What was he doing?
He had said that he was going in to get the kids ready and yet here he was washing the dishes instead. He was just all out of sorts. He paused and looked up towards the ceiling. What was that back there? Why did he say that? And those voices. He felt a connection to them but the thought was just absurd! A connection to disembodied voices?! Was he going insane? Had he finally snapped?
"Jin?"
He looked over his shoulder to see Mi-Rae standing there and he broke into a small smile. "Oh hey Mi-Rae. Hope you had enjoyed the food"
"I did..." She gave a nod and took her place next to him and reached for a towel and began drying the dampened plates. "We didn't get much of an opportunity to talk today. How have things been? Namjoon, said you were trying to save up money for your own place"
"Yeah, but it's been a bit of a struggle. I've been considering robbing a bank" He joked as he ran his fingers through his hair.
"Stealing is never the answer to your problems, Jin..." She placed one of the dishes in the rack and eyed the male from the corner of her eye before speaking again. "You tend to wear a lot of pink every time I see you..."
By reflex, Jin peered down at his pink polo shirt and tugged lightly at the collar before letting out a light chuckle. "Yeah, pretty strange right? Since I was a child I always held a strange fascination for the color..." Many of the other boys in school had thought it was strange for a boy to like such a hue. He had tried diverting his favorite to the color blue, but it just never felt right.
"Really... It's been the opposite for me..." She began to rub away harder at the plastic bowl in her hands.
"I had always found pink to be a disgusting color."
Jin's eyes slowly lifted his eyes but kept his line of sight on the soap infested sink in front of him. Briefly, lines formed between his brow. For some reason he felt a sense of hostility in Mi-Rae's voice and it made him feel slightly uncomfortable. But her tone had changed just as quickly.
"But that was just my preference. I grew up as a bit of a tomboy. I'm more into the gold color. To me its more...regal..."
That was weird. Maybe he had been imagining things? "Oh...."
"Hey, how about I handle the rest of these dishes? I think the kids are in Namjoon's room and Ajumma's sleeping in there. They might wake her..."
"Thanks Mi-Rae..." Still looking a bit puzzled and unsure, he turned and made his way out of the kitchen.
Mi-Rae's eyes followed him, a deep frown on her face and once he was out of sight, she threw the towel down unto the counter.
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The young father had entered the room in time to see all three boys sitting on the edge of the bed looming over what appeared to be some kind of book. Taehyung was the first to look up and smiled. "Hey appa, we found a book!"
"What are you guys doing in here?! Mrs. Kim is trying to sleep!" Jin whispered sternly as he entered the room. He grabbed the book and shooed the boys out the room. "Go take your brother into our room and prepare for bed. I'll be there in a minute to help you get ready for bed..."
Once the boys were out of view, he peeked over at Namjoon's mother. She was still sound asleep and hadn't stirred a bit. Light snoring could be heard now that the room was quieter. He smiled, thinking to himself how much Namjoon was like his mother. He started forward but paused when he noticed the title of the book in his hands. "Hm...the wandering poet and the pink princess....pink princess..." He had seen those words somewhere else. Oh right. The poem he read that night. The one that made him cry.
Was that poem inspired by this story? He lifted the book higher to read the name of the author. "Written by Kim Namjoon?" He wrote this? Okay, now he was really curious. He never knew Namjoon wrote books. He slowly opened the front cover and kept turning until he made it to the first page of the first chapter. "Once upon a time there was a wandering poe-" Suddenly footsteps could be heard down the hall and he abruptly closed the book before hiding it behind him.
Mi-Rae showed her face and smiled. "Hey, Hoseok and the others are looking fo-what are you doing still in here?"
"Hm? Oh I had just fetched the boys. Making sure they hadn't touched anything..."
"Oh, well. Just letting you know that the others are looking for you. ."
Jin nodded and walked from out the room and past Mi-Rae. He exhaled once he had made it into his own room and revealed the book once more. Geez, why did he act so jumpy like that? It was just a book. Namjoon wouldn't have minded if he read it, right?
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"I heard that if you pray at Bulguksa temple during a full moon, your prayers will be granted"
Hoseok sat in the living room next to Yoongi. The two were looking over a picture of said temple in a random magazine which may or may not have belonged to Namjoon's mother. While the cheerful male seemed greatly interested in the topic, Yoongi didn't look all that amused.
"That's just a myth though. An old wives tale..."
"But what if it isn't? Ah, I need to go there and pray for a raise at our job..."
"Haven't you ever thought of pursuing another kind of career? How about dancing. You are pretty good at it"
"Nah. At one point I might have thought about it. But after I hurt my knee in that car accident, Im just in no condition to dance the way that I'd like to. Being an underground dancer sounds like it would have been fun though..."
