Father - Namjoon

16. Drunk and hurt

Her hands were shaking in cold sweat, her gaze was up with a smile, but she was dying. Jungkook was in front of her, watching her every so often in the middle of the animated conversation, giving her charming, directionless glances.

Uncle Yoongi arrived that morning with the rest of the band to celebrate Bora's recovery. Namjoon gladly received them at his parents' house, being grateful that they had not yet returned from Sokcho since, if there was something his parents hated more than Yoongi, it was the bands that he had the habit of creating out of nothing, for simple 'fun'. '.

It mattered little even now that they had just played festivals in the capital and around Busan and were now arriving to accompany the girl they had known for five years. They arrived with meat sandwiches and beer, bringing smiles even from Hyejung, who surprisingly agreed to be with them for once and ended up laughing at the college anecdotes and the constant rivalry between the guitarist and the drummer.

It was strange, given that in so many years of being with Namjoon, she had never lent herself to a similar coexistence; She was always too busy taking care of her own child or cooking or at work in an impromptu meeting. Bora watched carefully, envying her performance.

The way she moved her hands served more alcohol... the looks she gave to others and the smiles she accompanied with every little comment of hers. Hyejung went from a ghost associated with her father to a living entity, sitting at the table, happy to see the faces around her.

Bora was like that. When she barely came to live in that house with the promise that it would only be for one summer, she was just as happy with her grandparents, with her uncle who was single at that time, her father stayed that summer and they went for a walk almost every day, in an atmosphere of coming and going between things that suited happiness. Then came the end, and when her father revealed the truth to her it was as if a heavy curtain finally fell to the ground, revealing a cage in the middle of the sea.

She thought that she had sorted herself out after a while, that she had finally achieved something in her new home: at school she was good, not the best but good; She tried to get into a sport and only managed a mediocre basketball game; She read like her father, but she only fantasized about faraway places. In the end the only thing that reminded him of her home was the guitar, and consequently her family was her uncle's band. She now looked like she didn't even have that.

It was like a bubble, the one that Bora carried around her pretending that no one could see it. The laughter seemed to come from the other side of the glass, which fractured every time she looked forward, and found that man who had kissed her, who had not called her, who had made her desperate since she had entered the room. The band had been together for two years and his body was covered in tattoos, he drove a motorcycle and she had liked him for so long.

It was harmless until she wasn't. Now she felt alienated from everything, she was torn by something she didn't know how to name. She started to make him dizzy.

At one point, the shaking was too much, and she thought she was going to faint, just like that, without anyone knowing; but it didn't happen. At her place, dinner ended, and while the adults stayed in the living room drinking something to continue the conversation, Bora excused herself to go to her room.

When she arrived, she closed the door immediately, falling to the floor and breaking into sighs that did not amount to tears.

She didn't think about it for long. After a while she ended up taking a quick bath and changing into her pajamas, murmuring some anonymous melody. She was calmer and she decided it was time to sleep, but when she entered her bedroom, she was not alone.

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·

"I swear to God that's how it was! One day I was on his team and the next he wanted me to go out with him!" Hyejung laughed again as Zix poured him another glass of soju. "I really didn't think anyone was capable of being that insistent...not even my ex-husband was like that..."