Wednesday the 24th, Oct 2018.

It was a free morning for Namjoon and his friends every Wednesday, because they didn't have any classes till 11 o'clock.

There was going to be a music class that day, so Namjoon hoped Seokjin would have gotten his new guitar good and ready for its first run.

He would have called the day before, for feedback about the purchase, but his mom had made a dinner so good, that after he had stuffed himself and was in the living room trying to focus on watching the television with his little brother, he wasn't aware when he fell asleep, right there on the couch. He had woken up with a pain in his neck, and his family defended that there was no one strong enough to carry him to his room.

He was on the bus on his way back to the dorms right then, at around 7:17am, and he thought of making a call with Seokjin.

Seokjin didn't pick it.

It was weird, because Seokjin never did that. Unless he was sleeping, of course. So Namjoon thought he was asleep.

Seokjin wasn't.

He was at the repairers' shop, exchanging some change for perfect guitar string tuning skills. He had left his phone back in his apartment, because he didn't think it'd be necessary to take it out that early when he'd be returning in no time; so he instead plugged it up to charge to the maximum percentage.

Seokjin learnt that the shop opened by 7am and closed by 9pm every day, except for Sundays, because the owner went to church and stayed home for a rest afterwards. He was the first customer for the day. Small talk was inevitable.

Mr Guitar, who Seokjin knew better as Mr Bang now, rounded up pretty fast, and soon enough, Seokjin was on his way back to his apartment after he had voiced out his sincere gratefulness.

Seokjin thought about the night before in the cafe. He couldn't wait to tell Taehyung and Namjoon all about it.

His favourite cereal and some fruit well enjoyed.

His "new" guitar on his back.

His bag pack in hand, with a pack of newly bought bonbons for Taehyung in it.

Seokjin was out his apartment again.

--

Taehyung and Namjoon were in class this time, waiting for Seokjin together.

Immediately they saw him waltz into the lecture theatre, they got on their feet to welcome him. And when they spotted the guitar strapped to his back as he turned to climb the stairs, they dramatically clasped their hands and began to sound like they were whale calling.

Seokjin was sure he would have slapped their cheeks, if they hadn't shut up as soon as he reached their row. They had gathered unnecessary attention, and Seokjin wasn't so sure he appreciated that.

'What are you both being idiots for?', he clamoured, taking his guitar off his back and sitting down. He unzipped his bag and brought out his notes.

'We're proud of you'.

'That guitar's a lucky one'.

Seokjin eyed the brown haired dimpled boy and the black haired boxy grinner.

'What?'

Taehyung pushed his glasses up. He had a problem reading musical sheets without them. Seokjin wondered why he wore them when the music lecture wasn't until the one that was going to begin in a few minutes had ended. With how interested he looked to hear about Seokjin's goings the night before, he was sure Taehyung would ignore the question if he tried asking.

He decided to give them what their eyes seemed to be asking.

Insight.

'Alright, hear this. You won't believe when I say—'

The lecturer walked in right then. Namjoon groaned, slamming a hand unto the table. Taehyung sighed.

Seokjin leaned back in his seat. He thought it felt nice to hold the power of suspense this way.

--

Namjoon wasn't to take the next class with Taehyung and Seokjin, for while they minored in music, he minored in photography. So when Seokjin backed his guitar box to the music room and Taehyung backed his trumpet case, Namjoon lugged his lunch box to an empty class.

He had made himself some kimbap; he suddenly had begun to crave them the day before when Taehyung had got some instead of the tteokbokki he and Seokjin had had, and after he had arrived the dorms from home with a ton of filling ingredients he had gotten from his mother that morning, he made himself and Taehyung some rolls according to their preference.

He liked tuna kimbap, and Taehyung liked the one with lots of ham. Taehyung had eaten all of his before their first class in the morning, while Namjoon decided to pack his along for, well, lunch before lunch.

As he wolfed down the carefully cut circles, Joon wondered what his plant biologist major friend Yoongi would be doing right then. He decided to call and ask.

