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Merchant Kim considered the boy with a scrutinizing gaze. He was quite young, definitely not older than his own son. Infact, he won't be surprised if the boy turns out to be younger than Seokjin.
His clothes looked overused and worn out, a bit tattered at places but they were clean and tidy.
The poor boy didn't even have a single hat to cover his eyes from the scorching sun.
"Name?"
"Taehyung.", The boy answered, swift and spontaneous.
"Do you live here?", Kim inquired, a small frown appearing on his forehead when the boy hesitated a little before answering with a smile.
"No, My Lord. My village is actually far away."
-"So what are you doing here?"
Taehyung twirled the sleek flute in his hands. "I was thinking about staying at Gunwi for some day."
Kim laughed heartily. "Gunwi? We are from Gunwi only! Very well then, you will be our guest."
"That would not be needed, My Lord! I have habit of living by the streets. And besides, I believe the villagers will give me shelter too if I request them-"
The older man cut the boy off by raising his hand.
"I am the Lord of Gunwi, young boy. A guest of Gunwi is my guest. You do not need to worry about it, you saved my son's life, you can live at our house as long as you want; And leave whenever you want to. Is that alright?", he gently asked, giving Taehyung a genuine, assuring smile as the boy fidgeted for a brief moment.
"Sure, My Lord.", Taehyung nodded this time, showing his sweet, boyish, box shaped smile to the older.
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Gunwi is what they describe in the lores as a small yet happy village. The population is for sure not more than two hundred.
A few small houses, a river bank, four ponds, a market, and a very small amount of land being used for farming, this is all the village had as her own. Very few villagers had chosen farming as their occupation here, most of them being merchants and businessmen, just like their Landlord himself.
Speaking of the Landlord, Merchant Kim's mansion was not overtly huge either, Taehyung noticed.
He has come across a lot of mansions and palaces before, but this one felt as humble and welcoming as Gunwi and her people are.
Even Kim's family, his mother, his brothers, nephews, nieces and the Lady of the house, Merchant Kim's wife has been nothing but warm with him.
Part of it comes from their nature, and the rest of it, Taehyung knows, as a gesture of gratefulness towards him for saving their son.
Only one person has been quite cold with him. That too the very person whom he had saved from drowning in the river, the Merchant's only son and heir, Seokjin.
Seokjin seems to not find Taehyung's presence pleasant at all. Right from the day when Taehyung had saved him and joined them on their way back to the village, Seokjin had only given him stern, confusing glances, his beautifully sculpted face rigid with anger.
Why was he always mad at him, Taehyung could not figure out. Well but the young Lord never used to leave him alone either.
Seokjin was always there somewhere around him, sometimes sitting at a corner, accompanying him in silence, sometimes giving him a look of insolence, and the other times getting furious at him for small, trivial reasons.
Taehyung didn't mind though. Something told him that it was a facade, a desperate and immature yet tender attempt to hide something that Seokjin doesn't want the younger to know.
"Why do you never go inside?", he asked Seokjin one day when both of them were sitting beside the small pond at the backyard of Kim mansion.
Seokjin looked at him with his brown doe eyes, scratching the soil with his toes as he shrugged. "I am scared of water.", he answered plainly.
"But you will have to trade through the river in the future, won't you?", Taehyung asked, which was indeed a matter of fact.
"I know...", the older looked away. "I will... somehow."
Taehyung gazed at his soft, sulky face bathing under the moonlight before the older threw a question at him.
"Why don't you get scared by the river? It scares me the most. It just never stops flowing, nobody knows where it will take you. The thought alone is so... so terrifying to me!"
Taehyung laughed, "What's there for me to be terrified of it? I don't know where life will take me either. Nobody was ever sure when it came to me. So what is so unique about the river, anyway?"
Seokjin stared at him, eyes curious and gaze expectant but Taehyung knew by now that the older won't say a word to express his curiosity anymore.
"I have been like this since I was a child, young Lord, Seokjin. The last time I have been at my village, was... probably more than a year ago. And I have left my home thrice in my life."
"Each and every time I return home, I promise to myself that this time I will not leave. But..."
"Don't you miss your family? Your mother?", Seokjin asked, his voice low and heavy with disbelief.
"I do.", Taehyung gave him a sad smile but his eyes shone nonetheless.
"But my family have each other. My mother has my siblings, she can love and nurture them and they can look after her. But that life is not for me."
Seokjin frowned. "Which life is for you, then?"
"This!", the younger tipped up his head, closing his eyes, he inhaled the fresh air deeply. "Free. Wandering. Lost."
"Lost?!", Seokjin gasped. "What if you actually get lost? What if you can... never go back to your home?"
Taehyung chuckled at the wide doe eyed look of the older. "I don't want to go back anyway. I want to find myself in unknown places and people. And then, maybe one day, lose myself somewhere..."
