Finding You

Chapter 13: Ricochet

[Received at 9:00 PM]: Hey August, did you have a good day?

One month. It had been almost a month since he had started talking with Alex, who he had learned identified as a girl, and Yoongi was utterly hooked. He found himself anticipating her words, always checking around ten at night to see if she had replied to the messages he had left for her while she slept. He also checked every morning to respond to the ones she sent in return during the night. The only downsides were the difference in their time zones and the constant frustration of trying to speak with her while grappling with a huge language barrier.

He was tired of the limited conversation. Yoongi was tired of feeling like he could only ask her about her day and no further. It was so difficult to carry a conversation, on most days he felt like their talks were redundant, resetting to 'how are you today?' every morning and never going past the simple things they told each other about experiencing each day. He wanted to know more about her but truly didn't know how to ask. When he did try something simple like 'tell me about you' it never got very far because his comprehension of English was limited and translators only did so well up until a certain point.

He felt stuck and considered that maybe this was the extent that he could communicate with Alex. This was the most he would ever get out of their interactions and it would never progress past 'how was your day?' Something about that was so dissatisfying, like he had done all this work only to reach this wall that was entirely too high to even considering climbing. Maybe, at the end of the day, this was for the better.

Yoongi knew he shouldn't have been speaking to her in the first place. He knew that and yet he kept ignoring the potential consequences and did it anyway. He was breaking so many rules, even some of the ones that were finely printed onto his contract and then others that were left unspoken, but he just couldn't convince himself to care. Talking to Alex was something he enjoyed, even though it was becoming an increasingly frustrating aspect of his life.

When he did understand, he clearly saw a person that intrigued him and was definitely worth the effort to talk to. Alex was putting herself through university for a degree that her parents wanted her to have but in contrast, she was incredibly fed up with the education system of her country. On top of school, she was adamant to work on her paintings, insisting that she would not give up the aspect of her life that she was passionate about just to spend that time studying. When he got glimpses of her through clear communication, he wanted to see more. He wanted to know her.

That was how he found himself knocking on Namjoon's door.

He stared at the threshold for a solid thirty seconds, eyes locked on the fading white paint that was chipping in some areas before he heard the sounds of Namjoon shuffling inside. It was then that his mind exploded with worries. What excuse would he give Namjoon? Would he believe him? What if he found out about Alex and told the manager? What if he said no? What if some aspect of English never fully clicked with Yoongi and the language barrier that separated him from deeper conversations with Alex wasn't something that could be broken? He felt like he literally had to wrestle a gag onto his thoughts as soon as he heard the sound of the knob twisting. Yoongi hurried to make himself seem passive.

Namjoon looked at Yoongi and then opened the door further, letting him walk into the room he shared with Jungkook. Yoongi settled for sitting on Jungkook's bed while they talked, happy that the Maknae must have been spending time with Jimin or Taehyung. Yoongi looked up when he felt Namjoon settle his dark eyes onto him and tried his best to look at ease even though he felt strangely nervous.

"Did you dislike the lyrics I gave to you?" Namjoon asked quietly, raising his eyebrow.

"What?" Yoongi asked as he furrowed his brow. "No."