Chapter Text
Kim Dokja sat at the breakfast table, doing the proof-reading of Sooyoung’s new chapter in her novel. It wasn’t a bad chapter–better than the previous one.
“Dokja-ssi! Would you like to come grocery shopping with me and Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi?” Yoo Sangah called from down the hall.
“Sure. I’ll be ready in about five minutes.” He replied, shutting the laptop and opening the closet door where all the jackets, hats, and other not so important stuff are stored.
Kim Dokja grabbed his signature white coat and headed for the front door. When he arrived at the said front door, he saw Yoo Sangah putting her shoes on, humming some tunes.. Kim Dokja looked up and saw a stern-faced Yoo Joonghyuk leaning on the front door, grumbling indistinguishable things under his breath.
“Alright, I’m ready. Let’s go, or else Sooyoung’s gonna find me and kill me if she figures out I’m not doing her proof-reading,” Kim Dokja smiled, albeit said smile was laced with a bit of sheepishness.
“Oh? I wish you luck on that, Dokja-ssi.” Sangah replied.
The three arrived at the grocery store and Yoo Joonghyuk pulled out a grocery list and handed it to Kim Dokja. Dokja read off the list—a bag of tomatoes, the specific brand of ramen that only Sooyoung eats, some rice cakes, and the list went on. Kim Dokja grimaced at the word tomatoes. He didn’t like them at all. He would rather die than eat tomatoes. The three walked over to the produce section and started searching for the items necessary.
Kim Dokja threw a couple random tomatoes into the bag.
“Don’t throw the tomatoes so violently, Kim Dokja.” He heard Yoo Joonghyuk comment from behind him. Kim Dokja shrugged and kept walking.
His heart suddenly ached, like, really badly. It’s been happening to him for the past, what, week? It ached like an empty stomach–a hole that needed to be filled, or else it would keep crying out.
Maybe he had walked too far ahead, cause he could kind of hear faint yelling behind him.
Then the rest of the world faded back into place, and he could clearly hear Sangah calling out to him.
“Dokja-ssi! Wait up!!” Yoo Sangah yelled, walking up to Dokja.
He must’ve been thinking too hard. He turned around to face the two again.
“Ah, sorry. Must’ve zoned out while walking,” Kim Dokja apologized while smiling sheepishly. Joonghyuk gave him one of those looks (the typa look that speaks “i’m worried,” yet tainted with a sharp glare).
Over the next few weeks, the company started to notice some not-so subtle changes with their leader. For example, Han Sooyoung noticed that Kim Dokja started flinching a lot, and at everything. Another odd change would be how the kids would find Kim Dokja in a daze–almost anywhere. Those dazes would happen randomly, such as if he were hanging out with them, his eyes would go blank until someone called out his name multiple times, causing him to snap out of it.
“So, has everyone been noticing how Dokja is being a bit odd lately??” Han Sooyoung asked everyone in the company–besides Kim Dokja–he was upstairs in his room, rereading TWSA. Everyone nodded in agreement. Kim Dokja had been acting strange. It was like they had been thrown back into the past, around the time the company found all of Kim Dokja’s fragments and brought him back. Like, he was still adjusting. Did something trigger him to retreat back into that phase?
“Master, what do you think?” Jihye asked the man leaning on the wall off to the side. Yoo Joonghyuk sighed disappointingly, eyebrows furrowed, “He’s being a fool.”
“If it gets worse, we need to confront him. This isn’t normal.” Jung Heewon added. Everyone froze when they noticed Kim Dokja coming down the stairs.
“Hey, why are all of you gathered up like that??” Kim Dokja called out from the stairs.
It was almost like in the blink of an eye, everyone walked off to commute to their daily tasks.
Confused, Kim Dokja shrugged it off and walked into the kitchen to prepare his daily cup of tea. As soon as he stepped foot into the kitchen, his nostrils were blessed with the sweet, buttery aroma of something. As expected, he found Yoo Joonghyuk standing over the stove, making pancakes like he wasn’t just up in the living room huddled with the rest of the company. Wow, he’s got magical powers alright.
“Master, that smells so good! You’ve gotta share the recipe with me someday!” Lee Jihye exclaimed cheerfully. Gilyoung and Yoosung were bickering again at the table, fighting over some silly thing. He wasn’t sure what.
Kim Dokja smiled softly at the scene as he made his way over to the water kettle. He pulled a packet of Nokcha from the cabinet and placed the teabag into his mug. It was a stupidly cute mug he got from Joonghyuk last Christmas—a derpy looking squid and a sunfish with the sharpest jawline ever. (..Could sunfishes even have sharp jawlines?) He tipped the water kettle and started pouring the water into his cup.
…His heart started aching again. Damn, it hurts like shit. Like being hungry with no food available…
“Kim Dokja! What are you doing!?” Yoo Joonghyuk yelled, he grabbed his wrists, pulling them away from the water-boiler, stopping the flow of water abruptly.
“Hey, what’s wron–Ow–!” Kim Dokja only then realized he hadn’t stopped dispensing the scalding hot water, causing it to overflow from the cup, burning his hand. Oh did it sting. Yoo Joonghyuk dragged the man over to the sink, turning on cold water to soak Kim Dokja’s hands underneath.
“Stupid bastard.” Yoo Joonghyuk muttered while holding Kim Dokja’s hands under the cooling water. “Watch your language, the kids.” Kim Dokja argued back.
“Ahjussi, are you okay?” Shin Yoosung asked, her face full of worry. Kim Dokja assured her he was fine, even though he really wasn’t–both physically and mentally. Still, the aching was there–only faded more into the background.
After his hands were treated by Lee Seolhwa, Kim Dokja was forced into rest by the company. It was only a burnt hand! It wasn’t even his dominant one, it’s really no big deal…But no matter how hard he tried to convince them he was alright, they went unconvinced. Now here he lay upright in his bed, with Yoo Joonghyuk sitting on a chair next to his bed. Why, though? He wasn’t really sure. Kim Dokja never asked for him to leave, nor for him to stay. Kim Dokja just felt better with Yoo Joonghyuk around, even if that were to never be disclosed between the two of them. Was it just him or did his heart’s aching disappear?