"The world is so vast, Seokjin Hyung. Won't it give me just a small space to live?"
The future landlord of Gunwi shook his head. "You are so strange!", he huffed, snatching Taehyung's precious companion, his flute from his lap.
"You promised that you will teach me to play flute."
"And what am I going to get in return?", Taehyung raised his eyebrows, a mischievous smile dancing at the corner of his lips as Seokjin shot a glare at him.
"I will... teach you to read and write in Mandarin then.", the older offered and Taehyung smiled.
"Its a deal then."
And so Seokjin spends the entirety of his days with this strange boy only. Taehyung learns a new language from Seokjin, even joins the older and his cousins during the lessons of their home tutor.
He gets to read various kind of books from Seokjin's huge collection and visit the fair of the village next to Gunwi with Seokjin and his childhood friends.
And at night, when tiredness and tranquility enchant everyone's mind and heart, Taehyung teaches Seokjin to play the flute.
Snuggling his back flush against Taehyung's chest, Seokjin tries to adjust the tip of his fingers on the loopholes while Taehyung holds the flute steadily infront of the older's face.
Seokjin scolds him quite often, claiming that he is not teaching him seriously and giggles even more when he plays a few notes right. Taehyung feels warm, all tender from inside.
He has never felt this way before. He has never stayed anywhere for more than a week. But there's just something about Gunwi, that doesn't let him leave.
It has been three months of him staying at this village, as the guest of Merchant Kim and Taehyung knows that a guest is never supposed to stay for so long.
But he can feel himself wanting to gaze at the hill standing at the edge of Gunwi's boundary every morning for the rest of his life.
He feels the attachment he has developed for these gentle, guileless people, for the mild, soothing hues of sunset against the broad, tall trees to the west, for the alleys of Gunwi, for each and every corner of this mansion, for Seokjin's cousins and his mother and his grandmother who narrates him stories of her life every chance she gets.
And ofcourse... for Seokjin, his stern look, soft eyes, his innocent smile and his pure soul.
For the way he loves to get pampered and takes care of Taehyung in return as well, the way he gets upset with him because Taehyung chose to spend a whole evening discussing on a book with his cousin, Namjoon, instead of going out for fishing with Seokjin.
Seokjin wants so much and Taehyung can feel himself falling weak, melting away infront of his indomitable demands.
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He will leave. He is not here to stay.
Seokjin reminded himself everyday that Taehyung is a runaway, a wanderer. He told himself all the time that the younger is not the right person to grow attached to, but everything went in vain.
He should not be blamed though. He tried. He had tried so hard, had used every kind of method. He had tried to be snobbish, cold, ignorant and even rude.
But Taehyung... Taehyung had accepted him after everything. The boy had seen through his facade of annoyance and anger, found the gentle source of love inside him, smiled his bright boxy smile that makes him look so soft and left no choice for Seokjin other than falling for him helplessly and well... hopelessly.
Wearing Seokjin's hanbok, when Taehyung used to run by the riverbank, as if absorbing his surroundings, and when the heavy wind used to make his long, disheveled hair flow aimlessly, Seokjin couldn't help but want the younger only for himself.
But Taehyung is not made to be anyone's. He would rather let the world take him in than let anyone bind him in the name of love. And Seokjin knew that very well.
A wild bird can love, but it can never stay. And trying to keep it inside a golden cage is the worst thing you can do to yourself, because one day... it will find its way out anyway, while you, on the other hand, will never be able to forget it.
That's why it didn't shock Seokjin when he found a piece of paper lying on top of the bed inside Taehyung's empty room.
But knowing everything from the very beginning could not stop the ache to spread all over inside himself.
The paper was kept in its place by the weight of a very familiar, sleek flute and it had only four words written on it, four words that couldn't help Seokjin to fall out of love in any way.
' I will remember you. '
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Taehyung kept his promise.
He remembered Seokjin, couldn't forget him, to be precise. Everything reminds him of Seokjin- The large fields, the narrow, dusty alleyways, people trying to catch fish, small, innocent, curious faces of kids, everything... all of it.
When he sits on the deck of a boat, staring idly at the water flowing beneath, it reminds him of Seokjin.
The first time when they met, Seokjin was struggling underneath those waves, Taehyung remembers the tight grasp Seokjin had on his shoulders the moment Taehyung came to rescue him.
Seokjin is so scared of water. What if the next time he gets scared and looses control, there's nobody he can hold onto?!
When it rains, Taehyung wonders if the corner of the sky of Gunwi, where his favourite, long lost hill stands, has darkened in longing as well.
The times when his hand goes inside his clothes to fetch his flute on instinct and doesn't find it in its usual place, he feels a hollowness clawing at his heart.
