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The bar was as near-empty as you would expect for a Wednesday afternoon, but Namjoon barely noticed the other guests as he fell into one of the bar stools and rested his elbows on the counter, burrowing his face in his hands.
A figure appeared in front of him, a bartender he guessed, but he didn’t care enough to lift his head and take a proper look. He just wanted to drink and forget. Forget that he had lost the person he loved the most, forget that his ex-boyfriend was happier without him, in another man’s arms.
“Are you okay?” a male voice questioned softly, but Namjoon still didn’t look up as he felt unshed tears burn in his eyes. No, he was not.
“’M fine,” Namjoon muttered as he waved off the worried bartender and fixed his eyes on the shelf of alcohol behind the broad-shouldered man. “I’ll have a glass of whiskey.”
“Any brand you prefer?”
“Just give me whatever,” Namjoon replied dismissively, knowing that the bartender would probably take advantage of his indifference and serve him the most expensive one.
He stared at his own hands as a glass was placed in front of him and the faceless bartender poured him two fingers of whiskey, which Namjoon downed immediately and motioned with his hand for another serving.
“Just leave the bottle,” he finally told the bartender, his voice gravelly from the burn in his throat after downing two glasses of the amber liquor, and the man hesitated for a moment before he did what he was asked and stepped away to leave Namjoon alone with his thoughts.
Thoughts that were both loud and quiet; anger and sadness dulled into silent acceptance and a heavy feeling of regret, which left Namjoon numb and unable to shed the tears clouding his gaze.
It had been a month since he had last seen him. A month since his best friend and lover had left his apartment with red, swollen eyes and a whispered goodbye.
Namjoon didn’t know when it all started to go wrong, when their relationship had become this unhealthy mess that took more out of them than what it gave, and maybe he would sometimes lie awake at night trying to figure it out, trying to find a way they could be together again without hurting each other.
But Yoongi had moved on. He was happy again, happier than he had been for months, and seeing Yoongi’s face light up as he laughed had made Namjoon realize he couldn’t remember, when he had last seen his ex-lover smile.
When he had last seen him smile because of him and not the other man, who had had his arm slung over Yoongi’s shoulders as they lounged in the sun outside a small café.
He wanted to be angry, to be bitter, and curse out the pretty dancer with the infectious smile, who had taken Yoongi away from him, and he had been. But only for a short while till he realized their relationship hadn’t ended because Hoseok stole Yoongi away from him, but because he had let him go.
He had been too self-centered, caught up in his own work and problems, to notice that Yoongi was suffering. So Yoongi had found comfort elsewhere, with someone who was stubborn and patient enough to work through the walls his ex-lover tended to build around himself.
Namjoon liked to think he knew Yoongi like the back of his own hand, that after years of friendship he could tell what Yoongi was thinking just by looking at him, but then they had fallen in love and they had struggled with this new form of intimacy, because spending time together wasn’t the same as being together and as it turned out none of them had been ready for that.
Namjoon frowned in confusion, when he blindly reached for the bottle for the sixth time and his hand wrapped around a glass of cold water instead. His eyes swam as he looked up to find the bartender standing in front of him and he found it hard to focus on his face as he glared at him.
“You should slow down unless you want to be carried out of here on a stretcher,” the bartender told him with a hint of amusement in his voice and Namjoon scoffed in reply even though he knew the stranger was probably right. “Now drink the water and tell me what’s wrong.”
“Let me guess? You’re majoring in psychology and now you think you know everything about the human psyche, so you spent half your time at work listening to drunk strangers tell you their problems and you go home thinking you actually helped them. What a fucking cliché,” Namjoon sneered, his words a bit slurred because of the alcohol, and even in his inebriated state he regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. The bartender was trying to be nice and here he was being an absolute asshole.
“Actually, I’m just really bored and I thought talking might make you stop drinking, because I really don’t need someone dying in my bar. That wouldn’t look good on the sanitation report,” the bartender replied in an easy manner as if Namjoon hadn’t just insulted him and the drunk blinked in surprise.
It took him a moment, but his eyes finally managed to clearly focus on the bartender’s face and Namjoon felt his jaw drop as he stared at the man, who was watching him with a smug smile as if he knew exactly what effect he had on the drunk.
The man in front of him looked like he belonged on the cover of a magazine and not behind bar on a Wednesday afternoon, and for a long moment Namjoon got caught up staring at his full lips and high cheek bones that made out a perfectly sculpted face.
