II: The Veins of The City
"Hey get up," he said to the man sleeping face down on his couch, with one arm hanging down clutching his gold-cased handphone.
"Who're you?" replied the man in a mumble.
"Kim Namjoon," he said as he dragged the man to sit upright to face him, "the only guy who'll let you drool on his expensive couch without punching you in the face."
Namjoon was staring at the guy, waiting for a response. He expected some kind of reaction from the younger fellow but was surprised by the lack of emotion and indifference that the boy showed.
"Where's my phone," he said looking him dead in the eyes in a monotone voice.
He looked around for his phone which he managed to retrieve from Namjoon's carpeted flooring. His phone was quite larger than the average handphone size but it looked like a toy in his large hand. It only took two seconds of scrolling through his messages to earn a sigh from him. He dropped his phone back down to the floor nonchalantly, and turned his attention back to the man in front of him. Namjoon looked at him with an expecting gaze as if the other guy was his child that was about to utter his first word.
"Tae," he started,
"What? "
"Can you tell me what happened now?"
The younger sighed, rolled his eyes, then laid back down. "I'm hungry," he then said.
"Let's go out for breakfast, maybe you could tell me then?" Namjoon offered.
"Looking like this?" he said, gesturing to the shirt he was wearing. "I look like crap."
"Then go home and change. Let's just go for brunch. Call Jimin out too. I might need another sane being to squeeze out something from you." Namjoon convinced him.
The man let out an amused chuckle at what was said to him. "I won't be so sure about calling Jimin 'sane'," he got up and picked up his phone.
"He's just as bad as the rest of us."
Namjoon watched as the guy picked up his coat that was now dry and eligible to wear unlike the state that it was in last night. The custom piece of clothing did it's job as it hugged the guy's torso perfectly. The coat from this season's latest release that was altered to fit him, hung on his body over the white shirt that Namjoon lent him like it was meant to be that way. Last night, Namjoon thought about how each person had a way with them, how they move. This morning he thought about how this man that came to him last night looking like he was completely submerged in water just earlier, had a way with him. The way he moved reminded Namjoon of a shadow, light and swift and thin. But unlike a shadow, he wasn't quiet with his ways. He was loud and chaotic and he could turn everything inside out if he wanted to. He looked like he had nothing going on in his mind, like he payed no care to the world. But in reality, in his mind was complete anarchy.
Namjoon watched as the man approached the door while on the phone with his chauffeur. He turned to Namjoon and gave a gesture that said 'goodbye' then proceeded to leave the penthouse.
•••
Namjoon could've enjoyed this kind of weather in the morning if he wasn't hungover. The sun that wasn't blocked out by the umbrella that hovered above their table on the terrace of the restaurant was hitting his face from where he was sat. He could move to another seat, but he liked this one that provided him with a view of the streets below. Besides, he liked the sun that's why his skin had a little bit more gold in it than the friend that just arrived.
He sat opposite to Namjoon who thought about the way with this friend. Park Jimin had a way with him that was just hard to explain. He was smooth but then he was rough. By his looks he was light, but his eyes pull you into darkness. Namjoon thought he resembled the roses that were surrounding them this morning. You could love roses for they are beautiful just be careful not to get pricked because like they say; "Every rose has its thorn". If you love roses and try to pick them expect a few pricks from it. Jimin was a rose that pricks itself, if it means the one who wants him doesn't get hurt.
"What happened to you? You look terrible," Jimin said.
"Do I?"
"Did you drink last night?" he asked with a subtle smile.
"What's with you?" Mon countered, stifling an amused laugh, "You're asking the question but it seems like you already know the answer."
"Someone saw you at The Penn last night," he said as he looked Namjoon in the eyes, "she said you were downing drinks like alcohol was water and you just ran a marathon."
"Is 'she' one of your playmates Jimin?" said Taehyung, suddenly joining their conversation while sitting down on another steel framed chair. "or is she one of yours? " he turned to Namjoon who just chuckled at the accusation suddenly thrown at him.
"It was Hayi," Jimin confirmed.
"Hayi? What was she doing there?" asked Namjoon.
"She was on her way home from The Cat House," said Jimin.
"Man I haven't been there since last week," Taehyung now chimed in, "my dad's been breathing down my neck these days. I can't even leave the city."
Jimin let out a small laugh, something like a giggle earning him an questioning look from the other two. "뭐?" (what?) asked Taehyung.
"Its nothing," Jimin answered shifting in his seat to face Taehyung more directly, "Its just that somebody told me that they saw you in a helicopter last night, just hovering above one spot for like two hours." He informed Taehyung.
"I was wondering why you did that and what you were doing up there," he added, "I figured that you might just be showing off, but now that I heard what you said about your dad eyeing you..." He trailed off while leaning forward with a mocking smile on his face aimed at Taehyung.
"김 태형씨," Jimin started, (Mr. Kim Taehyung,)
"Were you throwing a hissy fit up there?" he finished.
Taehyung just rolled his eyes at the teasing from the blond fellow. He was used to this kind of behavior from Jimin, he was used to him testing his patience. But Taehyung was unbothered this time. He just sank in his seat relaxing himself a little more. "That little birdie seems to have left out a little detail," started Taehyung.
"I was definitely throwing something. But it wasn't a hissy fit, I can assure you." he shot Jimin a lift of an eyebrow while catching his tongue between his teeth preventing his from grinning.
