“Would that be all?”
The cashier asked for the second time, her voice doing the bare minimum to hide her annoyance. The constant tapping of her fingers against the counter broke his train of thoughts.
Jeon Jungkook flinched from the harsh tone and let out a shaky sigh, his head nodding twice in approval. He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans, shoving them inside his jacket pocket, and then fished out a few dollars.
“Not much of a speaker, huh?”
The girl clicked her tongue and began to put his stuff in a plastic bag hastily. The rustling sound of plastic was a glaring reminder to Jungkook that he had begun to do everything by himself now. But with his constant nervousness, the impatience of the cashier overwhelmed him.
“No, wait!” he stopped her and before he could think properly, his next words came out in a rush, “I uh—can I please get just two cups of ramen instead of three?”
The cashier paused midway, her head tilted to a side before pulling out one cup of noodles from the bag and held it in front of his face. “I already scanned them, pretty boy.”
Having no other choice, he only shrugged with pursed lips and paid for his things silently. He could feel the curious eyes of the cashier on him but he really wasnʼt in the mood to engage in a conversation and entertain her so he avoided her gaze as much as he could.
Pushing the glass doors open, he shivered in the cold of December and began to walk in the direction of his apartment. The sky had already started to take on itʼs inky blue colours which meant the sun had set. It was getting late, probably a bit later than Jungkook would have liked.
Having to move into a new city, it would take a lot of time for him to memorise the direction to any stores.
Seoul — the new city, the new place felt like a whole new world to him.
The bustling streets, people scurrying off to their respective workplaces, the continuous murmurs of people and the constant hum of engines, vehicles — the nineteen-year-old Jungkook had looked around the place like a newborn looks at the world for the first time; eyes filled with wonder, curiosity and a little bit of nervousness.
Everything and everyone around him seemed to be in a rush, much different than the calm and slow days back at his hometown. His easy mornings would start by watching over his fatherʼs stationery shop for a while and then heading over to school.
Studying came too easy for him but his attention would always stay stuck at singing notes and humming melodies.
His simple and dull lifestyle stood out like a sore thumb among the flashy life of Seoul.
Growing up Jungkook never thought that the only source of income in his home would crumble down so fast.
In a blink of an eye, his father had his head in his hands and his mother was silently weeping at the corner and the mortgage papers on their dinner table set an example of the ugly truth of the reality.
The reality was harsh, that was the truth but that doesnʼt mean that everyone would have to bow down to it, not at least Jungkook. Since that moment he had decided to take matters into his own hands.
A promise to make everything better was the only comfort he could afford at that moment and this is why he was here today, fighting against the odds to make everything better for his family.
He was inexperienced at this sort of decision making but with time he would surely learn.
Itʼs not like the world is about to end, is it?
YOU ARE READING
Sweet Home
أدب الهواةWhen a deadly virus desolates the city of Seoul, nineteen-year-old Jungkook finds himself and his neighbours trapped inside the premises, in danger when the sun rises, safest in the dark of night. This is a story about the miscellaneous residents o...
