KANG SIAN
"N-No."
Taehyung stutters as he steps back, eyes wide and alarmed. The bunny he's holding slips to the ground, running off down the sleek floors.
"No."
But the woman looks at me, crossing her arms firmly together. The prospect of two hundred dollars per hour echo through my mind when Taehyung's shaking fingers grip the back of my shirt.
No.
What the hell am I thinking?
"Sorry." I reply stiffly as I hand my bunnies to the woman, my face pale as I bow again. "I'm really sorry for the bunnies, ma'am. Could I work off the cost at your shop, maybe?"
"I guess so," The store owner huffs as she snatches the struggling bunnies into her arms. "So it would be six hundred and fifty in total."
Does she think I'm stupid?
But I nod in defeat, wincing. No doubt I was going to get kicked out of the apartment by the end of the week if I had to pay off this cost and the dumb rent as well.
I'm starting to consider about working a second shift at the convenience store when Taehyung's fingers release my shirt.
"Wait." He says, and the woman turns back with a hopeful light in her eyes. "Hold on."
My mouth drops open at what he says next.
"I'll do it."
"And she won't have to work for her."
________________________
KANG SIAN
"Taehyung, you don't have to do this." I say as I watch his shaking gaze. He seems genuinely afraid for his life when someone tightens a measuring tape over his waist.
"I'm not stupid." He says, lips pursed together. "I've seen you leave at night to work— and this is my fault. I won't let you work more because of something I did."
My heart warms, and I cross my arms over my chest as I watch someone pull a confused Taehyung over to a set of flashing lights.
"He seems like someone from another world." A voice echoes behind me, and I look back in surprise to the nice neighbor's face. "Doesn't he?"
"He—"
"I'm from Mars."
The sentence that he'd said with such sparkling eyes float back up into my memory as I purse my lips.
But that can't be true.
It just can't.
"He is pretty unique." I finally admit as my eyes drift back to Taehyung wrapping a winter scarf around his head. "Really unique, actually."
"I never got your name."
"Sian." I say with a smile. "And thanks again for helping me out— all I can say is that I'm sorry about what happened earlier. You were trying to buy a rabbit, weren't you?"
"Jeon Jungkook! Set 3, please."
He gives me a nod before disappearing back into the maze of clicking cameras and bustling stylists, and I look back at Taehyung when my eyes narrow.
