Karma ━━ Jake Sim

𝟭𝟵 ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏ ͏͏͏͏͏͏⠀Paying It Forward

Sujin thinks through his words carefully.

"'The bigger picture' being..."

"The people I surround myself with, of course. The person I want to be in the future." Jay replies without hesitation, "The things that matter."

"Mm... What kind of person do you want to be in the future?" Sujin asks, letting her curiosity get the better of her yet again.

Jay shoots her a lopsided smile, "Not who I was when I was in 9th grade, that's for sure."

There's something endearing about this answer. Sujin finds herself admiring the boy's self-awareness and unabashed honesty.

"I think we would've gotten along better in 9th grade, then." She admits.

"Ah, probably." He chuckles.

Jay teeters a little between his feet, drawing Sujin's attention to the large, distinctively-shaped bag hanging from his hand.

"You play the guitar?"

"Hm?" His features scrunch up in mild confusion at the sudden and seemingly off-topic question.

She nods referentially towards his right hand.

"Oh!" Jay holds the instrument's case up, stroking it lovingly to make a point, "Yup. She's my baby."

Sujin lets out a lighthearted laugh at his mannerisms.

"How about you?"

"Me?" She grimaces, "God, no. Put a guitar in my hands and I'll probably find a way to break it within ten seconds or something..."

Sujin has always wanted to be able to play an instrument. In fact, she'll forever hold a grudge against her 12 year old self for being too stubborn to show up to any of her mother's scheduled piano lessons. (Just don't tell her she said that.) It's an awfully cool talent, she thinks. The idea of Jay being able to shred on an electric guitar makes him about a thousand times more impressive in her eyes.

"Noted. Looks like I won't be letting her anywhere near you." He jokes, carefully propping the instrument against a nearby bench.

"Ha ha," Sujin deadpans, "Very funny."

"Why thank you." Jay cheekily grins as he dusts his hands off decidedly, "So - how are we doing this?"

Sujin raises a brow, "Who's 'we'?"

"You and me, genius." Jay pries the rake from her grip with a shake of his head, "What kind of tour guide would I be if I just let you do all this -" He eyes the numerous piles of leaves bordering the path, "- On your own?"

"I thought you were relieved of your tour guide duties." Sujin counters.

"Once a tour guide, always a tour guide." Jay recites mock-solemnly, going as far as to raise his hand as if he were giving some kind of pledge.

Sujin bursts into laughter, "You're so weird, Jay."

"Odd way of saying thanks, but I'll take it."

It doesn't take the pair long to devise an efficient system to clear the pathway at a speedy rate - namely, with Jay scraping up the leaves and Sujin discarding them into the garbage bags. They actually work quite well as a team, to Sujin's surprise. They manage to get far more work done than she'd anticipated; and thank God for that, seeing as she'd thought she would still be here by midnight had it not been for the boy's kindness.

Speaking of the boy's kindness, Sujin also finds herself momentarily drifting off to wonder just why he's been so nice to her lately. She's never pinned him as anything near a close friend - even back when they were kids - and it's simply beyond her how a person could be so accommodating to someone who's practically a stranger.