Magic Rich Boy // JHS

eight: paranoid

Eight: Paranoid

yo are we gonna talk about what happened or no?

Hoseok looked at Maria across from him, waiting for her to read his text. The three of them sat in front of the television watching some talk show that was about vitamins. Matthew, essay long forgotten, sat between them but now he wasn't as apprehensive as before. Hoseok through an extensive interrogation of what he did, where was he from, how old he was, and many other questions that allowed Matthew to know who he was in a nutshell. Maria seemed engrossed with whatever was on TV, which surprised Hoseok. He thought that she would at least be bothered by what happened.

And she was. She just didn't want to show it.

Maria had never seen anything like that before. Just thinking about it made her feel a bit paranoid. Hoseok was the only other person who saw it and, because of that, she didn't want him to go anywhere anytime soon. It would get dark soon and Matthew wouldn't be willing to sleep on her bedroom floor or even accompany her in the living room because of his shitty tall-person back. His mattress was the only one that didn't give him back pain. She didn't know what she would do if that thing appeared while she was by herself and she didn't want to find out.

She would eventually ask Hoseok to stay over or at least make up an excuse for him to stay. Matthew probably wouldn't like that, but over her dead body she would sleep alone tonight.

Maria's phone was in her pocket when it vibrated, making her jump a bit. Matthew didn't notice though, thankfully. She looked at the screen, reading Hoseok's text message and sent him a shut-the-fuck-up look. With her brother right in the middle of them, she wouldn't say a thing. Hoseok raised his eyebrows at her, shocked by her sudden glare.

And so, they sat in silence watching shitty TV, both Hoseok and Maria anxiously waiting for Matthew to go about his business back to his room.

At the other side of town, Gabi worried over what she would get her mother for her birthday which was in a week. She thought about calling Hoseok but he hadn't been feeling himself lately and didn't want to bother him with this. Gabi stood in front of rows and rows of jewelry, about to feel dizzy over how much bling there was. Her mother was an accessories type of lady; she loved pearls but Gabi knew she had waytoo many pearly stuff. However, unlike her mother, Gabi didn't know anything about jewelry. She was allergic to most earrings and, because of that, never experimented with other types of jewelry. Of course, she wore bracelets sometimes, but somehow, she always lost them. She knew neither of jewelry nor clothes—what she wore for the gala was chosen by her stepmother.

Her parents had divorced when she was a baby. Her father, a couple of years after the divorce, became involved with politics and flourished doing that. He had remarried ten years ago to an heiress of a tech company and so came in all the riches. Her mother, on the other hand, was a very successful gynecologist, but she was a bit cheap and more of a I-rather-do-it-myself type person.

Gabi sighed, defeated. She should just get her a fancy dress maybe? Or a new microwave. Her mother's microwave had issues and, no matter how much Gabi insisted to have it fixed, she was convinced it worked fine. No it didn't. It made weird sounds. It probably leaked radiation.

She walked out of the store, looking around to see which other shop she should check out. She had been roaming around for the last four hours and her day had to come to an end at some point. Buying a birthday gift shouldn't be this hard.

Yet it was and it aggravated Gabi as she entered her umpteenth store of the day. She looked around, mumbling about how tired she was. It was one of those designer stores that were owned by a sole person who designed everything. It was all very colorful and different and Gabi just knew that her mom would hate everything in here.

"Welcome to Gypsy, I'm Bom. Do you need any help?" she heard a woman speak to her.

Gabi whirled around surprised. Bom offered her the best customer service smile she could muster. It had been a long day and, with her Anthropology research paper coming up, Bom was beyond stressed. Her shift would end in an hour and a long period of studying and revising awaited her at home. She promised she would stop by Maria's though. After the scare at the gala, everyone was extra worried about her, but Bom nearly moved in along Maria's mother. Bom was not going to let her best friend go anytime soon.

"Um... I'm looking for a birthday gift...?" said Gabi, hoping that Bom could help her out and she could go home satisfied after a somewhat success gift-hunting.

"For who, may I ask?"

"It's for my mom."

"What does you mother like?"

Gabi blanked. What did her mom like? Besides jewelry anyway. She always dressed nice for work and liked to go out with her coworkers. She liked to listen to baseball games while she read through newspapers and listen to really loud music while she drove. Gabi knew she liked that kind of stuff but she didn't know how to translate that into a gift. So she told Bom just that.

"Oh, I don't know if you will find anything in here that she'll like..." said Bom, immediately regretting telling her that since her goal as an employee is to get customers to buy stuff, but she knew how aggravating it was to waste time. "If she likes music, maybe you can get her a couple of vinyls?"

"But she doesn't have a record player."

"Then get her one."

Clearly, Bom was better at getting presents. Gabi nodded, a little disappointed that she didn't think of that by herself, but relieved that she could go back home soon. Gabi thanked Bom and was about to leave when she suddenly remembered that she had to idea where to get records. By the apologetic look on Gabi's face, Bom knew what her question would be and gave her a small smile.

Normally, Bom would've just said that Googling it would be the easiest way to get an answer, but Gabi was kinda cute so...

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lol i need more dialogue.

also, i wanted to include a bit of Bom and Gabi because I plan on writing some small one-shots among the characters 🤭

diana x.