<OST: It's You - Chungha>
Knock. Knock.
"Jieun-ssi, I prepared dinner-" Jungkook said at Jieun's door. "Come out and have some."
It took Jieun exactly five seconds to come out of her room for dinner. She was starving after a long day.
"You cooked?" Jieun looked at the table of dishes. "Wow, after seeing your protein rich breakfast, I never knew you could cook. This actually looks good."
Jungkook smiled a little as he gestured towards the table. "Have a seat and try some then."
Jieun needed no second reminder. She took a seat at the table immediately. "Why did you prepare such a big feast for me?"
"To thank you," Jungkook said simply. "I'm grateful that you decided to stay and help me with my sleeping condition. I promise that I will find out about the cause of my problem and grant you your freedom as soon as possible. In the meantime, I'll cook meals like this for you whenever you want."
Jieun scoffed as she picked up her chopsticks. "I thought someone said no cooking was allowed at home."
"Do you smell anything?" Jungkook asked. "When I cook, I don't cause a smell to linger in the house. When it comes you, though - I'm not too sure. Not to mention about the mess too - I already didn't hold you responsible for the egg whites you got in my sink this morning."
"Oh, you saw that...?" Jieun let out an awkward chuckle. "I thought I cleaned it well enough..."
"Enough talking, dig in."
Jieun nodded as she picked up a piece of what looked like stir-fried spinach with mushrooms and put it into her mouth. She gagged and spat it out immediately. "What is this?!"
"Spinach and mushroom."
"Why is it so tasteless?!" Jieun made a face, trying to get the texture and taste our of her mouth. "Tastes like rubber."
"It's tasteless because..." Jungkook shrugged as he took a bite of the spinach mushroom dish. "Like I said, it's spinach and mushroom."
"Wait-" Jieun inhaled sharply. "By spinach and mushroom, you mean... just spinach and mushroom?"
"Yeah, what did you think?" Jungkook scorned nonchalantly. "I said it's spinach and mushroom, so of course it's spinach and mushroom."
"How did you cook it?" Jieun asked curiously. "Did you fry it with a little oil or-"
"I boiled it, without salt or anything."
Jieun was starting to freak out. "What about this dish over here? Some egg white kind of dish...?"
"Egg and broccoli and carrots."
Jieun bit her lower lip. "Cooking style...?"
"Boiled, plain."
"Eh..." Jieun smiled hopefully. "You're lying, maybe you boiled in chicken stock or something...?"
"No chicken stock, just water."
Jieun was unwilling to give up. "What about this here? Tomatoes and some kind of chicken breast...?"
"Boiled-"
"How am I supposed to eat this?!" Jieun slammed her chopsticks down. "This is a nightmare. No seasoning, no dipping sauce, no condiments, no oil, no salt?! No wonder you can cook without any smell! Jeon Jungkook, what am I supposed to eat?"
Jungkook was eating quietly. "There's some salt in my cupboard, but I haven't touched it for years. It's still edible though, you can add some of that."
"Forget it-" Jieun sat down in her seat with her head in her hands, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. "Just give me some rice. That's good enough. Yes, I'm Korean - I can survive with just rice and seaweed."
Jungkook pursed his lips. "The seaweed I have is uncooked..."
Jieun couldn't believe her ears. "Okay, fine. Okay, just rice. Rice is good enough. May I have some rice, please? I'm starving."
"Well, you see..." Jungkook put down his chopsticks and leaned back slowly. "I don't eat rice, so..."
"No rice?!" Jieun shrieked. "Jeon Jungkook, you better not tell me you don't even keep rice at home-"
Jungkook bit his lower lip. "I don't have rice at ho-"
Grung!
Jieun got to her feet at once. "I'm going home. I can't live here any longer, Jungkook-ssi. Goodbye."
"You have no home to go to," Jungkook said quietly.
Jieun froze and backtracked.
"You did something, didn't you?" Jieun interrogated Jungkook. "If you didn't rent my room, what did you do?"
Jungkook refused to answer as he got to his feet. "Sit down and have some food, didn't you say you were hungry? I'll get you the salt."
