Against Time | k.th. ✔

七 : hangry

"What the hell happened? Why are you crying?" Yeseul's brows furrowed in reflex as she discerned the male's sulky face.

"They won't let me enter." Taehyung pointed towards the subway entrance before listlessly pivoting his head to continue briefing Yeseul, "They ask for m—money... but then, when I forward them my money, they call it unworkable and bar me from going any further. How will I ever be able to return back to my home this way?" He whimpered, earning a concerned look from the female.

"I see... What's wrong with your money, though? Why aren't they accepting it? Are the notes torn, or disfigured somehow?" Yeseul abruptly stopped midway with her questions when Taehyung gestured her with his palm, implying in a way that he would eventually clear her doubts as he started shuffling through his pockets.

It was only after a good couple of minutes that he could fish a currency note from what seemed like a seamless pit— which, in reality, were his pockets. Taehyung held on to the bill at its ends, and wrenched it rigorously. The entire time he was carrying out the process of smoothing it out, Yeseul had been unconsciously grimacing whilst clenching her fists. The girl felt genuinely piqued and agitated by Taehyung's actions. A blink of an eye and the man would end up also losing whatever petty money he must have had on him.

"Give it to me already, will you?" Yeseul snaffled the note away from Taehyung's grip as she bared her teeth at the clueless man, "Thank goodness I took it away from you in time."

When the realization that the male before her had acceded to his situation, dawned upon Yeseul, she instantaneously shifted her attention to the presumably valuable strip of paper in her hands. Perusing it over and over again—not until she was convinced that whatever she had deciphered was indeed right— Yeseul laid a perplexed glimpse on Taehyung, following it shortly by resuming to scan the money once again.

"If I'm not wrong, isn't this Emperor-"

"Emperor Hirohito, yes." Taehyung's face had suddenly grown grim. Yeseul began to feel insecure under that stern stare of his.

"I mean... isn't this a Yen, then?" Yeseul stuttered, and she for sure hated herself for that. Regardless, Taehyung's abashed expression dramatically turned the tables, prompting the woman to just forget about beating herself up for the ludicrous mistake that she had made, and instead put forth yet another query of hers.

"Doesn't that make you a Japanese?"

Taehyung balled up his fists as tightly as ever the moment Yeseul's words fell into his ears. His immediate reluctance to match eyes with her anymore, was showing palpably. Taehyung's jaw was progressively stiffening, suggestive of him gritting his teeth against one another. It did not take too long for Yeseul to figure out that perhaps she had a hand behind the man's degrading condition. Albeit, he eventually elevated his head, though nothing about his face—especially his bloodshot eyes— imparted of him being internally unfazed.

"Don't you dare," Taehyung muttered aggressively as he strode towards Yeseul, "call me a Japanese...ever again!"

And then he stormed off.

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Yeseul had proceeded on her usual trek to the nearby bus stop. Impressed she was with herself— she would have admitted, had running late for classes been an attribute to boast about. Moreover, much to Yeseul's surprise, she did not feel disconcerted anymore because of that. The only recollection she would say that kept bothering her was, the man whom she had been miraculously bumping into literally every single day now. Not only were their unplanned meet-ups enough creepily coincidental in themselves that, that one hell of a human never backed down from causing her stress from his end as well— owing to his sporadic mood-swings.

"Why in the world do I keep running into him?" Yeseul adopted a pinching posture, aiming her hands towards the sky as if asking the heavens their true intentions.

Yeseul would have kept on going with her whining despite sensing uncountable watchful eyes at her—she did not mind anymore to be honest, it had more or less become a daily thing for her— if an unanticipated dab was not detected by her. She had, in a jiffy, shed off her complaining front and whirled around in the bench that she was seated on. Raising her head to have a look at her addresser would have been deemed necessary by Yeseul had it not been for the suspenders that the figure had donned on.

"Oh, what happened to Mr. Don't You Dare? Why did he care to find me, I wonder..." Yeseul dragged her speech while skimming her eyes over the stranger, ultimately resting her trail at his face.

"I'm..." Taehyung swiftly peeped to determine Yeseul's mood, and hesitantly resumed, "hungry. Do you, by any chance, have something to eat?"

Yeseul arched her brow at him.

"See, I know how selfish I must be sounding right now... but nobody is accepting my money here! How am I supposed to survive? I can neither eat nor go back to my home, I'm already feeling miserable as it is—"

"Alright, fine! I'll give you some money." Yeseul decided to conform at last, as her reaching for her bag straightaway proved.

"Actually, can you come over to the store with me if that's not much of a trouble?" Taehyung interrupted Yeseul while she was rummaging through her bag, leading her to bark at him— although wearily.

"Why? What do you want now?"

"There are so many racks to go through... I swear I tried my best searching every nook and corner and yet couldn't find the item those people over there at the table were having." Taehyung hastily concluded towards the end, but all he received was an estranged goggle from Yeseul's side.

"Alright, I need your help—"

"And that's how you ask for help. This is what you should've said in the very first place itself." Yeseul jolted up from the bench, adjusting her hands on her waist as she picked up, "Even though that's the last shuttle bus to my university for about an hour, I'll gladly miss it for you. That's the effect politeness has on me. Now, let's go!" Yeseul exclaimed as she strolled away from the bus stop first.

"What does shuttle bus for your university mean?" Taehyung quizzed as he tried to catch up with Yeseul's pace.

"Drops me right inside the campus. It's a great service for students who don't like to walk, I'm an example of that kind."

"That sounds nice. I wish to go to a university too, it's one of the two dreams I have." Taehyung confessed as a content grin crawled onto his face.

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a/n

guys??? tf is up with tannies??? oh my god i swear i'm not exaggerating when i say butter>>>>>
it's so catchy omg i don't think i'll be over it anytime soon and indeed, i'm loving this miserable state of mine so effin much ahhhh😩😭😩😭