Paper Cranes | Park Jimin

26: Keychain

"You got to eat more, my dear daughter. Oh my!"

I suppressed the urge to sigh, biting my lower lip as my mother slid another bowl of viand on the table.

"Eomma," I stretched, frowning at the feast in front of me. "I can't eat all of this."

That earned me a soft thunk on the head with the rolled brochure on my mother's hand, which seemed to have magically appeared out of nowhere.

"You've been feeding on unhealthy store food and you've lost weight. Aigoo! You're gonna get sick soon and die. Seriously, you should just go home and stay here for good."

I listened to my mother whilst stuffing my mouth with food. To my defense, I was healthy-thin. I struggled to swallow my food, drinking a glass of water to aid it.

"Eomma," I whined, that then earned me another thunk. I furiously messed with my hair and made crying noises with a frustrated face. "Yah! Stop hitting me. Didn't you miss me?"

"I missed you, we all did," she said. "But that doesn't stop me from having the right to lecture you," my mother went on. "Now go finish that up."

Frowning, I watched her figure until she disappeared back into the kitchen. I heard a snicker beside me and I snapped my head to its direction. My brother was already settling himself on the table with chopsticks on his hand. I glared at him sideways, and he shot back with a smug smile.

"Oppa is helping you eat." He patted me on my head, widening his smile, showing his gummy teeth.

I raised my chopsticks, threatening to poke him with it, but let it land on my rice instead.

"I know, I know. You love oppa so much." He nodded to himself, pleased. "So how's it going with you and Jimin?"

I choked.

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With the help of Yoongi, we were able to finish the food our mother had prepared. Although he had kind of gotten a few scoldings from her, insisting that he should have eaten his own food.

Naturally, I should've felt pity since he just did that to help me, but I kind of felt like he deserve it. He couldn't just get away for teasing me after I trusted that he would take my story seriously.

I plunged into my bed, stretching my arms and legs and stared at the ceiling. After winter break had officially started, I wasted no time to pack and leave my apartment. I was so in need of a breather, and coming back home and reuniting with my family was just as close to that.

My eyes wandered around as I sat up straight. There was nothing new with my room; it was still in the same arrangement as I had left it. Though it was too noticeable that my parents had been cleaning it daily, judging by its dust-free status.

For the next few days, I had helped with the restaurant. As the holidays neared, more people dropped by. Customers varied from patient elders, loud teenagers and whiny children with their parents. So yes, you could say everyday had been busy.

Though it had been fun since once in a while, during my trip to the back of the kitchen, we would share a couple of comments and share a joke or two. A few times, customers had asked Yoongi to take a photo with them since they claimed he looked like this certain K-pop idol.