innocence. || Vkook

III

Taehyung went out of his apartment and started walking down the street. He noticed his still burning cigarette on the curb. He could always distinguish his cigarette from others in his street because he had a habit of smoking only half of cigarette, because he was too lazy to finish it.

He was going to the nearby playground where all of his friends hung out. It was school time, but just as him, he knew his friends of course weren't at school. When he approached the court, he saw two familiar faces.

"Hey Taehyung-ie, I though mama's little girl was at school." – Namjoon said jokingly while taking a smoke of a cigarette.

"Bitch, don't call me like that." – Taehyung hit his friend's arm.

"Yeah, recently you haven't been coming to this place that often, so we thought you actually started going to school." - Seokjin said not moving his eyes from his phone.

"Actually...", Taehyung stopped for a second, wondering whether he should tell them he started working or not, "I was just tired..."
"Tired of hanging out with us?" – Namjoon asked, still trying to tease the younger.

"No.. I... Nevermind. Where are Jimin and Yoongi?" – Taehyung wanted to change the topic.

"Probably somewhere where they can have sex in peace." - Seokjin said with a smirk, making Namjoon laugh loudly.

"No, seriously, where are they?" – Teahyung wasn't in the mood for joking around.

"I don't know, man, we are not their parents. Though I think Jimin is probably at Yoongi's because Yoongi got sick yesterday." – Seokjin frowned while thinking.

"Yoongi needs that special treatment." – Namjoon said and winked at Seokjin. Those two were psychologically connected.

"Strange you're not asking about Hoseok." – Seokjin looked at Taehyung's eyes.

"Well, he flew back to Gwangju, why would I ask about him?" – Taehyung asked confused.

"Yeah. Two weeks ago. He came back two days ago, but you don't come here as much as before so you can't even know." – Seokjin said now starting to sound a bit bitchy.

"Seokjin, don't be such a bitch, Taehyung maybe had a valid reason for his absence." – Namjoon tried to calm the tension that was going on between the two.

Taehyung was mad because he was attacked for no reason, but decided not to kick Seokjin's ass, even though he's been having a bad time recently.

"I'm gonna go buy some snacks, I'll be right back." – Namjoon sad while searching for some money in the pocket.
The boys were looking at Namjoon's back while he was leaving, sitting next to each other on a bench, not saying a word. After a minute, Seokjin patted Taehyung's back which made Taehyung twitch.

"Taehyung-ah, I didn't want to sound so harsh..," Seokjin's warm side defeated the rough one "I noticed something weird is going on with you and I wanted to talk about it. I didn't want to mention it to Namjoon because he really can't be serious when topics like that are being talked."

Taehyung was just looking at the ground and sighed. He knew Jin was going to notice it sooner or later. After several moments, he finally decided to talk.

"I found a new job, hyung," Taehyung gulped and breathed out "It's very hard. I need to clean the whole place and... to serve the guests with cocktails and other shit like that... It's..."

Taehyung found it hard to talk about it. Seokjin felt it and didn't want to push the younger.

"Where is that place? Is it like a club or something?" – Seokjin asked curiously.

"Um.. Yeah, I guess, but not an ordinar..." – Taehyung stopped talking at the moment he saw Namjoon getting back with bags in his hands.

"I turned around for a second, and you two are in love again. " – Namjoon rolled his eyes and smiled mischievously.

Seokjin and Taehyung didn't react on it, simply because they knew Namjoon's sense of humor good enough to know whatever they say he's going to make fun of them anyway.

"By the way, I forgot to ask why aren't you hanging out with us like before?" – Namjoon asked and gave a bag of Lay's to Seokjin.

"I found a girlfriend." – Taehyung said soulless.

"Wow, really?! Or little Taehyung finally grew up!" – Namjoon said surprised and patted the younger on his shoulder.

Taehyung didn't want to tell the truth to his senior. Somehow, Seokjin was the only one of his friends to whom he could tell anything that was bothering him because the hyung was the most mature out all of them.

Seokjin wouldn't just laugh it off when Taehyung would tell him his worries and problems, but he'd listen and give the younger advice instead.

It's not like Namjoon or other of his friends didn't care for Taehyung, but topics regarding physical health or personal struggles were too serious for them and they couldn't discuss it without turning it into a joke.

"Is she from our school? Do we know her?" – Namjoon's eyes widened as he was craving for more info.

"No, she's actually from our neighborhood. Her parents moved from Incheon three months ago. I had been seeing her walking down my street several times and decided to approach her."

Namjoon was listening wordlessly, still feeling very curious. Seokjin thought the "girlfriend thing" was just an excuse for not wanting truth to be told the first moment Taehyung mentioned it, but now he realized the younger maybe wasn't lying.

"Everytime I saw her walking down the street, she'd come back approximately after 10 minutes, so I realized she was going to the grocery store. One day I decided to go outside when she passed my apartment and was waiting for her to come back." – Taehyung was telling the story without moving his sight from a small gray rock that was few meters from his feet.

"After several minutes I saw her getting closer to where I was standing. She was carrying at least four bags in each hand and I asked whether she needed a help. At first she just said no and thanked me, but I started following her and told her those bags must've been very heavy and, without her permission, took all of them from her hands. At first her face was kinda... scared I'd say, but I saw she was struggling and that this help would mean a lot."

"Wow Taehyung-ah, I'm so proud of you." – Namjoon patted his friend once again, while Seokjin was just looking at them, trying to figure out whether the story was fake or not.

"And then I accompanied her to her house, which is about 5 minutes from my place and gave her back the bags." – Taehyung continued.

"Did you ask her to go out after it or?" – Seokjin couldn't manage to stay silent any longer.

"Not that day. We had our first date two weeks later."

"Awesome! Is she good looking?" – Namjoon couldn't suppress his excitement and curiosity.

"That's not your business." – Taehyung said coldly.

"Oh come one, man, you know I'd never broke the guy code!" – Namjoon was complaining like a child while Seokjin put a hand over his mouth in order to shut him up.

             ¤¤¤

Taehyung was walking back to his home with a beer can in his hand. When he opened the door, his mother was, as expected, lying on the couch, with her right hand and leg being on the floor.

She perhaps got drunk with her co-workers at some cheap pub after she finished with her obligations in the city.

While looking at her, Taehyung was wondering how does she manage always to come back home healthy and alive and not, for example, being ran over by a car.

Even though Yena and Taehyung maybe fought a lot and didn't get along, he still loved her and would never let anyone say or do anything bad to his mom.

He quietly came to the couch and covered his mom with a blanket.

"Good night." – Taehyung said almost inaudibly and fondled Yena's head.