The time was 7 am in the morning when he woke up for an early morning jog. He was currently putting on his work out attire which was of course, expensive.
He didn't put on his shoes yet since he prefers to put it on the way to the door. He slowly makes his way to the bedroom door while trying not to wake up his roommate who was snoring on the bed beside his.
He silently turning the doorknob and take a quick peek outside. Just as expected, no one was awake. He sighs in relief. He took his shoes and quietly slid through the door and close it shut.
He then quietly skipped his way down the staircase and walked straight to the door. Unfortunately, the door was locked which remind him.
Unlike any house, Maya's doesn't need a key to open the door, it needs a card key. Yes, there's a black shiny like tiles placed under the doorknob where the key was supposed to be. All you have to do is swipe the card key in front of it and it opens. To close it is even more special. It's voice-activated.
Say "Lock" and it will lock all by itself.
He groaned as he sits at one of the living room's couches that's the nearest to the front door. He went to slip into his shoes when suddenly he heard noises in the kitchen. A scaredy-cat he is jumps from the couch and stares hesitantly at the kitchen's direction.
He slowly makes his way towards the kitchen with legs shaking viciously. He gulped. He took a deep breath before taking a peek to the kitchen from the dining room.
To make it even scarier was the fact that no one was there. He froze. Can't be a ghost, can it? He thought.
"Boo!" A woman's voice whispers like the wind in his ears. He felt a presence behind him making the young man jumped forward almost having a heart attack. She silently chuckled. "Surprise to see you awake,"
"Jin." She continued. Jin rolled his eyes crossing his arms on his chest. "What do you want, peasant." Maya smiled. "Morning to you too, Jin."
"It's Mr. Kim Seokjin too you, peasant," Jin said. Maya then walks back to the sink with an empty cup on her right hand. While she was washing the dishes, Jin took this opportunity to scan her.
She was wearing a very simple white blouse with long sleeves match with black pants. Is she going to work? He thought. He fishes out his phone from his pocket and realized it was a Tuesday, the usual working day.
"Off to jog, huh?" Jin snapped his eyes to Maya and saw that she was putting on a white coat. "Working?" He pointed out ignoring her question. "Yes, I'm a doctor by the way so I won't be at home a lot. But don't worry I will always buy you guys some takeout and delivered it straight here if I'm working late." She said while packing all her stuff that was on the dining table which Jin didn't notice was there. Or he just too afraid thinking that a ghost was in the kitchen to not realize anything that happened around him.
"I thought all of you kids would wake up late as any spoiled kid would be, should be somewhere 1 or 3 pm." She bet. Jin rolled his eyes in annoyance as he spoke, "Fine! I go to my room and go back to sleep! I'll wake up late too like you thought I would be!" He stomped out of the dining room.
"Hey, don't blame me for thinking such way, I mean why don't you blame yourself for making people assume the same thing." Jin halted with his back facing Maya.
"Now you know how we 'peasants' feel when you say things that we 'supposed to do'." She continued.
Jin looked down as he somehow fell something heavy in his chest. He didn't understand what it was. Without noticing, Maya walk ahead of him to the door.
*Beep, Beep*
A beeping sound was heard snapping the young man out from his trance. He looked up and saw Maya standing beside an opened door. Jin looked at her confusedly. She then walks towards Jin and said, "Just because I ask why are you awake this early, doesn't mean I'm not allowing you to do the thing you want to do." She flicked his forehead. "I count as your caretaker, not your evil warden." Jin froze in shock. First of all, how dare she touch him! But at the same time, he deserves it for assuming the wrong thing.
Not only that, but a peasant who is supposed to be lower than him is also laughing at him for his stupidity and it makes him even more embarrassed than he already is. He just wants to hide in a cave to not show his embarrassment. "You coming?" Maya's voice brings him out of his trance making the young man look at her direction.
She has her hand motioning to the open door. Jin quickly put on his shoes and ran out of the door with Maya closing the door behind them. Jin quickly sprints away from the house.
"Remember to come back!" Maya teased as Jin's figure slowly becoming smaller in the distance. Jin shook his head in annoyance while putting his earphones on. Of course, he has to come back. It's the only place he has. As the music played in his ears, Maya hopped into her car and drove off to work.
Using Google Maps, Jin went to find his way to the nearest park while jogging.