Yoongi picked up on the third ring.

'I was in a dilemma on whether to pick this up or not'.

'Good afternoon to you too, buddy'.

Yoongi was whispering. 'This better be good. I'm in class right now'.

Namjoon ended the call immediately. He felt sorry he had called Yoongi when he was in a class.

Then he thought he had ended the call too sharply, and that Yoongi might have become worried.

He dialled him again.

Yoongi picked on the first ring.

He was whispering, but the frustration in his voice was loud. 'What is it?'

Joon chewed on the bit of food he had placed in his mouth. 'Are you worried?'

Yoongi paused. Joon could imagine his eyebrows wringing in confusion.

'No? The heck why would I be worrie—'

Namjoon ended the call. Yoongi wasn't worried. Good.

He enjoyed the rest of his kimbap with thoughts of his next nature photo shoot.

--

Taehyung and Namjoon didn't let Seokjin waste any time narrating all they wanted to hear before their next class begun. It was a practical film class, in which they play roles in a story; where there would be a lot of standing up and walking around and waiting back stage for the next scene; and so there was a lot of space for snooping around and listening to something that sent Seokjin's friends' brains on a calculating journey.

It turned out that there was no need for snooping. The professor was taking his time arriving.

They were currently sat back stage as their coursemates in charge prepared the stage for the first scene.

'You mean you both wore the same outfit?'

Seokjin agitatedly leaned backwards. 'No no. If that were the case, it would have seemed pretty alright. But I swear, he and I have the same face.'

Taehyung had rid his face of his reading glasses immediately their music class ended. He freely scratched his nose now.

'So what... you mean like a lost twin?'

Seokjin sighed deeply. 'I don't know. I don't think I'd be fine with my parents keeping something of that much importance from me'.

Joon had a deep thinking face on. 'What if they themselves aren't aware? I mean, something could have happened there in the hospital when—'

'I don't think my mom would have raised me without letting me know if I had a twin who she thought unfortunately didn't make it. I would have figured it out already. She wouldn't be able to hide it for so long, even if she tried.'

Taehyung sighed.
'Maybe he's just a look alike?'

Joon spoke. 'Look alikes don't look that alike.'

Taehyung glared at the only twenty year old brown haired in the group. 'You weren't even there, Joon'.

Joon glared back in similar intensity.

Seokjin joined. 'Its true though. He was basically blond me.' He watched his friends squint at his face. 'Stop trying to imagine me with blond hair.'

Tae stopped first. 'Its really impossible not to'.

Joon tore his gaze from Seokjin next. 'You do need a glow up'.

Seokjin swiped his beret from the ground and flung it at him. Joon caught the beret and tossed it lots of feet away from where they were sat.

'Oh Joon', whined Seokjin, and went to pick up his head wear himself. He was sure Namjoon would never have agreed to bring it back. He didn't feel like being at the other end of another chicken fight stick right then.

'Anyway', he began as he sat back down, 'We're going to meet up today. After this class, actually. Even if we're not twins, I think becoming friends wouldn't be a bad idea'. He glanced from face to face. 'Maybe?'

Taehyung nodded in agreement.

Namjoon spread his lips in a mischievous smile. 'Imagine the pranks you both could play. Imagine the havoc you could wreck—'

The older two got up at the same time and began to kick their legs at their friend. Joon bunched his body up into a ball and laughed.

The class began soon after Joon was about to get a bruise.

--

Taehyung was already changed out of the costumes and ready to go. It had been a little after three o'clock when class had ended, and what he wanted to do was spend the rest of the day at Hoseok's apartment, just like he had done the Wednesday before. He was determined to beat him at games that day.

Namjoon was pretty excited too. He was sure Yoongi would beat Hoseok at almost all the games they were going to play—he and Taehyung had even made a bet on it.

Yes, Tae had agreed to introduce them to Hoseok.

