One
Losing ResonanceHe wakes up, ignoring the foul stench that surrounds him. By now, he's become accustomed to it. Kyungsoo never thinks much of insignificant things, such as smell anyway. He shuffles over to the bathroom, led by the little path he's created but as soon as he's reached the door and tries to push it inwards, it won't budge. Kyungsoo remembers he recently put the television in the bathroom and that it must be blocking the door. It had been occupying too much space in the living room, a place he'd needed to put the dirty dishes he hadn't washed in months. Now because of that foolish move, there was no way to use the toilet.
Kyungsoo sighs and turns around, and decides to just relieve himself outside. He moves through the piles of clutter trying not to step on anything. He feels caged in, not being able to move around in his own house. When he finally reaches the front door, he wrenches it open and steps outside. Kyungsoo breathes in the morning air.
It's warm. Kyungsoo loves warm weather, but he doesn't really spend too much time outside the house to enjoy it. He's usually busy working on his laptop as an editor for a publishing company. All he does day and night is read and fix minor grammatical errors. For a long term occupation, there's not much that he can do besides this, considering the fact he doesn't like people. Kyungsoo tries to avoid any type of interaction at all. He's lucky the company allows him to work at home with minimal interaction. Kyungsoo is content with being antisocial. There are even some days he feels uncomfortable to talk to Luhan as well, which Luhan doesn't understand as always.
Kyungsoo walks around the house to his backyard. He now has a desperate need to relieve himself but once he reaches the backyard, he groans in frustration. The backyard is filled with his things, just as it is inside his house. He is faced with the truth that he'd been trying to avoid.
He needs to throw a few things out.
But he can't. Kyungsoo won't do that. He'll continue to live like trash, in the company of all the trash he can't bring himself to throw out.
Kyungsoo knows he doesn't necessarily need more than half the items he keeps, but he keeps them anyway. He tells himself they're all important to him. Everything from the antique vase an old friend from high school, Park Chanyeol, had sent him for his birthday a few years back, to the dirty tissue stained with tomato sauce he used to wipe his mouth after dinner just last night. Everything has a significance, a special memory that he needs to treasure. If he throws it away, then he just knows he'll ask himself, was that special to him at all? Why would he throw away his memories, his happiness, these pieces of his life?
Kyungsoo then realizes there is a stream of warm liquid running down his thigh. He curses and tries to stand in the most unoccupied corner of his backyard. Even after he's done, he just remains standing. He has nothing else to do but wait for the stench to settle in and his pants to dry. He has no means to clean himself, nor does he have a fresh pair of clothes to wear. Yet even if he did, he's not sure if he'll be able to even find them in the endless assortment of things he owns.
Not for the first time in his life, Kyungsoo feels pitiful. He's felt pitiful in high school when he was rejected by Wu Yifan, who at the time, was an attractive Chinese exchange student. He's felt pitiful when Zhang Yixing, president of Seoul University's dance team claimed he wasn't skilled enough to join. He's felt pitiful when his cousin, his best friend in the entire world, Byun Baekhyun decided to leave him behind in the world of the living.
He hears a sudden rustle and a set of footsteps and then the hollow sound of a hand knocking on a door. Kyungsoo knows that it's probably Luhan coming to do his weekly check on him but today Kyungsoo doesn't want to listen to another lecture about how he needs to throw out all his stuff. However knowing Luhan, Kyungsoo will have to endure because Luhan never takes no for an answer.
Not bothering to go into the house to get to the front door, he walks around the side of his house and walks across the front yard to someone who is not Luhan. Kyungsoo examines his tanned skin and dark hair. His jawline angular but not too sharp. He has a muscular build and a he's wearing a casual ensemble of jeans and a t-shirt. He looks at Kyungsoo and smiles.
"Hi, my name's Jongin. Would you like me to help you throw all this stuff out?" he says.
Kyungsoo is confused. He's never met this man named Jongin. His neighbors don't interact with him, but Kyungsoo knows his neighbors. Jongin is not a neighbor. Kyungsoo decides not to interact with Jongin more than he has to. Jongin does not make him feel comfortable, especially when he talks of disposing his belongings.
"Please get off my property now," Kyungsoo manages to say. It doesn't come out very assertive but thankfully Jongin isn't the type to keep insisting.
Jongin's smile fades and he walks back the the sidewalk in front of Kyungsoo's home. Kyungsoo notices the bicycle that Jongin picks up is filled up with rolled up newspapers. Jongin takes one and hands it to Kyungsoo.
"If you ever need my help, I stop by every morning. 7AM sharp," Jongin says looking at his watch and then holding it up for Kyungsoo to see. Sure enough, it is seven in the morning.
Kyungsoo watches as Jongin straddles the bicycle seat and then rides off. He walks back into his house after a few minutes, he finds a spot to settle down and read the newspaper.
The next day, Kyungsoo reads through another novel utterly frustrated by the plot. Nothing about this book makes any sense. He doesn't know why the publishing company approved the book for print. Unfortunately, it's not Kyungsoo's place to judge the book; his job is just to revise it. He sighs and looks up into the sky. The sun is just about to come up. Kyungsoo finds that he likes watching the sun rise.
He's in the front yard today, because in order to use the bathroom he had to place the television in front of the path leading to his bed. Kyungsoo slept on the lawn,
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