what money can buy | jjk

06

"I've never been to one of these," you admit shyly when you get out of the truck. It's parked with the open end towards the giant screen that's mounted on a steel structure. Jeongguk starts retrieving a whole bunch of pillows and blankets from the backseat and putting them on the truck bed.

"Even though you used to live so close to one?" He's so handsome when he smiles like he does right now. Well, he's always handsome, but the sight makes something bloom in your heart. When he looks at you like that, you feel like maybe he can forgive you for what you're doing. But at the same time, it makes you feel like you shouldn't be forgiven at all.

Because it's wrong, you know that deep down. But it's also the best thing you've ever done, finding Jeongguk on that site. It's so easy to be with him, and the best of all? You don't have to question if he's there for the money or if he actually likes you. If he has any complaints about you, he'll keep them to himself. After all, he doesn't have to actually like you, just put on a happy face and endure the short time you make him be your friend.

He's polite, kind, and funny, that's just the way he is. You get to experience it, and he gets money. The only thing he expects from you is to get paid. To say that it eases a lot of your troubles would be an understatement.

The purpose was to find some company. Platonic company. Despite crushing hard on the guy, you're perfectly content with being his friend. You consider yourself a friend to him, even if you probably don't even make it onto his top-100-list.

"Yeah," you nod. Your childhood wasn't exactly filled with drive-in theatres and the likes.

Jeongguk gets a bag from the backseat before he holds his hand out to help you board the truck. Ideally, you don't want to touch him again, but the gesture is only meant to be friendly and sweet, so you take it. He helps you, and then he follows, sitting down and leaning back against the truck's back window.

There's still time until the movie's supposed to start, but you don't have anything else to do but sit down beside him. Of course, you leave an appropriate amount of space between your bodies.

"So," he starts, and you notice that he sounds more awkward than you've ever heard him. You just hope he's not about to bring up the sex, because you'll start crying if he does. "I googled you."

It wasn't what you expected at all.

"What did you find?" you ask, looking straight ahead to avoid the pity you know is in his eyes.

"Your family..." he trails off. But he's made his point. "Is that why you moved back here?"

"Yeah. You get a lot of money when both your parents started their own, very successful companies," you repeat a sentence from a previous moment. "And you get even more money when both of them, as well as your two siblings, die. Since I was the only one left, I got all the insurance money and ownership of the companies. Sold one, running the other. I moved back because I was tired of always second-guessing people's motives. All I am is my money."

"I'm so sorry," he says, and when you glance his way, you see the genuine sorrow on his face. It brings back feelings, more specifically, your bitterness towards the universe.

"Yeah. They'd be too, knowing everything was left to the runt of the litter."

You hear him make a displeased sound, and you know his eyebrows are furrowed. You usually don't tell people much about your family, but Jeongguk is... different. And he was the one who brought it up; he wants to know.

"I'm just stating facts. My parents worked incredibly hard, and my older siblings were going to take over for them. I was never supposed to run anything. They were so much more headstrong and capable. You should've seen them, Jeongguk," you sigh. "If you met them, you would understand."