Jimin looked puzzled and perhaps a little scared of what his best friend might blurt out next. He then raised both of his brows at Taehyung, gesturing him to go on.
"I was throwing cash."
Those words would be shocking if it didn't come from Taehyung. This kind of revelation from him was nothing out of the ordinary. After all, he was the son of the city. He bleeds money and admiration from the people. The cash he was throwing out was probably only equivalent to a paper cut bleeding. Yet it still earned him a choke on water from his Mon hyung.
"He seemed to have forgotten to tell you such an important detail," he continued, "Maybe he caught a stack too? "
"Wait," said Namjoon, suddenly remembering something, "if you were up in the air last night, why did you show up at The Pearl like you jumped in a pool? "
"Because I did jump in a pool." Taehyung said nonchalantly. He said it as if everyone does it everyday. With every detail of his whereabouts last night he was beginning to seem like a crazy person. But everyone who knew him enough knows that he's not crazy, he's just real sad.
"Why did you do that?" questioned Namjoon.
"Why don't we ask Jimin, he seems to know everything." said Taehyung with a slightly teasing smile towards Jimin who replied with a laugh.
"It's not that I find out about these things myself," Jimin explained, "people tell me on their own. That's what you get when you're nice to people Taehyung."
"I wonder how it feels to be au courant with the lastest gossip," Taehyung teased.
"It feels nice," answered Jimin.
Silence was all that was heard the following second. They ate their way through the morning not hearing the answer that they asked for. Jimin and Namjoon knew better than push on the topic more, Taehyung would tell them himself later on. If the evening news doesn't beat him to it.
•••
He stared at the caller ID as if the name was going to call itself. He wondered what was wrong with him. Did he need to borrow some courage from the vodka on the trolley that was screaming his name? No. He told himself.
He needed to be alone with himself once again for the first time in a long time. He pressed on the name.
전화 거는 중 몬 형 (Dialing Mon hyung)
"Did you know why I jumped in the pool?" Taehyung said into the line not waiting for a greeting from Namjoon.
"Why did you jump in the pool?"
"I hoped that I would wake up."
"Wake up from what?"
"I wished everything was just a dream. I want it to be a dream."
Taehyung knew that the childlike confession caught Namjoon off guard. He hasn't been like this for a long time.
"I want everything to be like when we were all together. Why can't we go back?"
Silence was all Taehyung heard from the other line. His hyung was thinking again, what was he expecting?
"생각하지마 형." he begged. ("Don't think hyung.")
"What do you want me to do then? What do you want me to say?"
Like Mon with his confession, he was caught off guard this time. He hasn't really thought about what he'll get from this. He wanted some kind of satisfaction but he didn't think about how he would get it.
"What do you want Taehyung?"
He wanted to tell him some thing else.
"솔직히 말해봐." ("Tell me honestly.")
"I want him back hyung. I want to see him again."
"Don't do this to yourself Taehyung. Get some sleep."
통화 종료뒴. (call ended)
°°° Bills were dropping out from his hands and down to the city like the first snow. The people below must be going crazy.
The city looked kinda nice from Taehyung's view.
A few feet above the ground, hovering above everything and everyone. He felt proud knowing that he had this city in the palms of his hands. He looked down at the view and thought about how the illuminated highways reminded him of veins.
The veins of this city that will bleed at the slash of his sharp tongue. How pathetic.
He smiled to himself and clenched his fists. He looked down at his white knuckles and his smile faded.
These hands do nothing but everything wrong. These hands do nothing but drag people down.
He was nowhere near proud of who he was and the state that he was in right now. He thought everybody in this city was pathetic for they'd strip down and run across the street for a few bills to spend. He knew that it wasn't the situation that they wanted but it was still pathetic to him.
He thought about no matter how low those people might go they'll never be as pathetic as him. Thinking everyone was below him so that he could feel lifted but when he slips he hangs on to somebody so that he won't go down alone. He knew that that's who he was. That was the kind of person that he made himself to be.
"I'll always be here for you to call." Taehyung could still hear his hyung's words. That's what he always told Taehyung and it was true. Until wasn't anymore.
"I need you now hyung," he said to himself but more to his absent friend, "근대 너 어디야?" ("but where are you?")
He stared at his reflection as if it'll talk back and answer his question. It didn't. But even if it did answer, it won't give him the answer that he was looking for and wanted to hear. The answers were with his friend, now somewhere else and could not be reached. Taehyung thought it was time to get back down to Earth.
"Let's go down now," he said to the man in control of his father's helicopter.
The feeling of descending wasn't all that new to him, considering the fact that he dips lower everyday.
°°°
Empty.
That was what this large house was. The Mayor's house was filled with antique furniture, marble flooring, with big and bright crystal chandeliers and the house help always wandering around waiting for someone to need them. With all of the things in this house Taehyung still thinks of it as empty.
It felt cold and hollow.
In this house, he couldn't get enough peaceful sleep. He chose not to sleep anyways, he sees him in his dreams. In fact to Taehyung everything is in a dream. Or a nightmare.
And he wishes to wake up.
Taehyung wanted to wake up.
It's been years since he fell asleep, and it's also been years since his nightmare began. He wanted to wake up.
The next thing thing Taehyung knew, he was looking up at the sky that was completely deprived of stars, with half of his body submerged in cold pool water.
"Jin hyung!" Taehyung screamed into the night, "please wake me up hyung."
