CHIAROSCURO; TAEKOOK

6 - SURREPTITIOUS.

"May I visit a friend today?"

It was a Sunday afternoon much like any other, but today was a special occasion. The smell of vanilla essence and cake flour hung in the air; my mother and brother were baking cupcakes together in the kitchen.

Taehyung had invited me over to his house. He said there was something he wanted to show me, and that he knew his father would be fond of me.

"That friend?" my father asked.

I had previously asked him about Taehyung's views, mentioning the story of Cain and Abel. Was Cain really the one in the wrong? Could it be possible that Abel was in the wrong, and Cain was in the right, rather than the other way around? Taehyung had said on one occasion that the striking character of Cain greatly resembled both me and him. He felt that we were similar to Cain, the "villain" of the story.

To my surprise, my father told me that Taehyung's opinions weren't necessarily anything new. On the contrary, Taehyung's idiosyncratic views had been shared by similar individuals even in the Old Testament.

But this heresy was, of course, merely an attempt on the part of the Devil to destroy our beliefs.⁺

"No, this is a different friend," I lied, lest my father try to keep me away from Taehyung in fear of him influencing me with his "anti-Christ propaganda".

Upon receiving my father's permission to see Taehyung, I restrained myself from doing a mini celebratory dance. It felt odd how joyful I was to leave the house, the place that perpetually been a source of comfort. This was the first time I had left my shelter, the sanctuary of light for a purpose reason that wasn't school. I must have been driven by my eagerness to learn something new and fresh, to be let into a closed-off, other-world I had never known of before.

Before I left, I made sure to slyly pinch a couple of cupcakes from the kitchen countertop.

☾

I hesitantly approached the mahogany front door of Taehyung's residence and knocked. The very architecture of his house made me nervous - there was a flourishing garden in the front yard, the great, big front gate had intricate carvings and vines decorating it, and it was almost twice the size of my house.

"Hello, dear. You must be Taehyung's friend. Welcome!" The melodic voice that graced my ears sounded strikingly similar to Taehyung's, but it wasn't him. Instead, his father stood before me. His father was tall, with broad shoulders and was smartly dressed.

I shook his hand firmly. "Yes, I'm Jungkook, sir."

"He tells me a lot about you," Mr Kim replied. "Come in, I'll pour you a cup of tea." He ushered me in, leading me through the wide hallways to their kitchen. I marvelled at the high ceilings, Victorian-style architecture and the smell of petitgrain that was present in every corner. The umber colour palette of their home reminded me of countryside cottages. Strangely, Dalí's The Accommodations of Desire came to mind as well.

"Thank you for being Taehyung's companion. It's difficult for me to always be around, and I was the only person Taehyung used to be able to talk to," Mr Kim sighed and took a sip of his tea, me following suit.

"It's no skin off my back, sir. I thoroughly enjoy spending time with him, he's the only person I feel like I can talk to as well."

"You may call me Seokjin if you'd like," he paused to give me a reassuring nod, "Are you done with your tea, darling? Taehyung's upstairs in his room."

☾

The door to Taehyung's room was slightly ajar. I wasn't sure if I should knock or directly make my way in. I could hear the sound of pages flipping softly, and pen scratching on paper. Peeking in as inconspicuously as I could, I caught sight of Taehyung. Seated comfortably in front of a desk that was illuminated by the sunlight filtering in through a large window, he had a book in one hand and a pen in the other. There was a notebook open in the table which he frequently scribbled in, and peering closer, I realised it was the journal where he had drawn the yin and yang symbol.

Thankfully he took no notice of me, for I must've looked like a creep ogling at him. A few minutes passed as I soundlessly observed Taehyung in his natural habitat. He seemed much more relaxed than he did in school, wearing a loose white shirt, curly hair unruly and falling freely in his face.

Timidly, I knocked on the door and pushed it open just a tad. "Hey, Taehyung," I almost whispered, but the quiet atmosphere made it sound like a shout.

He swiftly turned around in his chair, looking mildly tense, most likely caught off-guard from my entrance. When his eyes landed on me, his features softened. He put his book and pen down and got up from his chair, walking over and embracing me quickly. He shut the door behind us and sat on his bed, crossing his legs and leaning on his arms comfortably.

Having step foot into the room, I could see every aspect of it in its entirety. By the bed was a bookcase that was so tall it barely reached the ceiling, and it was full of books of every imaginable variety. The walls were mostly bare, save for one that held a myriad of paintings and photographs that had been framed and hung up.

"Sit down," he offered. I awkwardly shuffled over and plunked myself on the edge of the bed. "This is what I wanted to show you." He swiftly retrieved his journal from the table and pulled out a few of the books from the bookshelf, placing them on the bed between us. Flipping through his journal, I eyed what looked like sketches of the fountain, the classroom and the bakery. I felt my cheeks warm. Were these memories that were precious to him? Were these the places that he deemed precious to him?

I looked at the page he stopped at. It was full of notes, inked in flowing cursive. The books he had picked out were about gods, about philosophy, about art and poetry. His eyes flickered up to meet mine. His gaze was sharp yet tender, everything about him blurred around the edges.

"Would you like me to read to you?"

☾

sorry i like to reference art a lot lmao

this is sorta the main color palette of the book - how the characters dress and how the buildings + town look, cottagecore/dark academia vibes yk