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[4. Empty]
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—One year earlier—
I bang the fridge door shut. It's empty, again. Sighing, I walk to the front door, which I just came through, and put my shoes back on. Summer's at its end and it's visible; it's barely past 8pm and already dark outside. I just got back from school, my first week as a senior ending as well.
It was strange to see Yeeun and Sana again. We haven't seen each other for two months over the vacation since Sana went with her parents to California and Yeeun went camping by the sea with her family. They were both tanned and beaming with glee, excited to share their stories of the glorious summer days with me. Sana couldn't stop talking about the American boy she'd had a fling with while Yeeun nonstop told about how she and her siblings made s'mores over the fire every single night. They didn't even notice that I didn't have any stories of my own to tell.
I start the ten minute walk to the nearest grocery store. Mom's on another business trip, and I've no idea where Taehyung is. Probably at Hoseok's, or Jungkook's. They're his best friends. I'm actually glad he isn't at home. That would mean they would be, too. They can't seem to go anywhere without one another. And if they were all three back at our house, it would be chaotic. They're so noisy, playing their games and whatnot.
The streets are mostly vacant at this hour. Most people are already at home with their families. It's unsettling to know that if someone were to try and kidnap me right now, the only way of defending myself would be to run. I can't throw a punch for my life.
I look around myself. Gosh, why did I have to think like that? Now I'm going to be even more scared than I usually am walking alone at night as a young girl. Okay, Y/n. What do you do if something happens? Run. And if that doesn't work, kick. Between the legs. That'll do. It'll have to.
Despite my worried thoughts, I manage to get to the store unscathed. No one bothered me.
I feel for my wallet in my pocket and fish it out. Opening it, I find a sad amount of money inside. What will I afford with this? I know my card's almost out too.
Comforted by the bright lights of the grocery store and the few people scouring the shelves inside, I take out my phone to call my mom. She's out of town, but she's my mom for crying out loud. She still has to support me.
I dial her number and wait.
And wait.
I dial her number again.
And wait.
And wait.
Shit. She's not responding. I think about calling Taehyung, but if this is what I've got left, he can't have much more. Besides, he needs it too.
I pay for an apple at the register and start to walk home again while eating it.
As soon as I'm in the dark streets again, the rambling thoughts concerning my safety try to corner me again. I push them away before they can get to me.
The walk is over before I know it and I throw away the apple core into the bushes before the apartment complex. My stomach grumbles as I drag my feet up the stairs, unsatisfied with the small amount of food it's received. I ignore it, opening the front door of the apartment and walking inside for the second time the last half hour.
I'm greeted by Taehyung sitting on the counter in the kitchen to the left of the door. He's wearing his school uniform still, black hair tousled and eyes sleepy, drinking a glass of water.
I scoff, "Haven't eaten?"
He lifts an eyebrow. "Have you?"
I nod, just as my stomach decides to grumble some more.
"Clearly not enough." He gulps down the rest of the water, jumping off the counter to check the fridge.
"No use," I tell him. "It's empty."
He hums. "We'll just have to do some grocery shopping tomorrow then."
I can't stand his optimistic attitude. "Yeah? With what money?"
He turns toward me, sighing through his nose. "Y/n."
Now it's my turn to raise an eyebrow. "What? It's not like I'm lying. Mom rarely responds when she's on her little trips. She just leaves us to starve and comes back a week later apologizing left and right before leaving the next day again."
I can't keep the bitterness out of my voice. I'm tired of living like this. It's been years since she got this job and started going away every now and then for work, but this summer it got ten times worse. At least when we were kids, the old lady next door would come by every day to make sure we got to school safely and had food in our bellies. Now that we're older, mom seems to care less.
"You can't say that," Taehyung protests.
Taehyung. My dear twin brother, who has always been the good guy, seeing the bright side of things. It used to relieve me when we were little. He always told me that everything was alright and that we should be thankful of mom's job, because even though we could only see her twice a month, at least that was something. If mom couldn't support us, we'd be taken from her. And that was unimaginable. We had to stay together.
