ghostly ➳ kim taehyung

two; 'i'm homeschooled'

❁

"This house belongs to the Min's," Jimin informs Chaewon as they stroll passed a detached, red brick home. "Mr and Mrs Min own a pharmacy in town so they're pretty well known around here. They have a son called Yoongi who's eighteen. He's pretty cool, he even sells his own mixtapes."

"You seem to know a lot about everything around here," Chaewon notes with a smile.

"I'm usually a quiet person so I just watch and learn things, I guess," the boy replies thoughtfully. "Anyway, this house belongs to Mr Kim and his son, Seokjin, who's nineteen. Mr Kim is the principal of the local school that I'm guessing you're going to."

"Is he nice?"

"Very," Jimin smiles. "A lot of people say that he's too kind for the job."

Chaewon nods, absorbing the new information Jimin has supplied her with. Now, she feels as though she knows at least something about every person in the neighbourhood, whereas an hour ago she knew literally no one. Except--

"What about Taehyung?"

Jimin's eyebrows furrow as he turns to her. "Who?"

"Taehyung," she repeats. "I met him yesterday just after I arrived. He told me he lives in the neighbourhood."

"Taehyung, Taehyung..." Jimin chants slowly as if trying to recall who he is. "I don't think anyone called Taehyung lives around here. I mean, it's a pretty small neighbourhood so I think I would know."

"Are you sure?" Chaewon asks in confusion.

"Positive."

"He looked around our age, does he not attend your school? He has dark hair and wears kinda ugly clothes."

"No," Jimin chuckles. "I've never met anyone called Taehyung apart from one of my cousin's friends, who lives in Seoul."

"Oh, that's odd. I'll ask him about it the next time I see him or something."

Jimin and Chaewon begin to head back to their homes, which doesn't take long considering the neighbourhood is so miniature. The two, although awkward at first, had managed to grow comfortable with each other in a matter of minutes, leading Chaewon to believe he's probably going to be one of her friends here.

"It's Monday tomorrow so I'll see you at school, yeah?" Jimin says with a smile as they reach their conjoined homes.

"Yeah, hopefully." Chaewon smiles in return and offers a small wave as she heads inside, shutting the door quietly behind her.

❁

"Where have you been for so long, Chae?" Subin, her younger sister, asks as she messily scribbles into one of her many notebooks.

"Visiting the neighbours," she responds. "Where is everyone?"

"Mom is shopping, Yejun is playing on his Xbox upstairs and dad is in the garage trying to fix my bike."

"Do you mind if I go upstairs?" Chaewon asks. "Just shout on me if you need anything."

"No, I don't mind." Subin smiles in return, offering a partially-toothy grin.

After visiting an orphanage through their job eight years ago, Chaewon's parents fell in love with a grinning three-month old with a freckle on the side of each of her bright eyes. Miyeong was a social worker at the time, although she now works at a business firm in their new town, whereas Jinho was a volunteer charity worker as well as a dentist. From the moment their eyes lay eyes on the baby whose name sign hanging on her cot read 'nameless', the couple fell in love and adoption was the fitting solution.