Aster Petals

✽ seven ✽

"I've noticed that you haven't changed, hyung."

It was an odd start to the conversation and oddly enough, Seokjin found that sentence to be rather humorous. He tries not to laugh with his mouth full. Swallowing, he asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Namjoon showed a cocky smile, "you're still a pig."

"Hey! How dare you!!" Seokjin swiftly lifted his chopsticks and was about to attack Namjoon⁠—who was prepared to dodge the elder's attack⁠—but he restrains himself. He gives Namjoon an indignant glare before continuing to eat his pork.

"But seriously hyung," Namjoon glances at his plate as he picks the kimchi with his chopsticks, "I'm glad you didn't change that much. I was worried that after what had happened, you would've had turned into a completely different person." He lifts the chopsticks to his mouth and ate the kimchi. "But seeing you right now, I assume that not a single thing has changed about you. At least," he swallowed, "nothing that's distinguishable."

Seokjin was a bit shocked by Namjoon's honesty. He was flattered, to be honest, but he knew that the latter was just complimenting the persona he had put on. Namjoon only sees the strong side of Seokjin, the talkative and happy side which he had always known.

He hasn't seen Seokjin's true persona though. He may have had a glimpse of it once when he had snapped at him, but that was only a fraction of a part. He doesn't see the part of him where he was agonizing in pain, the depressed and the broken side of him.

The one that still had Hanahaki.

And the one that was slowly tearing apart.

"Well, I shouldn't let it affect me too much," Seokjin replies, poking his food with his chopsticks. "It isn't much of a big deal anyway." Was all he says, trying his best to not mention the word 'rejection' and or anything related that would bring up that day.

"But⁠—" Namjoon was about to say something about the elder's Hanahaki, but he had noticed the blank expression⁠—which seemed to be dark⁠—on Seokjin's face as he stares down at his food. He decided to not continue his sentence.

They continued to eat, filling their stomachs with the food they have ordered in silence. Seokjin went deep into thought while Namjoon was trying to start up a new conversation with him.

"Hyung," he starts, "which part of Australia do you live in?"

"I live in Brisbane."

"Why not Sydney?" Namjoon looked at the latter with an eyebrow raised.

Seokjin shrugged, "back then, I didn't care about where I would live. So I went for the cheapest rental I could find. I ended up finding one in Brisbane. It turns out that the place where I'm staying wasn't as good as I hoped it would be, but it's alright." He picked the food with his chopsticks and ate it.

"But have you ever thought of moving?"

"I did, actually," Seokjin sets his chopsticks down on the empty plate. "But I decided not to."

Namjoon knits his eyebrows, still in question. "If you aren't satisfied with where you are staying, then why didn't you find another place?"

Seokjin pressed his lips into a line, staring down his plate. "I just, I don't know really. I guess it's because it's near my workplace and because I didn't want to leave Jisoo."

Namjoon narrowed his eyes at him, "who's Jisoo?"

Seokjin looks up, remembering that he hadn't told him about her. "Ah right, I haven't told you," he rubbed his chin in thought. "She's my co-worker. We met on my first day working at the company and she helped me out. She was there through my rough times and she was the person I could lean on during my time in Australia. I guess you could say that she's been my best friend for quite a while."