Has Seokjin forgiven him? The Seokjin who refuses to lose, the Seokjin who never liked to share, will he ever forgive Taehyung for taking away from him what he was so immensely territorial about?
Taehyung is not sure if he wants the older to forgive him or not. What if after forgiving Taehyung, Seokjin will forget him too?
The thought doesn't please Taehyung anymore. Nothing pleases him anymore. Taehyung wanted to find himself, but nowadays it feels like he does not know himself, like he no longer recognizes himself.
What has changed? Everything has changed.
"Where are you going, son?"
Taehyung's feet stopped abruptly at the rich voice. Looking back at the trail he just left behind, he turned around and bowed to the ascetic infront of him.
"May Almighty bless you.", the person nodded at him, his shining, wise eyes raking throughout Taehyung's face before he asked once again.
"Why son, you didn't say where you are going? Its already dark and you seem quite... lost?"
Taehyung shook his head. "I am not going anywhere."
The wrinkles around the old man's eyes doubled at his answer. "Not going anywhere?"
-"No, I... I will find a shelter somewhere for the night."
"So you mean to say that... you do not have a home? Is that what you mean, young boy?"
Taehyung nodded as an answer, trying to avoid looking directly at the old man's piercing, soul searching gaze.
"I'm- I'm a wanderer.", he mumbled meekly.
The monk shook his head, smiling at him just like a wise, experienced grandfather smiles at the naïve actions of his grandchild, with fondness and compassion.
"Aah... I understand. So you're in the search of yourself... And you thought leaving your home will help you to do that?"
Taehyung stuttered. "I- I used to feel restless at home. Always did..."
The older tsked, shaking his head slightly while the smile on his face was still intact. "Not that home, my child. Not the one where you were born... I am talking about the one where you found yourself."
"Found?", Taehyung blinked.
"Why else do I find your gaze so lost, son? Why would your soul seem so restless otherwise? You can only find yourself when you can find your home, the home your destiny has made for you."
"Now ask your soul if you have found it already or not."
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Seokjin looked up at the sky, dark, full of stars, the moon still not properly visible because of a few, floating clouds.
His hands clutched at the flute in between them.
"Taehyung...", he whispered wistfully.
Like a hopeless fool, he still remembers Taehyung... everyday, every moment. For what and for how long? He doesn't know.
"Taehyung..." Where are you?
"Taehyung..." Please remember me.
-"Seokjin Hyung."
Seokjin froze on his spot, his back facing the source of the deep voice that he has desperately prayed to hear again every night.
"Hyung I... I have come back."
Seokjin closed his eyes. "Why?", he sneered. "Did you leave something behind?"
"Yes.", the voice answered and Seokjin's blood boiled in bitterness.
He threw the flute in his hands backwards, "Take it then!", he yelled.
"Take it and leave! Take it- Take everything away. I do not care! Just leave. That's all you can do."
Seokjin heaved, eyes focused on the reflection of the moon on their pond's steady, calm water.
Two long, slender arms encircled themselves around him and all of a sudden, Seokjin's whole world filled with warmth.
"I left behind the most precious thing of mine, Seokjin Hyung.", Taehyung hugged him tighter against his chest, mumbling lowly against his temple.
"I left you... I left my heart here... my home, Jagiya."
Seokjin whimpered, his head lolling back on Taehyung's shoulder as the younger tried to shush him.
"I'm sorry, Hyung. Please... forgive me."
"I hate you!", Seokjin hiccupped against the younger's neck. "You hurt me, you know that? I-"
He twisted his head just a little, sighing and melting in between Taehyung's arms as their lips met slowly but eagerly.
His fingers went inside Taehyung's hair, tangling with his long locs and grasping at them adamantly.
"You won't leave me again.", he declared, voice quivering with insecurity as his fiery, glistening eyes stared back at Taehyung's dark, all consuming ones. "You will never. Or I will never forgive you, Taehyung!"
Taehyung kissed his plush lips yet again, "Never. I have found myself, Seokjin Hyung. There's no need for me to go anywhere anymore. Not anymore."
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The next time Taehyung left Gunwi, he left along with Seokjin on the way to the home he was born into, at his own village, Geochang.
Seeing her son after almost one and a half year, Taehyung's mother could not hold back her tears as she embraced him like the most precious thing in the world.
She looked at his face and she looked at him again and again, marveling at the way the restlessness in her son's eyes, which she has always seen since he was a child, was no longer there.
Taehyung's father, his siblings, his childhood friends, everyone got awestruck by the way the free, wild bird they once knew, now seemed so grounded, so much at peace.
Some gave the credit to his age, some thanked the almighty, while the others were sure that the handsome, prince like boy who came with Taehyung, has something to do with this miracle.
Either ways, everyone collectively came to one conclusion, that Taehyung's never ending search for himself has finally ended.