CHIAROSCURO; TAEKOOK

5 - ENTANGLEMENT.

Was Noah's family the only righteous one on the whole earth that deserved to live when God flooded it? Did Jacob really see the face of God? Why were wool and linen not to be mixed?

As the days went by, I found myself completely caught up reflecting on every interaction I had with Taehyung. I was enthralled. He told me about Cain and Abel, about Sodom and Gomorrah, about small cracks in the light where darkness seeped through.

I finally had someone to share my favourite space with. Every day after school, we would buy bread from the bakery and sit at the fountain and talk. I wouldn't mind talking to him for hours on end just to hear all of the thought-provoking opinions and unconventional ideas he had, if not for the curfew my parents had imposed.

"I don't know whether you are aware of how greatly you confuse me, Taehyung," I said as I took a bite out of the bread I was holding. The cool breeze kissed our cheeks and weaved through his locks, and he looked so gentle. He looked at me with the softness of the Girl with a Pearl Earring.

"The world isn't black and white, Jungkook," he coolly replied.

I was stunned.

"How do you do that?" I asked.

"Do what?" He turned to look at me, gaze penetrating my soul. It felt like he could see every atom that made up my being, like he could see the little sparks that I felt dancing across my skin.

"How do you read my mind?"

He smiled at me, the same knowing and endearing smile which I loved to see on his otherwise calm and thoughtful face.

"You're so young, Jungkook," he said, which I snorted at. He sounded like an old man telling tired stories of his golden youth, and I found it especially hilarious considering he was only a couple years older than me. He laughed along before clarifying, "No, no, I meant... You're full of such vitality and zeal. You are so eager to learn. I admire that."

Silence fell upon us, but it wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. In fact, I revelled in the moment. A warm feeling spread throughout my body, and I figured it was the joy of being affirmed by him, someone who I respected so greatly.

"Do you know about yin and yang?" He spoke up after finishing his pastry. I shook my head, looking at him intently.

"It's Ancient Chinese philosophy. Yin is like a negative force, and Yang is positive, much like the 'light' and 'dark' worlds you so often describe to me. They're interconnected, they balance each other. They give rise to each other."

I learnt something new whenever I was with Taehyung. I was dumbfounded yet again, faced with the idea that the two contrasting worlds I had formed in my mind did not always need to repel each other. Here was a new theory, one that brought to the table the concept of their interdependence.

"The opposites are necessary," he continued, "and they can be complementary. It's like unity and duality simultaneously, I think. I don't know that much about it, but this is what its symbol looks like."

He pulled out his notebook from his school bag and quickly drew it for me, showing how the dark and light side moulded together.

"They're like puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together," he commented. "But I don't completely agree with this concept. Not everything can be definitively light or dark, right or wrong."

"I think... maybe what was being implied is that everything can have both a yin and yang side, rather than being categorised as either. Not everything can be clearly classified as light or dark, there are shadows that blur the lines."

I took the pencil from his hand and leant over the notebook, getting a little too close to him, but I didn't mind. I scribbled over the smooth line of the yin and yang symbol Taehyung had drawn and changed it into an ugly squiggly line.

"Something like this," I giggled. "It looks terrible, but things can get tangled like that."

☾

Where did I stand now?

Before Taehyung, all I knew was the two worlds. There was home, and there was school. There was light and there was dark, and I belonged to neither. Then he came along. A fresh perspective, a compromise between the two that felt right. I often wondered what my parents would think of him; would they admire his maturity, or would they be opposed to his contentious views?

Now, all I knew was that I solely leaned on him. When exactly my attachment to him had grown this strong is uncertain to me, but he was the only friend and mentor I had.

☾