Broken & Ruined | TAEKOOK

nineteen

Taehyung did what Pops told him to do and he had never been this exhausted. One car tire was enough to take his breath away as he pushed and rolled it until he had placed it where it belonged. Pops was laughing at how he struggled to bring a single tire, but later made him do the easier tasks like unbuilding the boxes and laying it on top of the pile of unbuilt ones.

Bo-gum also helped them after he took a 20-minute rest after eating. Pops did not like working right after eating; it was not good for the liver, he said. They finished all the work at 4pm, and people entering the shop kept increasing.

At first, Taehyung thought that they were probably just some of Pops' personnel in the shop but he never noticed them work. They were not bringing a cart, nor piling stuff. They would only nod at Pops and greet him, then they would head straight inside. They were more like visitors, probably the shop's usual visitors.

"Here," Pops handed him two dollar bills. "Thanks for the great work, um.."

"Taehyung."

"Right. Sorry, I'm not good at remembering names," he apologized, chuckling.

"It's 'cause you're old," Bo-gum spoke. Pops was about to hit him with the towel he was holding for his sweat when Bo-gum dodged.

Pops told Bo-gum to walk Taehyung home since the sun is about to set, then he returned to his post to count the money. They were in the gate when Taehyung noticed, "Seems like the shop has a lot of customers at night."

"It does. When the sun sets, something cool is going to happen inside the shop," Bo-gum confessed.

"Something cool?"

Bo-gum nodded. "It's a shame you didn't go inside."

"What's inside Pops' shop?" Taehyung asked, his eyes glimmering in curiosity.

Bo-gum grinned and asked him, "You wanna take a look?"

"It's okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"No. You have to go home," Bo-gum countered with a taunting smile and continued walking.

"You already made me curious," Taehyung argued.

"And your mother and sis must be waiting for you to come home," Bo-gum added. "They must be worried now since playtime is over," he grinned. "And you should be sleeping early."

Taehyung did not argue to force him tell whatever it is. He remembered Pops telling him that this boy doesn't like to lose a conversation, and Taehyung confirmed that Bo-gum was actually good at this. At talking. And earning a point.

When they saw some patrol men in their area, Bo-gum told him that he could go safely to their house, so, they bade each other a farewell. He watched Bo-gum take a few steps away then ran, until he can see the small silhouette of him when he already went far.

The patrol saw him approaching so they immediately asked him where he went and if he happened to see his father. Taehyung replied them he went to a shop and helped an old man, and he did not see Joonsun. Rihye saw him outside and immediately ushered him to go inside. Yeojin was sleeping in the bedroom even it's only nearly sunset. She must be tired from playing.

Taehyung grabbed a glass of water and drank it straight. Rihye noticed that Taehyung was sweating. She took a towel and ruffled his hair with it.

"Where did you go? You're sweating a lot," she asked, drying his sweat on his back.

Taehyung slid his hands on the pockets of his shorts and turned to look at her. Rihye's gaze went down to his hands as he offered them in front of her. He handed her the money he earned from the shop. "Taehyung, we just talked about this, didn't we?"