Letters || TaeJin ✔

4. Crush

I went home that night. A little early than usual. I think my extra work at Jimin's resto works better for me. I get to leave work early and get go home early.

I cooked extra tacos and salsa earlier for my and Jungkook's dinner. Pulling my bicycle, I prop it on the brick wall of our carbuncle apartment building. I still feel bad about what happened to my bike. But what can I do? It's all done and over.

"Hey, Seokjin! You're late in paying your rent! It's been three days! Where's your payment?!"

Our landlady ranted for the second day now. I cannot give the three hundred dollars that the driver gave me earlier. What if Jimin cannot give the bike tomorrow? Then I will be needing to have my bike repaired. Besides, it's only one of the wheels. Well, as far as I can see.

"I will pay you tomorrow, I promise." I raised my arm and gave her a promise hand.

"That's what you said yesterday!" She's starting to yell at me.

I looked down and I noticed some of our neighbors are looking at us. This old woman loves making a scene.

I suddenly saw my arm with scratches. "Can you see this madame?" I showed her my arms. I pulled my pants up and showed her the bruises on my leg then I point to my cheekbone to show her my small wound. "I had an accident this morning. A car hit my bike." I point to my bike and she gasped when she saw the broken wheel. "You see? The driver just gave me $300 for treatment. And it's not enough to cover my medical expenses. I need my bicycle to get repaired as well."

Her face suddenly changes from war mode to a gentle-looking face.

"So please madame, just give me more time. I should be giving you the rent today but I need to pay for my treatment as well. I hope you will understand my situation too."

Our landlady finally gave in and allowed me to pay without a penalty until next week. I'm glad my small skit works.

The smell of ramyeon hits my nose as soon as I went inside our studio apartment. Jungkook is in his bed eating noodles and doing his homework.

"How's school?" I asked removing the earbuds from his ear.

"What happened to you?" He quickly stands up inspecting my arms and cheek. "Did you fall from your bike? What happened?"

"I'm okay. I just had a little accident earlier." I opened my backpack and placed the food containers on Jungkook's bed. I sat down on the floor and opened them.

"You're not yet answering my question." I avoided Jungkook's eyes. I know him. He will surely flip once he learned about what happened.

"Kookie, I'm okay. Nothing serious hap--"

"Can you just answer my question and stop saying lies? Who did that?!" He starts to raise his voice and I know that everything will blow up if I will not answer his question.

"No one, okay? It's an accident. A car hit my bike. They gave me cash to compensate for all the trouble they gave me. They even offered to bring me to the hospital but I refused. So stop worrying. It's just a scratch. I am perfectly fine."

Jungkook's forehead wrinkled. "Can you please take care of yourself? Or are you daydreaming again?"

"I'm not.  And yes, I will take care of myself. Thank you." I gave a piece of tacos Jungkook to stop him from scolding me.

"This one is different from the food you're bringing home every night. What happened to the timeless beef stew and sweet and sour pork?" Jungkook teased. It's true, the food that I always bring home every night usually comes from the unserved foods from the kitchen. Today, this is out of the menu so it's special.

"Jimin gave me an extra job where I get to cook a special menu." I am proud of it. I love to cook homemade meals but since Jimin already hired a chef, I can only work as a waiter. But through this special job, I get to do what I love.

"Jimin is a good friend. He's giving you lots of opportunities. Right?" Jungkook said, almost inaudible because of the mouthful of tacos.

I cannot agree more. "He is. If not because of him, I wonder where are we now. I bet you're out of school."

"Don't worry Hyung, once I graduate I will find a job then I will send you to school." Jungkook sits beside me and leans his head on my shoulder.

All I can do is roll my eyes at that statement.

"How's Jimin Hyung by the way? Is he okay? Is he dating?"

I know Jungkook has a huge crush on my best friend but how can I say now that Jimin has been crushing on someone else? "That's why you're being nice because you wanted to know how's Jimin doing."

Jungkook scratches the back of his head, shy. "You know that I like him."

"He's older than you." I tried shifting his interest.

"Does it matter?" He puts some more tacos inside his mouth. "Once I finished my studies, I will face him and will ask him out."

I chuckled at his 'goal' in life. "I thought you will send me to school?"

"Of course, I will do that. But I will ask Jimin for a date too."

I just shrug. Maybe one day, he will forget all the puppy love he has for Jimin once he met someone from school or from wherever he would work for. "For now, focus more on your college and graduate fast."

I often do not notice the time. Every night, I am busy computing our expenses, budgeting my salary, and accepting research jobs from high school students.

Tonight, I am busy researching and preparing menus to cook for the following days. And thinking of what message to write for tomorrow. On top of that, I hope to meet Jimin's biggest crush one day. I wonder why Jimin is head over heels for Mr. Kim Taehyung.