"Look at the stars. The great kings of the past look down on us from those stars, Tae," his grandmother once told him.

"Kings?" Taehyung had questioned with large, iridescent eyes that glinted in the bright moonlight.

"Yes, kings. Look inside here," the elder woman who was once an astronomer in her younger days, angled the telescope for her grandson. "What do you see?"

"A really, really bright star," Taehyung says in awe.

"That, my dear, is the emperor from the Joseon era. He was my great-great grandfather. Scientists call him Alpheratz and he's the brightest star astronomers have ever found," his grandmother explains.

-----

Thinking about that now as a twenty year old, Taehyung concludes it was a pretty stupid thing to believe in. That it was all just a myth. "Wish upon a star, Tae, and your wish will come true," his grandmother used to tell him every night as a child. But that led him nowhere. Stars didn't grant your wishes. Hard work did. Sometimes, faith did too. Taehyung realized this after his parents died in a car crash when he was 11. He prayed and wished upon all the stars he had "befriended" to bring his parents back but none of them did. None of them could. Faith helped him to move on, helped him to realize that in life, people eventually leave one another.

-----

The night is cool and the wind doesn't take it easy on Taehyung. Still, the young man stands outside his apartment on the balcony overlooking the Han River in a mere sweatshirt. The steaming mug of ground arabica coffee he had brought out had simmered and cooled because of the wind. The thoughts overcrowd his mind and claw at his personal space, the city's lights becoming a Gaussian blur to his eyes. He remembers vividly in his head how at this very apartment, at this same old balcony, he stood with his grandmother, a woman he loved ever so dearly. A large telescope separated them all the time and now that it has been auctioned off for two million American dollars, Taehyung feels like he never knew all this space existed. He looks over to the next balcony, remembering the obnoxious girl who lived next door. She has since become an actress, starring in award winning dramas and movies. The apartment was bought over by a boy two years his junior, fresh out of high school. Taehyung looks away when the owner of the apartment steps out. His jet black hair matches the cobalt blue of the sky, but his pale skin contrasts greatly to it. His cheeks and lips have no color in them and sometimes Taehyung wonders if the boy is truly alive.

"Thinking about something?" The boy, Taehyung had learnt some days after he moved in that his name is Jungkook, asks.

Taehyung offers the eighteen year old a meek nod. "Yeah."

"It's cold," he replies after a two beat silence.

Taehyung doesn't know what to say, so he says carefully, "You don't say."

"Why don't you go in?" Jungkook turns around to face him now, his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his hoodie.

"I like it," Taehyung says. "Out here."

"In this temperature?" Jungkook gestures. "It's negative ten. And you're only wearing a sweatshirt."

Taehyung chuckles, taking a sip of the now ice cold coffee. He scrunches his face at the taste of the drink. "You state the obvious a lot."

"Do I?" Jungkook asks coolly. "I'm going back in. Hope you don't freeze out here or get frostbite."

The doors sh