Stranger | Jikook/Kookmin

40 | Last String of Fate

"Wah... it's been so long since I've last come in here," Taehyung voices silently, standing in the middle of the living room and watching the furniture. He sees more than what's there, that Jungkook can tell, because of that special glint in his eyes any time his orbs shift from one corner to the other. 

"Has it been locked this entire time?" Jimin shares his attention between the house and Byeong who is clinging to his leg, reluctant to keep walking. 

"I don't know. Maybe the ahjumma next door comes in occasionally, but they wouldn't deal with the cleaning and stuff," Taehyung shrugs, wiping a finger of dust from the coffee table. "Why would they anyway?" he shows it to them, smiling faintly.

Jungkook stays quiet, watching. There are pictures on the wall, family portraits, childhood photos, all crowded and full of life. On the other hand, flower pots are empty, the carpets are worn out, the fireplace is dark but the beds are made and there is even a dish sitting on the sink of the kitchen. He gets lost in the drawer of a library which contains a monopoly set with gold and silver pieces, a weird object with oscilloscope written on it, and a bunch of carved objects with no clear indication as to what they are.

He is so zoned out that he jumps in place when Jimin kneels next to him with a "ah, you found the fun drawer," remark. "Didn't mean to scare you," he giggles at the shock on Jungkook's face, grabbing a creepy mask from the back of the closet. "Grandpa found this on the street one day and he gave it to me on Halloween so that I could scare Taehyung and my brother."

Jungkook snorts, grabbing the wooden mask. There is no sense of evenness in its proportions, except for the perfect smirk carved into its mouth. 

"Did it work?"

"We were around 10," Jimin smirks, peeping around to make sure he isn't heard by anybody else. "Taehyung peed in his pants."

Entertaining Jungkook for ten minutes straight, Jimin pulls out mystery objects from the drawer one by one, telling the backstory and adding his own sarcastic comments to top them even more. Surprising enough, a lot of the memories involve Taehyung, making Jungkook think about the depth of their bond. Jimin complains about him a lot but there is a deep attachment between those two. They probably struggled with adjusting to each other's puberty and fought a lot like blood-brothers, but ultimately, they have a special connection which is only resurfacing lately. Jimin has started letting Taehyung in, something Jungkook is super excited about.

"Dadaaa!" Byeong bursts into the house and to the open living room a while later, running right into Jimin's arms that swipe his feet off the ground.

"Where did uncle Tae take you, baby?"

"The tactow!" Byeong says with big, doe eyes as Taehyung appears behind him with a grin.

"Tractor," he corrects, laughing at the innocence of the young boy. "I just sat him on the front of it."

"Did you like it, Byeongie?" Jungkook asks, wrapping his arms around Jimin and him both. Byeong nods enthusiastically, bouncing on his spot and shaking their posture altogether.

"I wanna go again!"

"Do you have the keys?" Jungkook asks Taehyung. "Can we make it work?" then he turns at Jimin. "You can give us a tour in the village!"

"Yah!" Jimin pouts, passing them looks. "I can't drive that thing! It's huge!"

"Why, Jimin-ah! We'll have fun!" Taehyung is on board too.

"Dada, dada, pwease!"

When all three of them are pressuring Jimin into it, there is not much he can do but concede, following them to the neighbor ahjumma's house where they successfully get the keys to the tractor. She sends them off with warnings and advices.