Death Formula | KTH ✓

10. And the Second Rule

"Get up! Get up, Soa!" A boisterous sound jerked me awake from my slumber and from underneath my covers, I squinted my eyes open to find Taehyung, grinning down at me.

"What?" I asked, annoyed.

"Come on, get up! I can't let you sleep the entire day." He said, pulling my covers but I was adamant too as I yanked the covers back towards me and buried myself further into it.

"I want to sleep."

"No, you can't. You're becoming lazy every day, now get up I have some work for you." I heard him say.

"But I'm certainly not interested in doing any work," I replied from underneath the sheets, anticipating his response but it never came.

There was a heavy silence draped over the room, a type of silence that grew my anticipation and temptation to peek out. I lowered the covers and peeped out to find Taehyung sitting at the corner of my bed, his shoulders hunched as though he was trying to disappear inside himself.

Why is he suddenly so sad?

I got worried and by now, remnants of my sleep were gone too causing me to be fully awake. I reluctantly sat upright. Albeit, sensing my movements, Taehyung didn't look at me but he indeed spoke in a dour voice.

"You just want to sleep and stay inside this room. You never care about me. You never think of me."

What?

"What are you saying? Of course, I think about you. I care for you." I swiftly said.

"Then why don't you listen to me."

I exhaled, massaging my temples as his voice again felt like an obnoxious cavilling to me but it seemed that he was genuinely sad because of me. "Fine. What do you want me to do?"

The moment I said that Taehyung's head swivelled around to face me as his eyes twinkled with amusement. "Really? You'll do what I'll tell you to do?"

"Yeah," I scratched my head.

He promptly stood up, with long strides he took off lickety-split across the room as he reached the doorframe. Smiling at me, he said, "Then, get ready, we're going to get you a job!"

With my large doe eyes, I gawked at the boy. "Are you crazy? I'm not going to work!"

"You have to!"

"Why but?"

His grin grew broad. Grasping the door handle, he looked at me for the last time and said, "The second rule of death formula; always keep yourself busy." And he was out of the room in a flash.

***

I winced as the blinding lights of the sun, mercilessly attacked my weak eyes that were grown attached to the darkness where I had been lurking for the past few days.

My converse made an irritating squeaky noise on the wet concrete pavement with every step that I took on it. I wish I could take them off and throw them away but I also didn't want to walk barefoot on the murky waters.

I sighed, shrinking my shoulders so that any notorious human coming from the opposite side wouldn't bump me. Shoving my cold hands in the pockets of my hoodie, my annoyed face turned towards Taehyung walking beside me who was surprisingly quiet the entire time.

"Where are we going?"

"To the café. Hope you get a job there." He said.

An exhausted sigh elicited from my lips as I shook my head in defeat. If only there was a rewind button that could get me back in time so that I could punish my past self with a slap right across my cheeks for even considering this ridiculous idea of death formula but I couldn't deny either that the small part of me which warned me with the words "don't do this" had egged me on to ponder more over the help that Taehyung was providing me.

The rest of the distance we covered with a wall of thick silence built between us. It was a comforting silence.

My feet halted right after him. Glancing at me, he again displayed his boxy grin before grabbing my hand and pushing me inside the café with one swift motion causing me to stumble a few steps as I hopelessly tried to maintain my balance.

My lips tugged downwards to demonstrate a frown on my face as I whirled around, ready to bawl at the ill-mannered boy but to my dismay, within the fractions of seconds that he got, he was gone. In anger, I stomped my foot and that was when I noticed that I was basked in the attention of a dozen customers and workers. I etched like a stiff board.

"Uh... Is everything okay ma'am?" An angelic voice diverted my attention from the ogling crowd to a short male with blonde hair, a white apron wrapped around his body as he brandished his tray of cups and saucers. He was a worker perhaps.

"N-nothing. I came here for..."

Wait - why was I here, come again?

Just as I pondered over, reminiscing and swiftly replied to ensure I didn't seem dumbfounded yet I knew I was. "I came here in search of a job."

The moment I said that the plump lips of the blonde man in front of me, tugged upwards to display his beautiful eye smile as he walked up to me before placing the tray held in his hand on the countertop.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Kang Soa."

Extending his hand forth, he said, "Nice to meet you. I am Park Jimin, the manager in here."