The Dusk Gallery | Taehyung x BTS

10 Hours

Ten hours before Taehyung decided to die, he had a shift at the clothing store he worked at.

It was nothing amazing. Just a job. Completely unrelated to his younger self's hopes and aspirations. It paid the bills.

Even if his coworkers were annoying teenagers, and his manager was the devil himself, he needed to be here. He couldn't be bothered to find work elsewhere. He was good at what he did.

Customers liked him. Especially the girls. Taehyung was ridiculously handsome, even if he put no effort into his hair, which he never did.

They flocked to him and asked for help regarding finding a certain pair of shoes or sunglasses, and he of course needed to help.

But as he showed up for his shift, face of course conveying no emotion whatsoever, he saw his boss' skinny, manicured finger, curling towards her to tell him to come into her office.

"Good morning Dabin-ssi"

She doesn't respond just nods to acknowledge him and then points to the chair that is placed directly opposite hers.

Taehyung sits on the chair, but senses that this wasn't your typical 'this-is-how-much-money-we-need-to-make-today' conversation. No this was different and already Taehyung's hand began clenching into fists at the idea of what could happen.

"So listen..." Dabin begins, tucking an invisible hair behind her ear of her annoyingly ugly updo, ugh Taehyung would would love to tell her that she needs some serious highlights and to chop about 6 inches of that dead hair off.

"Is this about the time I was late last week? Because I lost my phone and I bought an alarm clock but clearly I had set it wrong and..." he stops because her hand is suddenly up in the air to tell him to stop talking.

"It's not about that. Listen don't you have hobbies?"

Random. What did that have to do with anything?

"I do I guess. I mean. I haven't done any of them in years".

"Well I remember you mentioning a few times that you sometimes would have liked to do something different. Right? Paint more. Work somewhere with kids or something. I don't know"

"Plans change. I don't really care about that to be honest" he says to her with a shrug. Honestly the energy he's giving off right now gives off the same not-caring vibes.

Dabin lets out a little huff and leans back in her chair.

"Well you also don't seem to care too much about clothes. And we need someone here who is passionate about what they do".

He sensed where this was going so Taehyung decided to speak up.

"No no. I love clothes. I love customers. I love straightening out hangers".

"I think we both know that is a massive lie".

"Dabin-ssi I need this job"

"I'm sorry Taehyung but I don't have the budget to keep you anymore".

This was the most emotion he has felt in a while, so he didn't want his brain and body to overdo it. Whether that was anger or sadness he didn't want to show either.

But he had so little to live for in his life now anyway. No friends. No father. A mother who he barely spoke to, mostly due to her sickness and inability to figure out texting. Family who has moved away from Korea who he can't visit since he doesn't earn enough money.

No hobbies, no plans, no aspirations.

No love.

This was something he did daily and it distracted him from the brutal reality that was his life.

If he lost this job he truly had nothing.

"But you just hired that girl, what's her name Chae-..."

"Yes well. I don't have the budget to keep you Taehyung. You're let go with immediate effect. I'm sorry".

Sorry.

Yeah right.

Taehyung doesn't say anything else. Instead he stands up and heads towards the door.

"Taehyung?"

He turns to look back at her. "Look at it this way. I'm doing you a favour in the long run. You'll see".

He doesn't reply. Just heads towards the exit. Leaving his last bit of life behind.

It rains on his way home, but Taehyung honestly couldn't give a crap about how wet his clothes and hair were. Why should he?

He couldn't even take the bus home since he forgot his wallet so he was stuck with walking the 20 minutes back. The grey clouds covered the sky completely, and even though it was only about half past 11 in the morning it looked a lot later. Darkness covering the streets of Seoul, a very good image of how the inside of his head looked right now.

Once he arrived in his tiny, horribly decorated apartment Taehyung stripped out of his soaked clothes and dressed in some sweats,  running a red towel through his wet hair so that at least the water wouldn't drip down his back.

The rest of the day was spent on the couch. Sitting and staring into nothingness. Sometimes he'd get up to get cereal, or a banana, something to stop his stomach from growling the way it did. The sound of the rain only seemed to stop around 9 o'clock.

Taehyung's head turned to the window in his tiny living room. The rain had stopped. And since it was July, the sun was still out, half way set. It was slowly lowering, and soon it would be gone behind the buildings. Soon his favourite time of day would arrive. Dusk. Where the world turns darker, the air turns crisper and only slivers of light from the lowering sun remain. His eyes begin scanning over the building outside his apartment. It was made from red brick and looked just as horrible as his own building did. But the red made him think of blood. The blood made him think of a heart. The heart made him think of love.

And thinking of love was what he spent the last half an hour of his life thinking about.

How he had missed out on every single opportunity thrown his way. How if he had made different choices in life, if he had gone out more, explored more maybe he would have stumbled into the love of his life.

What if he did end up switching seats in school when one of the boys asked so that he could be closer to his friend? He would have ended up next to a boy with black hair who for 16 was so handsome. Maybe he would have asked him out?

What if.

Yes, Taehyung decided.

Dusk was the perfect time to die.