SIX

My phone buzzed next to me on the bed and made my entire body vibrate. I could barely make out my mom's name on the phone as I looked over with my swollen, half open eyes.

My phone buzzed again and this time I decided to roll over and face my grey wall instead so I wouldn't be tempted to look at my mom's messages.

The wall was plain, boring and empty. Exactly how I felt inside at that moment. Maybe I would make a good wall. No I would make a much better carpet if truth be said, that way it would also be easier for people to walk all over me.

My phone buzzed a third time and I angrily pushed it off my bed and heard a loud 'thud' when it hit the ground. I didn't even check if the screen was broken, no matter what, it would never be as broken as my heart was in this moment.

The sound of my bell suddenly echoed in my apartment and I wondered who would have the guts to visit me after I had stayed off the grid for several days.

I dragged my lifeless body across the floor and opened the door, not caring that I had the ugliest bed hair and was wearing my snoopy pajamas.

"Monique!" Jae said in shock when he saw the state I was in, "woah... I heard you cry the other day, but I didn't know things were this bad.

"If you came to insult me then kindly leave me alone," I said in a low voice as I exhaled.

"No, I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention!" Jae quickly said, "I actually came to invite you to dinner tonight. At my place."

"What about your cousin?" I said, not having the energy to even speak his name. After he cried with me through his music I hadn't heard him play ever since. And I hadn't touched my piano either. I had barely been dragging myself out of bed to even eat something.

"Actually, it was Yoongi's idea to invite you," Jae said with a smile I would rather identify as a smirk.

"That's nice of him, but I'm not in the mood to see anyone right now."

"Come on Monique, you need to get out of your apartment, and frankly speaking, you need to take a shower. Letting yourself become one with your bed won't help in any way." I looked at Jae and tried deciding if I should punch him or thank him for his offer. To be honest, I could use an excuse to take a shower and dress up.

"Okay," I then said.

"Wonderful! Just come over around 6PM, I'll see you soon." I gave Jae a nod before he disappeared into his apartment again and I disappeared into mine. I decided to pick up my phone and check the messages from my mom. I almost felt bad when I saw all the worried messages she sent me and I quickly replied, letting her know I was alright, but just needed some time to myself. Something I found a little ironic as I started getting ready for a dinner party right after sending the message. But somehow I found myself feeling excited, an emotion I hadn't felt in a while.

***

"Welcome to the other side of the building!" Jae said after opening the door for me.

"Well thank you very much," I said and took a step inside before handing him the box of chocolate I brought with me, "you invited me last minute so I didn't have time to buy something better as a gift for the host. That chocolate actually comes from the back of my kitchen cabinet."

"Who said you had to bring something?" Jae started, "but then on the other hand, who says no to chocolate?" Jae quickly snatched the box of chocolate out of my hand with a quirky smile on his face, one that made me laugh quietly.

"So, what are we having for dinner? Pizza from down the street?" I said in a teasingly voice but in reality I could already smell the sweet aroma coming from the kitchen.

"Actually," Jae said and gestured for me to follow him to the kitchen, "Yoongi is cooking. A traditional Korean meal!" Jae looked incredibly proud when he spoke, but his facial expression changed completely when he heard a loud noise followed by some curse words from Yoongi.

"Eh... I think I'll go help Yoongi, why don't you look around. Well there isn't much to see but just..." there was another loud noise and even more curse words as Jae continued, "just keep yourself occupied for a minute.

I couldn't help but laugh as I saw Jae run towards the kitchen, and just as I did that, I realized I had already laughed more tonight than the last few days combined. 

Maybe I did right in coming here.

I felt a funny sensation walking around in an apartment completely identical to my own, but with such a different aura. It was amazing how different an apartment could look depending on how you furniture it and decorate it. I took notice of the small electrical piano standing against the wall facing my apartment. I walked closer and gently let my fingers slide across the piano keys without making any sound. 

So this was the piano that had accompanied me on happy days as well as sad days.

I looked at the note sheets leaning on the music stand and I quickly realized it was hand written.

Was this the music Yoongi had been composing while we played together? 

I tried reading the title but it was all in Korean and before I could get out google translate, I head Jae's voice call from behind me:

"Food is ready!"

We all sat down at the small table and I took in the delightful smell from the food. I hadn't tasted Korean food before, whenever Jae and I ate dinner together, we just ordered take outs. It felt nice eating something proper for the first time in a while.

"It looks delicious," I said and Jae translated for me, but Yoongi just huffed at my comment. I crunched my eyes, feeling a bit offended until Jae explained that Yoongi wasn't quite satisfied with the result.

"Ah," I said with a chuckle, "I'm sure it tastes great," I continued before filling up my plate.

The atmosphere stayed light hearted while we ate. There wasn't much room for conversation as we all focused on filling up our stomachs and our energy. I really hadn't been kind to my body these last couple of days, I didn't even realize how much I was craving food before it was standing right in front of me and now I just didn't seem to be able to stop eating.

"Thank you so much for the food!" I said before leaning back in the chair with a delighted smile on my face. Yoongi seemed to have a smile on his face too and I wondered what he was thinking in that moment.

"I didn't know you could eat like that," Jae said while he began taking out the dishes, "we almost finished everything."

"It's because it was so delicious!" I replied, "make sure you tell Yoongi that." I immediately heard Jae translate for me and Yoongi gave me a nod, replying with something I took as a "thank you".

"See all you needed was a night out to make you feel better," Jae said after he returned to his seat, "why did you suddenly confine yourself in your apartment like that?" My heart suddenly dropped to the bottom of my stomach and I diverted my eyes from Jae's as I tried to come up with an excuse to change subject.

"It's nothing, really," I tried brushing it off, but my sudden change in behavior and flickering eyes seemed to give me away.

