sea-kissed 🌊 || j.jk+k.th

{13} hard work 🌊

As Seokjin had promised, the next day was, to say the least, hectic.

Jungkook woke up early, and met Seokjin in the hotel's hall with a satisfied smirk on his lips. Listening to his list of tasks for the day, he understood that the man definitely wasn't joking when he said he'd make him "work harder".

The boy rolled his sleeves, and took a deep breath. It was time to get working.

The two hours before his morning shift were spent cleaning the pool on the roof -scrubbing, scrubbing until he couldn't feel his arms-, then bending over on the hotel's private beach to pick up all the washed up and thrown away plastic. By the time he got to his highchair for the lifeguarding part of his day, he was already sore all over.

Before leaving the hotel, a woman with a kind smile working at the canteen had sneaked him a lunch to eat on the beach ; she had seen him diligently cleaning the shore, and had taken upon herself to feed the hard-working boy. Thanks to her Jungkook ate lunch sat on the sand, tastebuds rejoicing over the taste of food after hard-work.

But the day was far from over. After a few more hours spent on the beach, with nothing more to do than watch people jogging and walking their dog, Jungkook got back to the hotel, on time.

There, Seokjin was, again, waiting for him. Jungkook couldn't help but wonder if the man actually had anything to do other than ordering him around, but of course, he kept quiet. The awaiting tasks seemed endless : doing the hotel's sheets laundry, going out to buy post-its and paper clips, sorting the wine in the storage room by date... Was there no staff around to do this kind of stuff ? But the boy kept his courage up, and achieved everything with upmost earnestness and vigor.

Arms and back sore from carrying boxes of wine bottles, he showed up in the hotel's hall once more to meet with his sadistic boss.

"Alright," the latter said, "I have to admit, I'm impressed. You've done a very good job."

"Thank you, sir."

"But we're not done here. I've got a last little task for you, and then you'll be done. It's very simple, don't worry ; I just want you to get my usual coffee order at the By The Seaside Café. You're familiar with it, aren't you ?"

"Uh, yeah, but isn't it too late for that ? I think the café is about to close ?"

Seokjin looked down on his watch.

"Well, it's precisely 7:45PM. It closes at 8."

"But... it takes 15 minutes to get there ?"

The man looked up to him with a mischievous smirk.

"Namjoon hired you for your athletic abilities, didn't he ? Now would be a good time to show me that he made the right choice, don't you think ? Run, boy, run."

So Jungkook ran.

• • •

Jungkook got to the By The Seaside café exactly 15 minutes later, as a waiter was putting the "closed" sign up.

"Wait a second !" He pleaded between two short breaths, stopping in front of the shop.

The young man closing the café turned around, and Jungkook recognized the boy he "met" the other day, in the bathroom. This time around his hair was dry, as it should be, kept back by a hairpin on the side of his head, and he looked up to him with curious eyes. He was wearing the café's apron, where his name, Taehyung, was embroidered.

"Yes ?" He asked, showing no sign of recognizing him.

"I'm really really sorry to bother you," Jungkook apologized, "I know it's already past you shift, but I... um, it's a long story, really, but I absolutely have to get a coffee for my boss, specifically from your café. Could you take my order ?"

Jungkook was cringing inside ; he knew how annoying he was being right now, having himself worked as a waiter. But he definitely couldn't come back to Seokjin empty-handed.

The waiter, Taehyung, hesitated. He looked behind him and inside the empty shop, lights already out, and finally nodded.

"Sure, I don't have much better to do anyway. But I think our chef already put the coffee machine away and I don't want to bother hi-"

"It's okay, I'll do it."

Taehyung had been interrupted by a voice coming from inside the café. Another man came out of the building, leaned on the door and looked at Jungkook nonchalantly.