Until the Days of Spring || NamJin [✔]

Epilogue

Notes:

The last part of this story. Hope you enjoy ♡

⊱ ────── {☽.⋅✿⋅.☽} ────── ⊰

March 30th, 2020

Taehyung is dazed.

He blinks, shakes his head. Namjoon, old and grey, patiently waits as he processes it.

They were back on the front porch, still in the same spot where they sat hours ago, when Namjoon first started talking about a warm summer's day. The sun has begun to set, and the night quickly sweeps away the remains of daylight. Fireflies emerge from the undergrowth of the garden, and the crickets have begun their chorus. One by one the street lights flicker to life. Some yards away, Tannie nickers as she noses along a patch of flowers.

Finally, after a whole minute of silence, Taehyung snaps up.

"It can't end like that!"

"End like what?"

"Like-! Like that!" he splutters.

"Were you expecting a happy ending?"

Taehyung opens his mouth for a second, then shuts it and deflates. "I guess," he mutters. Because stories can't end like that, right? Like how the spring always arrives after winter, two lovers shouldn't stay apart, not when their hearts clearly belong to each other.

"We can't have everything we want, Taehyung," Namjoon says with patience.

"But you deserve some of it."

Namjoon doesn't reply. Instead he closes his eyes and breathes in deep.

Taehyung frowns and fidgets with his fingers. "It was...quite the story," he says at last. "Thank you for telling me."

They sit in silence for some time. Taehyung cards through the pages of his notebook. It's nearly filled now, after he wrote down as much as he needed from Namjoon's story. Only two pages are left empty. He taps his pencil against it, mind still reeling from it all.

Then, in a small voice, "How do you think he is now?"

Namjoon cracks open his eyes. He glances at Taehyung.

"Hm?"

"Jin. Do you ever wonder about how he might be doing now? After so many years?"

Namjoon shrugs, a sad yet accepting smile on his thinning lips. "I try to imagine, but I can't. Or can't bring myself to. Who knows what Seokjin might be up to now - it's been so long. Perhaps he's already moved on, quicker than I did. Perhaps he's found someone else to love and cherish. Perhaps...he's already forgotten about me, about our memories together. Who knows how time works on the moon, and what his life is like up there. I can only hope that he's learned to love where he is, to love whatever else he might have found up there."

Taehyung's eyes widens. "Do you really think that? You really believe that Jin might've forgotten about you?"

"It's a bitter possibility. Besides, he's way out of my league in the first place."

"But-!" Taehyung starts, but the words die out in his throat. Instead he pouts, prompting Namjoon to coo at him.

"Cheer up, Taehyung. I've learned to accept it. My time with Jin might have been brief, but all those moments I've shared with him I hold close to me. And it's helped me through a lot, and I wouldn't have made it here without those moments."

Taehyung sighs and drops his head to his palms. "I guess...I just wish you had more time with him."

Namjoon looks at him with warmth. There is love in those wise eyes of his, as much love as there is pain.