Unexpectedly Regular | Kim Namjoon

35

The next morning, Namjoon was not in bed again. Nara packed up her stuff, ready to leave the room she had spent her days as a university student, decided to also leave behind her all the troubles she had been avoiding for some time. This time, she wanted to lock the whole past inside that room. She thought no one would ever love her and Namjoon used to be just someone she admired, his music was an inspiration to her days of uncertainty. She needed to have his face all over her walls so that she could go through her father's choice of rejecting her over his new family. The anxiety of not being fully accepted was still sitting on the chair in front of her desk, where she had spent a great part of her youth trying to figure out life through writing about it. So, before leaving that room for good, she removed all of the posters from the walls. She no longer needed to admire Joon that way, as he was now a part of her real life. She still hadn't given him a definite answer about their future, but he was a part of her present. Her father had passed away and her mother was on her way to accept her daughter, although that was still work in progress. Nara had not yet sorted out all of her problems, but at least she was not alone anymore.

Nara entered the kitchen silently and put her glasses on. The scene was sweet as all interactions between Joon and her mother. Margarida served coffee and Namjoon prepared juice with fruit freshly collected from the garden. In a low volume, she could hear the soft voice of a woman through the radio. Nara sat on one of the chairs of that food-packed table, quietly smiling at the scene.

-Bom dia! Agora a gente já pode aumentar o volume!

Margarida kissed her daughter's cheek and turned up the volume. She sang along the melody, making Nara and Joon smile.

-Bom dia! – Namjoon placed the jar of orange juice on the center of the table – She told me she named you after this singer and before this song, she was showing me the music you liked when you lived here.

Under the CD player, Nara saw a box of her old CDs. She was surprised at their ability to communicate, but it was also surprising to hear her mother showing the music she used to loathe when her daughter was a teenager. Nara flipped through that old box, recalling how much her mother scolded her for hearing those songs rather than studying. Nara never let music stop her from studying, but she never did many things other than locking herself on her room, the music playing loud as she wrote her teenage fears and dreams out. Her taste hadn't changed much. She kept hearing the same songs, but not on physical albums anymore. Technology helped her to have what she liked to hear at the touch of her mobile screen. The only physical albums she had at home now was the full BTS collection. She already had some of them, but she asked Namjoon for that collection. It was the only actual gift they exchanged during those two years apart. Nara had sent him her book when it was finally printed. She got distracted unearthing her old musical taste and she was surprised by her mother's voice

-Eu achei que ele ia gostar da Nara. Porque ele trabalha com música, não é mesmo?

-So, Nara Leão? – Nara finally asked. – What do you think of her?

-I liked Nara Leou.

Despite his struggles to pronounce the surname of the singer, he was satisfied he knew more of his girlfriend's story. It was as if he could finally step into her life, which she had so far tried to keep him away from. There was still a lot more to be discovered, off course, and he felt sorry they would never have the chance to do it with time or the privacy he would enjoy. At least, slowly but surely, that kind of intimacy was reaching some progress, as naturally as it could happen. Because of that, casually learning that Nara's name was given to her because her mother loved an old singer was even more precious to him. He didn't have to force or stop anything. Things were just happening, as they should. It was sometimes unbelievable that he was able to have those flashes of a normal life despite how inhuman his routine could be. The afternoon and evening before that morning was proof he could have normal issues, such as "Can I learn how to dance this" rather than "Can we meet without being caught by a fan or paparazzi?", quite differently from their dates in Seoul. He could find peace to live his life here, although he knew it would never be possible to live there. Now he was having breakfast with his girlfriend and her mother and as long as they kept their phones off, fame could not affect that. Here, he was just the boyfriend being slowly and timidly introduced to the family, nothing other than that. So, he smiled at his luck to have randomly met a girl like Nara at a café. He knew he was feeling bad about her problems with her family, but it felt so normal to have to deal with problems like that, which any person could have. He took a sip of the coffee, satisfied for being there, even though he was aware that that calm could end at any time. Ever since he stepped in Brazil, he had been facing those wicked moments, yet each pacific moment next to Nara was worth it. He knew he should enjoy that morning, so the three of them had an exchange about the music they were hearing and nothing more.