THE SEER OF SOULS // KIM NAMJOON

CHAPTER 25: WHAT IS LOVE?

      They were resting in front of a convenience store after walking around the Nature Center in the Rock Creek Park following a group of tourists.

"Do you want to escape?" She said with a mischievous smile hanging on her small lips.

"From what?" He felt like another kind of adventure was about to unfold. The real adventure had not started.

"Your current reality." she pointed to the VJ.

      He looked at her and contemplated. She had that conspiratorial face on, enticing him to join her plan. He tried to recall the last time he threw caution to the wind and just lived as he wanted to be. As Kim Namjoon and he couldn't.

"How?"

He smiled. He was not living as RM today.

"Watch and learn." She signaled him to be silent.

     She went to speak to the VJ. Then, she gestured to him to follow her into the store. She made him wait for her at a far corner while she picked up some drinks and snacks. Then, she proceeded to the counter to make her payment. From her body languages and the way the cashier boy was interacting with her, he knew she was charming the boy. His heart was peppered with jealousy. Luckily, after a few minutes, she said goodbye to the boy who was smiling happily at her.

"I can feel your jealousy even from the counter."

She shook her head at him.

"Come on, Romeo. We are escaping."

She grabbed his hand and his smile returned. They went out from the staff door at the back of the store and walked onto the park's path.

"How did you know about the back door?"

She smiled at him and raised her index finger.

"First law of escape. There will always be an alternate exit. It might not be a door, or you have to create it but a different exit exists. You just have to be creative to see it."

"You are quite an expert of escape."

He laughed at her refreshing view.

"If your mind is free, there is no prison in the world that can keep you locked up."

     She spread her arms by her side to prove her point. He had not found someone so carefree like her. No rules could clip her wings. She didn't just speak about freedom. She was free.

He on the other hand, was just borrowing her freedom.

     The leaves decorating the lone path crinkled beneath their matching pace. The forest seemed alive with its reclusive residents going about their day in peace. The only sign of their presence was the sound they made lingering around in harmony. The air was fresh with the smell of spring flowers. The rigid and hurried time had slowed down a pace to appreciate nature's innocence. He glanced sideways to her and she carried the air of serenity like a blanket. He could go on walking like this forever, he thought as he smiled.

"Do you like nature?"

He asked her. He liked being in the middle of nowhere.

"Yes. It is quiet. There is no suffocating emotion in nature."

They walked quietly for a bit.

"What do you think is love?"

Suddenly, she introduced the topic and he took his time to answer her.

"I don't know how to say it. Love. Most lyrics talk about love. Love is what you need. Love yourself. But because it is so important and most talked about, people become insensitive, normalize it, and take it for granted."

     She looked at him and waited for him to finish, but he knew her mind had already started working. He liked talking to her as she held the same amount of depth as him.

"I wonder what is this love they speak of? They say we need to love but then they dont love. How can someone know the way to truly love themselves?"

     He looked far ahead and wondered if he really did a good job delivering the message for his fans to love themselves. His forehead creased as he had a nagging feeling that he was missing something.

"Actually, humans know how to love themselves."

He looked at her. Her sentence sounds like a fact when she said it.

"They just forgot how."

Her conclusion made him raise his eyebrows in confusion.

"What do you mean by that?"

She gestured to the forest.

"Just like how animals know instinctively how to live and feed themselves. Humans instinctively know how to be human. How to love."

"But why do they forget?"

She looked at him with a contemplating look.

"What is the main difference between human and animal?"

He knew she would not just give the answer to him. She would make him think to find the answer himself.

"The thinking ability?" He guessed.

"Correct. The mind can forget, lie and tend to believe what they can see instead of what they believe and feel."

He waited for her to finish.

"You cannot see love. You believe and feel love within you. If you use your mind to see love, that is just like a blind person trying to see color. It wouldn't make any sense."

She shook her head.

"So, what is the correct way to love? How do I be...HUMAN?"

"You need to ask yourselves that question. No one can teach another how to love. They can just show."

"Explain."

"For example. Eating. Do you know that there are correct and incorrect ways of eating?

"When you eat, how do you know you have eaten enough?"

"Some people on a diet follow the dietary recommendation to achieve their goal."

"Some just eat until they cannot eat anymore because their stomach is full."

"Some don't eat enough or puke out their food because of insecurity they feel."

"Some, know their limits and eat correctly. They are usually healthy and happy with their lives."

"So, when you love, you need to feel how much love is enough to give and how much to keep with you.

"To love blindly, it's like driving a car without a brake. You are going to crash, eventually."

She stopped walking and he did the same.

"So, to answer your question on how to love. Instead of using your mind, use your heart to guide you."

"But that is the problem of this era right, people trust data, hard cold facts, what the society thinks is correct instead of their own selves."

"Even when someone told them to look the correct way they don't believe. How can a few people's words compare to the majority of the world?" (WORD COUNT:1098)

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:***Do you like nature? Where did you go?***What is love to you?

***If you like this chapter please comment and vote. Thanks :-)

UPDATE 28/8/2020 -Edited the chapter length into two chapters