The Baggage You Carry • Jung Hoseok

Part 7 • Y/n

Friday, March 20
Hannam-dong, Seoul
3:57pm
Y/n

You hung up your call with your tutor, Namjoon, and you were still feeling off about this situation that you found yourself in. You didn't tell him that you accidentally stole a stranger's bag (because that just sounds plain weird, especially for someone who has been in Seoul for less than 4 months). Instead, you just decided to tell him there was a mix-up with bags this morning and now you don't know where your bag was, which also had your Learning Korean workbook in it.

You figured it was better to tell a partial lie rather than to scare off the only local you know who speaks English fluently with the full truth that you were now a petty thief. But, you digress.

Namjoon was super understanding - in fact he completely sympathized with you (which took you by surprise, you had to admit). If some random person who just moved to your city told you that they accidentally stole someone's bag at a train station, you would probably be judging them really hard (which you are completely aware makes you sound beyond hypocritical).

However, Namjoon did not indicate that he was judging you in any way. He just gently hummed and said: "That sucks, I'm sorry. Did you want to reschedule or do you want me to print off some work sheets for us to work on together?"

So now, not only did you (still) feel like a complete and utter moron for taking the wrong bag (how many times were you going to beat yourself up over that?), you felt insane guilt because now you felt like you were wasting Namjoon's time.

You were stuck in a vicious circle.

You had told Namjoon that you wanted to do tutoring tonight but you didn't want to waste his time - especially because you didn't have all the proper materials needed, and he assured you it was fine (at least, he really tried). He kept telling you that these things happen and it's a learning experience.

He insisted on meeting you at a cafe that his friend apparently owned for an 'informal' tutoring session - as opposed to the 'formal' sessions you guys had at the library at SNU. You hummed and hawed until he said:

"I'll buy you a coffee?"

That comment snapped you out of your daze. The audacity this guy has, seriously.

"Absolutely not!" You huffed out. "You are not going to reward me for being careless and losing my book!" You exclaimed - at this point you were out of the train station and on the street so you felt more comfortable speaking at a louder volume.

"What do you suggest we do then?" Namjoon posed, and you were annoyed. Not at him... okay, not fully at him (the comment about him buying you coffee seemed to really set you off) but more at yourself.

"I will meet you at the cafe, but only if I can buy you a coffee for wasting your time and being irresponsible." You heard him sigh on the other end of the phone, and you knew he was about to tell you something along the lines of 'you weren't irresponsible,' but you didn't want to hear it. Why can't he just let you be self-deprecating for once? "Namjoon." Your voice was stern and you hoped you were intimidating enough to drive your point home.

"Will you feel better about your day?"

"No." "Yup!" You responded, and tried to make yourself sound as chipper as possible. It seemed to work because Namjoon agreed and told you he'd text you the address of the cafe.

You had told him earlier that you needed to stop by your apartment to drop some stuff off and he told you that was fine and he'd meet you at the cafe in about 40 minutes.

You didn't plan on taking that long at your apartment, you just really wanted to drop off the bag and grab a purse or something instead. You felt really uncomfortable even carrying the bag home, because you were so worried that you would accidentally bump into the person who's bag this actually was and they would get extremely angry or annoyed at you. Sure, there was a possibility that the person also had your bag and you could do a little swapsies, but what are the odds that that would happen?

And at the end of the day, no matter how much it may look like it, this wasn't your bag and you didn't like the idea of using it.

So, another bag it was. But that sucked because none of your other bags were big enough to hold everything you liked bringing with you places, but you figured you'd have to tolerate it until you got a new bag.

You made it to the cafe before Namjoon did (by the looks of it), so you walked over to an empty table and sat down while putting your bag in plain sight, right beside you. This cafe was relatively quiet but it definitely looked like a cafe that more locals went to rather than tourists, so you stayed sitting until Namjoon arrived to be your crutch.

There was a menu on the table so you picked it up and tried to maneuver through the Korean characters on the menu, seeing if you could understand anything. You felt immediately discouraged when nope, you knew nothing. Maybe this whole thing was a waste of time.

While you were absorbed in your pity party, you almost didn't hear the sound of the door to the cafe open or the ding of the bell above the door. You clearly heard the booming voice of your tutor as he entered the cafe though.

"Annyeonghaseyo Jin Hyung." You glanced up to see Namjoon wave at a tall, insanely handsome man who was standing at the counter. They exchanged some pleasantries in Korean (from the single words you could understand, they were talking about their day) when Namjoon saw you and waved.

He walked over to you and gave you a massive smile that showcased his dimples and sat down across from you.

"Annyeonghaseyo, Y/n." You hated greeting him in Korean, which was really ironic ya know, because he's helping you learn Korean. You were always a little paranoid you were going to completely butcher a word and then he would make fun of you - not that you ever thought he was capable of being malicious like that. It was more of an irrational fear than anything, but it still made you incredibly shy.

"Annyeonghaseyo, Namjoon oppa." You knew you were blushing and you felt kind of stupid - not for using Korean honorifics (although, it's definitely pushing you past your comfort zone, considering you were a person who has never had to use terms of respect apart from Mister and Missus all throughout growing up). You more felt stupid because you knew you were being irrational - there way no way Namjoon was judging you. He knows this is your first rodeo with Korean, and he actually told you in the first couple of weeks that he was really impressed you were taking it upon yourself to learn Korean.

But, speaking Korean to a native speaker - and one that was as handsome as Namjoon? That shit was fucking intimidating.

"Thanks for calling me oppa," he started and you immediately knew you fucked up - he didn't even have to say it. "However, because I'm technically 'teaching' you, you could refer to me as 'Sunbae.'"

You flushed harder than you thought possible and Namjoon giggled.

"Don't stress too hard, it's a common mistake that people make. And, on the positive side, you used the right honorific when greeting me. Because I'm older than you, if we were hanging out as friends and not as an instructor, pupil dynamic, I'd be your oppa." His positivity was infectious and made you feel better about your mistake. You took a deep breath and got ready. "Want to get a coffee and then we'll officially start?" He asked, and you nodded.

You both walked up to the counter and Namjoon helped you figure out what exactly you wanted. Because he was also a nice guy and apparently didn't want you to suffer anymore, he even ordered for you. After you got your drinks, you headed back to your table and you mentally prepared for your lesson.

Time to get this show on the road you supposed.