But Yoongi had another class till 6; o'clock, so they had to hold on till he was done and ready.

Seokjin was meeting Hoodie man around 6;30pm. The latter wouldn't be free till then.

Lunch together before dispersing sounded good right then. They had a chat over spaghetti and meatballs.

'Hobi would literally die for Fanta', started Taehyung, waving his hands as though they helped emphasise his point. 'He said that if Fanta was tied to a chair in a building with a bomb that would go off in 10 seconds, he would run in to save it. He said if Fanta was sinking with the titanic, he would jump into the freezing waters and whisk it back to shore. And then he'd give it CPR.'

Seokjin was wheezing.
'No way. He's nuts.'

Joon was wiping stray tears from his eyes. 'He does know that Fanta exists in trillions of various packaging types worldwide, right? If he saved himself and ran home quick, he could literally watch the building go down in flames on television with another Fanta.'

Taehyung shrugged, waving a glass of water in one hand. 'He's a loyal type of guy. Can be sort of sentimental'.

Seokjin forked his spaghetti. 'He sounds fun'.

Taehyung agreed. 'You should come for game night next Wednesday, if you can'.

Seokjin gave an ok sign. 'I'd be sure to make it'.

Joon looked very happy. He was very happy.

'We'd have to teach you everything from scratch,' he began. 'Then we'd take pride in beating you, because you'd be a novice in the midst of us veterans. You'd be giving us a chance to feed off our ego'. He mockingly clasped his palms and bowed his head. 'Thank you, kind one'.

Seokjin pat his friend's head with his left hand—the hand that held the fork. 'The pleasure is all mine'.

Taehyung thought Joon had got a little spaghetti sauce on his head. He snickered.

--

Seokjin was sat on a bench in the park. He liked how the cold air swept through the grass below and rustled the leaves on the trees above. There weren't many birds there. He had only watched two or three fly past since he arrived.

He was waiting for his look alike.

Yoongi had finished up at his university and met up with them at the diner. They had left for Hoseok's place at around 6;15pm, while Seokjin had decided to go out and wait for the bus.

It hadn't taken long at all before it arrived, but Seokjin had decided to let it go. He began a walk to the park instead.

Seokjin had thought of what to say when he met up with Hoodie guy. He decided to ask random get-to-know-you questions and see how it would go.

The park wasn't so much of a distance from the university, and so Seokjin had arrived 6 or 5 minutes before 6;30pm.

Even as Seokjin sat there on the bench, it wasn't 6;30 yet. There were about 3 minutes left. Seokjin wondered why he felt so nervous. Then he wondered why he shouldn't be.

Hoodie guy arrived about a second later. This time however, a woollen cardigan was what shielded the upper part of his form from the chilly evening weather.

Seokjin got up in respect.

'Hey. Kim Seokjin'.

'Son Jinheung'.

Seokjin's mouth went up in a wide smile. 'You're a Jin too!'

Jinheung's mouth mirrored Seokjin's. 'I am!'

Seokjin's head span a little. 'Whoa. It's like I'm looking in the mirror'.

'I swear it does. I haven't stopped thinking about it since yesterday evening'.

Silence stood between them. Then Seokjin spoke again. He gestured at the bench he had stood up from.

'Sit?'

Jinheung responded by sitting.

'So...'

'So—'

Seokjin stopped. He laughed.

'Whoa', Jinheung said, laughing too.

Seokjin bounced a quick number of taps with his boot clad feet.

'Lets play twenty questions'.

--

'You're from Gangneung?'

'I am. My family still lives there. I moved to Busan for my degree, but I'm here because I wanted to take a year off and well, get some hands on engineering experience'.

'Oh, grand! You're doing an internship?'

'Uh, nope. I'm working full-time at an automobile repair shop for the year.'

Seokjin was genuinely impressed. 'There's no way you won't feel over the top when you go back to Busan. That's some first hand experience you're having right here. And you're earning cash too! Two birds with one stone'.

