【playing..】
BTS (방탄소년단) - 화양연화 pt.2
Whalien 52
❚❚►_____________________________ 3:08
Jeongguk walked through the halls of the school building, head already hurting with all the excessive background noises of other students talking and gossiping in his ears.
It was only the first day of senior year and he already wanted to just go home, enjoy his summer for a little more, be a free spirited teenager for a little more.
But just like that time flies and your worlds comes crashing down when you see that specific day approach faster than you thought it would.
He burried his hands in the front pocket of his navy blue college sweater, pressing together around his phone, making his way through the massive clutch of people blocking his path to the secretary for his new schedule.
And he hoped and prayed that it wouldn't be as packed as last years, just wanting to have an easy way to graduation and getting out of this place as soon as he could.
His eyes wandered around, seeing the usual faces he had gotten accustomed to, some he wanted to see again, some he would gladly never see again.
His head dropped down, closing his eyes for just a second as he remembered how calm and relaxing the past months actually were without a mess of students, exams and responsibilities fogging up his brain.
It was really a summer vacation he had wished for, thoughts bathing in the daydream of past days of joy and relaxation before something ripped him out of his string of thought.
"Hey, Jeongguk!" Sudden ring of a familiar female voice ring echoed through his ears, head immediately shooting up and searching around for the matching face.
Crowded mess around him raising an uncomfortableness throughout his gut, all warmth of remembering calm and happy vacation faded away, just feeling ready to get out of this place as soon as possible if he was being honest.
Sudden tap on his shoulder almost making his heart come to a stand still, hand raising to come up to clutch as his chest through the thick layered material of his hooding, turning around to face the person who had probably called for him.
He met the pretty light brown eyes, aviator style glasses shining infront of them, brown hair coming down her shoulders and sweet innocent features decorating her face, really a look he had come accustomed to from one of his closest friends -- Yongsoo.
"Gotten your schedule yet?" Her eyes forming two cresents as her lips pulled into a smile, hands holding a heavy stack of books.
"On it right now. You?" Gguk's hands immediately going to take three books off the pile, finding just those very heavy to hold himself, sometimes really surprised at the strength this girl possessed.
"Thank you-" Chuckle pulled from her throat as she readjusted herself a little, not trying to make all the heavy binded pages tumble to a fall. "Yeah, pretty packed to be honest but well i took a lot of courses so my fault for that."
"Maybe we have some classes together." He commented with a smile dancing on his lips, the rush of students pushing by slipping into the back of his mind of a second.
"Oh, uhm, have you seen Tae yet?" Yongsoo tilted her head, confused, eyes searching around a little.
Taehyung had been his best friend of however long he can remember. Really only vaguely remembering meeting him in Kindergarten on the swingset.
And turns out they didn't live far away from eachother houses only a street apart which was pretty much a perfect starting point for becoming best friends.
They had done everything together from thar point on, same schools, same hobbies, same vacations.
But with the start of highschool things suddenly don't flow as easy.
Different interests develop, different paths and directions are taken.
Taehyung went to take part in the swim team, something Jeongguk could just not see himself in as well, joining the band club instead. Classes together also thinned out, seeing eachother not as regularly in school.
It eventually caused Taehyung to become part of the more popular crowd, being known to the whole school as a well mannered, polite and incredibly hardworking A-student and swimmer.
Jeongguk on the other hand remained in the background, more or less sticking to the same four to five people, not being very loud and more or less the quiet one that some even liked to call Taehyung's shadow at times.
But their differences didn't tear them apart, they still are and will always remain best friends, have no one above the other.
"Uhm- no, i thought he would pick you up or something?" Head slumping to the side himself, confusion swirling his head.
Yongsoo had been Taehyung's girlfriend of two years already. And Gguk gladly accepted her as a friend of his own as she was just known to be likeable, can't hurt a fly. And she really is one of the nicest sweet souls Jeongguk has gotten to know.
"No he didn't, i thought he maybe would gone with you?" He knew that either Taehyung picks up Yongsoo or him, it really depends on the day, it sure was strange for him to have no sign of either and not even texting about his absence in the morning.
It was just so unlike him.
"Weird." Gguk trailed off whispering to himself, bottom lip catching between his teeth in thought. " I mean i guess i'll see him around?"
