Chapter Text
When Wonshik had moved in, all he knew about the apartment building was that it had recently been renovated, the rent was cheaper than other buildings in the same area and that the electricity supply was unstable throughout the area and not just this building alone.
The agent showing him the house had been a lively woman, short and most likely in her forties and had elaborated on the many benefits of the location of the apartment. She had tactfully refused to reveal many details about the apartment itself and in hindsight, Wonshik should have pried more.
But he was a man down on his luck, drowning in the stupor of heartbreak and mildly hungover from the night prior to the visitation. He had nowhere else to go and too much pride to ask Jaehwan to let him stay longer till he found a better place.
He didn't need a better place, he reasoned as he walked about the apartment. There was enough space here for one person, the place got enough light in the evening from the windows facing west and the heater was mechanical and designed to keep the place warm with or without electricity.
It's not as if he was about to get married and start a family soon, he thought bitterly. No, that vision of his future had gone up in smoke, caught in the crossfire of The Break Up and Wonshik didn't think he wanted to love anyone that deeply again. Not if it only meant heartbreak yet again.
Wonshik stood in the middle of the living room and looked at the apartment.
This would be a new start. He desperately needed it. It didn't matter that this was the very first apartment he had seen. This would be his new home. The place was great. One of the neighbours on the floor above even had a window lined with sunflowers, visible from where he stood.
Wonshik signed the lease.
-
The old building came with a quaint set of blue mailboxes placed by the staircase from the lobby. The metallic blue paint had rusted around the edges and peeled away in the indents below the slots.
Wonshik idly traced the floral yellow stickers stuck on the mailbox at the top corner, making plans to print and add his name to the mailbox for his apartment. He did not anticipate any important mail any time soon. He hadn’t even told his family about The Break Up or the subsequent Moving Out.
He should update them soon, he thought, thinking of the impending weekly call with his mother and how she would inevitably ask about the ‘kind and well mannered boy’ he liked. And it wasn’t just his family who needed his new address. There were the bank statements and addresses in the office records and his emergency contact information and other odious officious things.
All Wonshik wanted to do instead was crawl back into his bed and not emerge for days.
The mailbox diagonally above his also had a card folded neatly and stuck in the indent below the slot. The paper kept fluttering in the breeze as people entered or exited the building, annoying Wonshik by entering and exiting his field of vision.
Impulsively, Wonshik lifted the piece of paper up and read the message inside.
Mr Lee, Travelling.
Well, at least someone could run away from their dreary reality.
-
“You have a neighbourhood cat” Sanghyuk exclaimed gleefully, when he noticed the orange tabby cat on the fire escape outside the living room window. It was a tiny thing, barely a few months old and busy grooming itself in the lone sun spot that fell on the winding staircase. As Sanghyuk moved towards it, the feline meowed angrily and leapt onto the stairs leading down.
Sanghyuk pouted and Wonshik sighed.
After three weeks of avoiding calls, his mother had called in reinforcements and sent his cousin along to check on him. Sanghyuk, ever suffering, had agreed only to show up and extort favours in the form of takeout for a meal to lie to his mother about him being fine but just busy. And that was how both men had ended up on the floor in front of the couch, containers of fried rice and egg rolls placed on the cardboard box acting as a makeshift coffee table. It was when Sanghyuk had gotten up to grab a beer from the fridge that he had noticed the stray cat on the window sill, basking in the late afternoon sun.
“This place was not what I was expecting” Sanghyuk said, looking around now that he was already moving around the space.
“It’s perfectly fine” Wonshik snapped and Sanghyuk recoiled.
“You know that’s not what I meant Hyung” Sanghyuk said in a firm tone.
Wonshik sighed and went back to his egg roll, not wanting to continue this conversation. There was a reason that his mother had picked Sanghyuk out of all the cousins in their extended family to check on him. Though younger, Sanghyuk was more mature and had a no nonsense attitude that had saved him from spiralling more than once.
He knew the apartment was less than perfect. He knew the water pressure was shitty and the landlord unresponsive. On windy nights, the loose bolts in the fire escape rattled and kept him awake at night. There was always that goddamned draft that kept interfering with whatever little heat that the stupid heater could produce.
God damnit, Wonshik knew.
“So it’s a little bit of a fixer upper” Sanghyuk said gently. “It’s better than having to move back home.”
Wonshik scoffed and then the two siblings laughed.
“I can help you put up some stuff around here. You can set up your vinyl collection by that empty wall. Add some posters. Maybe get a fancy gramophone” Sanghyuk suggested. “Set up a feeder for the stray by the window. The place is practically unfurnished. You could do anything you like now.”
“I know” Wonshik said. His shoulder slumped and he leaned against the couch they had been setting next to. “I should do something about it.”
“Then get off your ass Hyung.”
“I am still older than you, you know?”
“Act like it then.”
