Knocked | Kim Seokjin K.S.J

1: cigarettes & train tracks

The young girl of twenty walked up to the convenience store counter with the things she intended to buy. Her arms let go of the two packets of Oreos, three pizza flavored Pringles, five instant noodles, three snickers, two Reese's, and the large cherry slurpee she was sipping on. Her eyes look up to the different varieties of cigarettes as she tried to find the right one. The cashier looks at her wide eyed for even allowing her eyes to gaze at that with the state she was in. After a minute or two of looking her arm shoots up to point at the specific one.

"I want a pack of those." She drops her free arm and continues to slurp on her drink as she looks at the items in front of her to make sure she had everything. After a while of no cigarettes in front of her, she looks back up at the man who was giving her a face that looked like one of scolding.

"What?" Her shoulders shrug as she tries to figure out what's wrong. The man sighs before speaking, "m'am, I don't think cigarettes should be smoke in your state." Her eyes widen as she follows his gaze to her torso where a bump resided through her tank top that she tried to hide with the plaid shirt she had over it except it couldn't button due to said bump. She hasn't done laundry so most of the clothes that were able to hide the bump as much as possible were in a laundry bag at home. She sighs, "listen, the cigarettes aren't for me, they're for my aunt, she needs them and if she doesn't get them she will have a kinesh. Now, if she has a kinesh she will most certainly begin to scream and throw stuff around, and when she does I will get stressed, now stress is not a good thing for a pregnant woman. I've heard stories of miscarriages due to so much stress, now, if you don't give me those cigarettes you will be held responsible for me losing this child." She points down at her belly with a serious expression at the shocked cashier.

"Is that what you want?"

The young woman walks out of the convenience store with bags on both her arms and still slipping on her drink. Her eyes squint to see across the street and finds the group of boys from earlier standing there. She waits for the light to turn red and walks across, meeting the boys at the corner in front of some pharmacy.

"Here" she throws the pack of cigarettes to the eldest boy of seventeen while his three younger friends gawk at the sight.

"Thanks, Yumi."

"Don't thank me when you die of lung cancer Jae." The seventeen year old smirks at his neighbor who always helped him out. They had went to school together for a brief time and she would always have to drag his ass out of any misfortune he seems to get himself in whether it be with a teacher or a bully of some sort. After that, Yumi begins her trek home of five blocks to where she lives in a small apartment in a low income neighborhood that most would call "sketchy" or "too dangerous" to even walk at night in. She can attest that sometimes it looks a little shady but that never has she gotten into anything bad on her night walks to home. A groan emits from her mouth to find the elevator of her building was still not working, and that would mean walking up five long flights of stairs.