“You’re pretty.” The words tumbled out of Namjoon’s mouth before he could stop them and a deep blush quickly rose to his cheeks as the bartender raised his eyebrows in surprise and then hummed in agreement.
“So I’ve been told,” the bartender said before he suddenly let out a shrill, loud laughter that made Namjoon jump and almost fall off the bar stool.
The glass of water was placed in front of him again, when he managed to regain his balance, and Namjoon let out a small sigh of defeat before he took a large sip. The brief interaction with the bartender had made his mouth dry out and he had gulped down half the glass, when a hand stopped him.
“You’re gonna puke if you drink too much too fast and I’m not cleaning up after you,” the bartender warned him and Namjoon blushed again in embarrassment. He was a grown man getting babied by a hot stranger; a stranger he had both complimented and verbally abused within minutes. This just wasn’t his day.
“Well…”
“Well, what?” Namjoon questioned the awaiting bartender, who had disappeared for a moment to serve a drink to another guest and had now returned to Namjoon’s end of the bar.
“You were gonna tell me what answers you were trying to find at the bottom of that bottle I just took from you.”
“Dude, I don’t even know you, so why would I start telling you all of my personal problems?”
“Don’t ‘dude’ me, I’m older than you,” the bartender scolded him and Namjoon’s face flushed once again. For some reason this bartender made him feel like he was in a constant state between embarrassed and gay panic. “And if you wanted to talk about it with you friends you wouldn’t be here and you need to talk. So consider me your perfect stranger. Emphasis on perfect.”
“You know, just because you’re pretty doesn’t mean you have to be vain,” Namjoon retorted with a blank expression that didn’t crack even as the bartender winked at him and he stopped himself from rolling his eyes at the supposedly elder.
“It’s called confidence, dimples. Now talk,” the bartender ordered – Namjoon thought he should probably learn his name, but he was also too drunk to remember so why bother – and the broken-hearted man heaved a sigh.
He was a bit confused about the nickname since he was certain he hadn’t smiled since entering the bar, but a second later it was already forgotten.
“I saw my boyfriend with another man,” Namjoon finally spoke, realizing too late that exposing his sexuality to a stranger like this maybe wasn’t his brightest idea, but all he saw on the bartender’s face was sympathy.
“That’s awful. I’m sorry,” the bartender told him, his voice gentle, as he leaned over the counter and closer to Namjoon. His brain short-circuited for a moment until he realized what he had said and quickly shook his head.
“Actually, he’s not- we’re not together anymore. It’s just, it’s been a month and he’s already moved on and I still feel like shit,” Namjoon corrected himself and pressed the palm of his hands against his eyes, when he felt a spell of dizziness.
White lights danced beneath his eyelids and he blinked sluggishly as he opened his eyes to look at the bartender, who pouted his lips in thought. Namjoon did his best not to stare at them.
“So he’s not cheating on you.”
“No, he’s not. Not really.”
“Not really?”
“The guy he was with, I think they fell in love while we were still together.” Namjoon sighed as his head dropped between his shoulders and he blinked away the tears forming in his eyes.
It was the first time since the break-up that he had said it out loud. The first time he admitted to himself that Yoongi had stopped loving him before Namjoon even had the chance to fight for them.
“That’s emotional cheating. It’s just as bad, you know. You deserved better than that,” the bartender explained as he gently took the empty water glass from Namjoon and refilled it.
Namjoon was surprised, when his glass of whiskey was refilled as well, but all he did was stare at it.
“I don’t, I really don’t. It’s my fault, all of it.”
“I highly doubt that. If he really fell in love with someone else while you were together he should have told you. You can’t blame yourself for not making it work if he had already given up.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Then explain it to me,” the bartender implored patiently and Namjoon stared at him for several seconds, wondering why this stranger was so interested in his heart break and then decided that he didn’t really care. It felt nice finally talking to someone, who didn’t look at him with pity in their eyes.
“My ex, Yoongi, and I met at an underground club five years ago and we just clicked, I guess,” Namjoon began after taking a quick sip of his whiskey, almost gagging at the taste, and then a large one of his water. His mouth had turned to cotton again. “We were both rappers, who wrote and produced our own music, waiting to be discovered.
“We were also two gay men in a largely homophobic environment so we just stuck together, started producing music together and somewhere along the line we became friends. We never really talked much about our personal lives, Yoongi was never much of a talker, but we got to know each other through our music.