"No, Jeon Jungkook-" Jieun shook her head as she sat down at the table. "Don't change the subject now. Sit down and answer my question - what did you do?"
Jungkook slowly took a seat across her. "I'll tell you, but don't be mad."
"I'll see about that."
"Well, to cut a long story short-" Jungkook pursed his lips, getting ready to sprint to his room the moment he dropped the bombshell on her. "I coerced Seokjin-hyung into renting your room."
-•-•-
Ring! Ring!
Byulyi looked down at her phone and sighed. "Jieun-ie, always calling at the right time."
Byulyi kept the last bag of groceries, took a seat at the dining table and picked up her phone.
"Hello? Jieun-ah!" Byulyi sighed loudly. "Wow, you really called at the right timing, I just came home and was just about to call you to tell you what happened. You know, I was at the supermarket doing grocery-shopping, and guess who I bumped into? This is so crazy, I don't think you'll even believe me-"
"Unnie, now's not the time for this!" Jieun yelled. "There's something very important I need to tell you, everything else can wait-"
Ding! Dong!
"Oh-?" Byulyi got to her feet quickly. "Jieun-ah, hold on, alright? I think my new housemate is here, I'll call you back in a bit!"
"Unnie, no-"
Beep.
Byulyi skipped over to the door and unlocked it at once. She pulled open the door with a big smile, but when she saw who the person was, she slammed the door close once more.
It couldn't be.
Byulyi peeked through the doorhole to confirm that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. And they weren't. It was really him. Byulyi's biggest nemesis.
Kim Seokjin.
"No need to call the landlady to confirm!" Seokjin yelled. "Yes, your new housemate is me, Moon Byulyi-ssi. I am moving in today."
Byulyi didn't want to believe it at all.
Knock. Knock.
"Can you open the door for me, please?" Seokjin shouted. "I'm carrying a lot of things... and a 600 won tomato."
Byulyi's insides boiled as she ripped the door open once more. "You stupid piece of-"
"There we go-" Seokjin dumped a plastic bag of things into Byulyi's arms as he squeezed past her into the apartment. "Thank you for your help."
"You-" Byulyi dumped his things onto the ground as the door slammed shut behind them. "What are you doing here? Why are you my tenant? Why would you-"
"Where can I put my stuff?" Seokjin raised his eyebrows as he spotted Jieun's name on one of the doors. "Ah, there. Jieun's room. That's gonna be mine from now."
"No, wait-" Byulyi ran in front of Seokjin and blocked his way from entering Jieun's room. "You haven't answered me! What are you doing here? What is your motive? Why here, of all places?"
"I just wanted to live here, am I not allowed to?" Seokjin shoved Byulyi aside and entered the room, dumpling his bag at one corner as he took a seat on the bed. "Ah, it's nice and cozy. Not bad."
"It can't be that simple-" Byulyi insisted as she folded her arms. "Why would you pay twice the usual rent just to get Jieun's room?"
"I don't know-" Seokjin shrugged. "Maybe because I came that time and I saw how nice it was? I was looking for a house to stay at then, and I fell in love with it. When I found out that Jieun-ie was moving out to stay with our JK, I decided to rent her room."
"Lies."
"Yeah, those were lies-" Seokjin finally admitted with a shrug. "Okay, I'll tell you the truth - it's gonna be out soon anyway. Jeon Jungkook asked me to live here - he paid for 75% of my rent, so why not? Can you leave me alone now? I'm sleepy, I wanna rest. Goodnight."
Byulyi stared at Seokjin with her eyes wide open and her jaws on the ground, not knowing what to say or how to react as Seokjin lay down in bed, closed his eyes and tried to sleep.
-•-•-
"Try this too-" Jennie shoved another free sample into Yoongi's mouth. "This bulgogi beef is good, I tried this exact same brand a long time ago when I came here."
"Why are you feeding me all these things-" Yoongi shielded his face with his hands. "Are you sure we're even allowed to have this much samples?"
