Remember

Jungkook's POV

The pathway to the beach is deserted. I can see couples scattered along the beach leaning against each other watching the sunset. I take off my sandals and feel the warmth of the sand between my toes. There is no other feeling like this. Its freeing, my toes are happy and I can feel the stress seep out of my body. It's summer so the sand is cozy warm and this makes me ecstatic.

I like to think myself simple. I love to watch the sky and what's more, I love the sunset, the moon and the stars. There is something about lights. Golden lights...

It's my last day before I head to Seoul for my new job. My new adventure. I have been there a couple of times but just to visit friends and family. Busan is where my heart is. It has been kind to me these past few years but, it was time to start a new. I was leaving the comfort and warmth of home to start over and challenge myself.

I decided to work in my family business for at least two years after finishing my Master's in IT with major focus in software development because I wanted to help my dad's business stabilize. He had just retired - early retirement- and having worked for the past 30 years, he couldn't picture himself staying at home doing nothing. My dad is what I would call a busy body. So, he decided to venture into business.

I had one of those dads that people often called "hot dad". Even though he held a well paying government job and was stuck behind a desk for most of the day, my dad never fell into the stereotypical out of shape boring middle aged males with beer bellies, fading hairlines, terrible moustaches and an alcohol problem - often associated with government workers. My dad took pride in how he looked and his health. He always said that being a single parent, he needed to be around long enough to see me succeed in life so his health was a priority.

He was an extremely handsome man with eyes that twinkled with untold jokes and broad shoulders with a height to match. His voice was deep, warm and comforting. On many of my childhood nights, it chased the ghosts and monsters in my nightmares away. And he had the warmest of hugs - in his arms, I found solace and comfort anytime I needed a friend. He was brave, determined and hardworking but totally oblivious of just how good he looked. I would attribute this to the fact that I was his one and only focus - everything else was secondary - including relationships. For his age, he was well built, lean and curved like a Greek god.

"Doing nothing makes me want to blow my brains out," he voiced out to me one evening one week into his retirement. He was a man of action, so willing away time seated around with no goals to accomplish was absolute torture.

"You shouldn't have retired early then," I sassed.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," he said with a child like chuckle. For a big man, my dad had a child like demeanour at times and it was a breathe of fresh air.

When he pitched the idea of starting a business one evening over dinner, I jumped at the opportunity to help him bring his vision to life.

Not to brag but, we were financially well off. With the kind of job my father had, we had more than enough but he was a humble man who never liked to show off. He knew what it was to lack, so he had impeccable financial discipline. If someone were looking from a far, they would think of us as any other middle class family with just enough to get by because we lived in the humblest of neighborhoods and worked with what was enough.

"Just because you have it doesn't mean you get to uselessly use it," he admonished me once when I was being a brat and demanding for things that weren't really beneficial.

When he told me how much he had, my jaw almost fell off. He wouldn't need to borrow or take a loan to start his business. He had enough to start and even some left over to still live comfortably. I had learnt a lot of valuable lessons when it came to money and life from him.

My father. My hero.

It wasn't common to find a single man raising a child by himself... at least not in my city. I, over the years saw how much sacrifice my dad put in to raise me. Not giving up on me even when I went through the worst teenage rebellion. He compared this to the phase in my childhood when I would not wear anything else but polka dot pink rain boots and a helmet everywhere I went - I even insisted taking that year's photo book picture with them on. I even thought it was cool to go to bed in them too. Gah! I was so tacky as a child. There are even pictures he wouldn't let me get rid off as proof! He says he will disown me if I ever did. Heol!

For his sacrifices and consistent love, I loved him to bits. I would do anything for that man. Literally.

I did not think twice about putting my career plans on hold to help him set up. After all, when he was doing well, I was too. Working with him was a great way to usher myself into the working world and put my skills to the test before I got into the corporate environment. My dad, however, didn't understand my fascination for the corporate environment when we had a good thing going. And being the loving father that he is, when the time came for me to spread my wings further, he let me go to explore the world. Pursue my dreams.