Jinheung's head bopped in agreement. 'That's what I thought too. My parents were thankfully understanding, despite me being their only kid'.

'If I were them, I'd get you too'.

Jinheung let out a laugh. It sounded eerily like Seokjin's. It made him cringe a bit.

'I don't think I'd ever get used to hearing my laugh come from someone else.'

'It's your face that gets me the most,' Jinheung replied. 'I feel like I wanna rip it out and send you to the plastic surgeon for another one.'

Seokjin's facial expressions went down in a confused fright.

'Just kidding'.

Seokjin recovered, but not exactly.

'Ah! HAHAHAHAHAHA'!

Jinheung faced the sky that was darkening miles away from them. 'Yeah'.

Seokjin suddenly remembered.

'The guitar—do you play?'

Jinheung snapped his thoughts back to Earth and faced Seokjin. He rubbed the back of his neck.

'Ah, that. It belonged to a... friend'.

Seokjin turned his head to the right.

'Oh?'

'Yeah. He's gone—travelled. Left his guitar with me'.

Seokjin clocked an eyebrow up.
'And you decided to sell it?'

Jinheung worked the kink in his neck with the hand laid on it.

'I didn't... I don't have anything I want to do with it'.

Seokjin's face got a little clouded.
'I see. But—'

'He wouldn't mind'. Jinheung dropped his hand from his neck and unto one of his thighs. 'He wouldn't need it anymore, anyway'.

Seokjin wanted to know more, but he didn't have the heart to probe any further.

'I hope he's happy, your friend. If someone drops an instrument they enjoyed making memories with, then they must be broken, in some sort of way. I do hope he finds his heart, truly, in that which he feels he was made for'.

Jinheung had his head looking down at the grass. Seokjin saw him swallow.

'Yeah,' he watched him say.
'Hopefully'.

There was a slight twinkle in the atmosphere, and the wind ruffled the leaves on the trees a bit harder.

Seokjin wondered if he should ask about what he and his friends had almost concluded on before their film practice class had begun. He feared he might sound crazy—he had just heard about Jinheung's life and all; but he still wanted to be sure. He turned to face him.

'Do...', he sighed, fingers fiddling against one another, 'have you got a-a twin?'

Jinheung looked at him. He didn't say anything for about three seconds.

'Are you thinking that you and I could be—'

'Yes. I... its stupid but—it wouldn't hurt to make sure, would it?'

Jinheung still had his head facing Seokjin's.

'What are you suggesting?'

Seokjin fumbled both his hands in a tangle. He felt his heart beat take a rise.

'A DNA test.'

Jinheung's expression didn't change. He just kept his glance on Seokjin.

'You want to take a DNA test?'

'Would like to—I mean, well yes?'

Jinheung's blank stare stayed the same.

'How about on Saturday we visit Hwayang Hospital? Its not too far from here'.

Jinheung finally loosened his gaze from the one beside him and looked down. He seemed to be taking in the wholeness of his Converse.

'K', he breathed, looking up and into the other boy's eyes. 'Saturday at Hwayang Hospital. I'll be there'.

Seokjin was surprised. He hadn't thought it'd go that easy. His smile was bright. His feet rapped rhythmically on the grass.

'Alright. Thank you'.

Jinheung's smile didn't mirror his this time, but it held a similar touch.

'Sure'.

--

The ride back to his apartment had been pretty quiet. Seokjin didn't play any music. He just let the soft growl of the bus tyres on gravel fill his ears.

As soon as he was back in his apartment, he kicked his shoes off and dumped his bag somewhere. He really didn't see where, because the lights were turned off. For once, he didn't bother. He trod off to his room and took the little door out to the balcony.

It was there he sat now, letting his eyes idle over the view as he made his head rest on his hands that gripped the railings.

He raised his head and took his phone out the pocket of his jeans. It was 8;22pm. He wondered how Japanese streets would look from a high rise balcony at night.

The call time began it's count from a 00:00.