"Yeah, yeah, we can-" Jennie assured him. "I used to come here during my rookie days and get my fill of these things. Tonight, you can have this for dinner. It's nice, isn't it? For a change, eating something like this for a meal instead of instant food or delivery food?"
Yoongi didn't answer her question as he put his mask back on once more. "Hurry up and get the stuff you need."
"Ah! Tofu!" Jennie smiled as she picked up a packet of tofu. "I needed this. Tofu is the best for diet, oppa."
"So far you've only gotten tofu, chicken breast, cucumbers, kimchi and spam-" Yoongi glanced into their trolley. "Your diet is really clean, huh."
"Oh, the kimchi and spam isn't even for me-" Jennie laughed. "I got them for you, I'll cook it for you one day, to thank you for coming to shop for groceries with me."
"That won't be necessary-"
"I insist, Yoongi-ssi-" Jennie hesitated. "No, Yoongi-oppa, we're friends, aren't we?"
Yoongi completely ignored Jennie's question once more. "But I don't think you can gain weight that easily from eating kimchi or spam though? I eat unhealthy food on a daily basis but I don't look like I put on that much weight in the mirror."
"Maybe you're naturally skinny, oppa-" Jennie commented. "But for us actresses, dancers, models, artists, celebrities - especially females - every gram matters. We need to go on camera everyday - every single gram counts, the whole world can see it. That week I ate ramen and those salty food at your house, I put on about 1 kg. I almost got scolded by my sajang-nim, I need to cut down again."
"That's rough," Yoongi said with a sigh. "Pizza is the best."
"Right?" Jennie beamed, as she thought of an idea all of a sudden. "Pizza or chicken, oppa? 1... 2... 3!"
"Pizza."
"Pizza!" Jennie said at the same time, and a fascinated expression spread across her face. "Exactly! Pizza! What was that Jeon Jungkook thinking earlier, for goodness' sake... What about... dip or pour? 1... 2... 3!"
"Dip."
"Dip!" Jennie gasped in awe. "Woah, daebak. What about... summer or winter?"
"Winter."
"Winter-" Jennie's jaw dropped. "Wow, so this is what telepathy feels like."
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing-" Jennie laughed it off. "Ah- I need to get some lettuce. Can you go start queueing first? I'll go get the lettuce real quick and join you there."
"Mm."
Yoongi headed off, as Jennie lingered around, looking for the lettuce she usually bought.
"Excuse me?"
She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around.
"Omo!" A high school girl squealed as she looked up at Jennie's masked face. "Jennie-unnie! It's you! I thought I recognised you from just now! Wah, you're so pretty!"
This was exactly what Jennie had feared.
"I'm not Jennie Kim-" Jennie waved her arms profusely as she pulled her hat over her face even more. "You've recognised the wrong person - I just look like her."
"No, I'm very sure you are her!" The girl insisted, and some of her friends from a distance quickly came to join her. "You're definitely Jennie Kim, the actress! I've enjoyed watching your dramas since I was in middle school! You're so pretty and slim, unnie!"
"I don't know who that is-" Jennie shook her head, fending off the cameras that they were shoving into her face. "I'm not her! I swear, I'm not her. Please leave me alone-"
By now, a decent-sized crowd had gathered around Jennie, and more and more people were joining by the minute. Some of them were really her fans, while some of them seemed to have malicious intent as they brought up her recent rumours, some of them were just curious onlookers - but whatever their intentions were, Jennie's chest was starting to tighten. With all her might, she tried to push through the crowd and run... run as fast as she could, away from the crowd, away from these people she was so terrified of-
Jennie's vision was blurry from tears as she felt someone's hand grab hers out of nowhere, tugging her into one of the aisles. Jennie didn't know who this person was, but his grip felt familiar to her touch, so she trusted him. She let him guide her down aisle after aisle, bursting out of the supermarket and behind a wall, before she finally had a brief glimpse of his face-
Min Yoongi, it was Min Yoongi.
