off limits ✧ zb1 applyfic

✧ twenty seven

Tarae had been staring at his computer screen for so long that he feared he would go blind in the next five minutes. He had been struggling with this university assignment for the better part of the day, and only had a hundred words in a Google document to show for it. Sometimes, dropping out seemed like such a tempting option.

Taking his glasses off to rub his tired eyes, Taerae turned his head to the living room. Not quite as busy as him, Narae was lying down on the couch, her phone in her hands. Oh, how he wished he could go back to those high school days. Like every teen, he hated it back then, but college was a whole new beast. To think at the time, he was looking forward to starting university. What a fool he'd been.

"This assignment is driving me crazy," he muttered, his hand hovering uncertainly over the keyboard. "I should never have majored in horticulture. You know what, I should have gone straight to just inheriting the family business."

Or maybe he was being as naive as his high school self, who thought college would be so much better. After all, work didn’t really seem like a fulfilling way to live your life. Though it would be made easier by the fact that it would be in a field he enjoys, and he would eventually become the boss, it still felt so far from what humans were meant to do. Hell, weren’t they just supposed to frolic and nap and plant flowers willy nilly? At least, that was how Narae was spending her time. She was on the right side of the fence.

"By the way, Narae," he called after her, his eyes still sifting through countless articles. "Have you deciced on what you wanted to do after high school?"

Taerae waited a minute for his sister to respond. At first, he thought she might still be thinking about it, but as time passed, he realized she most likely hadn’t heard him at all. Narae and her scattered attention. Was she watching videos on her phone? He hadn’t seen earbuds in her ears.

He turned to her, wondering what could have caught her attention so much. She was still on her phone, typing away novels judging by the speed of her thumbs. And, most noticeably, she had a big smile on her face as she looked at her screen. Taerae raised an eyebrow. This was an unusual sight.

Needless to say, she wasn’t paying attention to him in the least.

"Um, Narae. Narae!" he said louder, trying to shake her out of her focus.

Finally, she seemed to hear him. She lifted her nose from her phone, her eyes round like marbles. "Yeah?"

"Who are you talking to?"

"Ah," she started, wiggling her phone nonchalantly, "I'm texting Gunwook."

Gunwook. Taerae blinked slowly, unsure he'd hear her correctly. She'd said Gunwook, hadn’t she? He wasn’t crazy, right? Sure, he was certainly going blind, but he wasn’t turning deaf anytime soon.

"Oh hell no," he simply mumbled to himself, before rising from his chair.

When had Gunwook even gone behind his back and given Narae his number? Taerae felt a boiling feeling slowly filling up his stomach and rising to his throat. He hadn’t been paying enough attention either, it seemed. Determined, he walked towards the couch.

"Why in the world are you talking to Gunwook?" was the first question that came out of his mouth, but his brain was coming up with new ones every second.

Narae looked away from her phone, her face blank. Then, she bursted out laughing, right to his face, resting her phone on her chest. Her hand closed into a fist covering her mouth, she tried to catch her breath, but the chuckling fit was winning.

"You look like you've seen a ghost!" she exclaimed, finally managing to calm down the laughter. "Seriously, though, he asked me to take care of the flower stands for the festival. I have to give him updates, or ask him for his opinion from time to time. Nothing that crazy, mom."