ㅤᴅᴏᴏʀ ⋮ A22

@❛ taekwoon jung。 Taking a short glance at the box filled with books that were seated on the floor, Soo finds herself smiling softly as if remembering something before looking back at Taekwoon, nodding once. “I try to do it as much as I can, but with school works, I’m not exactly able to read as much as I used to.” she takes a sip of the tea before continuing, “How have you been? It has been a while for sure,”

Soo looks at Taekwoon with a soft, almost pitiful gaze as in her heart she wanted her friend to explain about his sudden disappearance from her life. Slight tone of desperation can be heard in her voice, as much as she doesn’t want to; Soo can’t help but feel desperate and hopes that her friend is not oblivious, taking the hint in her question.

[post deleted by owner]

@❛ sooyoung ha。 “That’s quite alright. My place... probably looked the same when I moved in.” He allows the tension the tension to release from his shoulders, (there is a meek moment of apprehension; but it is not in his character to exploit it so it hides away quickly.) submerging himself into the catharsis of it all. Better than the silence of his apartment, static feedback in his ears. Flit through his head would be the same two portraits—craters of old time, thinks about a home that once was; a lungful of familiarity inhaled with every speck of dust and redolence of homemade dishes, and a preamble to an afternoon nap—replayed over and over, this is him, six years old, and this is another him, fourteen years old. If it was a magazine spread representing each year of his life, he’d have too many page left blank. There are no more pictures left to clip against the paper, just those tacked in mind. It’s strange, to say the least.

The woman before him doesn’t age a day. The same as that of the neighbor looming over his boyhood museum, sauntering at the back of his youth and as he looks at her, a dense of deja vu splinters within; lay in the midst, but imagined everything in backwards motion. Repeat the soliloquies where the clock hands were upturned river. The inklings of yesterdays faded with petrichor. It’s always a pinch of this and that, granules of emptied hourglass taunting with moments he yearned again.

This paints something akin to an almost smile against the corners of his lips, fond memories ate nothing if not opportunities to cusp the water of temporary delight, elusive as it seeps through the interstices of his fingers. He looks down, at his own hands, as though the answers were mapped there. And then up again, meeting the female’s face. There’s a creek in the leg of the chair as he moves it back, gaze then flickering from the pile of books to her demeanor as he claims the seat across the latter. “You still read those books?”

@❛ han lu。 Sighing for the umpteenth time for the past hours, Soo is getting more irritated with the never-ending boxes that she has been working on for almost a week. When she hears someone yelling for her in front of the door, she quickly drops the fruit knife onto the living room table and makes her way to the door. She pushes her leg faster when she hears the knocks and was greeted by the presence of her neighbor, at first she was confused by his sudden arrival but when she glances down to the floor then her brain finally started running again. Soo remembers that in few days prior, she had sign up to the potluck event that the apartment is going to held and she thought it would be cool to join, probably meet all of the other residents in Casia. She was paired with Luhan, who was her neighbor from just few doors down and they agreed to meet up at her place but it had totally slipped from her mind once she tackles the mountain in her living room.

"Oh! I totally forgot that we're meeting up today," she apologizes to the lad and bends down to take some of the bags from the floor. "I'm really sorry for not able to accompany you to buy all these today," another apology is said, she feels really bad for letting him buy all of it by himself and carry it alone from the mart.

@❛ taekwoon jung。 When Soo hears his voice again, the emotions from earlier suddenly started to make another appearance and she is not sure if she could keep it from erupting- still back facing him she inhales slowly and quietly (she hopes) for a few times, just one of her new-found habits to calm herself down. Soo turns around and offers Taekwoon a meek smile and gently shakes her head, “it’s okay, I u-understands.. You have your own reason for it, for everything.” she says softly, trying to be as polite as she could be towards her friend. Although deep down, she wanted to scream and demands for her unanswered questions; she wanted to know just why did he leave without any words, did the friendship means nothing to Taekwoon but then again who is she to ask all that.

As an attempt to shift the somewhat depressing mood surrounding them, she tries to change the topic. “I’m sorry about the state of my living room right now, i would love to offer you a seat at the couch but circumstances are not suitable.” Soo apologizes and offers a seat at the small dining table that’s just next to the countertop. She quickly pulls out her kettle set and makes green tea for both of them, with some leftover cakes from yesterday that she pulls out from her refrigerator. Soo puts a cup of the tea and a slice of cake at one side then puts another opposite of it before taking her seat.

“Please, take a seat. I would love to catch up with you,” she offers another smile at the guy who is pretty much still standing up. Glancing at her friend, Soo realizes just how much she missed having his presence around- albeit their friendship was short-lived, she still considers him as a good friend of hers.

@❛ sooyoung ha。 With a culmination of grocery bags and his laptop case weighing down his arms, he struggled to knock on his partner's door. Realizing that his efforts would be fruitless, he opted to yell her name from the other side of the door in the hopes that she might be close enough to hear him.
"Sooyoung? I'm here! My hands are kinda full. If you could open the door, I'd be quite grateful!" He managed, nearing a yell at the end of his request in an attempt to notify her should she be behind a closed door within her humble abode. Arms nearly about to give out under the weight of carrying all the bags in at once, he finally sets them down onto the floor and raps on the wooden door with his knuckle to signify his arrival, only slightly dismayed that he couldn't have made it all the way with one trip.

