The sound of voices laughing and talking with each other had filled the atmosphere along with the scent of the sea that once again had greeted him for one more morning that he was walking on the beach.
A smile formed on his lips despite the fact that he was aware that he was five minutes late to reach to his work that he could already see at the near distance.
"Dude. You sure take your sweet time." An acquainted voice reached to Jimin's ears right before Hoseok's body appeared at his side, letting one of his arms hung around his neck.
"I think from the moment you have gotten back on your feet, you have started taking things way too chill."Hoseok commented on his laid back and distant behavior since from the moment Jimin returned to his job as a bartender, he surely didn't seem the usual Jimin he knew.
"You make it sound as if I am slacking. I work as much as I used to before you know. It's just that I can't run much now."Jimin replied a tiny bit offended with the undermeaning of his friend's words as from the moment he had returned to his job he had really tried his best to be as productive as he could.
"I know, I know. It was just a joke. None of us would want to pressure you physically after all the things you went through."Hoseok admitted and patted his back lightly before getting away from him and walking some steps ahead.
"Take your time Mr.Slow. See you at the bar."He waved at him before he started quickening his pace and Jimin just smiled at him while he watched his figure rushing towards the beach bar they were working for the summer.
This bar as well as the hotel from which he was coming from, belonged to his former boss that had the other bar in Seoul. In summer some workers have the ability to choose if they wanted to work in the one in Seoul or come take a position at the beach bar or even at the hotel and Jimin had chosen to do so two past summers in his life and this one was his third. Hoseok usually prefers staying in Seoul because he finds inconvenient spending two months in a hotel so for him it was the first time he had accompanied him to Busan yet he sure seemed to be having more fun than he was thinking that he would.
Jimin kept walking till he arrived in the sheltered place and greeted his coworkers before grabbing his apron and placing himself behind the counter where he was supposed to stay till his shift comes to an end. He got accustomed to his work rather quickly, taking orders and preparing drinks while smiling at costumers and Hoseok who would make weird and silly dance moves from his DJ booth just to make him crack up. He sure was as lively as ever.
His phone that went off drew his attention away from his friend who was momentarily pulling some crazy head moves and asked for the other bartender that was working with him to take over for a second as he needed to answer this call and so he stepped a few feet away and replied to the caller that was none other than his favorite Hyung.
"NamJoon Hyung~Tell me how it went, I have been waiting all day for your call!" Jimin's facial expression changed as he whispered the second part, displaying his eagerness quite clearly.
"Well, I am more than happy to announce to you that, your friend is officially the happiest man," NamJoon replied and Jimin couldn't help but giggle at how cheese he sounded.
"You better take good care of my sister Mister because she may have said yes to your marriage proposal but I will always be watching your every move."He threatened jokingly, imagining NamJoon's done face that he must have on right now.
"Oh shut up.. I was sweating so much from nervousness, you have no idea. I was so scared that this may be too soon for her and she may reject me. Seriously jumping in a pool full of crocodiles could have not made me this anxious."NamJoon ranted on the line, his voice getting higher as his words became faster, the way he speaks when he is under pressure or is feeling wronged, and Jimin couldn't help but laugh at him till he felt his lungs signaling to stop and not pressure them further.
"You are seriously the funniest thing ever Hyung."Jimin stated and he couldn't help but giggle a bit more as he heard his Hyung sigh heavily.
"Just go back to work. I have to go back to mine too. Take care of yourself, okay?"
"Seriously when will you all stop using that phrase with me? It's been six months since I left the hospital. I am fully recovered."Jimin replied a bit fed up that for eight months now that is all he hears. From the moment they entered in his hospital room and for the following two months that they kept him there as well as the six ones after which he stayed mostly inside his home with everyone over his head, doing everything for him, that phrase was all his life on those eight months seemed to be revolving around.
He could obviously understand that they were just worried and were trying to take good care of him but as time passed he just ended up feeling more useless and lonely because of that treatment.
He passed almost a month unable to move on his own in a hospital bed, day and night, stack in the same place with only the white ceiling above him, which he stared at for long hours especially at night that sleep didn't seem to welcome him. Sometimes because of body pain and others because his thoughts were keeping him awake.
Time used to seem so slow to him back then and the hours NamJoon or SooLin would come to visit him were the only ones that flew fast, bringing him again into his lonely silence. Honestly, he was eagerly waiting to leave that hospital so he could feel as if he was returning back to life in a way, yet once he got home, he was stack in bed mostly, his sister not allowing him to do any moves or works around as this may worsen his condition. He knew that she was right, however, the restrictions was being too harsh on him with time and he just felt sadder and sadder every day.