“His music, it was always so honest, brutally so, and I guess I fell in love not just with his words, but him as well. I never told him. For three years we never really saw each other outside a recording studio and I was happy with that honestly. It was like our own little world, where no one else was allowed in, where we could just be us.
“But then one night, when we were both feeling like shit, we slept together. We found comfort in each other and I guess it wasn’t really healthy, because we never actually talked about why we needed it. But I felt like I was using him so I finally confessed and he liked me too, so we started dating.”
Namjoon paused; making sure the unnamed bartender was still listening as he drank from his glass of water. He also needed to breathe, to swallow the lump in his throat that threatened to make his voice break, to think about his next words before he began the part about how it had all fallen apart without him noticing.
“Did you ever talk about why you started sleeping together in the first place?”
“We did, once. We spent a whole night just talking, getting everything out in the open, and I thought we were good after that. But then other things started getting in the way.”
“Excuse me?” a male voice called from the other end of the bar, interrupting them, and the bartender made a hand gesture towards Namjoon, telling him to wait two minutes while he served the new guest.
As he watched the bartender walk over to the other guest, a middle-aged man, he realized the bizarre situation he was in. He hadn’t been keen on sharing his heart break with the handsome stranger at first, but his alcohol-muddled brain had decided to do so anyway, and now he was telling him things about his relationship with Yoongi he hadn’t even told his actual friends.
But for some reason it felt like the bartender knew him, like he wouldn’t judge and just listen, and maybe offer him some actual advice that wasn’t just ‘don’t worry, Joon, you’ll be happy again, just give it time’.
“So what happened after you started dating? You didn’t spend all your time in the studio, did you?” the bartender asked as he returned with his phone in hand, texting someone before he put it back into the pocket of his slacks.
“No, we did go out every once in a while, met each other’s friends and all that. But music was always the most important thing in our lives, still is, so it was our safe space, our escape from the rest of the world.”
“More important than each other?”
The question floored Namjoon for a moment. Because his instinct was to say yes, but he also knew it wasn’t right. But that was how it had been. Their love for music what was connected them, what kept them together until it didn’t.
“We had been together for almost a year, when I got the call,” Namjoon continued instead of answering, because they both knew he didn’t have the right answer and the realization made him want to start drinking again.
“A studio executive had found my mixtape and they wanted to sign me. Yoongi’s mixtape went viral not long after and he was offered a contract with another record company. Those first couple of months after were the happiest we’d ever been. We’d achieved our dreams and we got to share it with the person we loved. We had finally made it.”
“But?”
“But we got too caught up in our work. I forgot our anniversary and didn’t see the hundreds of messages he had left me until the next day. One day he made a surprise visit to my new studio, while I was working with one of the other producers and he realized I had never mentioned him to any of them. They didn’t know he existed. He thought I was ashamed of him for some reason, but truth is I was just scared.
“The company that signed Yoongi knew he was gay. It was all over the internet, in his songs, and practically written into his contract that he could be as loud and proud as he wanted to be. But I didn’t trust my company to not kick me out if they ever found out I was dating a man. So I kept Yoongi a secret because I didn’t see any other way of achieving my dream, and after I managed to explain that to him he said he understood.”
“He did?” the bartender questioned with a skeptical look in his eyes and it somehow felt like he knew something Namjoon didn’t. Maybe it was the alcohol in his blood talking, but there was definitely something weird about the stranger’s reaction, yet Namjoon decided to continue.
“I knew he wasn’t happy about it, but Yoongi isn’t naïve. He knew what might happen if they found out. So we just kept on going and we didn’t see each other much, but we both had deadlines and it was okay. I thought it was okay,” Namjoon explained and let out a long sigh as he deflated in his seat, making the bartender reach for him over the counter, when it looked like he was about to fall off.
“What happened?” the stranger asked as he made sure Namjoon wouldn’t topple to the floor and kept a hand on his wrist in case he needed to save him again.
“Jung Hoseok did,” Namjoon muttered dejectedly and the bartender’s response was simply to raise an eyebrow in question. “They met through a mutual friend and I met him a few weeks later. Seeing the two of them together, laughing and smiling, I just lost it. We left early and then we had the biggest fight of our entire relationship.
“We didn’t really fight in general, we always agreed on everything, but it had all been so tense between us for over a month then and it was like this tsunami of guilt and resentment just washed over us and threatened to tear everything up at its roots. I was jealous. I’d never felt like that before and it was such an ugly feeling it made me want to throw up, but I was so certain they were already sleeping together.
