WHEN THE SUN SETS [JJK]

01

PART ONE
OF RINKO & JEONGGUK'S STORY

Despite her attempts of pretending not to be hungry at times, today seems like a different story. Constantly watching families of fours, enjoying their time under the sun while she's just really, there. The safety net in case someone drowns, but that's what life vests are for, right? Doesn't understand why some people still jump in the water, clearly knowing the consequences of their actions. And for some reason, she still copes with her job as a lifeguard. Sometimes because her talent for swimming is useful enough to earn her quite a bit of money and, well, the other half—an excuse to stay away from home.

Being a lifeguard has its perks. It's a kind of paradise you can only escape to once you know you're really fucked and have no other choice than to just live with your life watching people enjoy theirs. Other times, it's the feeling of being the superhero you've always wanted to be. Saving people from their near-death experience and giving them a chance to live again.

Rinko's stomach grumbles. Doesn't realize she hasn't really eaten anything all day except the granola bar she took on the way out of her parent's apartment. She checks her phone for the time and  even hopes that her last few minutes are worth the while.

7:55 PM.

Just five more minutes until her shift ends.

The walk to the nearest diner was nothing Rinko couldn't physically do. Working out on a daily basis had a huge toll on her lifestyle. Being obese as a little kid had her parents pushing her to be as thin as possible.

Thinner, perhaps.

"May I take your order?"

Can I order you? She almost says to the good looking waiter standing just a few centimeters away from her, but unfortunately, Rinko knows when and where to control her hormones so she says nothing for the time being.

"Uhm. . .Miss?"

She finds herself glancing over at the untouched menu and decides quickly on a salad. "I'll get the salad and the—" Rinko again looks up at him and awkwardly looks down with her cheeks flushed red. "seafood pasta without the shrimps because I'm allergic. Thanks!"

Rinko sighs—at herself but also at the awkwardness she displayed at her waiter for the night. He smiled, so brightly. Wonders how he could ever put up with the job of smiling at the costumers as he happily takes their orders. God, he really does love his job.

"Here's your order. Enjoy your food and I hope you have a great night."

There's that fucking smile again. Rinko only nods before she mutters a quiet 'you too' to the waiter that managed to grab Seol Rinko's attention in just a matter of thirty damn minutes.

She doesn't hesitate when she pulls the seafood pasta out of the brown paper bag that obviously said take out and ignores the salad entirely. Heck, she's never even felt this hungry before. Not in her entire lifetime of dieting to stay fit and, well, thin. But today seems like an exception.

Also, an exception for the waiter to be extremely distracted by the mere fact that Rinko never left his mind ever since she ordered. Doesn't understand why, or how, but he's caught on to the fact that she's just sitting there—alone, but it's as if she doesn't mind at all.

"Fuck," He mutters shortly after retrieving a few dirty dishes from the tables near the girl he's suddenly crazy for.

"Look how fast she's typing on her phone. And her smile, don't you think she's taken?" Taehyung furrows his eyebrows jokingly at his best friend who happens to be nervous around a girl he doesn't even know.

"You think so?"

"It doesn't hurt to try."

Rinko questions herself as the same damn waiter mops unconditionally on the floor beside her table when there's really nothing that screams dirt but more so of clean. She takes one last bite of her salad before cleaning her dirty plates into a small pile, but gets distracted by another loud voice calling from a short distance.

"Jeongguk-ah! There's no fucking dirt there. Hurry up before our manager comes back and makes you do more shit!"

The supposed guy named Jeongguk turns to glance at Rinko one more time and flashes a small grin towards her. She doesn't complain, though, because this gesture just made her day.

"So. . . is she taken, or not?" Taehyung's waiting at the counter, anticipating for his best friend's news.

"Before I answer your question. What the fuck was that?"

"You should be thanking me, Jeongguk-ah. Now she knows your name and the next time you'll meet, she'll have a name to call you by other than" Taehyung coughs all of a sudden but returns with a smile plastered across his face. "daddy, of course."

—

Rinko's walking home, staring at the sun setting over the horizon and overlooking the ocean side she's grown to love dearly. She didn't know such pretty hues of the sky could be the new cure for her sadness sometimes. A breather when things got hard. But most of all, an escape to her reality because no perfect person exists in this imperfect world. No matter how hard you try and mold someone to be as perfect as they can be, they won't be. They'll have flaws, but sooner or later, you'll fall in love with their flaws too because that's love in words.

It's something Seol Rinko and Jeon Jeongguk are just about to discover and it starts here.