He could no longer play recklessly with the kids, he could no longer get out of the house whenever he wanted on his own, he could not ever step down the stairs without someone to support him and everything gradually made him feel like a burden to others. However one thing had come out positive of all those difficult months for him and that was the bond between his father and him that had strengthened greatly. Apparently his father loves him more than he would ever speak off and even though Jimin was aware of that fact when he spoke those words, he couldn't help but shed some tears of joy.
"Stop complaining. You should be thankful they agreed to let you get back to work so early. TAKE CARE!" Namjoon shouted making Jimin push his phone slightly away from his ear and laugh at how passionate his best friend seems to be.
Agreed he says...It took me a whole week to pursue them. I felt like I went back in time and became a kid.
He thought to himself as he recalled how much he had tried to reassure them that his choice of returning to work wasn't rushed or anything and that he will take great care as well as make sure to call them every night. It was indeed like a kid that was trying to take permission from his parents to go on a field trip.
---Change of set---
TaeYong was standing at the airport, looking around in search of LeeGuk's figure that was supposed to arrive with the flight that landed some minutes earlier to Japan, where TaeYong had two months now that was had started living there.
"If he dared joke about this and lied that he was coming, I swear I will kill him."He threatened under his breath as he didn't seem to be able to notice him anywhere, and the minutes kept flying away along with his patience.
"Hello Mr. Grampy. You haven't changed to the slightest I see. You face as unfriendly as ever."LeeGuk walked up to him as he spoke making TaeYong towards his right where he finally saw his friend and unconsciously cracked up a smile which he quickly covered and glared at him till he stopped before him.
"I have been waiting for you for an hour now and this is all you say? How ungrateful."TaeYong stated before he turned around and started walking away, LeeGuk grabbing his luggage and catching up to him soon enough.
"No one told you to wait. This is not the first time I visit Japan. I would have not gotten lost yet you still came to welcome me...You missed me, admit it." He nagged TaeYong's arm as he smiled at him teasingly and TaeYong just stepped away so he would be out of his reach.
"As if. My ears fell in peace after leaving that place. Your absence was the greatest gift ever."LeeGuk laughed at his response as he didn't mind whatever he was to say to him. It's not that he ever had said anything positive towards him anyways. Instead, he was thankful that TaeYong was behaving like this since it made it comfortable between them.
After he quitted politics LeeGuk understood well that TaeYong was going through a phase in his life in which he was lost and didn't know what could there be next for him and while in that state it must have been difficult seeing LeeGuk thriving higher and higher as he ended up being hired by the Prime Mister to fill in one of the positions as a political advisor. However such were LeeGuk's thoughts and maybe TaeYong wasn't bothered by it to the slightest. Nonetheless, LeeGuk feared that maybe this course of events was to affect their friendship but thankfully TaeYong was behaving towards him just like he always used to.
"Oh wow. And here I thought that Y/n's absence would have been the greatest gift for you. You are surprising me." LeeGuk replied and TaeYong ignored his remark completely and just headed towards his car, which he had parked near the entrance.
He got in the driver's seat and waited for his friend to put his luggage on the back then after LeeGuk took his seat beside him, he took off without looking at him not even for a second.
"So is this how you pass your freedom as a divorced man? Silently?" LeeGuk couldn't help but speak again after some minutes of complete lack of communication and to his surprise TaeYong smiled at his words.
"Actually, I haven't been silent much. Especially for the past week."He admitted, making LeeGuk direct a curious gaze at him before it turned to a perverted suspicious on as he asked him what was he doing the past week that was not silent.
"For God's sake. Collect your mind. I was talking about work. I got a job." TaeYong explained and LeeGuk's excited facial expression died to a disappointed one.
"How innovative and unexpected of you" He commented sarcastically and TaeYong smirked knowing that his next words were about to shut him up.
"I am working at a patisserie. In the kitchen department."
"YOU WHAT?!!" LeeGuk practically yelled from the shock so much that his sudden loud voice made TaeYong flinch.
"Aish! You want me to go deaf!?!"He yelled back at him a bit annoyed and then he returned his eyes on the road, as LeeGuk was staring at the side of his face, with wide eyes.
"Oh God, how many people have you poisoned till now?"He finally left some words to escape his lips and TaeYong just gave him a stare, not appreciating his humor on the matter.
"I am still learning so nothing I have made was put to sale yet."
"Oh thank god. You were just done with the law, barely two months ago. It wouldn't be nice for you to now go in for poisoning. It just doesn't sound cool after all that."
"I hope you choke on thin air."Was all TaeYong spoke to him before turning on the music so he doesn't listen to him anymore and LeeGuk just smiled brightly feeling happy about him. Finally, he seemed to be walking down a path that maybe will bring a quieter life for him and hopefully a happier one as well.
