The meaning of that sentence was obvious:
Because you are my boyfriend, therefore I bought it for you.
Because you are my boyfriend, therefore I will only buy it for you.
......
It was just a few simple words, but coming from Taehyung, it was like a spell that made his heart tremble endlessly.
Actually, in this past month, Taehyung had already touched Jimin's heart many times whilst unaware.
Like when the two of them went to the Literary Garden for a stroll. Taehyung suddenly grabbed his hand and even justified in an 'act first, explain later' manner that this was "lovers practice"...... By the time Jimin finally reacted, he had already lost the best timing to struggle free. Thus, he could only allow the other to hold his hand as his heart jumped all over the place for dozens of minutes.
Or like, the first time Taehyung suggested that they go on a date. The other had already chosen the time, ordered the movie tickets, and when they arrived at the theater, even bought them drinks and popcorn. Jimin simply passively followed behind him the entire way. The two of them acted as they always did, and despite that being a "date", there wasn't any awkwardness.
There was also that time when they met one of Taehyung's suitors. She stood before them, seemingly wanting to say something, but since Jimin was also present, grew too embarrassed to talk.
That was the first time they encountered something like this after their fake boyfriend agreement. Jimin was temporarily at a loss then b/c he didn't know whether or not he should leave.
At that time, Taehyung said to that girl very naturally, "Please say what you wish to say and don't mind Jimin. I don't keep secrets from him."
Hearing this made Jimin's entire body numbly shiver, and the girl quickly left from the awkwardness...... Afterwards, Taehyung explained that they didn't need to do anything drastic for these minor cases. As long as Jimin stood beside him, that was enough.
There were plenty of such small instances that made Jimin's heart pound. Sometimes, all it took was a single gaze, a single gesture, or like today, a single sentence.
If it wasn't for their pact, Jimin would really think that they were dating for real instead of putting on an act.
And oftentimes, despite knowing that this was all a pretense, he would purposely let this kind of suggestive atmosphere continue out of selfish reasons. Not only that, he would greedily enjoy these bits and pieces of Taehyung's gentleness and preferential treatment, all while remaining expressionless on the outside.
Right here and now though, Jimin didn't know what to do with the heart that Taehyung had sent flying into a mess as he looked at the other staring at himself...... In a fit of impulse, he pushed the steamed bun in his hand towards Taehyung and offered, "Want some?" His tone was very steady, as if what Taehyung had said earlier wasn't "You're my boyfriend", but "Give me some food".
As soon as he asked, Jimin realized it wasn't quite appropriate to have someone else eat what he'd already touched, but before he could take it back, Taehyung already lowered his head and took a bite.
Jimin: "............ "
The 4 girls who'd just finished buying their food had walked over, saw this, and all froze on the spot.
Furthermore, they also witnessed the following exchange:
Jimin: "Want some more?"
Taehyung: "One bite is enough. You should eat the rest."
Jimin: "I'm fine, why don't you have another bite?"
Taehyung: "In that case......"
And then he lowered his head and took another bite. Their gazes met, and after smiling at each other, both turned to looked elsewhere as if embarrassed.
Each holding a steamed bun, the 4 girls all stood there, completely stupefied.
Like, there's no need to be, that frugal, right......
It's only a steamed bun, a measly ₩2......
You definitely, could have, bought another one......
Perhaps due to receiving too heavy a blow, none of them voiced their inner thoughts out loud, and by the time they came back to themselves, they were already sitting on the bus headed towards the old hamlet.
When they reached the hamlet's gates, the group leader Seo Miri called the guesthouse she had made an online reservation for.
Getting picked up in a pedicab waived the hamlet's entrance fee, which saved them ₩50 each.
As they traveled on the stone pavement roads, the scenery on both sides made everyone's eyes light up.
There were stone bridges, ancient styled courtyards with white walls and black roof tiles, and picturesque waterways winding about, creating the unique feel of a small, countryside town.
They arrived pretty early, plus it was currently an off-season travel period, so there weren't many people, making this place seem peaceful and quiet.
The guesthouse Seo Miri reserved was near a waterway. While the location wasn't bad, this was still cheap lodging.
The girls all planned to squeeze into one room with 2 sleeping to a bed. The owner didn't seem to mind since they likely received poor guests who did this quite often.
A standard room cost ₩130 a night, and split between 4, made it only ~₩30 each. The quality-to-price ratio was so high that Taehyung started to question his life.
Like this, ₩160 was more than enough.
"Then, what will Jimin and I do?" Taehyung stared at the price list on the counter. At the very bottom were options for 4 people rooms and 8 people rooms. It couldn't be that Seo Miri wanted them to go with that?
A thin, white finger pointed to what Taehyung was looking at as Seo Miri verified his guess: "I looked at pictures of these online and it's not that much different from our room. The cheapest only costs ₩20 a person, even cheaper than ours. You guys can consider choosing this option."