"If I know you right, it's not nothing if you get sad enough to make you cry." Hearing the word 'cry' suddenly made me feel like I was welling up. Yoongi was just sitting next to Jae, staring at me with his big dark eyes, having the same unreadable expression as always.

"Does it have anything to do with that interview you went to last week?" Jae then said and that seemed to be it for me. A sudden rage came over me and with tears in my eyes I shouted out:

"Life is just a piece of crap!" Jae and Yoongi both seemed taken a back by my fierce reaction, but all the emotions I'd been holding in seemed to want to come out now.

"Maybe it's just my fault! It's because of me and my big ass mouth! Because I always have to let my sense of justice take over. Why can't I just stay quiet and do my job like everyone else? Why did I have to confront my boss when I found out about the embezzlement? What did I expect? A pad on the shoulder and a thank you? Sometimes I get surprised about how dumb I am!"

After letting out all the feelings I'd been carrying inside since the day I got fired from my job, I suddenly turned completely silent. No more words seemed to come out and only the quiet sobs where the sounds audible in the small apartment. 

"Thank you again for dinner," I said and got up from my chair, "goodnight."

Before Jae or anyone could stop me, I had already run out of the apartment. I needed air. My head was a mess and my heart wouldn't stop racing in my chest. The fresh evening breeze seemed to help clear out my head a bit and I just looked up at the dark sky while breathing in and breathing out.

Was this really my life now? Wherever I would seek employment, my old boss would be ahead of me, making sure no one would hire me?

My tears again started streaming and quite frankly, I didn't even care anymore. I worked for all those years, just to watch my life crumple before me. What kind of life is that?

The sound of a door opening made me turn around at the speed of light and I noticed a short man appear before me. He looked a bit a bit confused or nervous, like he didn't know how to approach me, but in the end he just walked up to me and looked directly into my eyes, not looking away for even a second. I didn't know what his expression meant. Was it pity? Was it sadness? Was it care?

He suddenly held out a little piece of paper in front of me, a post it, and I looked at the words written in Danish.

"Jae explained everything to me."

I read the first sentence and then looked up at Yoongi, not knowing how to react to this.

"It's not you but the world something is wrong with. You tried to do the right thing, making your boss turn himself in for the embezzlement. You tried doing the right thing, but going up against a large company as a single person isn't easy."

Yoongi was right. I had too much faith in myself and in justice. I thought if I just confronted my boss about it, he would get scared and go to the cops with the tail between his legs. But instead I should've prepared myself to face the wrath of the devil. When I finally went to the police myself, he had made sure to get rid of all the evidence and after that I was the one in the wrong. The one who accused my boss of embezzlement, making the company look bad. Who would ever hire such a person? An untrustworthy person?

I suddenly felt a finger poke my shoulder and I looked up, realizing I had drifted away for a minute. Yoongi was holding up another piece of paper with just 4 words written on them. 4 words that started a fire in my chest.

"Everything will be alright."

I looked at Yoongi with bloodshot eyes.

"How do you know that?" I yelled at him, not caring if he understood me or not, "how do you know everything will be alright. What if it doesn't? What if I never get a job, and I have to move in with my parents. They don't have a lot of money you know! How am I supposed to look them in the eyes?" I looked at Yoongi who had the same expression on his face as before and again he just held up the piece of paper in front of me.

"Everything will be alright."

I let out a silent laugh as another tell fell from my eyes. I looked at the paper again and re-read the four words. Then I looked at Yoongi who had his eyes glued on me. I wish I could just disappear into his eyes, swim in the dark wide ocean I saw when I looked at them. Just allow myself to depend on someone. Allow myself to be weak. 

Then, without knowing why, my body moved on it's own and I bowed my head down so my forehead rested on Yoongi's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I said in between my sobs, "I'm sorry but please just let me stay like this for a while." I wondered if Yoongi even had the slightest idea about what I said, but when I felt his warm hand caress my arm, I couldn't hold myself back anymore. I just let everything out, every tear I had ever held inside me and I didn't care if I woke up the entire neighborhood. I had to let it out while I still had the courage to do so.

When I finally calmed down a bit I had no idea how long Yoongi and I had been standing like that, but my legs felt wobbly and Yoongi seemed to notice as he helped me sit down on the curb. He then gently guided me head to rest on his shoulder and I didn't stop him from doing so. 

Then suddenly, he started speaking and he spoke for a quite some time. I had no idea what he said, but his gentle voice felt like sweet music to my ears. Every word reached my heart and I savored every little bit.

"You know," I said when Yoongi had stopped talking, "I used to hate living in this apartment. This small, old and crappy apartment with walls thin like paper. That was until you came." 

I slowly lifted my head from Yoongi's shoulder and looked at him in. His brown eyes were shining in the light of the full moon shining down upon us. Just then, Yoongi reached out and put his hand on my cheek, gently caressing it with his thumb as he sent me a smile. He said something again, words sounding sweet like honey, and before I knew it he pulled me closer until my lips touched his. Just like his words, it felt sweet and he slowly opened his mouth a bit before closing them on my lips again. His hand moved from my cheek to my neck until both his hand joined together at the back of my head and he pulled me in for another kiss. I didn't know what all this meant, but in that moment everything felt right. I just gave in and moved my body closer to him and let our minds and souls melt together as one, forgetting everything else, just committing to the moment.

Hello everyone!

I really hope you liked this chapter. I remember feeling like I overused every single cliché in the book, but I didn't really care and it turned out, most people liked it anyway. So I hope you did too.

In the last couple of years I have started focusing less on avoiding clichés and more on writing things that makes me feel the emotions I want my readers to feel, it I've come to enjoy my writing a lot more after I started this.

Don't be shy, let know know what you think in the comments down below.

Love, Annalise~