---Meanwhile---
You left the bouquet of flowers softly upon the grave of MinHee as you had passed by to visit her for a second.
"Hey, I brought you Garbera Daisies. They are colorful almost as much as your pallets used to be" You spoke to her as you smiled a bit, feeling better each day that you had visited her, these past months.
"I won't be staying long today. I bought a new house and i have to go and clean it up."You continued as you reached your hand and caressed her photo.
"Yes, it's what you are thinking. I finally managed to get it. It took me a lot of pursuing however. The owners were a bit reluctant to give it away but in the end they said that it could never have been in better hands than mine."You informed her, speaking about her own parents whom after months of meetings with them you had ended up making them agree to sell you MinHee's house in Busan.
"I may be a bit farther away now but have no worries. No distance will ever be too far for me to visit you. I am going now...Stay well" You gave her your farewell and walked away without any heavy feelings inside you, thing that was unheard of to happen in the past since even the memories used to make your emotions heavy and sad.
Things had gone on for the better apparently despite the eight-month period that you had lived under an environment that was in a constant mess, be it you parents or TaeYong's parents or the general public and the police which you had visited at the stations pretty ofter till the trial took place in which you thankfully hadn't taken any prison sentence for the fact that you had actually shot Mrs. Oh, as your skillful lawyer had defended you right, claiming your action as a result of defense under the pressure of fear for your life.
Your divorce had also taken place Two months ago, gifting you back your freedom and bringing closure to that chapter of your life, which you entered out of spice as you carried vengeful thoughts in your mind and messed up feelings in your heart. Feelings that had come a long way to settle down and resolve themselves one way or another. All but one feeling that strangely had yet to die down in your heart and erase his presence from your thoughts.
---Time skip---
"Jimin-ahhh Nooooo~" Jimin got startled by the sudden voice that yelled at him as he was about to grab a container full of beverages and carry it till the inner part of the counter, making him look behind him only to see Hosoek running at his side.
"The heck do you think you are doing? That's heavy!" Hoseok scolded him as he pulled him away from the truck that had brought the refill products.
"I am not taking many simultaneously. It's just one. "Jimin argued but he could already see at the yes of his friend that he wasn't having it.
"I have given my word to Mr. Office to look after you. I can not take back my word. Now go take a walk or whatever till we finish with everything. We are closing anyway." Hoseok grabbed the container he was supposed to carry and left after he told him so and Jimin just looked at his back with a desperate expression as he pouted his lips.
"For how much longer will you guys treat me like this. I am healed!" He yelled in a nagging tone so Hoseok could hear him and he just laughed at him, leaving him behind.
Seriously these people...Hyung is overdoing it. Asking people to look after me as if I am five. I will so complain at him till his ears fall off once the hour is more appropriate to call him. Just wait and you will see NamJoon Hyung.
Jimin scratched his nose up in annoyance as he walked away, taking off his shoes and letting them at a close-by sunbed so he could walk by the shore and feel the water of the sea under his feet.
He slowly kept walking for a while, with nothing specific in mind till he looked towards the sea and up to the sky. The moon was standing full on the night sky accompanied by many stars at this late hour that he guessed to be around 2 am since they always close around this time, yet to be sure, he grabbed his phone out of his pocket and looked at his screen.
02:15
He read the time yet he stayed staring at it till the screen went black and made him realize what was he doing once again.
Why did he have to be like this? Why the time that had managed to heal the two holes in his chest, had failed to erase the feelings that were making him long and wait for a sign from you, no matter how much time it was to pass.
He should have known that it was futile by now. He should have accepted it that it was over and that you didn't care anymore. No matter what he was to do, he could never redeem himself towards you and of that he was well aware, and as such he probably deserved the fact that you not even once came to look for him after that night, nor ever contacted him. Truth was that he wasn't expecting you to do otherwise nor he deserved your care and worries over him. However, the reality wasn't able to stop his mind of thinking about you, of waiting day and night over his phone, hanging to a slight imaginary hope that he was the only one that was keeping it alive.
Maybe if he was to try hard enough, become a better person and achieve a better position in life, he would be able to stand before you once again and sincerely give his best try to win your heart. Yet he knew that you didn't care much of such stuff and in reality it wasn't any such things that were keeping him from trying but it was the simple fact that he, himself found himself unworthy of any second chance you may eventually give him.
He had just screwed up and that was it. There was no way in undoing anything, nor there was any way to return his feelings for you to a starting point. All he could do was keep walking till a day comes that he looks behind him and he finds no traces of these weird feelings that he himself was unsure of what to exactly label them as or if he even had the right to label them as anything.
