The dorm manager at college was very compassionate. He arranged for someone to move in with me so that I wouldn't have to be alone. As much as I hated being alone, I hated the idea of someone other than Cho being where Cho was. I didn't want a stranger to put her clothes where Cho's were, I didn't want a stranger to sleep in the bed where Cho slept. While the shift was happening, I had out all of Cho's things with mine and bunked at BTs' dorm for the time being. Soon though, she had officially moved in and Namjoon had come with me to welcome her.
She greeted us as she entered the room," Hello! MY name is Young-il and I'm your roommate!"
"Hello," I replied, looking at the floor. Namjoon hit me in the head lightly before greeting her. He had his facemask on so he wouldn't be recognised.
"Hello! I'm her boyfriend, Namjoon. Sorry about her being quiet, she's hurting. Give her time and she'll warm up," He said.
"That's perfectly fine! I know we are going to be great friends!" She smiled. I looked up and I saw that she wasn't looking at me but at Namjoon, twisting a lock of her hair around her manicured fingers.
My grip tightened on the bracelet I was wearing. Was she talking to me, or my boyfriend.
"What classes do you have? Could we compare timetables?" I tried to start a conversation but I don't think either of them heard me. I got pretty tired and I could feel some sort of burning feeling in my chest. I decided to slip away to cool down. I managed to exit the room without them noticing but not before I heard what she said next.
"So, are you a student here too? Or have you graduated?" She asked Namjoon, sitting where I sat before.
"I've graduated already. But hey, enough about me, Mi-Hi is your roommate so I guess I should just leave you two to it," He answered, "Jagi?"
I smiled triumphantly as I ran out of the building and slowed down to a walk as I made my way to the woods. I breathed in the scent of nature. There was a particular angel oak tree I was looking for and once I found it, I sat on the branches and looked around me. Cho and I would often come here as a place to study or just mess around. No-one else came here so we decided to stash some of our belongings here. Between some of the roots, there was an opening, big enough for a person to slide through. We had discovered that it was pretty comfortable and together we put blankets and pillows and made it our little hideout. I sat down and hugged one of the pillows. I missed Cho so much, it was a pain just to look at things that reminded me of her.
After a while, I got up and began walking out of the woods. I headed towards the graveyard where she was buried in. I made my way through the rows of marble stones and found the familiar stone I was looking for. I sat down beside it and stroked the stone.
"Hey. How are you? Have you reincarnated? Or are you enjoying heaven? Tell me, which theory of death was true? I'm good, better than before, really. If you don't believe me then that's ok, too. I wouldn't believe me either if I was in your place. I already told you that I got a new roommate, right?" I sighed, knowing no one was there to answer," Well, I think she would like to get closer to Namjoon more than she'd want to actually talk to me. Get this, I tried to talk to her but both of them didn't answer and began conversing with each other. Cho, should I talk to Eui or Yoongi-ya about this? Or do you think I shouldn't worry?" I finished off, placing a few flowers I had bought on my way here on her grave. I knew what she'd say, don't worry! If you really think there might be a problem, then just trust Namjoon. And I was going to do that, too.
~~~~~~~~~
I went to Eui's house after. She called me just as I was going back to campus and invited me to sleep over with the rest of the girls. I rang the doorbell and was let in. Once Eui had opened the door, I was dragged inside by the other girls and we immediately started talking and having fun. After a while, Eui looked at her phone with a frown on her face before speaking up.
"Hey, does anyone want popcorn?" She asked as we nodded, "Mi-Hi-chan, will you help me?" I got up and followed her into the kitchen.
"Yoongi-kun texted just now. Namjoon-san is looking for you. Apparently, you ran off while you guys were talking to your new roommate. Is everything alright?" She said, heating up a packet of popcorn.
"Did he actually say that?" I was taken aback, "I admit to running off but that was only because my roommate was to busy talking to Namjoon to even listen to anything I had said. And, Namjoon was too busy talking to her to notice me trying to start a conversation so it's only fair that I left," I told her. If there was anything Eui ever asked of anyone, it was honesty. I told her the truth and she nodded.
"Are you going to go back tomorrow? If not, there is a spare key under the stones that border the footpath. I'm going to be gone for about a month and tomorrow is the day I leave, so I wanted to hang out." I nodded at her and helped her with the bowls of popcorn. We all dug in as we watched a marathon of K-dramas.
~~~~~~~~~
I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. It was my brother.
"Oppa-" I was cut off.
"Where the hell are you? Why haven't you answered any of mine or hyung's calls?!" He yelled as I held the phone away from my ear.
"My phone ran out of battery so I had to charge it. How many did I miss?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.
"Thirty from me, as well as ten messages and even more from hyung! Where were you? Why did you run off?!" I sighed and I was about to answer when I saw the time and date.
"Uh, Oppa. I'm gonna call you back, I'm going to be late for work if I don't hurry up now. Byee!" I quickly hung up and left a note for the girls before running out.
Once there, I realised I panicked a bit too early. I was on time and had a good half hour to myself before my shift started. I sat down in the spot I had found and begun reading a book. I felt like I had been in this situation before but thought nothing of it as I stretched my legs. Someone tripped over me.
"Sorry! I didn't see you...there. Namjoon-ah?" I looked up and smiled sheepishly. He met my eyes and I could see the corners of his twitch. He was pretending to be mad.
"Namjoon-ah?" I played along as he flopped down me and took my book out of my hands. He marked the page before flipping it to the beginning.