'Mom?'

'Jin, sweetie'.

He picked up his head from where it lay and led his left hand's fingers through his black locks.

'Mom... how are you?'

'I'm doing really well.' He could hear the smile in her response. 'Your father too'.

'I miss you'.

She gave a slight gasp.

'I do too, my baby; every morning I wake up, and every night before I go to bed. I miss you so very much'.

Jin smiled softly.

'Can you see the streets now over there?'

He heard her transport herself somewhere. He guessed it was to the balcony of her own apartment.

'I can, dear'.

'Describe it to me'.

'Well...' She paused. Seokjin could see her trying to register all she could view.

'There are tons of signs. Really bright signs. Most of them say "Restaurant". She let out a small laugh. Seokjin laughed too.

'And the taxi's are all over the place. There's at least two going past every five seconds.'

Seokjin stared down his own balcony.

'The buses are a lot too'. I can't see the people in them from up here, of course, but I'm sure they all just want to lay in their beds and snore the day away'.

Seokjin could feel his eyes close, as his lips willfully stretched into another smile.

'And there are so many people walking. Sometimes when you just watch, it feels as though they were perambulating—just walking around and around in multiple circles.' She chuckled. 'It takes some brain work to remind yourself that destinations exist.'

Seokjin couldn't stop smiling. He didn't try to, either. He just let his lips move the way they wanted.

'It sounds just like here.'

'The world's all the same, to be honest—if you would let yourself realise.'

Seokjin didn't respond to that. Not because he didn't want to, but because he really just wanted to keep hearing her voice.

'Jin?'

'Mom?'

'Don't you find it strange how every one's met with someone they will meet later on, but have no idea they have?'

Seokjin let her words fondle his mind. 'I think so'.

'Yeah'. She replied. 'I watched a character say it in a drama and I thought it sounded so cool'.

Seokjin laughed softly once again. A large truck with flairing lights whished by and made his eyes look their original brown before they darkened to a deep black again.

'Mom?'

'Yes Jinnie?'

He rubbed his eyes and turned his head up to look at the clouds. There were a few stars starting to pop out too.

'Did I—', he paused, beginning to regret speaking. He sighed and looked down at the road, bracing his tongue for his next words. 'Have I... Have I got a twin?'

He didn't hear anything for a whole five seconds. He counted, because he could.

She would have laughed, if she had heard it in her son's voice, but at the absence of his usual joviality, she tuned her voice even lower, wishing she could be there to see his face, to cup it in her hands, to run a thumb against his cheek.

'Jinnie... No Jin, you don't have a twin—', she sighed in immediacy, 'tell me is something wrong? Why would you think that? Did you meet someone that looked like you?'

Seokjin replayed the last question in his head.

'Hmm. No reason in particular'.

She was silent again.

'You know, immediately after the ultrasound told us you were having you, we began baby goods shopping. And six months afterwards, when you cried your first, I cuddled you softly in my arms. It was like I could stay right there forever. I felt like I could go through anything; climb any mountain and jump every gulf—because you were finally with me. Right there and then, you were my greatest achievement... you still are'.

Seokjin sent a look to the stars above. He watched them seem to slowly travel about space—their twinkle with them.

'If I had carried another child in my belly the same time I had carried you...', his mother went on, her voice even softer, 'I swear I could never keep you both apart. Its not in my place. I could never do it.'

Seokjin's teeth pulled at his lower lip. He sighed.

'I believe you, mom. I believe every bit of you'.

His voice wavered.
'And I love you'.

He heard her try to hide her sniff. He wondered if she could hear him try to hide his.

'You could never imagine enough how much I do, you'.

Silence ensued for the space of about a minute.

'Say hello to Dad for me when he gets back, hm?'

He heard the smile in her voice again.

'Of course, love'.

Seokjin turned to the sky again at the buzz of his phone. The clouds were smothering the stars.

~
Yes, Mr Bang is Bang Pd nim sksksksksks