Dear Lawyer | Jikook ff

37 - In preparation (i)

At first, Jungkook didn't move. Jimin followed his gaze and inspected his own fingers.

"What are you looking at? Did I touch some dust?" His fingers curled, and he pulled his hand back.

Hearing this, Jungkook's gaze rippled. He looked away, starting the car and turning it to autopilot mode. Whilst setting the destination, he said, "I was just looking at how long a hand needs to be to spend money so frivolously. but yours is so short."

Jimin, "..." What a roundabout way to tease him about his height.

Even though Jungkook didn't stare at them because they got dirty, Jimin still briefly rubbed his fingertips together. He took an antibacterial tissue from the cleaning box supplied in the car, leisurely wiping his fingers.

He always did this motion very absently, as though merely out of boredom, and was finding a little something to while the time away.

He used to be this way too, back in the dean's office. After finishing a load of work, he would push aside his photon computer and look out the window at the greenery, relaxing his eyes for a moment. Every now and then, he would recline on his wide office chair, slowly and elegantly cleaning his fingers.

He didn't know when this had turned into a habit.

Truth be told, many students who had unwittingly come across this scene thought that such a pose was very pleasing to the eye, giving the impression that the dean was clean, well-mannered, and refined.

Only Jungkook had asked him, once. "Why do you keep wiping your fingers?"

At that time, Jimin hadn't taken off the fatigue-relieving glasses he wore when reading electronic documents. His attractive eyes curved behind the clear lenses as he replied, "I got tired of reading, so I just use this as a distraction."

And now, many years later, Jungkook glanced at him through the rearview mirror. His brows creased minutely, then smoothed out again. "You..."

"Hm?" Jimin gave a start. He looked up and met his eyes in the rearview mirror, then folded the two sheets of antibacterial tissues he used, throwing them into the small disposal bin in the car.

"Forget it. It's not important."

The car was already in autopilot mode; Jungkook didn't need to do a thing. So, he opened the screen of his smart device, transferring the room deposit to Jimin. After the transfer, he looked at that not-very-large amount, falling into a brief spell of thought.

At the back of the car, Jimin's smart device chimed. A small notification popped up, alerting him to the change in his asset card balance, quickly disappearing after.

Jimin looked over from the back. Perhaps the angle where he was seated was just right; the privacy screen setting on Jungkook's smart device didn't work on him. The contents of the screen were clearly engraved into Jimin's eyes.

The interface that Jungkook had open was the internship manual.

Jimin shifted his gaze to look at Jungkook's slightly turned profile. "Although this is a bit impolite, I'd still like to say that I accidentally saw your screen."

"..."

Jungkook's finger stopped. His gaze raised marginally, but fell back down without looking over. That finger looked a little like it was hesitating whether or not to immediately close the interface.

"This guess might be a little vain," Jimin contemplated before saying, "but are you trying to find a plausible reason in the internship manual to save your... destitute teacher?"

When the word 'destitute' came out, he involuntarily smiled, as if feeling a subtle sense of absurdity in using the word on himself, but not so much that he felt chagrined. It was like he was watching a play irrelevant to him, and even found it quite amusing.