go right?"
I hesitantly nodded, slowly getting up as I grab my hand carry bag to follow him.
"Hi, welcome to Japan Airlines, may I have your boarding pass please?"
I nodded and handed the two boarding passes hand in hand.
She marked them and then did something else, then she quickly set them down.
"I hope you enjoy your flight!" She says with a hyperactive tone.
I continued to follow Taehyung, as our seats were in one row. I try examining his facial expression, and he looked a bit bored. He didn't seem like the normal Taehyung.
"Hey, are you alright?" I asked.
His head was kept straight and he nodded without a single sound.
I look forward after taking another glimpse of his expression. Is he not having fun? Maybe he's just tired.
Let's see here Jihyo, a guy and a girl going on a trip. Girl sounds normal but guy sounds so "mute". So what does Taehyung usually do?
For a starter, he calls me kitty. He also loves teasing, like all the time.
Maybe I need to act like him in order to bring him back. Okay, looks like I got myself a task to do. Look if I have no work, maybe this can replace it.
"Taehyung," I nudge with my shoulder. He didn't speak or say anything. He simply sat down in his seat and pushed his bag under the seat in front of him.
I try again as I take a seat, "Taehyunggg"
He finally looks at me, saying one word which I'm proud of,
"What?"
"So you know how you call me kitty? How come I can't give you a nickname?"
He shrugs. "I don't know, give me one then."
I paused for a moment before continuing,
"How about doggy? Ah, no that's too lame right?"
He chuckles, "That's not bad, I like that. I guess it's cute."
Finally he is breaking, but it's not enough to sit well with me.
"Okay, how about baby?"
His lips curve upwards, "I like that. But I'm a grown ass man you know?" He finally starts making eye contact with me, and his voice sounds more like the one I'm comfortable with, no monotone here.
"If you're such a grown ass man, then why not daddy?"
