CHEAP TEQUILA | knj

7TH SHOT

THE SOUND OF rain droplets hitting everything soothed namjoon as he sat out on the balcony, people watching. soft music played from his earphones, keeping his raging mind calm.

the smell of warm coffee filled his nostrils, the cup on the small wooden table still untouched. he had not had a taste of his breakfast of waffles as well.

he watched the hordes of people as they went about their daily lives despite the rain, trying to imagine the sort of lives they had. it was a nice way to distract his mind from the thoughts that were beginning to drive him crazy.

from the possible hallucination of her walking hand in hand with an unknown man, the rare but noticeable unexplained disappearances, the suspicious texts, the way she sometimes kept her phone away from him, to lying about her whereabouts, it all screamed one thing.

the evidence might have been circumstantial but the possibility that kore might be cheating on him was becoming more glaring. he didn't want to believe it. wasn't ready to accept the probability.

"happily married." he muttered, watching a man lift a little girl who couldn't have been more than four onto his shoulders. she giggled, holding her hands out to catch the raindrops.

their clothes were damp from the rain. namjoon caught sight of the wedding band when the man reached up to steady the child on his shoulders. "how i want to be in the near future." he sighed softly.

kore wasn't home yet. she'd sent him a text about missing him and being home as soon as possible. he still hadn't sent a reply. he knew she would ask about it when she returned. and he was neither willing nor ready to have a conversation about it.

letting out another sigh, he leaned closer to the rail, resting his head. he tapped his pen against his book, eyes focused on a little grocery store. a girl stepped out of it and he regarded her as she juggled too many grocery bags and an umbrella in her small hands.

he could practically feel her unhappiness from where he was. and oddly, he could tell that it wasn't because of the balancing act she was trying to pull. he made note of the contents of the transparent bags. maybe she was having unwanted guests for a dinner that was bound to be awkward.

his eyes widened as one of the bags ripped and its contents spilled onto the sidewalk. she crouched to the ground, and tucking her head into her arms, made no attempts to pick them up as the rain drenched her.

he just stared, wondering if it would be weird to leave the comfort of his apartment to help her and ask if she was okay, which she clearly wasn't. anything to keep him occupied.

then he heard the front door open. pulling his attention away from the girl in the rain, he glanced back into the house through the glass doors. "joonie?" he heard the voice he would ordinarily find soothing call out for him.

kore was back.