Namjoon sat idly by, not uttering a single word. Even though Jin had told him to just forget about what had transpired moments ago he just couldn't get it out of his mind. He was sure that at that time, he had heard his Eunah as clear as a bell. But...Jin wasn't Eunah. Mi-Rae was. Wasn't she? He gave a hefty sigh as he leaned over and grabbed at his head.
Jin had managed to get all three boys to sit in the bathtub and gave them a good scrub down as they happily played in the suds. After getting them dressed and tucked in, the young father made his way into the living room to find the trio still sitting and conversing amongst one another on the couch.
"Mi-Rae said you guys wanted to talk"
Hoseok gave his lover a light pat on the thigh before rising to his feet.
"You know teachers day is coming up and usually we receive gifts in appreciation from our students."
That was right. Jin had almost forgotten about it.
"Well we were thinking of doing things a little differently this year. We were thinking of having an event held at the end of the day but we're not exactly sure what that event should be. We wanted to gather everyone at work tomorrow morning to talk about it"
"Its not set in stone though" Yoongi intervened as he also rose to his feet. "We still have to get the principal's permission" Again, Yoongi didn't sound as excited and probably was thinking he was better off just sitting back and accepting his gifts. But if it made Hoseok happy, he guessed he could endure it.
The pair made their way towards the front door and said their farewells. "See you guys tomorrow morning. Don't forget" Hoseok urged.
Jin smiled and waved alongside Namjoon and once the door had shut behind their friends, the room grew quiet. The young father looked to where Namjoon sat and felt his heart skip a beat as he was met with the blonde's intense gaze.
"Wh-What?"
"......." Namjoon adjusted himself so that his ankles were now crossed. "My poem....did you read it?" He asked as he gestured his head towards the paper lying on the coffee table.
Eyes traveling to the notebook paper, Jin's thoughts wandered to the night he had spilled tears from reading his poem. Should he tell him? No harm if he said yes. He shouldn't even be second guessing it. It was just a poem. "Well actually I-"
"IT'S GONE!"
The shouting was sudden and had caught just about everyone off guard. Mi-Rae came from out the kitchen, drying her hands off with a towel as Mrs. Kim came rushing into the living room.
Her face was in distraught and her voice filled with heated anger. "My necklace, its gone!" She reiterated, feeling around her neck as if to confirm her own words.
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All four adults spent the next hour looking for Mrs. Kim's necklace. They had scoured the entire household. But there seemed to be no sign of it at all.
Namjoon stood in the living room, hands on his hips. "Are you sure you didn't lay it around somewhere?"
"I told you. I had been wearing it around my necklace all day. I never took it off!" Mrs. Kim huffed as she flopped down on the couch, her eyes shut. "Im not that old! My memory is as clear as ever! Someone must have stolen it."
"Eomma, no one in this house would steal your necklace. And we looked everywhere..."
"Well, not everywhere.." Mi-Rae chimed in. "We haven't checked Jin's room"
Namjoon shook his head. "Why would it be there?"
Mi-Rae glanced at Jin before looking back to Namjoon. "Honestly, Jin was in your room earlier today. He was acting a little strange..."
Jin had remained quiet up until this point. He was a bit shocked by Mi-Rae's words. "Are...Are you saying I took the necklace?"
"Look, Im just saying we need to take every possibility into consideration. "
"Mi-Rae, thats enough" Namjoon stepped forward. "I know Jin. And he isn't a thief"
"Then if you are so sure of that then looking through Jin's room shouldn't be a problem"
"Mi-Rae..."
"Its fine." Jin blurted out and locked eyes with Mi-Rae. "I have nothing to hide so feel free to have a look. Just try not to wake the boys..." He watched as Mi-Rae and Mrs. Kim made their way down the hall.
Namjoon gave an exasperated sigh and stood by the brunette, his expression apologetic. "Im sorry about this. I dont know why Mi-Rae woul-"
"Namjoon!" The young female's voice suddenly called out.
Both Jin and Namjoon hurried towards Jin's room and paused at the doorway. The young father stood, appalled at the sight before him.
Mi-Rae held Jin's pink hoodie in one hand...and Mrs. Kim's ruby necklace in the other.
"Kim Seokjin, how could you...?"
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Life just does not want me to spoil my lovely readers. Sigh. So only this chapter for now. Looks like Jin is in yet another dilemma. What will he do now? Find out later on this week! Oh and dont forget to start voting today (5/1/17) for bts to win top social artist at bbmas! Stay cool and prepare for war, ARMYS!