"I'll keep you updated if he texts me." She nodded, her eyes dropping to look down, worry apparent in her tone.
"Yeah-" He whispered unsurely, placing the books back on the stack carefully, thoughts trailing off again, seeing Yongsoo's small figure fade into the blurry mess created by his vision.
He couldn't help the odd feeling brewing in his gut and chest throughout the day, not as present as he should be most of the time as they were giving out some important information in all his new classes but head trailing to the thought of Taehyung's whereabouts.
Luckily his schedule wasn't as packed as he thought it would be for the last year of high school, pretty happy with his choices of courses and such that would also give him more time to participate in band activities.
Gguk tapped the pencil trapped in between his middle and index finger on the small wooden desk, books and papers pretty much nonsensically laying infront of him, eyes focused on the clock on the other side of the room.
This was his last class of the day, mathematics, before he could go home, hours still early as their schedule would be cut short with it being just the first day.
But in the back of his head he knew that as soon as he would be getting out of here that he would head over to the Kim's house himself, wanting to know if something was going on.
He knew calling either of Tae's parents or his sister would be nonsense. Parents both not really on their phones ever, probably on mute, and his sister Haerin too young to use a phone unsupervised.
And with Tae not reading any of his texts or any sign of him being okay he just felt like it was the best choice to just go over, check if everything was alright.
Minutes passing by at a snails pace to him as his eyes didn't leave the clock's pointer for a second, clicks of it matching the tapping with the pencil that was still trapped between his fingers.
As soon as the first ring of the bell hit his ears, all his movements focused on stuffing his belongings back in his black with white paint splatters decorated bag, rushing, almost running out the classroom and the main doors.
Luckily he wouldn't have to walk that far as they lived pretty close to school which was just perfect for those times you don't want to get out of bed so you push it to the last minute and usually end up late -- Gguk would still somehow manage to be on time eventhough he was pushing it way too far with the last minute.
Steps moving quickly as his eyes focused on his phone screen quickly checking if Taehyung had read any of his messages or Yongsoo had already got a hold of him but -- nothing.
Head already spinning multiple narrative of the worst case scenarios as his fingers swiped over the glassy surface, texting his sister that he would come home a little later than he had thought, pace speeding up even more without noticing.
And sooner than he thought he reached the too familiar blue suburban style house that belongs to the Kims that he had visited more times than he can count, rushing up the drive way and to the door as his heart began speeding up it's pace as well, matching the speed of his steps.
He breathed in deeply, finger raising up to press on the door bell, sign with their last name in calligraphed letters beside it, something he remembers Taehyung making when they learned cursive in second grade.
He gulped, foot tapping on the ground as a sign of impatience, already thinking about what he was going to do if no one would answer the door but luckily relief washed over him upon hearing the locks clicking and door falling open, being met with the beautiful face of Taehyung's mother, Midam.
"Oh Jeongguk, sweetie! You are lucky, Taehyung just came back, he's upstairs." Her smile wide, pushing the door open a couple inches more, pressing her body to it to let the teenager pass through as Gguk unknowingly let out a big sigh of relief knowing that his best friend was indeed okay.
"Thank you. Uhm- came back from where?" Jeongguk smiled himself, heart beat a lot slower, at a normal pace, he would call it, walking past and crouching down to take off his shoes.
"Oh he didn't say? Well, then he sure has exciting news." He heard Midam's wholesounding giggle as she closed the door, Jeongguk looking up with confusion in his eyes.
"Really?" He stood up, already placing a foot on the stairs, ready to rush up from habit, just like he always does.
"Yeah but i'm not the one to tell you." She smiled yet again before walking past the staircase and towards the kitchen, leaving him in an even bigger cluster of confusion than before.
What would she mean by exciting news and not just tell Jeongguk like she usually would do? It must be something really huge then, considering that Taehyung's mom normally couldn't keep secrets to herself well.
Heart thumping faster as he shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts, running up the stairs, through the small hallway, walls scattered with family pictures Gguk all knows too well, a lot of them featuring him until he was met with Tae's door, hand moving up softly knocking on the wooden material.
And in the speed of light the door creaked open, revealing his best friend, Taehyung, black hair styled nicely and shiny, outfit looking way fancier than his usual attire, a white button up shirt, probably from a past prom, and nice black jeans with same colored belt.
