* Italics - conversation in your native language.
* Omoni - formal term to address mother.
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"So I've been thinking about this for a while, Hyung, what happens when you die?" Curious Taehyung ruffles his velvety hair while enquiring his hyung with a stern face.
Jin, who is sitting straight across the table closes his flip phone in a swish and looks up with concern engulfed eyes, "well, according to the myth you will go to heaven after you di_"
"But he won't, he will for sure stay as a paid guest in hell and do broccoli farming with Satan for stealing my dumplings!" Jimin who is indulged in playing overwatch with the golden maknae yells from the other end of the room interrupting Jin.
Taking no notice of Jimin's childish tantrum Namjoon continues, "Despite being an atheist I often think that an afterworld and a better life is waiting for each of us. I once had a pet crab_"
"No, I mean like when Jin Hyung dies, what happens. Do I get all his Mario figurines?" Taehyung makes his query more clear while abruptly cutting off Namjoon's enlightening talk about the afterlife and eventually dodges a pillow charged against his face by Jin.
"Aish! This Yoongi is too stubborn for a human, it's been legit 3 days since he stepped out of his studio and I guess he saved my name as do not pick up!" Jhope strides into the room while throwing his phone over the couch and slouches against the fleecy cushion.
"I'll summon Yoongi hyung with a single text, wanna see magic?" Jungkook who won the game against Jimin proceeds with a proud face towards maddened Hoseok.
"Please proceed, we can't wait to see you getting brutally seen zoned and left out in the cold!" Salty Jimin approaches from behind and throws his game console churlishly over the antique teapoy placed in the centre of the room.
"Don't be such a pessimist hyung, just Wait and watch him barging into this room in 5...4...3_" Jungkook starts his countdown while sending something over text to Suga.
"Did this stupid just say Europe is a country?!" Yoongi rushes outta his studio and marches into the room with a scowl on his face, making others guffaw at the drama happening, barring you.
Whenever you're around they make sure to converse in English so that you won't feel left out, but today nothing seems to make you social.
Your mind is constantly looping around the scenarios from yesterday and nothing seems to slash through the web of various emotions it's been building in your brain since last night.
Though Joe's confession dropped like a bombshell for someone whose belly was constantly occupied by different species of butterflies due to the way he started to treat you, what mortified you throughout the night was his grave silence right after the confession.
Straight after letting out his deepest secret to you, he seemed like a possessed person who lost his speaking ability in the very moment. He drove you back to your uncle's mansion and as expected the journey back home was awfully silent. Neither he nor you tried to ease the tension in the air and you continued to stare at the blinding lights through the window, trying to mute your blaring mind.
For some obnoxious reason, he constantly avoided looking up at your face and whenever you got a shy glimpse of his side profile while his hands were swaying along with the steering wheel, you could see his jawlines protruding in a firm posture which emphasised how fiercely he is curbing his emotions from spilling out.
Even after reaching home, you typed umpteen messages in midst of your muddled thoughts but your addled brain used the backspace more than any key and utterly aborted all the questions resulting in zero conversation via message too.
Your phone rings sliding through your hefty mood.
"Yeah ma! I reached the office and I didn't skip breakfast!" You answer her in a monotonous voice, a considerable knob of irritation built by her usual dubious questions blocking your tone.
Her usual voice manifests that your Shashima is yet to reveal your fake boyfriend story to her as she herself doesn't believe it yet.
"Ah, my voice?! No. I'm completely fine ma, it's just I have a bad headache since morning due to my usual sinus problem. Nothing serious, trust me!" You strive to make your mom believe your shady reason.
"Also where is appa? It's been a while since I talked to him!" You use the most effective Astra to divert your quick-witted mom and you could hear the hands getting swapped.
"What's my little pumpkin doing over there?" Your dad's voice sounds as enthusiastic as always with a strong tinge of love.
"Appa, it's been a decade since you called me last time. You're not planning to abandon me, are you?" Your voice trembles with feeble anger and your eyes start to get a little moist.
"How can I even take no notice of my princess's hard life? I've been constantly pestering Shashi about your well being as you seemed quite busy with work all day and I must say I feel really gratified and proud about my little daughter sprouting her own vivid wings in a foreign nation, you gotta prove what you're capable of to all those dumb relatives of ours who mocked me for trusting my daughter's passion and dream instead of marrying her off to a lippy idiot.
And I also heard about how Shashi planned a sudden alliance arrangement for you and how it ended. I swear on our family, neither I nor your mom had any say in this arrangement, to begin with, we didn't even get informed about this arrangement, she herself took all the decisions in our place.
They leisurely informed us about all those horrendous things that happened that day when we voluntarily enquired them based on the rumours spreading among our other family members. And that's the price we gotta pay for staying under their roof, my child.
Please pardon you amma and appa, we wanted to protect you at all cost from this rotten world, but still, a brazen brat caused this mortifying wound in your heart. We constantly avoided bringing up this topic to you as we thought it might worsen your wounds and decided to disregard it wholly but what kinda parents ignore their kid's pain and that's why we decided to try our best to heal it in the way we could as a responsible family. We're very sorry about what happened y/n, you do know we love you more than anything in this world right?" Your dad's voice palpitates in a strong flow of emotion.
"Appaa!" Your voice chokes as beads of tears start to accumulate in your eyes. The bottled up homesickness sears through your eyes as it unfurls throughout your heart. Deep down you always knew nothing apart from your family can ever be the source of genuine, selfless love, but today you feel it in your bones.
