NIGHT SONGS TO APHRODITE

6

"Don't you think it's unfair, hyung?" Jeongguk asks Namjoon a few nights later.

His words echo quietly inside the RKIVE--Namjoon's studio inside the HYBE Building. His hyung doesn't falter in his writing, too engrossed in the process of projecting his words to paper but he acknowledges him.

"What is?" He asks, scribbling a sentence onto the corner of his writing notebook.

Jeongguk plays with his pencil and taps it against the leather chair in a random rhythm. "This whole soulmate system."

"Care to elaborate?"

He stops and purses his lips. "It's just, look, you've got your whole life planned ahead of you. Everything is literally predestined. It's all according to your fate. As soon as you are born to this world, your soulmate is already decided. Every event, every moment, all of it leads to you meeting your other half."

Namjoon hums in agreement. "You don't have a choice."

"Exactly. They don't give you one," Jeongguk says in frustration, leaning back against his chair with a groan. "This makes me wonder. What if... you're in love with somebody else? What if you already gave your heart to someone that isn't your soulmate?"

Now this causes Namjoon to drop his pen. "Are you possibly insinuating that you're in love with someone that isn't your soulmate?"

The younger snorts. "Please, no. I was just making a scenario." Love is not in Jeongguk's vocabulary. It's something he tries to avoid as much as possible. He's not good with feelings and doesn't know how to handle them, which resulted to his failed relationships.

Casual relationships are better, in his opinion. They're just sex after all. There's no need to get to know one person, go on several dates with them, woo them with compliments and whatnot just to get into their pants. In this setting, you just talk it out, come to an agreement, and then have sex. Pleasure in exchange for pleasure. No more, no less. It's easier this way.

His hyung chuckles quietly and apologizes. "It is unfair to have your whole life planned out ahead of time."

"It's fucked up, isn't it?" He voices out as he stares at the ceiling. "Being forced to be with someone like that. Your own feelings aren't even considered at all."

Namjoon is quiet for a moment. Jeongguk thinks he's back to writing lyrics, but when he doesn't hear the familiar sound of his pen writing on the paper, he looks back down to see him frowning.

He purposely hits the older's knee. "What are you thinking of?"

"There's this line that Shakespeare once said. The course of true love never did run smooth," he quotes in both English and Korean. "Not all soulmates end up together. You may part ways and cut off all contact, or you may not develop a relationship but remain friends. Although it's looked down by society, it's inevitable. It sounds profane, off-tradition, but it's the truth."

The younger pop star only nods.

He sighs. "Listen, Gguk, having a soulmate doesn't necessarily mean that you should fall in love with that certain person. This is what most people don't realize--it's what you don't realize." Namjoon gives him a pointed look. "I do know that it seems like we're just being obliged by our biology, but we do actually have a choice."

A choice. Huh. "And that is?"

"There are different kinds of love in the world, Gguk-ah. We have agape, eros, then philia, and storge--"

"I'm sorry, can you speak in Korean, please?"

Instead of being interrupted, Namjoon chuckles and leans forward. "What I'm saying is, you can either love your soulmate romantically or platonically. You don't have to get married or whatever it is that society expects you to do. You may not like the idea..."