-Inspired by: "I built a friend" by Alec Benjamin-
Have you ever built a puzzle?
A white blank puzzle, with pieces trying their best to find their place.
Getting confused over the similar-looking parts, all having their place, yet none quite sure wh...
"And I found love and hate sounds the same to me" -Namjoon
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*Unedited*
Namjoon crystal gray eyes had always looked at this world with wonder. His parent lovingly called him their curious little koala, as he sticks to the thing he is interested in for a long time, never failing to catch them in a tight hug until they relent and tell him all he wants to know.
So when their little koala looked at them with sparkling eyes after a story about soulmates, who are they to say no to his request to see if he had one?
Like it always does, his curiosity only brought more questions than answers for him. From "What are soulmates?" to "Do I have one?" "How do I know?" "Why should I wait?" "Can I know now?" and finally, "Why don't I have one?".
His parents believed in a straightforward way of raising their son. Believing that it would be best for him to know sooner than later, they explained the way their society worked. Little Namjoon was not just a curious child, he was a smart one too, inheriting his parent's brilliant mind.
So in no time he had understood and accepted his situation. Instead of the despair or disappointment most experienced, the discovery only increased his curiosity, so he started following his parents more, observing their work, studying their basic research, and assisting them in any way he could.
Fearing the safety of their child if he was exposed to the government, his parents decided to shift to a privately owned soul company, developing soul technology under absolute privacy. This suited Namjoon fine, as he started comparing his soul to other people's, itching to find out what makes him different.
He never truly cared to have a soulmate per se. But the deteriorating body he had seen of an abandoned continued to toil inside him. Why is it that with a loose soul string, it affects the body and causes it to deteriorate? What is it about someone's other half that makes it so different?
He didn't care for the affection soulmates share. Love and hate, aren't they the same? An intense emotion that brings people together, or divides them apart. He finds them as nothing more than hormones influencing someone's decision, and soulmates as something built around the same notion.
So he searched for the answers to his questions, one step at a time, holding close his will for an answer.
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Namjoon was, to say the least, surprised when his parents had shown him the newest patent they discovered. The one he has spent years working with and understanding, upgraded in a way he never even thought of. One that could detect and predict the location of someone's soulmate without the need for a preexisting database, with a 99% accuracy.
This wasn't what Namjoon is focused on, however. The person who created this machine would be working here, with him. A new, interesting perspective. That was what this new discovery brings him, and the thought makes excitement rush through his veins. The amount of new knowledge promised from this discovery, someone new that he could talk to that might actually talk to him.
At least, that was what past Namjoon thought, current Namjoon was busy blinking owlishly as a calm girl stood in front of him, undisturbed by his sudden appearance.
Snapping back from his dazed state, he tilted his head before asking the girl in front of him,
"Are you the creator of the newest soul machine patent?"
Nodding quietly, the girl suddenly studied him more closely. He had to admit, he hadn't expected a girl barely older than him as the creator of a patent that improved the one his family had toiled over for years. His curiosity returned, interest burning stronger than ever.
"Is Mr. and Mrs. Kim not here? I was under the impression that they would be the one briefing me over my new working condition."
"Ah yeah. I'm Kim Namjoon, their son. I'd be taking you to your newest workplace, and I'll be answering your questions."
A friendly smile. "Nice to meet you Namjoon, I'm Kwon Hana. And to answer your earlier question, yes I am."
Namjoon eyes shined with the curiosity that could make even his parents flinch in dread over the barrage of questions his brilliant mind is conjuring.
Hana continued to smile at him, letting him lead the way, unknowing of the future knowledge-hungry beast that she had unintentionally gained.