"This is why I never allowed you to take over the phone all this while!" your mom grasps the mobile from your trembling dad. "Y/n, your appa said whatever I hesitated to tell you, though she is my sister she has no rights to hurt or force my kid in the name of love. When are you getting your salary?" She enquires hastily.
"By the end of this month." You answer back with confusion inlaid with a hue of relief.
"It's hardly ten more days, right? So you better surf through the internet and find a decent house for yourself. You should move outta Shashi's house by the end of this month!" Your mom's voice echoes like a command.
"Maaa!" Your voice trails off to emphasise how hard it is to get yourself a nice studio or apartment in Seoul.
"Omoni!!!" Jungkook hollers from his spot, across your table, with a radiant smile.
"Is that Jungkook's voice? Is he there? Pass the phone to him, quick!" You could feel the smile in your mother's voice. Honestly, you're cheesed off with the bond budding between Jungkook and your mom.
"But_" before you could utter a cry of annoyance he casually seizes the mobile from your hand and walks out of the room, enthusiastically conversing with your mom and that's when you look up at the rest of them keenly observing you, molecules of concern bubbling up in their eyes.
"Are you alright y/n?" Jin softly asks you.
"Yeah, yeah Jin-shi, I'm alright! It's just… I feel a bit homesick, nothing much." You ensure him with a heartwarming smile.
"Are you sure, do you need anything? I can get you if you need something!" Hobi rises from his seat and walks towards you.
"Thanks for your concern Hoseok-shi, but I'm physically alright. It's just, my mind is quite a mess at the moment."
"Then you're not supposed to have a whale of time alone, please let us ruin it!" Jimin drags his chair along and settles near you.
"Idle mind Is the devil's kitchen!" Taehyung hauls himself near you in his swivel chair.
"It's workshop, not kitchen stupid!" Yoongi playfully slaps Taehyung's head from behind, earning a chuckle from you.
A slender arm slides a mug of piping hot tea over your table, "this is a herbal tea which can do wonders for headaches. Try it and let me know!" Namjoon flashes his squishy dimples.
"How many vessels rested in peace today due to your tea-making ceremony?" Yoongi vaguely asks Namjoon while settling near you.
"2 mugs, 1 plate," Namjoon says with a feeble tint of guilt and hauls a beanbag near Jimin, they all encircle your chair with their respective seats.
You take a sip of that alluring herbal tea, "such a spiffing tea Namjoon-shi!" Your eyes enlarge in amusement.
He proceeds to ambush you with his eye smile.
"Also y/n I've been thinking to ask you something, why do you converse in English with your mom and in some complex yet sweet language with your father?" curiosity smothers Namjoon's face.
"Ahh, that's a big story!!" You smile instinctively,
"My dad is from the southern part of India and my mom is from the northern part of India, they both speak different languages and practise different cultures. Only heaven knows how they fell head over heels for each other back in their college days. After marriage, both of them struggled to learn each other's native language, so in conclusion, we opted for English as our house's common language."
"Damn! That's a cute story and then?" Hoseok flashes his sunshine smile and seems more enthusiastic than others about the idea of interracial marriage.
"But after a point, my paternal grandmother who tends to be a linguaphile got offended by the fact that my parents failed to pass on their godly native language to the next generation which is me and made a strict rule that is whenever I speak to my father or his side family members, I should only converse in his mother tongue. And that's how I started to learn and converse in different languages." You narrate your life's lingua story to the whacky audience sitting ahead of you.
"Woah! So you speak two different languages in India?" Hobi asks in pure thrill causing you to stifle a smile.
"Hoseok-shi, India officially has 22 languages and unofficially we have more than 100 languages all over the country. And the most riveting fact is, out of seven classical languages of the world, two are Indian languages!" You couldn't help but end up sounding like a haughty nationalist, causing his jaw to drop down onto the floor.
"Why do I feel like India existed in the world way before dinosaurs?" Yoongi questions in an utterly fascinated state, earning a roar of laughter.
"India is surely a mysterious country but you know what is more mysterious? This guy!" Jimin's index finger points at someone behind the glass wall.
Joe is climbing stairs that rose up in well-measured form, the only way to reach the rooftop as none of the lifts takes you to the rooftop.
"It's been more than five years since he joined as a barista here, but not even once I've seen him smiling or being social with his co-workers. He works like he has been earmarked only for being a barista and not a human with flesh. How can someone be this detached from his surroundings?" Namjoon states those obvious specialities of Joe.
"And that arouses my curiosity, I wanna know what kinda life he lives and what kinda people he likes, because he seems like someone who completely lost interest in humankind!" Yoongi states while peering at the rangy guy through the window.
"Do any of you here even know how his voice sounds? Man, he is a complete embodiment of mystery!" Taehyung says in a completely engrossed state.
"But why is he proceeding towards the rooftop like a rebellious high schooler?" Hoseok's question induces a swarm of memories, causing a streak of Deja Vu to glide over your memory and the next minute you flee outta the room and trot towards the rooftop.
_
A/n: Hi reader-nims! Hope you all are staying safe and healthy. Do wear a mask whenever you step outside and stay well sanitized.
Now consider this space as an opinion box and do let me know if I should make any changes in the story. For instance, changes in the pace of the story or the way it's written, anything which will make this story a better one. Borahae! 💜