“The way Hoseok looked at Yoongi, like he had hung the moon; I knew he was in love with him. And every little thing Hoseok said or did made Yoongi so happy, I’d never seen him laugh so freely.”
“How did the fight end?” the bartender questioned, when the silence had stretched between them for a couple of minutes as the horrible fight replayed inside Namjoon’s head; all the things they had said each other, the insults, the accusations.
It should have been the breaking point, but clumsy as he was Namjoon was used to glueing things back together, and he hadn’t been ready to throw his relationship in the trash yet.
“We didn’t break up, although we probably should have. We were only hurting each other, but I wasn’t ready to let go and let Yoongi be swept away by Hoseok,” Namjoon told as he let his head fall into his hands, unable to make himself look at the bartender as he had made it to the part of the story that made him feel the most ashamed of himself he had ever been.
“I told him to stop seeing Hoseok, to stop texting and calling him, that if he still loved me he would do this for me. I didn’t realize… Yoongi’s anxiety and depression had come back and I was too busy living out my dream that I didn’t notice. Our relationship had made him depressed, I had made him depressed, and Hoseok was helping him get through it.
“I took that away from him and then I pretended everything was back to normal, that there was still some kind of happy ever after for us even though I had destroyed that possibility a long time ago. It wasn’t until he was admitted to the hospital because of exhaustion that I realized nothing was okay. It almost killed him, I almost killed him.”
Tears were flowing freely down Namjoon’s cheeks as he spoke and he knew the other guests were probably staring, but he didn’t care. He deserved this pain, he deserved the heart break just like Yoongi deserved to be happy again without him.
“Namjoon-ssi.” The gentle voice of the bartender made him lift his head so fast he was certain he heard the bones in his neck crack. The stranger knew his name, he knew who he was.
“You know my name,” Namjoon stated, his voice somewhere between disbelief and accusatory, and the bartender smiled apologetically as he nodded.
“Just let me say this first and then I’ll explain,” the bartender implored him and Namjoon watched him for several seconds before he agreed; too tired to argue or be angry that the stranger had lied to him. It was obvious now that he already had heard this story before.
“You didn’t make Yoongi depressed and it definitely wasn’t your fault he was admitted to the hospital. Your relationship probably triggered something, but I know you’re intelligent enough to know depression is much more complicated than that.
“And Yoongi was admitted to the hospital, because he’s a dumb ass who overworks himself and doesn’t ask for help, when he needs it. Even if Hoseok had been there… I don’t know if it would have made a difference. It might surprise you, but as bright as it is his smile doesn’t cure depression. Yoongi needed professional help and you weren’t the only one to not notice that, so stop making this all about yourself.”
Namjoon stared at the bartender with wide eyes as he finished his rant and he knew they had definitely caught the other guests’ attention, because the other man really didn’t know how to keep his voice down.
“You know-“ was all Namjoon managed to get out and he shook his head at the surrealism of the situation, “you know Yoongi and Hoseok?”
“I introduced them to each other,” the bartender admitted, although he didn’t look especially apologetic about the fact, and he let out a sigh as he waited for Namjoon to connect the puzzle pieces.
“You’re Kim Seokjin.”
“I am.”
“Your father owns the company Yoongi is signed with.”
“He does.”
“You’re the one who made him sign Yoongi.”
“I made a convincing case and showed him my award winning smile, but it was wholly my father’s decision.”
“You’re rich, so why the hell are you working in a bar?”
The question made Seokjin break into a loud laughter that once again attracted the attention of the whole bar and Namjoon found himself smiling despite himself. Of all the things he had just learned maybe that wasn’t supposed to be his biggest concern, but he also felt a sense of relief. Yes, he hurt Yoongi and he still hated himself for that, but maybe he didn’t break him completely.
“I own this bar, dimples,” Seokjin finally said as his laughter died down, but his eyes still sparkled with mirth. Namjoon didn’t know it was possible, but his smile only made him look even prettier.
“You knew who I was this whole time. Why didn’t you say anything?” Namjoon questioned, hoping to distract Seokjin from the blush creeping up his neck as he had just been caught staring.
“You looked like you needed your space, but then you started drinking yourself into an early grave. I thought you might be more willing to talk if it was with a stranger. Well, we haven’t met before, but I’ve heard plenty about you.”
“Nothing good, I’m guessing.”
