Thief

8

"Jaebum, where are we going?" Jinyoung asked as they got on the road early in the morning.

Jaebum had packed everything they needed. A suitcase of clothes for him and Jinyoung to wear, food for the long drive, and of course some of his music stuff, since he can't go anywhere without writing down melodies or lyrics.

"To... to an old friend's house." Jaebum replied, though he wasn't sure if the word 'friend' was good enough to use.

Jinyoung had a worried look cross his face. "Is he safe? Does he know who I am? Will he call the cops?"

"He's safe. He lives out of town, so the drive will be a bit long, but at least you're safe at his place." Jaebum assured.

Jinyoung nodded, leaning back in his seat. "And... what about you? You have to go back sometime. You can't stay with me."

"Well, I'll stay with you two for a couple of days before going back to make sure you're settled in and that you guys get along okay. Though I'm sure that shouldn't be a problem. We can't make it look suspicious though, so I called in to my job for a 'vacation'." Jaebum explained.

"Oh... you're using vacation days for this? But... you worked hard for them..." Jinyoung mumbled, obviously feeling guilty for being such a burden.

Jaebum chuckled. "Don't worry about it, I'll just have to clean a couple of extra toilets to make them back up. But I'll come visit you two on the weekends maybe after I go back? Y'know, to check up on you guys."

"Right... thanks." Jinyoung said.

The car ride was silent for a while, but something in Jaebum mind just would leave him alone. He's protected Jinyoung from the police, yet Jaebum wasn't exactly sure what he did wrong. All he knows is that he shot somebody in the leg, but what happened before that? He was sure that Jinyoung couldn't have shot the person on purpose, but there was some reason his finger had pulled the trigger.

"So... Jinyoung... um, I didn't ask last night but... what exactly happened?" Jaebum asked.

Jinyoung was quiet for a minute. He looked like he didn't want to be reminded of it, but Jaebum felt that he deserved to know since he was going out of his way to protect Jinyoung. After a few minutes he finally took in a breath, explaining the situation. "I... left your house and... I did think about what you said. I thought about quitting all of this... criminal stuff, and chasing... chasing a dream I once had. But..."

Jinyoung shook his head, taking in another breath as he mowed over his thoughts. "I realized how hard that would be. To start over and do something else with my life. I just... I couldn't. I'm already so deep in this, how can I just leave that all behind to chase a far off dream?"

"It's hard but, Jinyoung I believe that you can do it." Jaebum assured.

"How do you know? Have you needed to do it yourself? Do you get how hard it is?" Jinyoung asked.

"Yes I understand how hard it is. And I'm at least trying. I've been a freaking janitor for I don't know how long, cleaning up the shit and garbage of the artists that I admire. But I still write songs and lyrics, and I still strive to be something one day." Jaebum stated, truly believing that he can one day reach his dream.

Jinyoung though, seemed to be doubtful, having no hope at all. "And how well has that gone for you? I searched your name up on google and nothing of yours came up. Not one song, not one lyric, not even a random twitter post. Your work isn't anywhere, how are you trying when you hide it all?"

Jaebum didn't have a response to that. Jinyoung was somewhat right, even if he's trying, keeping all of his work to himself wasn't really putting himself out there. But that was different, wasn't it? Jinyoung doesn't even try at making a better life, he was just gonna be a criminal forever. That's no way to live.