Wonshik glared at Sanghyuk who simply shrugged. When he went back to their meal, much to Wonshik’s dismay, the egg rolls were over and all Sanghyuk had to offer in return for his glares was an impish grin. The younger man pushed his beer towards Wonshik who narrowed his eyes and pushed it back, picking up the phone to order more food.
Arguing with Sanghyuk always took so much energy, he despaired. Perhaps he would double the portions to order.
-
The first thing Wonshik setup was the feeder for the stray cat. It was a simple plastic bowl, shallow enough for the kitten to climb over easily. He had placed a plastic tool on top to act as a cover from the elements and prevent the birds or other strays from coming too close.
He did not know where the stray came from. He had seen other cats around the building but none the same breed as the tabby. Asking around for a lost cat had also not worked as everyone recognized the kitten but no one could claim ownership. A kind elderly couple however had offered advice on food he could feed the kitten and share the number of a vet for vaccinations in case he end up adopting the cat.
Wonshik was beginning to doubt if he could even befriend the cat when the kitten failed to show up for three days after he had set up the feeder.
-
“Tax season is a fucking pain” Hakyeon declared, when Wonshik’s last client had left the office and the two men could finally close up the front desk and allied counters.
“We do our maximum business during tax season” Wonshik reminded him.
“Still a pain. Why must man labour under capitalism? We were made for greater things Wonshik. Like feeling the wind in our hair and dew beneath our feet. Not for fucking entering data into a mindless machine only for it to regurgitate even more random numbers back at us!” Hakyeon ranted.
“If your computer is filing random numbers for a client’s tax returns and not actually following the law then you are liable to be sued” Wonshik said, beginning to enjoy Hakyeon’s indignant expressions.
“Well they can take me. I hope they put me in jail for life. At least I would get free food and would not have to calculate any taxes ever” Hakyeon huffed, flopping into his chair.
“Come on. At least we’re done for the week” Wonshik said. Fridays were truly the best of all weekdays because they were the last.
“Maybe we can go grab a drink” Wonshik suggested, pitying how tired Hakyeon looked. His own back was weirdly stiff and he could feel his spine curving after how long he had been sitting at a desk all day.
Hakyeon, who had been in the process of viciously saving and closing documents on his computer, stopped and looked at Wonshik.
Wonshik conceded that this was fair and he couldn’t be offended by Hakyeon’s surprise. For almost two months now, Wonshik had refused any social engagements. At first he had been busy dealing with the fallout of The Break Up and then he had been busy moving and settling in. Or pretending to settle in. All he had really done was setup the cat feeder and the rice cooker which was not used as much as the solitary French press that supplied his morning caffeine fix. At some point in the middle, Sanghyuk had dropped some side dishes from his mother. He wondered if they were still edible.
“Where do you want to go?” Hakyeon asked.
“Not Eternity” Wonshik said, a little too quickly for his liking.
But Hakyeon took it in his stride and suggested looking up a new bar in a different area. The last thing he wanted was for Wonshik to run into Jaehwan again when he finally seemed to be moving on from his heartbreak. And they had multiple options. There were tent bars in the market a block over. Karaoke places were a dime a dozen in the business district. As were convenience stores licensed to carry alcohol.
“A tent bar” Wonshik said, choosing when Hakyeon asked. “I’m in the mood for soju and the snacks are always better there.”
“Smart man” Hakyeon said, grabbing his things. He practically bounded out of the door before Wonshik could pack his things up.
-
The mellow sounds of a guitar being strummed filtered down to his apartment along with the gentle yellow light of the golden hour. The birds were flying back to their nests as dusk approached, chirping and adding to the melody. The streets below were devoid of noise, crowds less on Sundays. And so the tune carried over with minimal interference, gentle and warm like the ambience of the fire escape.
The person playing the guitar was also singing, Wonshik realised when he stopped to listen. It was a soft baritone, he gathered as he closed his eyes and listened to the song. He put away the dishes he had been washing and walked towards the source of the sound. He leaned closer to the living room window, trying to stay out of the field of view of the musician sitting on the common fire exit.
It was the neighbour with the sunflowers on the windowsill who never seemed to be around. The prettiest man that Wonshik had laid eyes on was sitting on the fire exit by the window with the guitar in his hands, strumming and singing along to a sublime song about drifting through the big wide world. The melody was gentle and accentuated with the rare silences of late afternoon that occurred briefly before the cacophony of the evening hustle bustle swelled up.
(Or had the song been sublime because he had been the one singing it? Even with hindsight, Wonshik couldn’t tell)
By his feet lay the orange tabby kitten that had snubbed him weeks ago. The cat was watching the reflection of the guitar pic, entranced by the way the light moved. It seemed bigger now. It was well fed and healthier now. But it had not lost the childlike curiosity and had abundant energy chasing reflections. The neighbour had finished his song but kept strumming, just to play along and keep the reflections moving.
The neighbour looked up from his guitar as the song came to a close and Wonshik hid behind the curtains to avoid being seen.
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