12
Being Human
...
What on earth was I thinking?
Yeah lets run away to Korea, that'll solve all my problems.
I sloppily step through my apartment like a cave woman, blanket draped over my shoulders, tissue box in hand. My freezing endeavour last night sparked up a party for the pathogens in my body, and now I have a cold.
At first I tried to fight it like I always do, popped a couple of pills, ate a large bowl of peas, drank a lot of green tea.
But... *sigh* - What's the point? I have a cold, so I have a cold. It's not going anywhere.
Neither is that court sentence.
Although it's exhausting to admit it to myself, Luise's news will be the most dominant thing on my mind for god knows how long. The last three months were a nice vacation from those thoughts, if anything.
I should just enjoy my life here while I still can.
And, like I said, nothing's going to change right now. So, I'll get back to work.
Hurdle number one. I open the curtains to a pleasant yet irritating shock.
It's snowing. Hard.
I do a diagnostic check on my body. Nose is running, head is aching, throat is scratching.
I don't want to.
I call Jinseo, she answers straight away, "Luna! Did you see your email! I'm so glad, I didn't want to go outside in this weather."
"What email?" I cough out the question as I open my laptop,
"Because of the snow, we don't have to go in!"
Oh, that email... I was too busy crying to check my emails.
"Oh-" *cough* "thats great!"
"Oh no, Luna you're sick. I knew you looked awful last night." I can hear the worry in her voice,
"No no Jin I'm fine-"
"You are not fine! I'm calling Kiah, we're spending the day with you today."
Before I can interject she's already said bye and hung up. Persistent lady.
Walking to the kitchen, I figure I'm allowed to have a packet of ramen for breakfast right? I haven't got the mental capacity to make anything else, and I have to eat something before I start crying and feeling sorry for myself again.
Those episodes last a while and, who knows when the next one will come.
As I'm emptying the contents into the pot, the doorbell rings. My body instinctively turns towards the clock, it's been three minutes since I spoke to Jinseo.
What is she? Superwoman?
I slowly move to the door, the thick blanket weighing me down. My nose decides to explode as I open the door, a sneeze blowing out of me as the freezing cold air from outside blows in.
I cave into myself as I blow my nose, wrap the blanket around my body harder and try to see who's stood there, all at once.
"Noona [big sister], gwenchana [are you okay]?" Jungkook stands in the door frame, his blue police academy uniform visible under a thick black coat.
"Eomma [mum] wanted me to give you another heater because its so cold." He walks in with said heater, placing it down before I've said anything, clearly in a hurry.
"Thank you," I sniffle as I collapse onto the couch from the exhausting nose blowing session I just endured.
He's just about to leave when he comes back and stands in-front of me, "you're sick."
You don't say.
I look up at him incredulously, but before I can answer, my face scrunches up as another sneeze fest comes into town.
He keeps standing there, not knowing what to do, eyes wide in worry. When I've finished blowing my nose he still looks perplexed,
I manage to squeak out reassurance at him, "Jungkook-ah, don't worry I've been sick before. You should go to school."
He opens his mouth to say something, hand coming up in a eureka kind of fashion, eyes wide like he's just discovered the cure for cancer. I'm genuinely excited to hear what he has to say, my face leaning forward as I wait in anticipation...
Then he turns and semi-runs out of the door.
Oh.
I'm not surprised to be honest, I'd run away from myself right now too, if I could.
Sighing, I stand and plod over back to my pot of ramen.
A minute later just as I'm about to pour the boiling water on the noodles another knock comes at the door.
Why am I so popular today, can I just not.
I open the door to find yet again, Jungkook. This time it's the slightly out of breath version. He steps in again, thankfully closing the door behind him.
"We have these left over, drink this and eat this," he quickly places bottles and packets onto the counter as I watch in bewilderment, "and eomma is making you soup,"
"Soup?-"
"Do you have porridge?"
"I-"
"You need porridge, I'll get you porridge-"
He turns to leave again but I grab his arm, "calm down! Jungkook please go to school you'll be late-"
"But the porridge-"
"I HAVE PORRIDGE."
He finally snaps out being a busy mother hen, "okay good. Will you be okay?"
"Tokki," he grimaces at the pet name, "I've been alive three years more than you, I'll be okay."
He nods and turns to leave, waving as he closes the door.
————————
Jinseo and Kiah had arrived an hour later, both looking like they had been to war in Russia. They stumbled in, snow adorning their shoulders and hats.
Jinseo was sporting her signature red face, and of course, Kiah's cheeks were wet. She'd attacked the tissue box in my hand and plopped down on the couch, while the other had emptied the contents of her bag onto the kitchen counter, various medicines, drinks and food, including the ever famous dish... Porridge.
----------------------------
Now, six hours later, the snow has finally stopped bombarding the streets and a calm has rested on the city of Seoul.
Through the window we can see that everything is covered with a white fluffy blanket, the tiny flakes reflecting the setting orange sun and glistening. The whole street looks like its covered in fairy dust.
The three of us are sat comfortably, doing what we do best. Reading. Two heaters are aimed at our workspace and a constant flow of tea courses through our bodies.
I had just finished and emailed a summary to Mr Jang when Kiah speaks up, "okay so, why don't guys just shut up and never speak?" She dumps her phone on the table, huffing in annoyance.
Jinseo replies without looking up, "what now?"
I blow my nose as Kiah picks up her phone again, typing furiously, "he said we should go out again two days ago, he seemed so eager!"
She stands and paces the room, "now he's saying he's going to start his military service soon, so we shouldn't date." Her hands fly up incredulously, "he never mentioned anything about the military!"
Jinseo and I exchange glances as the younger groans into a pillow.
She wails, "why don't boys like me."
Jinseo rolls her eyes before picking up another pillow and throwing it at our friend, "ya! Pull yourself together!"
I decide it may be fun if I step in, "she's right Ki, you don't need a man." The sentence is supposed to come out as empowering, but that's difficult when your nose is full of snot. Instead I sound like a middle-aged chipmunk.
Her head pokes out from the pillows, she glares at us before speaking, "obviously I don't need one. I just want one."
Jinseo and I look at each other and nod slowly in agreement. "... Yeah."
We sit back down with a newfound depression. The three of us say nothing for a few minutes, until the front door rings and a voice calls out muffled from the other side,
"Noona [big sis], are you alive?"
Kiah stands quickly, her crescent eyes wide, "Unnie [older sis] who is that-"
She's already skidded over to the door monitor before I've stood up, Jinseo following her. They both gasp at the sight of Jungkook, looking exactly as he did this morning, only now his hair is in disarray as he runs his hand through it.
"Thats Jungkook, the landlady's son." I slowly go to open the door, eyeing them both I whisper harshly, "don't scare him!"
They both nod quickly and take a few steps back as I open the door.
"Ah noona! You're oka-" He stops mid sentence when he sees I have company and said company immediately bow and greet him simultaneously.
Kiah smiles widely while Jinseo looks at the younger with a knowing smile.
Poor Jungkookie.
I turn half expecting him to have already fled the ovary parade, but surprisingly, he's standing there smiling back...
He bows to them both, before returning his gaze to the petite girl who's wearing an oversized sweater and huge purple fluffy socks, looking up at him with her crescent shaped eyes, brown bangs and short bob,
"Mannaseo bangawoyo [nice to meet you]."
---------------------------------------------------
A/N: Hiiii, just felt like I needed a crappy filler chapter before things finally get going.....
I LOVE hearing what you guys think, please continue to comment! Who's your favourite character so far????
Ok here we go, Sabi out - x