1 Hour Later,
After a good 45 minutes jog, Jin went to do one last stretching session before he goes back. He stopped by a nearby bench and did his stretch. While doing so, the sound of children playing soccer in distance caught his attention. He looked up and saw children competing in with one another to score a goal.
He's not much of a soccer person but seeing how one of the children almost winning somehow gets him at the edge.
Just one last powerful kick! He thought. The boy did exactly as Jin thought only with a little plot twist. The aiming of his kick was off and it flew away from the goal post. Jin was caught by surprise so were the children.
Luckily, someone came and caught the ball on time. The boy who caught the ball was familiar but Jin can't pinpoint it out since it was far away.
But as soon as the boy walks closer to the same group of children, Jin was stunned. The boy gave the ball back to them with the same familiar warm bunny smile. It was Jungkook?!
With no hesitation or he didn't give a heck, Jin quickly made his way to Jungkook with the same shock expression.
"Try not to kick too hard okay? You might hurt someone." Jungkook bent down as he ruffled one of the boy's hair. The boy nods before bringing his group of friends away. Jungkook smiles fondly at the children while straightening his back without realizing the shock rich spoil boy coming his way.
"Jungkook?" Jin called out. The young boy turned his head to Jin and he was surprised. "Oh, hyung! Good morning." He smiles while waving happily at him. Jin was still shocked that he can't utter a single word. Well, maybe he can.
"What are you doing here, peasant." Jin snapped but Jungkook still keeps his warm smile. "Oh, I'm here to accompany a friend of mine who is a kindergarten teacher. She wants me to help her take care of the kids with her so that she can feel safer in the park." Jungkook spoke. Jin didn't have the mood to argue with him because it's too early in the morning and he's tired.
Jungkook noticed the look of tiredness in his eyes and went to ask, "Come let's sit. You look tired." Jin nods. He follows the younger boy to another unoccupied bench and sat there.
Jin still doesn't like to sit near a peasant so he sat at the edge of the bench opposite to Jungkook. "So, what are you doing here?" Jungkook asked.
Jin scoffs. Somehow he felt offended and thought Jungkook would assume just like his aunt back at home. "Let me guess, you're going to say 'I thought you would wake up late since I'm a spoiled kid'." He said. Peasants are just the same, he scoffs.
"What, no! I'm just surprised to see you here. Is it wrong for me to ask?" Jin looked at Jungkook who was already looking at him curiously as if he did something wrong.
"No." Jin sighs. "Then, why are you here?" Jin let out a tsk as he turned towards the younger with a 'are you serious' look as he moved his hands from head to toe. "Are you blind or something? As you can see I'm using an outfit that's fit for exercising. I'm jogging dammit!" Jin cursed realizing how unobservant Jungkook is.
The said boy shapes his mouth to an 'o' shape while nodding. There was silence kept between them and to Jin's surprise, the silence was not as awkward as he thinks it would be but was relaxing. He finds it comfortable being around him which was the very first time he thinks such way, especially about a peasant. Maybe he's tired that's why he thinks such way.
"Hey, Jungkook!" A female voice called out behind them letting the two look at her. "I got you and your friend some ice cream." Both Jungkook and Jin quickly stood up as she handed the ice creams. "I didn't know what flavor you like so I just chose plain vanilla if that's alright?" She said while handing the vanilla ice cream to Jin and chocolate to Jungkook.
Jin still doesn't like taking something from someone he doesn't know especially from peasants. He really disgusts by it but he doesn't want to make a scene at the same time. Besides, he also doesn't want to be the cause of him and the others for losing their privileges if Maya finds out.
With a frustrating sigh, he took the ice cream from the girl after wrapping another layer of tissue around it since 'peasant's dirt' was on his ice cream cone. He's fine taking the ice cream from her NOT holding it at the same place the peasant was holding.
The girl smiled warmly at him but he just rolled his eyes away. "Anyway, Jin this is my friend, Juyi. She's the one I told you about, the kindergarten teacher." Jungkook introduced but Jin didn't care less as he scanned her from head to toe. Another peasant, he thought.
"And Juyi, this is Seokjin, also a friend of mine." Juyi smiles as she bows politely at Jin who was just staring at her. "Nice to meet you." She said.
Jin scoffs and was about to say something rude when Jungkook suddenly bursts out saying "Oh yeah!" Talking about timing, Jin thought.