Taehyung & Jimin: "......"
"Want to take a look at the room?" the owner offered.
When they saw the simple and crude bunk beds lined up against the wall, Taehyung and Jimin's hearts crumbled......
......Why did things have to be this miserable for them?
Moreover, although this looked similar to the condition in their dorm, there was one huge difference. After all, only they slept in their dorm beds since the beginning of school, but these beds changed owners on a daily basis, you know!
Not only that, if they chose this, they might have to share this room tonight with other strangers.
People with the slightest bit of mysophobia wouldn't be able to accept these conditions, much less Jimin, who put great importance on personal hygiene, and "Princess" Taehyung. In the dead of winter, sleeping with covers that some random person just used the night before might just cause Taehyung to break out in another fit of allergies......
"What do you think? I get a lot of college students staying here. The guys all sleep in these kind of rooms and the price is very economical," the owner passionately promoted.
Taehyung and Jimin both looked at each other and saw the objection in each other's eyes.
"Let's look at some of the other choices......" Taehyung helplessly suggested.
...I'd rather go hungry than lower my quality of sleep.
The only options left were basic rooms and standard rooms, but the owner regretfully informed them that the last standard room was just taken by Seo Miri and co.
"Today is Saturday so a lot of college students from nearby come here to play. If you guys didn't make a reservation, there definitely wouldn't have been any openings!" the owner explained.
"There's only single rooms left. It's ₩100 a night and not impossible for two people to share. Some couples like to choose this option." The owner sized the two of them up, then said, "But you guys are both male, so I think you might have to squeeze a bit."
Hearing that they would have to "squeeze" together, Jimin immediately felt that this choice was even worse, but just as he was about to refuse, Taehyung rubbed his chin and said, "This means that each person pays ₩50, which is still acceptable......"
Jung Do Hee then added, "Since you guys can't accept the multi-people rooms, then just settle with a single room."
Taehyung looked at Jimin and probed, "What do you think?"
Jimin: "......" What else could he think? If he refused, they wouldn't have a place to stay.
The group split up and went to their respective rooms to put away their things, agreeing to meet in the lobby in 30 minutes.
Taehyung and Jimin received their keys, found their room, opened the door, and discovered that it looked a lot better than expected.
It was advertised as a single room, but the bed wasn't that small and looked about 130-140cm wide. They had already gotten used to the school's narrow beds, so this was already quite wide.
"It doesn't look bad," Taehyung commented as he looked around.
Compared to Taehyung, who had already accepted their current situation, Jimin's heart still wavered.
He didn't know if it was because the owner mentioned this kind of room being what couples preferred, but he felt that this place was flooded with a dubiously suggestive aura: yellow covers and sheets, a napkin holder with hearts on it, the half transparent curtains......
Just thinking about having to sleep in the same bed with Taehyung tonight, Jimin felt it difficult to breathe.
He pushed open the wooden window and to his surprise, saw that this room overlooked a waterway, and the scenery was quite unique.
Taehyung also came over and they quietly appreciated the view.
Pleased, Taehyung said, "Just like this, it's great."
Jimin: "......"
The two of them took out the things they wouldn't need to bring with them such as towels and toothbrushes, and also 2 of the bottles in Taehyung's backpack.
The girls hadn't come down yet, so while they waited in the lobby, Taehyung started chatting with the guesthouse owner.
Hearing that they were F University students and came here to do an interview assignment, the owner was quite pleasantly surprised and joked, "So you're all talented elites, amazing, amazing! So, who did you come to interview? Why don't you interview me?"
"Sure. You must have come in contact with a lot of young travelers, so if you're willing, it would be a great help to us." Taehyung smiled, opened the voice recorder on his phone, and casually asked a few questions. The owner also replied frankly and assuredly.
Jimin saw how with just a few words, Taehyung was able to become so familiar with a stranger, and sighed at his own inferiority.
By the time the girls arrived, Taehyung had already finished interviewing and even obtained some info about the people coming to this guesthouse tonight. Maybe with the owner's referral, they could interview some of the travelers also staying here, and suggested that they should return earlier.
—
[A small interlude]
Seeing Taehyung stare at the steamed bun in his hand, Jimin pushed it towards the other as an offering.
Taehyung, retorting: No, I wasn't looking at the steamed bun, that was a gift. I was actually looking at you...... Well technically, I do want to eat some, but I want to eat the steamed bun that you feed me, and not some other steamed bun. If it was just an ordinary steamed bun, I wouldn't want to eat it, nor even look at it, so there's no way that I was staring at the steamed bun because I was really staring at you...... Do you get what I mean?
Jimin: Not really.
Taehyung: ......
The 4 girls of room 207: Just let us quietly remain as the steamed-bun-eating backdrop.