Jennie felt all her anxiety and fear melt away at once. Amidst all the screams and shouts that were coming nearer and nearer, Jennie felt him spin her around to face him. She felt his hand slip her hat off and behind her neck, before holding it firmly against his shoulder. He used his coat to cover them both, for a long time. They stayed there, frozen for a few whole minutes, until the screams faded away into the background.
Trembling, Jennie looked up into Yoongi's face with tears flowing down her cheeks. "It... It's you."
"See? What did I day?" Yoongi sighed. "Next time I'll shop alone - you shouldn't come to such places from now, they don't suit you."
In that moment, all Jennie felt in her heart was gratitude. Gratitude for this man standing in front of her; gratitude for the fact that he was always there, whenever she needed him the most.
Jennie smiled as she nodded slowly. "Okay, you'll do the grocery-shopping from now. Instead, I'll make you nice food at home."
A small smile played at Yoongi's lips for the very first time. "Okay, we'll do just that."
-•-•-
"Jeon Jungkook!" Jieun banged on Jungkook's door loudly. "Come out right now!"
"I don't want to!"
"Come out and explain yourself!" Jieun yelled. "I won't kill you, so you better elaborate on why you coerced Seokjin-oppa to stay there! Jeon Jungkook!"
"I said I don't want to!"
"If you don't open the door, I'm gonna leave right now!" Jieun threatened. "Then no one will help you fall asleep tonight. Is that what you want?"
Click!
The door opened and Jungkook emerged, but he was instantly greeted by a kick in his shin as Jieun wrestled him into his room. In the frenzy, the both of them fell onto the bed and Jungkook very quickly managed to subdue Jieun and pin her down onto his bed.
"Ya!" Jieun thrashed around. "Let go!"
"See? I knew this was going to happen-" Jungkook said. "You said you weren't gonna kill me!"
"Let go!"
"I'll let go as long as you promise to be calm."
"I'll be calm."
Finally, Jieun stopped thrashing around and Jungkook let go of her slowly. She sat on his bed for a while, massaging her wrists with a frown on her face.
"I know you learnt Taekwondo-" Jieun muttered under her breath. "But this is too much."
Jungkook stood above her, with his arms folded. "I'll explain why I did that, if you promise to be quiet from start to finish."
Jieun zipped her mouth up at once.
"It's true that I asked Seokjin-hyung to stay there so that you'll have no place to return to-" Jungkook began. "And it's also true that I did subsidise a good portion of the jacked up rent-"
Jieun's eyes flared.
"Hold on, hold on!" Jungkook held up his hands defensively. "Don't get worked up yet! But I didn't pay the full fees, and I'm also not the one living there - so I didn't lie back then when you asked me if I was the one who rented your room and I said no."
Jieun took a deep breath and calmed down a little.
"As for why I did that-" Jungkook shrugged. "It's not that I didn't trust you - well, actually - it is. You know how untrustworthy I am of people - I'm still trying my best to trust people, so it took a lot of effort for me to decide that I wanted you to stay with me and help me. But I was really afraid that you'd change your mind halfway, that's why I thought that by putting someone in your place, you'd no longer have somewhere to turn to, and you'd have no choice but to stay on with me for as long as I need."
"Are you done?" Jieun asked. "Can I talk now?"
Jungkook nodded.
"I understand that you're still suspicious of me-" Jieun acknowledged, because he had a very good reason to. "But forcing someone to do something your is not okay. I would stay here and fulfil my duties even if you got rid of my way out."
"Okay..." Jungkook hesitated a little. "Fine, I'm... sorry."
"Okay, I forgive you-" Jieun said, aware that he had every reason to be suspicious of her, after all. "I promise I'll stay here for at least the next one month, so can you ask Seokjin-oppa to move out now? I'm sure my unnie feels uncomfortable living with a guy, especially him in particular."
"Well, I would tell him to move out-" Jungkook chuckled nervously. "Except that Seokjin-hyung was really looking for a new house too, and..."
"And...?"
"And the rent for the next one month has been paid-" Jungkook pursed his lips. "So there's pretty much no turning back now."
Jieun almost strangled Jungkook, right then and right there.