On-Way Passage || ᴠᴍɪɴ

Chapter 6

"Where are you going?" Taehyung's face froze over in an instant.

Jimin, with one hand holding the car door, said, "I want to see my grandpa."

"You think I'm lying to you?"

Jimin's expression shuttered. "I don't care if you're lying or not; I need to get home. It's been-" He was about to say it's been a few months since I went back, but then realised that it had been so much longer than that, and that the distance between him and his grandpa was now immeasurable. It was hard to quell the sadness that came rushing forth. He didn't want to shed a single tear, so he straightened up and said, "Anyway, I'm going back home now. Could you please return my ID?"

Jimin knew that Taehyung must've needed his identification when he handled his discharge procedures, thus they were surely in Taehyung's hands right now.

Taehyung remained seated in the backseat of the car, not moving a single inch. He merely raised his head to look at him. "How do you plan on getting there?"

At present, Jimin didn't have a single won on him. He didn't have his phone, either. He ducked his head and summoned a natural tone, "Could you lend me some cash?"

As he finished speaking, Taehyung stared at him mutely. In the front row, both Doshik and the driver were also still.

"I'll return the money," Jimin said. "Why are you so stingy when your ride is so fancy?"

Taehyung exhaled very slowly. He paused for a few beats before addressing the people sitting in the front row, "Could you two step out of the car?"

Doshik and the driver exchanged a glance, but neither man questioned Taehyung; they immediately opened the door and got out of the car.

Taehyung stepped out of the car. He stood in front of Jimin and said expressionlessly, "I'll take you there."

Jimin got into the passenger side. He glanced at Taehyung from the corner of his eye and saw that the man was seated squarely on the driver's seat.

They drove away from the hospital.

"Thank you." After a moment's consideration, Jimin decided to thank Taehyung.

Taehyung neither spoke nor looked at him.

The car journeyed out of the seoul city.

Jimin came to this city to attend university. His hometown was a county about forty kilometres away. Though he'd studied and lived here for almost two years, he didn't really know the city well, as he'd spent most of his time on campus.

The roads outside the city, however, were all very familiar to him.

In his initial days at university, he was always concerned about his grandpa, who stayed at home by himself. Every weekend, he'd take the subway and then the bus back home. As time passed, he grew accustomed to campus life and reasoned that his grandpa should have adjusted to his absence as well, so he made fewer trips home and began to enjoy his time in university.

Even so, the roads he remembered were different from their current appearance.

How many years had it been? Oh-six. In only six years, how could he have changed so much? How could the city have changed so much?

Jimin's elbow was propped against the window, palm holding up his jaw. He stared out the window lifelessly, as if he were gazing off into the distance, as if his eyes were unseeing.

The traffic lightened up as they drove out of the city. Ahead of them was the intercity highway, which, when followed by a left turn, would lead them to the county.