Letters || TaeJin ✔

28. Gift

Taehyung

Jin looks hesitant to come with me. I can't blame him, I'm not really good at making friends.

"Where is Sam?" He asked while removing his shoes, leaving them on the doorway. The house is unusually dark when we arrived.

"He's on a week-long vacation. He visits his family once in a while. Yeonjun, my driver, his wife just gave birth so he's on leave. Yoongi has something to do tonight so basically, I'm all alone."

While mentioning the reasons why I don't have someone with me, I began to prepare the dining table. We will share the meal Chim sent for me.

"Do you know how to cook?" I asked to lessen his tension. I'm not sure if he's nervous around me or I'm making him nervous.

He nods. "I always cook for my younger brother."

"Mmmm... Juice, water, soda?" I rummaged my fridge and picked everything so he won't have to choose. Placing them on the table so we can start eating.

"Are you always alone? I mean, apart from Sam, do you live here alone?" Jin's face looks curious. Like an innocent kid. One more thing I noticed about him, he cannot stand my stares.

"Yes, I do live here alone. Mom is dead, dad remarried. Sam is my parent's Buttler. He was being sent to me whenever I'm here in Korea and now that I chose to settle here, he's not just a buttler to me, but like my second dad."

Jin nods while playing with his food. Every time I invite him to eat with us, he's usually quiet and he's not eating a lot.

"I'm sorry if I'm frightening you. I'm not a freak. I'm just not good at making friends." I grinned and I'm glad it made him smile. "Sorry if I forced you to eat with me. You see, this home is usually lonely. Whenever Sam is not here, I cannot eat alone. I don't know, it feels weird eating alone."

"Why don't you eat with your friends?" Jin asked.

"I don't have lots of friends. Even in the states, I only have a few." Like what I've said, I'm not really sociable.

"But businessman like you know a lot of people."

I nod. "I do know a lot of people in the business world but they are one of the fakest people on earth. Well, not all but most of them."

Jin's eyes narrowed. I know he doesn't understand what I mean.

"Jin, in our world, people are good to you because they have their own personal selfish agendas. That is to stay in their position for as long as they can. They need to like me because I can throw them from their seat if they betray my trust. I know that they only wanted me because they need me for their stability. It's hard to find real people there. Business is business. Do you get what I mean?

Of course, there are still good people in the business world but I like simple people more. Like Sam, like Yeonjun, like Yoongi. They are easy to be with, low maintenance, no hidden agendas, I can be my normal self to them, mo pretensions, no bullshits. Sometimes, the people who are the exact opposite of you are the real ones.

And there are times when the person you knew for a long time are the ones you cannot trust. While the people you just met feel like you knew them for a long time that you easily get along with them."

His face brightens and he quickly smiles. Nodding his head excitedly. "That's true. It happened to me. My co-waiter, he is very nice to me. After just days of meeting him, we became really close. I can open up to him like a friend I've known a long time ago. He's so nice. He's now one of my best friends."

Jin is like Sam and Yeonjun. A very simple happy person. They may not have the riches of the world, but they are the most real ones in this world full of phonies.

"You're not answering my question yet. What do you think about me?" I asked again the question I asked in the car.

He looked down, shy. "I know you won't believe me but you're a nice person, Mr. Kim."

While he said that, I noticed that his shirt are almost the same. White, black, and navy blue. Like he only has three shirts. Today, he's wearing a black one but is a bit faded. As much as I wanted to ask, I stopped myself so as not to offend him.

"Jin?"

He looked up at me.

"Do you mind if I show you something upstairs?"

He looked a little bewildered by my question. But nodded in the end.

As we reached my bedroom. His eyes widened as soon as I opened the lights. His eyes wandering around. His mouth is opened as he walked behind me. I pushed the door of my walk-in closet open and his eyes turned even wider.

"Woah!" He exclaimed. His eyes flickering when he saw my clothes collection. His mouth fell open. "Are these all yours? Is this a closet?"

I nod, smiling. "Yes. It's called a walk-in closet."

"Woah! Amazing!" He smiled widely while his eyes scan the clothes.

"I am an impulsive buyer. When I saw a certain design that I like, I usually buy them in all colors available. Like these shirts here. I bought them and yet, I'm not able to wear them all. So they are all unused. I would like to--"

I stopped when I realized that Jin is not listening at all. He's slowly walking inside the room, carefully looking at the clothes folded and hanging.

The smile never left his face. I watched him as he looks closely at my clothes. He sometimes touches some then will quickly pull his finger away like he's avoiding to stain them. I also see him sniffing some of my clothes.

He keeps on muttering words like 'pretty', 'beautiful', 'nice', 'amazing', and 'Woah'. He is so pure and innocent. It's like he hasn't seen clothing before.

I noticed that he took a while looking at my shoes and bags. He will lean closer and look at the details. He is curious and amazed.

After scanning all my clothes, he then shifts his gaze on the glass-encased tables in the middle of the room where all my jewelry and watches are stored.

His face almost touching the glass as he looked carefully at my watches. I even hear him asked himself if it's a snake that is carved inside the watch. And he gasped when he found out that it is indeed a snake. Then I looked at his wrist, he's not wearing any watch at all.

He then looked at me with a very amazed expression on his face. He is smiling wide. "I can't believe I'll see something like this in person. I thought it only exists in movies. This room is so amazing, Mr. Kim. It's actually bigger than our house." He laughed shyly as he takes a look one more time.

I cannot say anything. I don't have any intention to brag my possessions to him. "Jin, these are all yours."

He's surprised to see a stack of shirts on the table inside my walk-in closet. "M-mine?"

I nod. "They are unused. I offered this to Sam but he said it doesn't fit his age so I thought it will look better on you. I just want you to know that I appreciate your hard work in delivering the foods and letters for me. Braving the rains and the cold just to give the gifts to me. I appreciate that."

His eyes look teary as he stared at the pile of shirts. "But that's too much."

I picked up a paper bag and placed the shirts inside. "A hardworking person like you deserved too much."

Jin turns his back and squats, pulling something out something from his bag. He then stretches his hands to me, holding what appears to be an envelope.

"I'm not sure if this will be the last time that I will deliver to you since my boss told me that you'll be meeting Mr. Chim tomorrow. This isn't much but I just want you to know that I really appreciate your kindness." He all smiles as I take the envelope from his hand. When I take a peek, I saw a keychain.

"Just open it later." He said shyly as he picked the paper bag from the table. He then bowed 90 degrees to me. "Thank you so much for these. It's so nice meeting you Mr. Kim."