"Namjoon-ah?" I said again, trying to slip it out of his grip. He didn't say anything. He simply tightened his grip and leaned against my shoulder.
"Shh, I'm reading," He said after I continued to bug him. I smiled and leant on his head, looking at nothing in particular. My eyes caught sight of a clock and I only had five minutes left. I sat up again and tried to get up.
"I need to go now. My shift starts," I said before getting up. Before I was able to leave him though, he grabbed my wrist before gently tugging me back down.
"Day off," He said before pushing me away again. I smiled and blew a kiss before walking off.
~~~~~~~~~
He was still there a few hours later, but this time he was snoring quietly. I sat down next to him as quietly as I could, so to not disturb him, and admired him. He was a little too hard working and it sometimes caused him to sacrifice his sleep but he managed to still make time for me. I sighed and stroked his hair, gently brushing loose strands out of his eyes. Maybe I hold him back sometimes? Especially after Cho's death, he had stuck by not only my side but Taehyung's too and was always there within minutes if I called or texted him. Maybe I was an obstacle at times for him... Maybe...
"I didn't use gel today," He said, getting up, cutting me out of my thoughts, "That's why they won't stay still." It took me a couple of seconds to realise he was talking about his hair.
"Well, it still looks great. I think I kinda prefer it this way, without gel,"I replied quietly. We sat in a comfortable silence before he got up.
"Hey, why don't we get something to drink? I'm hungry as well." He suggested, offering me his hand.
"I'm paying," I said, accepting his peace offering and walking ahead of him.
"Hey! I didn't agree to that!" He said, running after me. I laughed as we made our way into the cafe we usually go to. I pushed him into a booth before waiting in line to place our orders. Once I returned, he handed me a few notes.
"Payback. I didn't pay last time and your paying again this time too," He said before forcing me to hold them.
"So? Exactly why is it that you're always the one to pay?" I said, playfully waving a lolly stick in the air.
"Because it boosts my ego!" He grinned playfully. I used the stick to gently poke his dimples.
"Well, your ego is growing a little too big. Soon it'll be bigger than your music," I said just as our drinks had arrived.
"Why do you always take hot chocolate? Seriously, even in the middle of summer?" He raised his beautiful brows.
"Hot chocolate is like music, perfect in every occasion. Whether you're sad or happy, ready or not. It's-" I was rudely interrupted by an excessively chirpy tone.
"Mi-Hi-ssi? Namjoon-ah?" Young-il called out from across the cafe. I inwardly groaned. Why was she calling him 'Namjoon-ah'? That was my name for him...
"I didn't know you were here! What a coincidence?" She batted her eyes and giggled as she sat down next to Namjoon. I scanned his face without obvious and smiled subtly when I saw that his expression was as the same as mine.
"Oh, and Mi-Hi! Why did you run off? I was going to ask you for your number but then you disappeared! Poof!" She continued. Haha, was she now? I was enjoying this.
"Sorry, something came up and I had to go," I replied, placing my head in my hand, elbow perched on the table.
"Anyways, Namjoon will give it to you because I just wanted to invite you both to the part I was throwing," She said as she handed Namjoon a single invite. I was completely dismissed as she began talking to him. I sighed as I got up and went to order myself something to eat too. When I got back, Young-Il was much closer to Namjoon than when I left them. I sat back down into my seat and she didn't seem to have noticed.
"So, will you come? You don't have to bring Mi-Hi with you, you can come along as well," She was cooing.
I cleared my throat, "Where will we be going?" I asked, louder than my normal tone. Namjoon mouthed a thank you and I paid attention to Young-Il's body language. She became nervous quickly as she blurted out a reply.
"Oh, I was just going through details regarding my party. I was just telling him that since your my roommate and he's your man, you won't have to bring a gift. It's a birthday party for me," She said, waving her hand a lot.
"Can you tell me the date of the party?" I asked. She told me the date and it was in three weeks time, "I'm sorry but I don't think he'll be able to come. He has a lot of work to do, especially since he's team leader and they have something big coming up," I replied telling her the truth. The guys had a couple of concerts around the same date and would be too busy to do anything other than work and rest.
"Well, it's not your job, now is it?" She glared at me before turning to Namjoon. My cake had arrived and I began eating it, "Namjoon, are you busy?"
"Yes. She's right, I and my team will be extremely busy- thank you- and I doubt I'll have any time to do anything else," He replied as I gave him some of my cake, "It's because of that I took Mi-Hi out on a date today. I wanted to spend time with her before I get caught up in work, "Young-Il's face fell as she nodded.
"Oh, you were on a date? Well, forgive me for interrupting! I was going anyways!" She then turned to me," See you later!" And then she left, but not before eyeing me.
After she was gone we both got up. "Well, that was something?" He grinned as he placed an arm around me.
"yeah. Hey, I'm sorry for running away yesterday," I said. He shook his head and drew me close.
"You know, I really did want to spend time with you, but Young-Il interrupted us. Hopefully, this should make up for it," He placed his lips on mine. The interaction was soft and brief but it left me blushing and stuttering.
"I think maybe one more should do the trick?" He laughed at my reply and bent down once more before making the same gesture more passionate.
"Has it occurred to you that in the three years we've been together, this is the first time we've done something like this," He said as we broke apart.
"But it felt good," I replied. He grinned and we walked hand in hand back to Bangtan's dorm.