With a sad facial expression, he placed his phone back on his pocket and stared at his feet as the waves reached him and gifted him the fresh feeling, that unfortunately didn't succeded at putting a smile on his face. Instead, he just kept walking, looking at the wet sand while listening to the peaceful sounds of the sea that made him feel more lonely than he already was.
The voices of his coworkers started fading further and further away as he without even noticing had reached way too far away and had become a lone soul tracing the seashore. His feet came to a halt after a while and his gaze lifted from the ground and looked towards the vast sea that seemed endless.
Every wave that came returned back to where it belonged without delay and despite how much water the sand was to keep from the sea, it never looked empty nor seemed to have lost any percentage. He stared at it as a feeling of hope grew within him thinking about how everything that was meant to be, will find its way there no matter how many obstacles may appear before the water and make it leave pieces of it behind.
Of course he wasn't the vast emerald queen but he somehow found himself relating to it and the thoughts he was making about it. Like the waves that splash on his feet and go away again, gifting someone a taste of freshness, a taste of emotions, such was life full, of short moments of happiness that pull themselves away for new emotions to come, making you miss them and long for them like you would want to feel once more the freshness of the sea after a hot summer day. And like that, if he was to believe it goes like that, then his happiness was to find him again one day, no matter how much he was to burn under the sun waiting for a wave to reach to him.
"It doesn't matter where we may be or where we may end up for I will always remember the feelings you made me experience and with a longing heart, I will wait. Hoping that time will bring our paths to cross again."
He entrusted his hopeful heart to the sea as he spoke softly, looking towards it and the sea responded to him by sending one more wave to his feet and caress his skin, like a friend that wanted to comfort the soul that was standing before it, speaking out to it the words of his heart. A gesture that Jimin chose to interpret so o his own, so he could justify the thankful words that escaped his lips after.
Words that he wasn't expecting to be heard by anyone yet after he stopped talking someone else disturbed the silence still.
"It's such a surprise, To find someone like you at the shore." A voice said behind him and he froze in place recognizing the sound of your voice. A voice he wasn't expecting to hear any time soon.
He turned around still in disbelief and indeed found you standing before him, as unreal as a fragment of his fantasy, as unbelievable as a mirage in the desert. As sudden as rain on a sunny day.
"Hello there, Mr. Merman" You spoke again shattering his doubts of this being an illusion that his mind may be playing to him.
"What could possibly bring you into my world? Are you perhaps in search of someone?" You took some steps closer as a smile was hanging on your lips, feeling happy that you actually were seeing him before your eyes after quiet a while.
"Yes, I am in search of a thief." He relied and you showed him your puzzled expression as you weren't expecting this answer from him.
"A thief? How do they look like? Maybe I can help you to find them."
"She is kind and has eyes that sparkle when she looks at me or when she reads books. She is proper but her soul is as wild as a storm. Her heart is shielded by iron and thorns in order to keep anyone unworthy out and she has the habit of dancing in my mind the way she once did at a library room." His eyes looked at you full of emotions as he described you and you fell silent for a moment, finding his so abstract yet they managed to create the right pictures in your mind and somehow you couldn't help but think at that moment that indeed he must have seen in you more than you might have shown. He had gotten to know your insides despite all the thorns and irons that as he mentioned were placed to guard you.
"That thief of yours sounds too good to have committed a crime."
"They always say, it comes from the ones that you don't expect it" He stated and you nodded your head in understanding as he seemed to be talking about something more specific under his general words.
"Maybe you should have guarded your valuables better. Now you are left searching for something that you may never get it returned to you. You should have kept your heart behind irons and thorns too..because I am afraid I am not willing to give it back." You gave him a smile as you left your playful words out of your lips and Jimin lowered his head, letting a soft giggle.
"Oh what a cruel fate. What do I do now? I can't stay away from my heart. If you don't return it I am afraid I will be stuck by your side forever." He replied , extending this small fun conversation that you ended up creating. A silly conversation that had enabled any awkwardness or nervousness to disappear between you two.
"Let it such be your punishment then Mr. Merman, for making the mistake and letting down your guard. You should have known better than getting involved with a human." You told him and after looking seriously at each other for a bit, you finally both broke into laughter.
A burst of laughter that displayed the joy of the moment and the comfortable feeling that you had at the presence of each other. A peal of laughter that after it died down it was replaced with two fond smiles and orbs that looked at one another in a way that words could never succeed at describing.
Apparently the sea had made his wish come true way sooner then he had imagined. His wave had returned back to him and filled him with freshness without him even seeing it coming. Worthy of it or not it was up to no one to decide cause nothing can stop a wave once it has taken off to reach for the shore.
A wave that wasn't making only one soul happy with its presence but two and was representing a new start as it washed upon them and went away again.
---THE END---