Actors

07. Opportunities

"Hyung, are you ready to have fun?" I tease. I can see his nose and forehead wrinkling up with disgust. It may be the smell or how unclean the place looks. I, myself, am overwhelmed with the smell but it's reminiscent of my childhood here. "Don't do that face. You wanted to come here." I pause to look around to see where everything is. I could see the changes that transpired while I was away. The number of animals here has more than doubled and this stall had been expanded. This is what dad always dreamed of and I was able to help him accomplish this.

"Don't even know your own home, now?" It's his turn to tease me. "Places like these don't change at all even though the world around them does." The last sentence isn't said with judgement but more as a statement. As if he knew too well what happened in these small towns.

"You wouldn't believe me if I said it did. This place barely had three cows and a dog, when I left. This was nothing but a rundown place for them to take cover when the weather got bad. That's all there was to this place. I wasn't born in a small town middle-class family like the media was led to believe." The words I was poor and starved some days linger in my mouth. I don't know why I shared— it's not like he cared. He wanted no attachments and sharing my past was as intimate as two people can be. Not even those who I called friends in the city knew much about me. They only had the necessary and simple details about me and nothing more.

"You should've kept the three and called it a day. There's too many," he complained.

"I told you to stay with mom because you whine about everything but you never listen to me. Next time, I'll have to tell you to do the opposite thing and see if you still contradict me."

"No, your mother is waiting for a moment alone to attack. She has that look in her eyes that I don't like. It's like she wants to tell me all the things I've done wrong. I guess, she thinks you're perfect because she just beams when you're around. You're not that great! She should be the one thanking me for marrying you." Jungkook must really believe he's everyone's ideal type.

"Alright, if you're done, let's get to work. I just hope that you don't regret wearing your three hundred dollar shirt here." I look him up and down. I know it's not the only expensive item he has one, his whole wardrobe must cost a small fortune. The clothing items give him that fresh, out off an international flight, and effortlessly flawless look.

"Stop treating me like a child. I'm a man. I can pull my own weight. How hard can it be doing manual labor?"

"If you say so." I shrug and hand him a shovel to get started. I just hope he doesn't whine or cry about it after we're done.

"I don't want to hear it," I say. It's like I had predicted but worse. He's complaining.

"You did that on purpose!" He's seething in anger.

"It's not my fault that you don't have a good balance and your strength is questionable. I told you how to do it the right way but–"

"You never listen! Stop saying that! You make me sound like a brat. I'm tired of you treating me like I can't do anything! You're a jerk!"

"I'm a jerk? You're the one who hasn't given this place a chance! You make faces and a commotion every time there's something you don't like. This is not the city and we're not your servants and we're not asking you to do anything. My mom cooks, dad and I look after the ranch, and all you have to do is not expect us to serve you hand and foot."

"I'm not asking to be served either! You're a jerk! I hate you! I want to leave. You and your family have been treating me as if I was some poor rich kid; who can't do anything! I'm a damn adult and deserve to be treated as such. I may not be great at manual labor but I'm good at other things." It's like he's taking out his anger at the world out at me. Yet, his words are not necessarily directed at me. He's frustrated not being taken seriously. He's had this problem before I can tell. I judged him the same way the others did. It makes me feel guilty.

I stand there to listen him scream his lungs out, see him free himself from all that pent up frustration, it's liberating for him and therapeutic because by the end he's able to breathe easier. I've judged him wrong all along. Perhaps, I need to give him a chance—a real chance.

"Jungkook, if you want to be treated like an adult, act like one. You live in the real world where people go to work, cook, clean, run errands, and do all the little things that you missed because you were pampered. People don't go whining about every little thing like you do. You've had everything on a silver platter. I didn't. Yes, we wear kid gloves with you and try not to ask anything of you." For the first time, he listens attentively to me.

"Kid gloves?"

"Yes. Do you think we haven't treated you lightly? Sure we may laugh at your expanse at times but it's not always the case. Mom hates that you can't cook or do other things, and dad doesn't say anything but he wonders why the hell I married you. They worry about you because they're good people. That talk you avoided with my mom perhaps was to see how grounded you really are. They want to get to know you because they believe there's good in you. They know I wouldn't marry someone who wasn't worth it. This is my world, Jungkook, and they just want to include you. Being a brat is in your nature but, just now, you showed you can be more than that." I'm surprised by my own words because I never expected this kind of conversation between us.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. His head looking down as if ashamed by his previous behavior. I feel like an asshole for being too blunt with him. He's two years older than me and here I'm looking down at him like I would a kid. Part of me wants to reach out and tell him everything will be alright but I can't make those promises. He doesn't want my support. We both head back home because what else can we talk about?

"I'm sorry too." I hold his arm to hold him back before we get too close to the house. "Let's forget about everything so far. I judged you like everyone in your life has without really getting to know you. How about you give this place a real chance? And I'll treat you like the hyung you are. Does that sound like a good compromise?" He nods. He looks so pliant and I feel my breath hitch. There's no need to keep standing here and looking at each other. I start to head back but he stops me.

"I've got no clothes to wear—I mean, something that can get this dirty without me having to cry about it. This is the most dress down clothes I have besides my pajamas." I laugh because silk pajamas aren't what most people wear daily.

"I've got some things that may fit you, for now. We can head to town tomorrow or this weekend to get you something comfortable." I smile. It's the most we've talked and gotten to know each other which isn't much but it's a win. Isn't?

August 23, 2019
Sorry! I know, I promised to post this over 48 hours ago @Iceland1991 but I got sidetracked. Another reason I took long is because I changed a lot more than expected 😳