Candy ✦ jjk [✔]

🍜chapter two🍜

Suddenly the doors open and Mr. Jeon walks in.

"Hello Jeongmin," he says.

"Hello Mr. Jeon," Jeongmin says while slightly bowing her head before hoping onto the subject about his son.

"I heard your son is coming to visit!" she says excitedly.

"Yes, he is. Tomorrow he will arrive. You never met him did you?" he asks while walking towards the cash register.

"I'm sure I've met him at least once, but I can't remember it," she replies while standing up from her chair.

"He's around your age. Now 25 years old. I'm quite sure you've played together when you were younger," Mr. Jeon says while following Jeongmin with his eyes.

Jeongmin walks towards a shelf full with small cute boxes filled with chocolate. She grabs one and walks back to Mr. Jeon.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate it if he got something nice to eat once he arrives home. It's on me," Jeongmin hands Mr. Jeon the small box.

"That's really sweet of you. Thank you," he says while giving her a small bow.

"Really, don't thank me. It's the most I can do." Exaggerated of course, but who's willing to give more to an already rich boy who've they have never met?

Mr. Jeon nods and walks off into an aisle.

Jeongmin looks outside and notices the sky turning darker. Her gaze moved to the clock hanging above the cash register. It's 6:30 pm. Time for dinner.

Jeongmin walks towards the instant ramen aisle and grabs an instant ramen chicken cup. She walks back towards the cash register and looks at the monitors. Mr. Jeon is walking in the fourth aisle.

Jeongmin walks to the fourth aisle and sees Mr. Jeon looking at the milk, specifically the banana milk section.

"For my son," he says with a bright smile when he sees the girl standing at the end of the aisle.

"I'm gonna make some ramen in my office so I will be there if you need me," she say while pointing at a door leading to her office.

"Okay," he holds up his thumb and continuous looking at the banana milk.

Jeongmin walk towards her office and unlocks the doors with the keys that were in the back pocket of her jeans.

In her office she has a small kitchen with a water cooker. Jeongmin heats up some water and opens the ramen cup. She sheds open the small bag with spices and sprinkles it over the ramen. Once she hears the beep of the water cooker she grabs the pitcher of water and pours the water over the ramen. She waits a bit before she starts stirring with a fork.

When the ramen are ready she grabs two chopsticks out a small cup that's standing on the edge of the counter.

She takes a bite and walks out her office towards the cash register and continuous to eat her ramen.

When she's almost done she notices Mr. Jeon walking towards her.

"Found everything?" she asks after swallowing the last bite. "I did," he says and lays a few items on the counter.

"Why did your son move to Seoul?" Jeongmin asks while scanning the banana milk he was looking at before.

"He was 23 and he needed something different. His only world was in this small town. He wanted to explore and see more of the world. He wanted to see different people, not just Korean people. He wanted to hear stories from all over the world and experience them himself. He was obsessed with that idea and never stopped talking about it so then he finally moved to Seoul," the man says with indescribable emotions.

Was he happy he son was gone? Or extremely upset about it? Jeongmin couldn't figure it out. She would expect him to be happy for his son to finally be doing what he was dreaming of but she also understood that his parents would be upset about their only son leaving them.

"Why did he go to Seoul if he wanted to travel the world? Why didn't he go to America or Europe?" She asks, genuinely curious.

The man stays silent for a moment. He's watching the cashier's hand unconsciously scan the box of chocolates. He reaches his hand out towards the small box but stops mid air when seeing the girls face. With her big eyes she's looking at him. Her lips in a small curve.

"Jungkook," the man whispers.

Jeongmin blinks a few times before looking down at her hands holding the just scanned chocolate box.

"Oh my apologies. I didn't mean to scan these." With a few taps on the screen 3000 won is deducted from the amount and she lays the box of chocolate next to the other groceries.

Mr. Jeon still hasn't said anything. He's in shock. That wasn't his son. It was just the cashier girl from the town grocery store smiling at him. He must be crazy.

"Mr. Jeon?" Jeongmin's voice echoes through his thoughts. Life starts showing up behind his eyes again.

"Are you okay?" the girl asks worried.

He shakes his head. "No need to worry. I'm okay. I just dozed off for a moment," he answers her while walking to his scanned groceries.

Jeongmin, still worried, follows the confounded man with her eyes. "Sir, I can help you bring the groceries home," she says while standing up from her chair. She wants to help, but he doesn't want her help.

"Jeongmin sit down," Mr. Jeon says very serious. Jeongmin immediately does what the now sensible man says.

"I just thought of him. Only for a split second I saw him, in your eyes. Your big but also such small eyes. Your eyes are big, definitely, but they are empty. They haven't seen what they wanted to see yet. His eyes were just like that, empty. Everyone saw that, except me," he takes a deep breath.

"I didn't allow him to travel the world. He was an adult, 23 years old, but his old father disallowed him for following his biggest dream, which is traveling the world. I was scared of losing him. He would be somewhere on the other side of the world. I would have no idea of what he could be doing. I would have no idea if he was in danger or not. I wanted to protect him, but that was the biggest mistake ever." He stops. Is his story finished?

Jeongmin waits patiently, watching the mans eye closely.

"He's coming back... and I already know why. He's coming here to ask me, to ask permission... permission to follow his dream and move away. Not only from here. Move away from Korea and see the world. He wants to fill his eyes with things he has only seen trough a screen. How could I decline that? Never. I have to let him go. He has all the rights to follow his dream and do whatever he wants. He's an adult."

Jeongmin sighs after listening to the man impassionedly rant about his thoughts. It was beautiful. Mr. Jeon, in just a few minutes, showed how much he cared for and loved his son. How he wants to protect him while he is already a full grown adult.

"You're doing the right thing, trust me. I've been there," the girl, who's now the one needing to rant, says.

🍜

chapter two uploaded...
Hope you are enjoying so far <333

nina