"Tae! Where were you? We were so worried!" Gguk couldn't help the tumble of words spilling from his lips, hands softly placing on each of his best friends shoulders, slightly shaking him back and forth.
"You always text Yongsoo or me if you'll miss the day and you didn't answer any of our messages or calls and we literally thought something was wrong we-" Jeongguk felt a finger press to his lips, shutting up his random tumble of rambling about how worried they were.
"I'm sorry-" Taehyung's arms also placed on Jeongguk's shoulders, smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. "Sorry for worrying you, i didnt mean to."
Tone truly apologetic, Gguk feeling relief wash over him again, letting out another sigh.
"It's okay, Tae. As long as you are alive, i'm fine." He let out a giggle, pulling Tae close by his shoulder into a bonecrushing hug, immediately noticing the scent of expensive smelling cologne drenching his clothes which felt more than weird too -- Tae never wore something like unless it was for a big event.
The wholesome sound of Taehyung's chuckle hitting his own eardrum pulled him right out of the thought, making him release the hug. "Same, Jungoo."
Jungoo had been Tae's personal nickname for Jeongguk ever since the two met as, at the beginning, the slightly older boy just could not pronounce his new friends name, simplifying it to what it is now.
"Well, what were you busy with? Your mom just told me that you had news?" His voice still confused, chuckle attached at the end, looking up into Tae's eyes, slightly sparkly from the light shining in the hallway.
"Uhm yeah. Well, lets sit down." And with that they walked to Tae's bed in the corner of the room, fresh grey colored blanket neatly placed on top, nicely matching the grey brick wall beside it, mattress slightly sinking down with the weight of the two.
"Promise you won't be mad at me for not telling you." He noticed Tae's hand resting in his lap, fiddling with eachother as his head rose, their eyes connecting.
An even bigger confusion beginning to cloud his mind as Taehyung had never acted like that before. He had never really kept a secret from him or lied to him.
"Of course i won't be mad. Promise." Voice getting slightly quieter as worry spread out to a bigger surface through him again, eyes not being able to keep the usual contact, bouncing around other parts of his face instead.
"You know, i did tell you that a bunch of colleges reached out to me at the beginning of summer again, right?" He saw a gulp run down Taehyung's throat from his neck, the other obviously nervous to tell him what he was about to, Gguk's head bounching up and down in a nod.
Taehyung's achievements had always grabbed attention of everyone around him, not even only his friends or teachers or his family but also universities throughout Korea, offering him all sorts of scholarship even when he was way too young to accept any of them.
"I know i always say that they dont interest me because i know where i wanna go. Seoul Central University with you -- but i just couldn't help myself but scroll through my e-mails and i found one that - that i love. That i wanna do." He saw Tae's eyes immediately light up in the slightest bit of excitement upon finishing his sentence and Jeongguk could immediately feel the nervous energy falling off his heart replacing with pure excitement for his best friend.
"Oh my god, Taehyung, i-" He was just about to express his happiness when he was cut short again with a shush.
"Wait, there's more- So today i met up with a representative of the college to like tell me more about their swimming program and to see of i really bring the qualities they are looking for. And well, -- they want me. And, you know, i didn't wanna tell anyone until i was sure and -- i am sure." Taehyung spoke out, words full of pride but hands continuing to fiddle with eachother, leaving a bitter taste on Gguk's taste buds no matter how happy he felt for him right this moment.
And just in the next moment when he wanted to again exclaim his happiness and pride towards his best friend -- he would know why.
"Well so there's one downfall- in exactly uhm- a year, 365 days, i'll be flying to New York. And- staying there. The college is in New York." And when those words left Taehyung's mouth, he felt as if his world came crushing down.
°***°
Here we go; the beginning of 365 days!
thoughts? opinions? what do you want them to do/ what do you wanna see? tell me <3
I fell like first chapters are always kinda boring bc they just introduce stuff and i hope i did somewhat of an okay job at that?
i thought i would only be able to get one thing out today since the weeks too busy to get anything done and this weekend was way too busy too but somehow -- with writing on my one hour train ride i managed to write about 1000 words each (finesse amd 365 day) and finish up rn after dinner skskdks
Anyways i hope some are as excited as i am for this ): ♡
have a wonderful day bbys <3