My dad had once during his business travels to Europe gone to a coffee house that offered books to read. It was very cozy and cathartic- he'd said and had gushed for weeks about it and said how amazing it would be to have one like those in our city. It became his dream, so he established a beautiful coffee-donuts-books kind of shop and next to it a convenience store that high end unique products.

Having an IT degree, I wanted my dad to have the best systems to make running the business easier. I set up with the whole security system, for both stores and developed a system to track sales, expenditures, vendor supplies and payments. It was intricate, visual and easy to use.

I didn't want him to stress about hiring someone to work the systems so I taught him and my younger cousin, Tan, how to work them.

For two years I took Tan under my wing and taught him everything I knew... every time. His interest in IT fuelled his desire to learn and together we worked to perfect it. I look at him now and how much he has grown and I feel like a proud dad when I see him come up with new ideas to improve what we already had.

The efficiency of it all coupled with ideas of young minds - me - and the popularity of the coffee place among the younger population made it a hit. It trended and brought in more customers and naturally, my dad expanded business by buying a bigger place to house more people. Subsequently, he hired more people. He was creating job opportunities for locals and I was proud of him.

It was at that point I knew I needed to look for my next adventure.

I must say this was the biggest project I had ever worked on. The success of the system I designed had been so great that I was contracted by the local government administration to create the same systems for stores around my city as part of nurturing local talent initiative. It paid handsomely. It felt good to make my own money and it would give me buoyancy when I got to the city. Thanks to this, I was able to land myself a lucrative job in a multinational IT company in Seoul.

Today, was my last day in Busan. Tomorrow, I would be taking the first step towards the unknown. I visited loved ones to bid my goodbyes and made promises to visit as soon as I could. It had been an emotional day and that is how I found myself at the one place that I found solace, comfort and a chance to decompress. The beach...

"Kook-ah!!" I am brought put of my head by a familiar voice. I turn back and see my devilishly handsome childhood friend walk towards me with a blinding smile.

"You are late!" Taehyung says.

"Late for?" I ask confused. I am surprised that he found me here in the first place. "Btw what are you doing here? How did you know I was here?" I voice out my thoughts and surprise. "I thought you had a thing. Were you ignoring me?"

"Cool your jets man," He says laughing at my rumbling. "One, you are late for your going away party! Two, you didn't think your childhood friend wouldn't know where you hang out right when you want to cry? Yeah, I know you come here to be a baby!"

"I so do not!" I protest like the big baby I am and avoid eye contact. A furious blush making it's way to my cheeks all the way to my ears. Gah! This is embarrassing!

"Don't worry... your secret is safe with me," he cooes at me, patting my head like I am a five year old. I feel like I am two feet tall and now all I want to do is to go and drown myself. I walk faster trying to leave him behind but he catches up to me.

"I have big news too!! But... before I tell you anything, let's join the others." He smiles and points at the group gathered around a fire on the beach.

Everyone I love is gathered here to say goodbye. My one and only friend who is a girl Lizzie, my dad, my two hang out buddies Hyeon and Hyun (trouble twins), my cousin Tan, my aunt- Tan's mom Lisa, two of my colleagues from the store and of course my best friend of a lifetime, Taehyung. I get emotional because this was so unexpected, so loving and so cozy. I can't even describe the feeling this evening.

"What?" I am speechless. "When did you plan all this?" I ask him as I run over straight into my father's arms. The get together goes on well into the evening and it is filled with laughter, love, memories, food, alcohol, tears, goodbyes and promises. Everyone has a great time.

***Later that evening****

Tae (my nickname for Taehyung) and I are walking along the beach after bidding everyone goodnight. We quietly walk side by side as I listen to the soothing sounds of the ocean.

