Route 66 | taekook

03

Taehyung really didn't want to go to work today. He had woken up in a particularly shitty mood and wasn't up for dealing with any customers at the diner.

But alas, duty calls, so he dragged himself out of bed and into the bathroom to take a shower.

After his slightly longer than necessary shower, Taehyung was dressed up and ready for the day. He walked out of his apartment and locked the door behind him, then made his way down to his car in the apartment parking lot.

As he drove to the diner, his mind went back to last week. He was so sure he had seen a mop of raven hair when he and Jimin were talking in the kitchen. Damn, Jeongguk probably heard Tae calling him a brat and other parts of the conversation, too. He felt a pang of guilt, maybe he was a little harsh, but he had been in a bad mood and the kid hadn't made it any better for him. Still, Taehyung felt bad about being so rude to the younger boy; not that there was anything he could do about it now, Jeongguk would probably never step foot into the diner after that night. And they wouldn't see each other again.

Taehyung frowned, 'I guess I won't get to apologize for being a dick, then.' he thought.

He pulled into the lot behind the diner and got out of his car, taking slow strides to the back door and unlocking it. He turned on all the lights, unlocked the front door, turned the 'Closed' sign around and started preparing for the rest of his day.

• • •

Jeongguk woke up at almost 1pm; he didn't have classes today so that meant he got to sleep in, which was fairly rare for him.

He showered, dressed and fell right back into his bed, pulling out his phone. He scrolled through social media for a while but eventually got bored of that, so he instead decided he would visit his mom a little earlier than usual today.

Somehow finding the energy, Jeongguk reached for his keys and made his way out of the apartment, making sure to lock it since Hobi had early classes today, and had already left ages ago. 

Jeongguk was downstairs in a flash, and not long after he was stepping onto the bus, which would take him to Seoul National Hospital.

Minutes later, Jeongguk finally reached his destination and hopped off the bus, before stopping at the small flower shop situated in front of the hospital to  buy his mom some flowers. Forget-me-nots - her favorite.

He walked through hospital doors and went to sign in for visiting hours, then got into the elevator heading for the fifth floor where his mother's room was.

The elevator came to an abrupt halt and the doors opened, welcoming Jeongguk to the fifth floor, who stepped out and walked in long, quick strides to his mother's room. He opened the door to find her as always, just laying there, several tubes taped over her arms and in her mouth, and a piece of his heart chipped away. He also noticed the nurse who was most likely making his rounds, checking up on her like he does with all of the pacients.

The nurse gave Jeongguk a small, apologetic smile, so Jeongguk plastered a smile of his own onto his face, and took a step forward, bowing to the nurse, and moved slightly to the right so he could leave and give them privacy.

Jeongguk turned back to his mother, pulling the chair in the corner of the room right next to the bed, and sat down.

He filled his mother in on everything that was going on in his life, talking about anything and everything that came to mind at that moment. College, friends, his father; everything.

An hour had passed and Jeongguk came to the conclusion that he had talked his mother's ear off enough for one day. He gave her a kiss on the forehead, bid her goodbye and walked out of the room.