A walk to remember || Tk

「Chapter 12 」

Sometimes, when you remember the things you used to do, it makes you wince, and that's exactly what I did.

Jungkook saw the look on my face.

"You don't have to do it," he said, obviously disappointed. "I was just thinking that since Christmas is coming up so quickly and I don't have a car, it'll simply take me too long to collect them all. . . ."

"No," I said cutting him off, "I'll do it. I don't have much to do anyway."

So that's what I did starting Wednesday, even though I had tests to study for, even with that application needing to be finished.

Jungkook had given me a list of every place he'd placed a can, and I borrowed my mom's car and started at the far end of town the following day. He'd put out about sixty cans in all, and I figured that it would take only a day to collect them all.

Compared to putting them out, it would be a piece of cake. It had taken Jungkook almost six weeks to do because he'd first had to find sixty empty jars and cans and then he could put out only two or three a day since he didn't have a car and could carry only so many at a time.

When I started out, I felt sort of funny about being the one who picked up the cans and jars, being that it was Jungkook's project, but I kept telling myself that Jungkook had asked me to help.

I went from business to business, collecting the cans and jars, and by end of the first day I realized it was going to take a little longer than I'd thought.

I'd picked up only about twenty containers or so, because I'd forgotten one simple fact of life in Beaufort. In a small town like this, it was impossible to simply run inside and grab the can without chatting with the proprietor or saying hello to someone else you might recognize.

It just wasn't done.

So I'd sit there while some guy would be talking about the marlin he'd hooked last fall, or they'd ask me how school was going and mention that they needed a hand unloading a few boxes in the back, or maybe they wanted my opinion on whether they should move the magazine rack over to the other side of the store.

Jungkook, I knew, would have been good at this, and I tried to act like I thought he would want me to. It was his project after all.

To keep things moving, I didn't stop to check the take in between the businesses. I just dumped one jar or can into the next, combining them as I went along. By the end of the first day all the change was packed in two large jars, and I carried them up to my room. I saw a few bills through the glass--not too many-- but I wasn't actually nervous until I emptied the contents onto my floor and saw that the change consisted primarily of pennies.

Though there weren't nearly as many slugs or paper clips as I'd thought there might be, I was still disheartened when I counted up the money. There was $20.32. Even in 1958 that wasn't a lot of money, especially when divided among thirty kids.

I didn't get discouraged, though. Thinking that it was a mistake, I went out the next day, hauled a few dozen boxes, and chatted with another twenty proprietors while I collected cans and jars. The take: $23.89.

The third day was even worse. After counting up the money, even I couldn't believe it. There was only $11.52. Those were from the businesses down by the waterfront, where the tourists and teenagers like me hung out. We were really something, I couldn't help but think.

Seeing how little had been collected in all-- $55.73--made me feel awful, especially considering that the jars had been out for almost a whole year and that I myself had seen them countless times. That night I was supposed to call Jungkook to tell him the amount I'd collected, but I just couldn't do it.

He'd told me how he'd wanted something extra special this year, and this wasn't going to do it--even I knew that. Instead I lied to him and told him that I wasn't going to count the total until the two of us could do it together, because it was his project, not mine. It was just too depressing.

I promised to bring over the money the following afternoon, after school let out. The next day was December 21, the shortest day of the year. Christmas was only four days away.

"Taehyung," he said to me after counting it up, "this is a miracle!"

"How much is there?" I asked. I knew exactly how much it was.

"There's almost two hundred and forty-seven dollars here!" He was absolutely joyous as he looked up at me. Since Dohyun was home, I was allowed to sit in the living room, and that's where Jungkook had counted the money.

It was stacked in neat little piles all over the floor, almost all quarters and dimes. Dohyun was in the kitchen at the table, writing his sermon, and even he turned his head when he heard the sound of Jungkook's voice.

"Do you think that's enough?" I asked innocently.

Little tears were coming down his cheeks as he looked around the room, still not believing what he was seeing right in front of him. Even after the play, he hadn't been nearly this happy. He looked right at me.

"It's . . . wonderful," he said, smiling. There was more emotion than I'd ever heard in his voice before.

"Last year, I only collected seventy dollars."

"I'm glad it worked out better this year," I said through the lump that had formed in my throat. "If you hadn't placed those jars out so early in the year, you might not have collected nearly as much."

I know I was lying, but I didn't care. For once, it was the right thing to do.

I didn't help Jungkook pick out the toys--I figured he'd know better what the kids would want anyway--but he'd insisted that I go with him to the orphanage on Christmas Eve so that I could be there when the children opened their gifts. "Please, Taehyung," he'd said, and with him being so excited and all, I just didn't have the heart to turn him down.

So three days later, while my father and mother were at a party at the mayor's house, I dressed in a houndstooth jacket and my best tie and walked to my mom's car with Jungkook's present beneath my arm.

I'd spent my last few dollars on a nice sweater because that was all I could think to get him. He wasn't exactly the easiest person to shop for.

I was supposed to be at the orphanage at seven, but the bridge was up near the More head City port, and I had to wait until an outbound freighter slowly made its way down the channel. As a result, I arrived a few minutes late.

The front door was already locked by that time, and I had to pound on it until Mr. Jenkins finally heard me.

He fiddled through his set of keys until he found the right one, and a moment later he opened the door. I stepped inside, patting my arms to ward off the chill.

"Ah . . . you're here," he said happily. "We've been waiting for you. C'mon, I'll take you to where everyone is."

He led me down the hall to the rec room, the same place I'd been before. I paused for just a moment to exhale deeply before finally heading in.

It was even better than I'd imagined.

End of 12

♡

A/n- That was so sweet of Taehyung to do!
I forgot to update on regular schedule. So sorry today was hectic.