philophobia | ksj+mb

-06-

Jungkook released the camera from his grasp and stood up, brushing the snow from his pants. He turned to Jin, "That was great. I'm sorry for your girlfriend by the way."

What? Girlfriend?

Jin gave him a little smile and nodded. For a moment, I worried if he might suddenly panic again, but he didn't show any signs of panicking.

It was getting too cold for my wellbeing so the three of us decided to call it a day. I flipped through the pictures, satisfied with the results of today's photoshoot. Jin left us early since he claimed that he had a meeting for a short movie.

"Don't forget our reunion next week!" Jungkook shouted to Jin as he left, "You better be there or I'll drag you!"

Jungkook and I spent the next few minutes in his car while looking at our pictures and humming to the tune of the music. He had turned on the heater, thankfully. We showed each other our pictures once in a while, showing off the results we were proud of. Jungkook's pictures were amazing and unique, as expected from a freelance photographer.

"I have a movie I wanted to show you," Jungkook said after he packed his camera inside its bag, "It's good."

"What is it?" I asked him. Jungkook, the film nerd—and student, loves showing movies he thought good—in hopes of getting a review from me. But mostly I watch and take in whatever review he has for the film, giving my own 'it's good' every time.

"It's romance, and it's sad."

"The Notebook?" I guessed, frowning and packing my own camera.

He shook his head. "That's also a great movie, but nope."

"The Fault in our Stars?"

He chuckled. "No, Byul. That's too cliché. It's Her."

He started the engine, "You're free after this? I'd prefer to tell you my thoughts face to face."

I nodded and he grinned. "Great. It's a great reference for directors and writers."

"I'm a journalist, Jungkook. Not a director."

Jungkook lives in a shared house with two of his friends. It was small and cheap and cozy, just right for three film crews to live and sleep.

His house is disorganized and messy, the dust pooling everywhere. We entered an area where a TV is present. Across from it, small beanbags.

I sat on one of the beanbags while waiting for him to set the movie, "When was the last time we did this?"

"More than six months ago. You've been very busy lately, I couldn't give you the luxury of sitting down and watching a movie."

He dragged a beanbag beside me and sat down. "This is amazing. It's about a guy that dates an OS."

"What?"

"I know, crazy right?" He flashed his bunny smile at my direction. "But it's amazing. You should write this kind of story"

"I'm sorry, I'm a journalist not a screenwriter."

"Whatever." He pointed at the screen. "The exposition is a genius. They didn't say that he split up with his wife but you can tell from his reaction that something happened."

"Aren't you supposed to analyze the camera works? You're a camera director?"

He nodded, "But I do understand story."

"Sure you do." I smirked. We were completely immersed in the movie, with Jungkook speaking out his comments once in a while.

"You know Jin's girlfriend?" I asked him halfway throughout the movie.

He nodded. "She acted in one of my movies, back when I was in university."

"What happened to her?"

He was silent for a beat. Jungkook let out a heavy breath and licked his lips. He didn't look at me when he said, "She died."

I stared at him, "What?!"

"In an accident. I don't know the details, you'll have to ask Jin about that," He answered, his lips pursing and his eyebrows frowning.

"How come I didn't know about it?" I asked him, ignoring his reluctance, "How come Yoongi didn't know about it and you do?"

"He didn't tell anyone. I found out through my friends." Jungkook sighed. "Can we just watch this in peace?"

I pursed my lips, "Can you elaborate on this scene then?" waving my hand at the screen.

"He looks like an idiot pretending to date an OS," Jungkook answered, much more enthusiastic than before. "like his wife or ex-wife said, he is not capable of emotions with real people. That results in him dating an artificial person made to love him."

"So he's emotionally immature?"

"Exactly." He nodded, "Her, this movie, is ironic and great. You know most people in the world are also not capable of real emotions? They're emotionally immature—as you call it and can only love people who are exactly as they want."

I frowned, "Isn't this also about moving on?"

"How so?"

"He cannot move on from his wife, or at least the image of her that results in him and her splitting up. And even in his relationship with Samantha, he still can't move on completely from his ex-wife."

Jungkook nodded again, agreeing with me "I guess so." He frowned, a thought appearing in his head, "Now that I think about it that's even more ironic. Trying to move on, people love to indulge themselves in technology and gadgets—like Theo. But they don't realize that the technology makes them not capable of having real feelings."

"Which makes them incapable to move on completely."

—❦—

i just dropped the big one. haha.

ok not really the big one but just drop things—

ok whatever at least now you know where his girlfriend went. told ya she won't disappoint.

thank you for all the reads and votes and comments. philophobia is currently in 1.4k reads now and i'm so happyyy. i have an idea. how about, if philophobia get to 2k reads, i'll update a chapter at that moment? let's do that!

till next wednesday,
-w.