Chapter 12
Photograph : Liquor Cabinet
"You okay, lad?" The bar owner spoke as he slid another glass across the counter, the young red-headed man across him took the glass without any hesitation and downing it in one second.
"Mh, no." Cale responded with a sigh, deep bags hang beneath his eyes. "Just feeling a bit down on the weather. Business matters." Cupreous irises glance towards the ceiling before it falls back on the counter. He watches as the owner hums casually, shaking up other drinks for the other costumers then responding back.
"Don't drink too much, then." The old man around his fifties chuckles, "Birds whisper about lurking women." The old man's eyes swept over the sea of dancing people, noticeable hungry eyes stared over the young red-haired man.
The joke was unnecessarily made since Cale was more prone to like a guy but he snorts in amusement. As it is true, his good looks and charm had been sorted to an S-rating by people on the internet. Women have their souls carved out for him, even guys but Cale was uninterested. Sure, he's had his moments of impulsivity but pining for an absolute decade is the worst thing to pull him over to the shore.
"Even so, I'm uninterested." The photographer bluntly denied, and could see a woman near him slowly directing her figure away from him. "I'm more interested in their jobs anyway."
The bar owner took a guffaw, "A passion driven, hm? I get what you mean."
Cale chuckles, a figure of a writer appears in his mind.
Imagining how he would look like if he was focused on creating his work, and something funny—blossoms over his chest, "I suppose..."
-
Life was an architectural concept, for it is built and molded by seamless lines and shapes. Geometrically crafted and designed for whatever what it was deemed for. A word that revolves everything, for every noun and even for objects that don't have the need to breath. Life is something centred without question, and is the belief or the point thereof viability.
However, life in itself is vague and built on hard concrete walls that seemed to have stronger grip better than irons itself. Perhaps, curiosity and knowledge are nothing more but a stepping stone — perhaps, that's true for some people.
Because life is nowhere near emotions, life is nowhere near things nor does it even breathe. It's just there, it lives deep in the shells of living beings. Sometimes, it makes you question the existence of your soul and being here.
Or perhaps, Roksu is just as high at the moment because he swears he's been going back and forth with this draft inside his screen with the lights glaring right back at him in the middle of his unconventional lonely dark lit room.
Writing stories, for the lack of better words, is quite a facile task to do, a cinch. Now, he might get lots of backlash from that thought but in his situation, it is easy.
Quite so to the point of every minute and every scribble, there's always new things appearing on mind in every possibilities with the way he writes his characters. It flows, like a stream, as if there was no barrier and it just keeps on pouring. But in a way, writing stories are also tiring. It comes within a passion for writing, a passion to strive and to create. To give life to something innate, of someone's byproduct of fantasy. And perhaps that's been his entire life, creating, giving, doing.
Though, it had always been tragedy that he'd given to his sad-sack of characters he has. Not like he cares, it gives him money and it makes his readers cry. That was enough. Yes.
NOW— back to the actual event at hand, Kim Roksu specifically wants to dig a hole and never come out of it. Actually, he's doing pretty good so far with that already since he's been holed up in his part of his best friend's apartment.
"This is fucking terrible," is what the korean says after revising through the last chapter of his fourth hit novel. "—absolutely horrendous, why did I make the main character fall in love with a fucking princess?"
In disbelief, Kim Roksu rings his phone with a certain number. It goes along to second, then a third and finally it was picked up when it was on fourth.
"What do you want." A woman gruffly greeted him, "It is literally two am here, what the hell."
"Sooyoung nuna, I need help—unfortunately..."
It took a few moments for the woman to respond, especially when she was about to snore when the world help surfaced on the line. He could hear shuffling and splutters of incoherent words.
"You? Help?" Her tone sounded incredulous, it is almost funny.
Kim Roksu huffs, sounding the same as her. "Yeah. How do I get rid off the mc having love interests? I accidentally scratched up one during the publishing and I'm sure my readers have seen it because I'm tagged, countless on twitter."
Han Sooyoung cackles at his misfortune, amused by the sudden turn of events. "You're lucky I am a very benevolent person!" Right... like she was.
"Just kill everyone off, lol." Said the woman who created a protagonist with only a killing intent to live on but nevertheless, it was an option. He could very well make it as another trauma but he'd probably receive lots of cries and screams from everyone again.
"How about the princess actually taking interest on him for a few weeks but then, she finds someone else?" Kim Roksu offers.
"Eh," Han Sooyoung unhelpfully voiced, "Okay yeah, that's good but what about the fact that there's a realisation that she can't love someone for who he is. I mean the mc is a hero right?"
"As always." Kim Roksu tiredly admitted, slightly ashamed to a degree. "So, you're saying I should go sentimental despite implied cheating?"
"Why not?" The older woman quipped, he could hear the scrape of a chair and figured she must've opened up her computer to do the same thing and revise old works and scrape off new plotlines.
He pursed his lips, putting his phone on speaker and let it lay on his desk. "I suppose I haven't thought about how the hero falls in love, I feel like he'd be too OOC. You know?"
Han Sooyoung hums in response, the typing loud enough for the silence to be filled. "That's true, adjusting SK to fall in love with the Immortal Doctor was hard too. I had to literally think about falling in love myself and applying it to the mc."
Kim Roksu nodded, noticing the subject to be emotionally awkward—if the older woman's slightly regretful voice could be heard. Perhaps, it came from experience but no way in hell was she saying that he needs to fall in love to be able to get through his tornado of a novel?
As if like their brains were connected, Han Sooyoung hysterically intoned. "NOPE, don't even think about it! Of course I wouldn't let you do the same. It fucks you up, I'm sure."
"I wasn't." The young male deadpanned.
The older woman scoffed at his dry reply, "I'm not too sure since you were in need of my help." Han Sooyoung huffs before she dives in to another topic, "Why were you out of ideas anyway? What's got you thinking other than slacking and stories?"
That stops him from reaching out to his keyboard, he lets his shoulders sag, pathetically searching for a logical explanation except a visual image is what appears on his mind. A man with red hair, fashionable clothes, worthy of looking like a character.
"It's not worth mentioning." He brushes off his thoughts, choosing to ignore the slight tremble of his hands. But oh, Han Sooyoung is ignorant and she chooses to be as she noisily mentions his traits.
"It's not worth mentioning if it makes you this much of a clutter," Kim Roksu rolls his eyes at the sudden flash of his phone, Han Sooyoung's indifferent face fills up the video. "You know, it almost sounds like you're dancing around someone?"
Was he? Kim Roksu feels like he is, but he's never sure of these type of feelings. He had crushes, minimal ones, sure but it never developed to something more. So, it's a bit uncomfortable to think about the fact that he's crushing on someone again just because they are handsome. He should really stop being like that because he was worth more, and he's proved that ever since that... that day they went somewhere.
He sighs, "I'm not."
So quick to respond, the woman laughs hard in bemusement and shook her head. "Sure, whatever you say."
"Just don't try to hurt yourself by hurting them, okay?" Sooyoung sighs, "Love is something that should be done passionately, and if you're not up for that. Then don't."
It gets relatively silent, a softly busy silence before something is addressed between.
"Okay.."
"So, who's this lucky girl?"
"Oh my God..."