“I think you’re underestimating how in love Yoongi was with you.” Namjoon tried to pretend that Seokjin’s use of the past tense didn’t feel like a stab in his heart, but he still flinched at the word.
“You’re right, Yoongi isn’t much of a talker, but he spoke of you, a lot. He is so proud of you, Namjoon-ssi, and he didn’t want to stand in the way of your dream, so like the idiot he is he sacrificed himself and his mental health, because he didn’t want you to worry. I gave him a lot of shit for that.
“He should have talked to you instead of pulling away and he should have told you the moment he started feeling something more than friendship for Hoseok. He never cheated on you, I know because Hoseok can’t keep a secret to save his life, and I don’t believe he ever would.
“And yes, Hoseok might have fallen in love at first sight, because he’s a stupid romantic, but he was satisfied with just being Yoongi’s friend. All he wanted was to help him and it was hard for him, when Yoongi told him they couldn’t be friends anymore, but he accepted it.”
“How long… when did Yoongi fall in love with Hoseok?” Namjoon questioned after a long moment’s thought, even though he probably didn’t want to hear the answer. But he needed to know when he had lost, when it had been too late; the point of no return.
When they had finally sat down and talked, Yoongi admitting he was no longer in love with Namjoon and Namjoon knowing Yoongi deserved better than him, there had been no mention of Hoseok.
Maybe, in the end, it wasn’t really important, because their relationship wasn’t built to last, but right now Namjoon couldn’t help but feel a small stab of betrayal. Yoongi should have been honest about his feelings for Hoseok and for the first time ever Namjoon thought that maybe Yoongi wasn’t the only one, who had deserved better than what the other was giving him.
“I don’t know. I don’t think even Yoongi knows, but it wasn’t till after he was admitted to the hospital and Hoseok came to visit him. The look on his face, I recognized it from when he used to talk about you.”
“Oh.” Namjoon didn’t know what to say. Maybe telling Yoongi to stop seeing Hoseok had had the opposite effect of what he intended. He hadn’t been in love with Hoseok then, but maybe being without him had made him realize how much happier he was with the dancer.
“I’m sorry, dimples. For the both of you. And maybe it won’t be any consolation right now, but I do believe they’re soulmates if such a thing even exists.”
“It doesn’t,” Namjoon stated bluntly because no, that didn’t console him at all. If Yoongi and Hoseok were soulmates then what had the last five years been good for? Did the universe just really want him to suffer?
“Maybe not, but I don’t think your brother would agree,” Seokjin noted casually and Namjoon narrowed his eyes at the bartender, because who the hell was this stranger who apparently knew everything about him, even though they had never met before.
“My brother?”
“My brother’s boyfriend is Park Jimin. Jungkook pined for months, because he thought Jiminie and Taehyung-ssi were dating. He would always complain about them being self-proclaimed soulmates until Jimin finally got tired of waiting for him to make a move and kissed him in front of everyone at Kook’s graduation.”
“That was your brother?” Namjoon questioned in disbelief and Seokjin nodded with a proud smile.
Taehyung had showed him a video of the kiss and he had been shocked by the risk Jimin had taken as he had outed both himself and Jungkook in front of everyone. Not that either of them kept their sexuality a secret, but you never knew how people would react.
The video hadn’t showed much of that reaction as most of it consisted of Taehyung screaming and yelling while he tried to keep the camera steady, but according to his brother most of the crowd had reacted with a standing ovation, which Namjoon knew was probably an over-dramatization of the events.
But it had given Namjoon the courage to be honest and stop hiding, so he had finally come out to his boss, who had reacted by placing a hand on his shoulder, telling Namjoon he was free to love whoever he wanted, but also to be careful because not everyone in the company felt the same. It was good enough for Namjoon.
Yoongi had been happy, when he told him and they had made love into the early hours of the morning, but it hadn’t been enough to salvage what was left of their relationship.
It was getting a bit ridiculous, Namjoon realized, how connected Seokjin seemed to be to every part of his life. He wouldn’t be surprised if the bar owner suddenly announced his uncle owned the company Namjoon was signed with.
“How are you this involved in my life, when I’ve never even met you before?”
“Maybe the universe is trying to tell you something,” Seokjin said; his voice low as he leaned over the counter until Namjoon could feel his breath on his face, making him gulp nervously.
“Are you flirting with me?” Namjoon asked dumbly as he forced himself not to break their eye contact even though he could feel his hands getting clammy and Seokjin opened his mouth to reply, when a new voice interrupted them.