@❛ sooyoung ha。 Almost immediately Taekwoon feels the shift in tone, like a buzz that thrums beneath their feet after the universe’s strings have been plucked to a tuneless melody. Years of learning how to disappear in plain sight have left his ears perpetually tuned in to people’s voices, picking out even the faintest messages in the sea of static. It’s just second nature now, and he knows that feeling, the shock that lingers even years later when the rest of the world has evidently moved on. Sooyoung's voice is another anchor to the moment, another lifeline that Taekwoon can trace back to home. So when she offers, he tenses, contracting his fists in practiced restraint against his own ire. Is it because she's being kind to him? Perpetually reminding him this is the world where he lacks control; it singes on the back of his tongue like the taste of remittent regurgitation after one too many drinks, the acrid flavour persists, of cheap whiskey and impurely-derived vodka.

A moment passes, he stares. Analysis delving across the shadows contouring his features to consider the offer—blinks, and inhales one-two-three. Stilling himself, urging assiduity.

For the first time time in years, viscous guilt seeps into his veins, and everything that constitutes him within shrinks away at that foreign invader (such a rarity for him to be manducated by emotions that divagate from apathetic engagement, such views have only been a hurdle, a fortress surrounding the realm of possibilities, but recently they’ve felt more like a mirror. He hates what stares back at him, scorns the embodiment of every poor decision he’s made thus far, but there are moments of clarity amidst the fog of resentment.); it almost as if he's reverted to his younger self, and perhaps it is the genus of his momentary affinity to the gentleness on the tongue as Taekwoon requires no more than a beat for cognitive assimilation. The words are faint, the subconscious calling, but in the end he replies, "Ah, yes. I wouldn't want to impose, but it seems like you need some help with those... boxes." he proffers a smile as the footfalls follow her own, (yet the smile he gives feels stolen: it is another piece Taekwoon has no right in taking and yet he has another go at offering one back, hoping the edges are not splintering as much as he feels they are.) There is no malevolence concealed within, but he is uncertain.

“…and Sooyung, I—” another attempt on a response is deemed a failure within the next second. Words are vaporized, lingering between them like diminishing smokes. “I’m… sorry. too.” Uncertain, not about the apology – if there’s anything that’s ever set in stone about the post-partum age where he scavenges for past events, it would be that. Apologies. Plenty of them. Reaped after secondhand sowing. “…for suddenly leaving.” His continuation arrives after too many seconds of silence. He looks away, attempting to craft too many lingering alphabets in disarray. “You look… well. I’m sorry. I know you waited. But it has been so long I thought you’ve forgotten all about it.” – swallowed down: the guttural ends of shimmering words, waiting to be enunciated.

@❛ taekwoon jung。 Practically daydreaming about the fluffy bed that awaits her in the comfort of her home, Soo can’t help but softly sigh as the ride to her floor feels like taking a little bit too long for an elevator with only two floors and her eyes keep on glancing at the displayed number on top of the door. She stares at it way too long making her almost missed the guy’s words- but she somewhat hears it loud and clear since they are the only ones there. Soo’s eyes widen at his words after a moment of realization about the guy next to her, she in a split second shift her whole attention to the guy; openly gawks at him and when she saw his eyes, she remembers who he was.

“Taekwoon?” she says, an unmistakable sound of surprise can be clearly heard in Soo’s voice. She may have said it in a voice not louder than a whisper but the surprised is definitely there, at that realization whole waves of emotions come crashing in and her expression definitely changed. Before both of them can say anything else, the loud ding indicates the arrival to their destination and she hastily walks out once the door opens without waiting for the guy who was once her friend. Soo walks to her door and puts down the box on the floor before fishing out the keys at her back pocket and slots it in the keyhole. The door opens after the sound of a click and Soo can’t help but to just stand in front of her door like an idiot. She can feel his presence right behind her but she does not know how to act after bumping into someone who went awol in her life- lowkey felt betrayed by his actions because Soo never once thought that he would ever do such things as just the day before him disappearing from her life, they were having so much fun that day and it was the highlight of the whole summer since the day she first met him.

An awkward silence remains, as Soo just stands there after pushing the box in with her leg and giving her back on him. After somewhat long awkwardness, Soo musters up with whatever confidence she has left and turned around to finally facing him. For the first time after too many years, she’s finally reunited with her long lost friend that looks quite different if she may say. She notices of his bleached blond hair, his tall figure, the piercings, and the visible scar above his left brow; Soo realizes that he is doing the same things as she did- comparing how they look before versus now although she doesn’t look too much of a difference except for her now longer hair compared to the awkward short bob she had years ago; seeing he was the one to recognize first.

“you can come in if you want?” finally she says, and without waiting for his response she enters silently hoping that he will tag along. An instant regret washes over her after Soo realizes the state of her home, still mountains of boxes piling up in her living room- just screaming to her about the inappropriateness to even have a guest right now.

after the short-lived fiasco at the lounge in building D, Soo enters her apartment with a small sigh and places her keys on the countertop before looking at the ugly piles of boxes in her living room that's just screaming for her to unbox. for the whole day of yesterday, she has been busy unpacking other boxes that came in the day before, all thanks to her grandparents that insisted on buying stuff that she's quite sure that she does not need, walking towards the piles Soo first reads the label on the top of the box before somewhat categorizing it according to types and by the end of her mini organization, she was left with four categories with mountain of piles; taking the small fruit knife that she left on the coffee table from yesterday she first get to the first pile which is the living room pile.