"Now I have to pay you....uh...-"
"Hey, it's okay. It's fine." Juyi giggled cutting Jungkook who was feeling bad for not paying her.
"But-"
"I said it's fine."
"You sur-"
"Trust me, it's fi-"
"Maybe I can pay you ne-"
"Jungkook, no-"
"Please-"
"YAH! JUST TAKE THIS AND GO!!"
Jin shouted as he handed her his money so that their annoying quarreling ends. It was getting very annoying especially when both peasants pretend to act nicely with each other. It's all just pretending.
Both Juyi and Jungkook looked at Jin's money before exchanging guilty stare with each other. "Oh no, please it's fine. I mean it-"
"Just take it," Jin said with no emotion as he cuts Juyi off. Goosebumps runs down her spines as she saw his cold eyes and empty expression. She didn't want to trouble him more so she quickly takes the money and bows.
"T-thank you." She said. "I think I should bring the children back now, uh, thank you again for coming here with me Jungkook. See ya." She waved. Jungkook said his goodbyes and with that, she left.
It was quiet for a few seconds until Jungkook spoke, "Okay, now I have to pay you. Right, uh....how about-"
"Don't pity me like how you peasants treat each other." Jin cuts in.
"Huh?"
"And don't act like you feel bad or care. You peasants always use these tactics to manipulate others' minds to think that you actually care but you're not. Even if you say that you never pay back either. So what's the point." He pointed out.
"You peasants are seriously stupid. I mean, what's the actual point of wanting another peasant to pay you back when they themselves don't have the money to. So, please stop acting for the good of-"
"But I'm not." Jungkook cuts. "Why would I act to a person who is willing to give their money to someone in need?" Jin looked at Jungkook surprised. "That special someone is the greatest human on earth no matter who they are." Jin gritted his teeth as he glares at the boys next to him.
"How can you be so sure?! How can a bad person be good when they did something bad?!" Jin paused making Jungkook stay quiet. "You think you are such a know-it-all about life that you want to show it off to my face? Do you really think life is great?" He scoffed. "Because of life, anything that's happy turns to sad in just a blink of an eye. That's why, in reality, life is nothing other than cold and cruel." He added.
The younger just stood frozen by the older's sudden outbursts. "You are the weirdest peasant I've ever met." He sighs. "You're still young, how can you know the world is great when you never met it?" It was dead silence between the two after that. Jungkook was still quiet as he didn't want to upset Jin too much.
"You still gave me the money." Jungkook finally spoke making the older one looked at him in confusion. "You're right, I don't know anything about the world but I know it's a great place. All it takes is for me to search for it in a positive way." He smiled.
"What I know, for now, is that money is everything in the world, in life. It's also the cause of one of mankind's greatest sin, greed. But out of all those people out there, there is still that special someone who is willing to give something that's everything, to a person who has nothing." Jungkook said as he looks at the relaxing view of the park in front of him.
A warm smile appeared on his lips. "Giving money is like the same thing as giving some of your life. If someone, a very special someone willingly giving it away is the kindest and more human than any of us. No matter what they are, good or bad, if they do this, they are becoming a good person. It's like their starting line." He smiles as his gaze still admiring the view.
"Base on your situation now, it's good to make it as your starting line to the finish." Jungkook looked at Jin with a bunny smile. Jin then looked at Jungkook and saw his eyes became crescent because of the big smile on his lips. "B-But, I'm just doing this s-so that I won't have to meet with that annoying old lady of yours." Jin defends himself.
"Yet you didn't take that risk." Jin was taken aback from his words as he looked at Jungkook in amazement. It's true, why didn't he take the risk and not pay for Jungkook or talk shit about Juyi right in front of her? Was it really because of Maya or is it something else?
Jin was immediately slapped out of his trance when he heard Jungkook chuckled. "See! I knew you aren't a bad person, hyung! You're just like any normal human in this world, we all make mistakes." He smiled brightly with his eyes still in a crescent-like shape making Jin froze in his place.
Seriously, who is this kid?! Why is he so positive even if I say something rude to him, Jin thought. But one thing for sure is that Jungkook's smiles hold so much sincere and care that Jin himself can feel the whole world stops and stare.
Stay safe everybody and thank you for reading! Enjoy! - LD