“Hyung!”
Namjoon jumped away so fast that he felt the bar stool underneath him tip backwards, but Seokjin was quick to grab his arms and pull him towards him; once again bringing their faces into close proximity.
“Ah, hyung! You wanted me to take over for you just so you could leave and hook up with someone?” Jungkook exclaimed, his voice too loud for the other guests not to hear, but there was no anger behind his words. Instead he looked proud that he had made both Namjoon and his brother blush.
“One more word and I’m telling mom you and Jimin had sex in her car,” Seokjin warned as he let go of Namjoon and pointed a finger at his brother, whose eyes widened comically.
“How the hell do you know about that?”
“I know everything, Jungkook-ah, so don’t test me. Now Namjoon and I are going out to get something to eat,” Seokjin told as he wiped his hands clean with a towel and walked around the counter to stand in front of his brother.
“We are?”
“Maybe I’ll come back and close the bar, but if I don’t remember it closes at two, no later, and no free drinks to all of your friends,” Seokjin continued as if he hadn’t heard Namjoon and stared his brother down.
“But, hyung, Taetae-hyung and Jiminie always drink for free in here and they’re basically the only friends I have,” Jungkook whined as if he wasn’t a twenty-three year old college graduate and Seokjin sighed, knowing it was no use arguing. The three of them always did whatever the hell they wanted anyway.
“Jimin is still your hyung, you brat,” he scolded his brother instead and the corner of Jungkook’s eyes crinkled as he grinned.
“Jiminie doesn’t mind,” Jungkook replied with a shrug, once again omitting the honorifics just to annoy his brother.
“You sure about that?”
Jungkook didn’t give a verbal response, but winked at his brother before he moved behind the bar to take Seokjin’s place. He high-fived Seulgi, the other bartender who had arrived a few minutes earlier, as a greeting and Seokjin had a feeling Jungkook was planning to ignore everything he had just told him.
Deciding to just close his eyes and let it happen, he grabbed Namjoon’s wrist and pulled him with him towards the exit.
“Have fun, hyung! Nice to see you again, Namjoon-ssi!” Jungkook called just before the door closed behind them and all Namjoon managed to do in response was wave awkwardly. He had met the boy a couple of times before, but he had been a lot more timid then and now he was thoroughly confused.
“Is he even old enough to manage the bar himself?” Namjoon questioned in concern, not understanding how Seokjin was willing to leave the fate of his bar in the hands of his brother. Namjoon certainly wouldn’t have let Taehyung do it if it were him.
“He’s of legal drinking age and he’s a lot smarter than he looks. Besides, he’s done it before. Not necessarily with success, but I still trust him. He just likes to be a brat whenever he knows he can get away with it,” Seokjin explained as he led Namjoon down the street. He had let go of his wrist, but their arms still brushed against each other as they walked.
Luckily, Seokjin had walked the opposite way of the café, where Namjoon had seen Yoongi and Hoseok sit, and even though they had probably left already he didn’t have the strength to walk past the café again. Talking with Seokjin had somewhat dulled the ache inside him, but he was still in process of accepting that Yoongi had indeed moved on.
“Why are you doing this?” Namjoon couldn’t help but blurt out as they walked down the street in silence and he remembered that Seokjin for some reason was taking him out to dinner.
“You need some food to soak up all that alcohol or you’ll just be sick later. And I figured you weren’t done talking yet and we could need some privacy,” Seokjin explained as he studied the street signs to orient himself and then made a right turn.
“No, I mean, is this… is this a date?” Namjoon had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, barely noticing the other pedestrians bumping into him, and Seokjin stepped in front of him with a gentle smile on his lips.
“This is whatever you want it to be, Namjoon-ah. I’m just here to listen and kick some sense into you if need be, nothing more,” Seokjin told him and his voice was almost drowned out by the noise around them, but Namjoon heard every word because they were meant for him only.
“Thank you, hyung,” Namjoon replied with a smile, absentmindedly noting that Seokjin had made him smile twice in a day for what felt like the first time in weeks.
“Anytime, dimples,” Seokjin quipped as he winked at him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, leading him down the sidewalk to an unknown destination. “Now, I know this place where they make the best jajangmyeon and it’s a bit pricey, but as we’ve already stated I’m rich so hyung is paying.”
Maybe, Namjoon thought as he listened to Seokjin talk with a fond smile, his friends had been right after all. Maybe he could be happy again. Maybe he actually deserved to be.