The Raven Hotel | Jikook |

Chapter 2: One Rainy Night

"The Raven Hotel?" Namjoon asked and let out a scoff. "No wonder this place isn't mentioned anywhere, this must be a hotel that counts it's debts. Why is it still here as if others will check in?" Namjoon asked and began to drive.

"Maybe it... maybe it has value...?"

"Value? If a hotel like that had value, it wouldn't be placed in such a location. It wouldn't look like an abandoned hospital either! Ah, it could just be a building for a few homeless people then, I guess it could have value," Namjoon assured and continued to drive. "They could clean it up a bit, then maybe, just maybe, they would get more exposure for the hotel."

Namjoon was always the type of man who would converse in business and numbers. But to Jungkook, he couldn't care less about any of it. Jungkook was never interested in speaking about things like that, so he ignored the older and pondered the off feeling he caught on as he stared at the sign to the abandoned hotel. Needles darted through the glass of the car and struck Jungkook deep down. He could feel a cold glare picking at him constantly until the car pulled him away from such a peculiar feeling. Jungkook couldn't tell if it was real or if it was just the alcohol toying with him again. However, it didn't hide the feeling he had of longing to be there. His curiosity overcame him and left him wanting to know more.

At the time Namjoon drove out of the area, the radio was finally audible. As music filled the car, Jungkook looked up to notice Namjoon taking quick glances over to him before looking up ahead and remaining silent. Something in the older man longed to jump out; was it frustrating words pending to spew out of his mouth like a fountain? or was it paragraphs to endless essays that longed to be read to a young man who would only hear them but never listen?

"Jungkook... I want you to do better for yourself," Namjoon declared firmly. His fingers wrapped around the steering wheel as his eyes glanced at the young man through the rear view mirror. "I don't want to see you losing yourself! When will you get your life together? You came to live with me because you had no one to support you... you promised me that you would, now is the time to do so. Now is the time to make that change you promised me before," Namjoon asserted. However, nothing but the music to the radio drowned the conversation right after. "You have a job... but they haven't called you in for a while now, why not look for another stable job?"

Not another word was said; lips were sewn shut as if nothing was exchanged before. Namjoon began to sound like a broken record every time he found himself giving the same pep talk to the young man every week –and it bothered him very much– The man let out another sigh and focused on the road ahead before shrugging off the silence that sat over his firm shoulders.

"I don't know, just an idea..."

The young man looked out the window and kept those words in his mind longer; he tossed them around, he heard them over and over again, he pondered the thought until his drunk mind couldn't grasp onto it any further. He ignored the same words of the older man like always and kept his gaze out into the night. Thinking of the hotel to escape this conversation.

Eventually, the car pulled up to a modern home squeezed within a few other houses; yet each having their own respective space. Namjoon parked his car into the driveway and kept his silence. Moments like these were usual now that it no longer bothered him. Jungkook wasn't a very talkative boy even when he was drunk. The young man was silent, closed off, lonely; those words seemed to fit him best since Namjoon didn't know much to associate him with better words now. He was distant like a closed off island in the middle of the sea; in which Namjoon tried to sail towards and reach, but no matter how hard he tried, Jungkook always slipped from his fingers.

The older man helped the young boy into the still and cold house, even when they were close, they didn't exchange another word. Just as they stepped in, lights illuminated the entrance where they each removed their shoes and stepped forward. A mix of a cozy, modern, black and white was thrown all over the living room and stretched to the kitchen space as well. Lights hung from the ceiling like vines and various warm rugs were thrown onto the entrances to many rooms, including the second floor as well.