"The party was great hyung," I say to Tae as I pull him into a hug. "When did you do all this?" My curiosity leads me to ask this question because the Tae I know couldn't keep a secret to save his life. Many at times I had to act surprised on my birthdays because he would unknowingly let it slip.

"I was dying inside to tell you about it," he laughs and puts his head on my shoulder and interlocking my arm with his. "But I have been avoiding you this past couple of days for a reason. This was the reason. I couldn't ruin my own surprise now could I?"

I rub the back of my neck awkwardly embarrassed because I had thought he was avoiding me for an entirely different reason. "I was worried that you hated me for telling you that I was leaving," I say as I look at him." A big burden has been lifted off my shoulders knowing that I misunderstood.

"You can be childish at times. That is no reason for me to be mad at you. I could never hate you for wanting something better out of your life," He says with a laugh and pulls at my flushed cheeks. I feel silly.

"Don't you know you can't get rid of me that easy. You are stuck with me like white on rice," he says clapping his hands together mocking a sticking motion. Tae has the silliest expressions and phrases, but it's one of the many reasons I love him. There has never been a dull moment with him.

I find myself reminiscing of our times together. I am going to miss him dearly. There were so many times I wanted to disown him as a friend. Especially the time he got us into trouble in school. While we were brilliant students, most of the times we were up to no good which frustrated our teachers to no end.

"How could God be so generous to you two to bless you with brains even though you are a mess," our homeroom teacher once asked while she admonished as in the staff room. "This would be easy if you were terrible in class!" she sighed in frustration. Her was turned so red in anger I swear I could see steam coming from he ears. We were put on litter duty for a week and I hated it.

I still also remember the one time we were caught skipping class to go the movies. Luck wasn't on our side when we bumped into one of the teachers who was on vacation at the movies. We received a thrashing I could never forget! I was walking awkward for the next two days. Still, that never slowed us down. If it did anything, it made us do worse. And amidst all these our parents thought it cruel to separate us. It wouldn't have helped either because it would make us rebel even more.

Oh... teenagers. We turned out okay though. Thank God.

I chuckled at the memory as Tae wrestled me to the ground. We stop to catch our breathe and shake off the sand in our hair. "Doing this at the beach is a bad idea," I say ruffling my hair to free it of sand and cough out some. We are in our laughter filled tiny world oblivious of the stares we get from those around us.

We settle into a comfortable silence, listening to the ocean waves as they crash against the shore and watch as the first licks of moonlight dance on the water surface. The sound of sea gulls making their way home, the occasional sound of crickets and the chatter from the people around makes this wholesome. Suddenly, I am hit with a feeling of nostalgia and a deep seated longing for something I can't quite place found it's way into the core of my belly and made its bed there. Like a slow simmering fire it burns and makes me feel... things.

"I love you so much hyung and thank you for everything. I will miss you," I say breaking the peaceful silence that had engulfed us. "I wouldn't exchange my childhood for anything to be honest. Because you were in it, my life was complete. Whole. You are the bestest friend one can ever ask for!"

"Eewww, stop being sappy!" Tae says fake gagging and I am thrown in a fit of laughs.

"I know. Even I cringed the moment those words left my mouth," I say. It is moments like this that make me feel alive and loved and having the knowledge that the most important people in my life are happy, I am content. "I will miss you terribly though. Who is gonna get me in trouble?"

"No you won't miss me," he replies.

I am taken aback, "Why would you think that? Of course I am going to miss my best friend. Won't you miss me too?" I ask, pouting like a child and giving my best kicked puppy look.

"No I won't," he says flatly. "And the puppy look won't work on me Kook-ah, I have known you for years. I am immune to it."

"Why not?" I whine like a petulant five year old being told he can't have sweets. "Why won't you miss me?" No one, absolutely no one sees this side of me except Tae.

"Because I am moving with you to Seoul," he says casually as he stands up and takes off running towards my favourite spot on the beach leaving me trying to catch and asking what he meant by that.