But by becoming older, Taehyung and I have drifted apart and I have stopped believing in that. Staying together? Staying together with a woman I barely even know, because she couldn't find another job that would give her more time to spend with her kids. I can't believe that she couldn't have just found another job. I'd managed to get a part time job when I started high school easily. My motivator was going to university and that was enough to spur me into action. Wasn't Tae and I enough to motivate mom to search for other jobs?
I meet my twin's dark brown eyes. I can see how he wants to scold me for being so inconsiderate. But I don't let him. I turn on my feet, walk into my room and slam the door shut behind me.
🧹
—Present time—
The bell over the door chimes as I step inside the coffee shop, relieved when I feel the AC doing its job. Despite summer being over and autumn having started, today has been an exceptionally hot day. I had to take my sweater off halfway through the day and am now only wearing a tank top along with my blue mom jeans.
I look around for Jisoo and find that she hasn't arrived yet, so I walk up to the register to order before I sit down. It has been a few days since Jisoo and I met at the park and today we decided to start working on our assignment. I have to admit that I have already begun a little bit and have scribbled down some ideas for what we can write about.
There's a person in front of me in the line so I wait for a bit while I scour the menu. Should I go for my usual cappuccino? Or try something new?
"Excuse me, miss," I hear a soft voice. I follow it and my eyes lock onto a pair of dark chocolate brown ones, instantly fascinated by the gorgeous swirl of colors they obtain. I am too stunned to say anything at all. Never have I ever seen such beautiful eyes before.
The boy clears his throat. "Um... hello?"
I blink my eyes rapidly, getting out of the trance I was in. "I'm sorry. What did you say?"
The boy smiles. It's angelic. "Don't worry about it. I can take your order now."
That's when I realize that I've seen him before. He's got dyed blonde hair and a strong build- it's the man I saw the first time I went here. He was looking for a job. My eyes turn to his name plate. It's a piece of lamented paper, not in steel since he hasn't worked here for long yet. Jimin.
"I'll have a cappuccino, thanks."
My cheeks tinted red I pay for my drink quickly and move to the side of the counter to await my order. The other worker has already started on my coffee. It's the same pale boy I saw last time, too. This time he looks at me with a smirk, taunting me for the encounter. I don't dare to send him a glare, worried he'll spit in my order, so I just avert my eyes and pray that I will get to leave soon.
🧹
"Great job today! We got a lot of work done," I praise the both of us as we gather our things and stand up. Jisoo and I have been spending the last three hours at Cups and surprisingly have about a third of our assignment done already. Turns out, Jisoo is extremely hardworking and very intelligent.
"You too! We make a great team," she says and does a little happy dance. I laugh with her.
I pick up the tray with several mugs and plates on it and walk over to the tray stand. Just before I'm about to slide the tray onto it I see someone approach me from the side. "I can take that," Jimin offers and smiles politely at me.
I nod and hand it over, "Thank you."
"No need to thank me," he chuckles. "I work here, remember?"
"Right.." I respond, scratching the back of my head. Before I can say anything else, he turns and walks away.
I sigh in embarrassment and walk towards the door, Jisoo catching up with me. "What was that?" She laughs at me. I send a glare her way, only making her laugh more. "That guy was totally flirting with you."
I frown. "Was not."
"Are you blind? Why would he walk over to get your tray when there were plenty of others there to begin with? He wanted to talk to you."
I change the subject. "Are you gonna take the bus home?" I think for a second. "Do any buses even go to your neighborhood?"
"Ha ha, very funny. And, my brother's picking me up."
"So no buses do go there."
"Shut up."
It's my turn to snicker.
We exit the place and as I go left towards the dorms, she walks straight up to a car parked right outside. She waves at me, "Bye bye."
I wave back, but freeze when I look through the window of the driver's seat and see who Jisoo's brother is.
It's Mark.