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Yi-Seo

After having slept for twelve hours straight, I wake up with the hangover of my slumber, still feeling the dire need to romance my bed for a few more hours.

Lying in bed, I groan as I massage my temples and finally manage to sit up cross-legged on the bed, trying to figure out what to do with myself. Getting some breakfast would probably be a good thing to do now, and I decide to do just that.

After brushing my teeth and relieving myself, I head to the kitchen and make a sandwich with the peanut butter and strawberry jam that I had. I make a mental note for probably the millionth time to buy some veggies and cheese and start eating healthy. I hardly have anything else for breakfast these days, but if chocolates qualify as a meal, then they would make it to the top of my list because I eat them all the time.

After wolfing the sandwich, I open the bottle of peach juice that Taehyung gave me yesterday and take a big sip out of it. It tastes delicious, and just as I gulp it all down, my doorbell goes off.

“Wow! Who could that be?” I mumble to myself before heading over to open the front door, and to my surprise, Mi-Yang eonnie is standing there.

She’s dressed in expensive clothes and shoes just like the other day, and she’s carrying a box in one hand and a plastic bag with something else in her other hand. When she sees me, she gives me a radiant smile, flashing all her perfect teeth.

“Morning, Yi-Seo-ya,” Mi-Yang eonnie greets me, walking past me and entering my home, almost rightfully.

“Morning, eonnie!” I smile as I close the front door and follow her down to the kitchen where she’s placing the box and the bag that she brought along with her atop the counter.

Before I could ask her what those are, she begins explaining, “I’ve brought some tteokbokki and there’s soda and soju in here,” she lifts the plastic bag in front of her face, swinging it a little with a naughty smile playing on her tinted lips.

“Thank you so much, eonnie,” I giggle at her antics.

“You can have the soju later. Now we’ll just eat this and drink the soda, okay?” She doesn’t wait for my consent to open the soda cans by tampering with the tabs and inserting drinking straws into both the cans.

“Eonnie, I’m really sorry. I can’t eat anymore because I just had my breakfast. I had no idea that you’d be coming, but I can have the soda,” I send her a tight-lipped smile when she whips her head around, giving me a disappointed look.

“Awwww,” she whines in a disappointed manner, “okay, then, you can eat it later for lunch or dinner. Here, put this away in the fridge,” she lightly pushes the box of tteokbokki and the two bottles of soju across the kitchen counter.

After stowing them away inside the fridge, I join her on the couch in my living room.

“This house was almost always locked up, and this is my first time being in here,” she says, making herself comfortable in my couch. “But, wow! I didn’t know these windows gave such a view,” she turns her head to look at me when I sit down beside her on the couch, her eyes showing an amalgam of surprise and envy, probably?

Smiling, I nod my head a few times. “Yeah, I didn’t know too, but I’m planning to install full-length curtains to cover it up,” I don’t know if I meant what I said, and my eyes wander to the window, glancing past mine and trying to see if anything is happening on the other side of Taehyung’s window.

“Oh, yeah, you should totally do that. There’s no privacy at all with this one,” she says, softly touching my can of soda with hers and uttering an almost inaudible ‘cheers’.

I take a sip from the straw sticking out of my can of soda, and she does the same with hers, keeping her eyes glued to Taehyung’s window, not even blinking, and the best part is that there’s nothing to even look at.

“Where do you work, Yi-Seo?” Mi-Yang eonnie breaks the ten-second-long silence between us with an unwelcome question.

“I had a job, but not anymore. I’m trying to become a writer and publish my book one day, so I quit my job to focus more on writing,” I answer in a slightly clinical tone, sending an unflattering smile her way.

Gasping dramatically, she turns around fully to sit facing me and starts speaking like an animated character. “Yi-Seo-ya, how will you survive without a steady income? You should at least look for some part-time job. It’s fun, and it’s even important to pursue your passion, but you shouldn’t go broke while trying to do that because then the lack of money will force you to find another full-time job and give up on your dreams once again,” her words feel like a shower of wisdom on my parched brain.

