Dreaming Alone | taekook ✔️

e p i l o g u e

close to 9k words
that's like 8 chapters long wtf
let's get it

please please please comment as much as you can/want
spam me if you wanna
i just really want to hear your thoughts for one last time before this book ends :,)
__________

He didn't come back the next year, or the year after that. In fact, Taehyung was beginning to doubt the image he had of Jeongguk in his head.

Life was full of trials. Keeping their relationship alive was difficult when every phone call ended with tears on both ends, and every word exchanged were merely messages on a phone screen. Every interaction became nothing more than a stab through the heart.

They tried making time for each other, hours a day. They tried meeting up, but things always got in the way. Family-related activities, school, part-time jobs.

The ravenette even switched high schools for his senior year for a fresh start. Everything happened in a blink of an eye.

Jeongguk called it off a year after, claiming that it brought more pain and longing to him than happiness. And Taehyung hated the part of him that didn't fight his decision. He wanted freedom as well.

Kim Taehyung had dreams.

He followed in his brother's footsteps and majored in psychology as well as social studies.

He wanted to see the world, travel to every inch of it, and broaden his horizons. He took up internship opportunities his college offered across the globe and unveiled things he could only dream of. Cultures and languages that filled him with curiosity.

Taehyung even ventured back to Korea at some point, and his mother was very happy when he decided to reconnect with his roots.

It was 5 am on a Saturday at the Incheon International Airport when the brunette first saw it.

He was killing time, wandering around the area before his departure, when he came across a miniature bookstore and picked up a book with the author's name written on the front in gold.

전
정
국

Jeon Jeongguk.

Taehyung's heart lurched the same way it did when the ravenette first told him he loved him four years ago.

He flipped through the pages, eyes scanning the wording desperately, only to find that the whole damn thing was in Korean. And he wasn't fluent enough in reading to understand.

The words on pages— sentences structured by what looked like stanzas of poems. The ink seeped off the paper and trickled up Taehyung's arm, latching onto his neck.

He couldn't breathe.

A waterfall of emotions flood his soul.

Pride— It was nice to know the ravenette had continued to rekindle his passion for writing.

Confusion— He was never aware of how good the ravenette's Korean was. Or perhaps it was translated, judging by the credited translator inside the cover.

Anguish— The ravenette published a whole ass book and didn't tell him. But then again, they barely ever talk anymore. Maybe Taehyung would've known about Jeongguk's achievements if he followed him more closely on social media, but he never liked getting on there anyway.

Taehyung willed himself to breathe for a moment before he approached the cashier and spoke sheepishly in broken Korean. "How much?"

He brought the book on his flight home, thoughts swarming and contributing to his nausea. The kind woman in the seat next to him noticed his condition and offered him a sip of water. He considered asking her for a translation of the book title at least but decided against it.