Nodding, I agree with her idea as I hold the can of soda tight in between my hands and keep my gaze lowered on it. “You’re right, I think I should look for a part-time job or something. I would definitely need the money down the line because what I’ve saved up wouldn’t help me survive past three months,” my realizations translate into sentences, and I feel a pinch of worry when I begin talking about my muddy future.

“Yeah, exactly,” she softly pats the back of my hand with hers, causing my eyes to lift and look at her. “There’s a job in the community library for which we haven’t yet found a person. Would you like to take it up?” She blinks her eyes which are gleaming with anticipation as she searches my surprised eyes for an answer.

“Oh, that’s-, wow, yeah. What job is it?” I ask her, sounding eager and feeling super lucky all of a sudden. Never before has my timing in life been so on point.

“Uhm, it would be to update the inventory, replace the returned books to their respective shelves in the correct position that they were originally in, and also to do some basic housekeeping within the library. You could go there maybe for an hour or so in the evenings and do it. It won’t take too long anyway.”

“That sounds so easy and fun. Eonnie, I want to take up this job, and if there’s anything else to do at the library, then I’ll do that too,” I eagerly squeeze her hands a little, making her laugh softly.

“I’ll check with the librarian and let you know. As for this job, I’ll put in a word to him, and you can meet him after an hour or so, and he’ll guide you through,” she gently pats my cheek when I nod my head, smiling big.

“Thank you so much, eonnie. You’re really so nice and kind,” my words only make her smile grow wider, and a faint pink blush forms on her pale cheeks.

“It’s really nothing, Yi-Seo. What are you writing, by the way?” She diverts the topic to my story, and I turn around fully, folding my legs crisscross, and then I begin telling her the plot summary of the story that I’ve been working on.

Fortunately, she doesn’t discover any uncanny but unintended similarities between my story and the reality that I’m living in. Mi-Yang eonnie even suggests some interesting plot twists that I could potentially use in my story to spice things up, and after a while, she gets ready to leave.

I give her a few pieces of chocolate in return for her kind gesture because I don’t have anything else to give her anyway, and she takes them from me, giggling.

“Talk to the librarian, and tell me how it goes, okay?” She ruffles my hair as she stands at the doorway, and I nod in response, bowing my head in gratitude.

“I will, for sure,” I assure her, and then she walks away, waving goodbye to me. I also don’t miss noticing how her eyes keep going back to the door next to mine as she takes purposely slow steps until she walks past his home.

Fan girls will always be fan girls.

Shaking my head, I chuckle softly and head back inside. After throwing away the empty soda cans, I return to the couch to uselessly waste a few hours. The moment I throw myself on the couch and let out an embarrassingly loud sigh, my head snaps in the direction of my window, and I spot Taehyung at his window, opening up the glass pane and standing there like a statue as he allows the outside breeze to tousle his greying hair.

It is very hard if not even impossible to decipher his mood by just looking at him because the corners of his lips have this natural downward slope which kind of gives him the permanent poker face. Confusingly, it also makes him look as if he’s eternally mad or sad about something, but the reality could very well be something else.

His eyes suddenly flicker to look at me, and I’m caught staring at him, but I quickly cover it up with a sheepish smile and get up from the couch, almost magnetically sauntering towards my window.

“Morning, Taehyung-ssi. Did you sleep well?” I ask him cheerfully as I push open my window with one hand.

“The meds did their job well,” Taehyung answers softly, hinting that he did indeed stay away from alcohol yesterday.

“How are you feeling today?”

Nodding, he quirks a brow as he scratches the stubble shrouding his chin with his fingers. “Waiting to get done with this forty-eight-hour alcohol curb,” he sulks in a complaining manner, and I laugh softly.

“I’m glad that you care, and this curb is only for your own good. Have you eaten anything?” I ask him, concern obvious in my tone.

He remains silent, making it evident that he hasn’t eaten anything so far, and I realize that he would probably be starving right now.

Would he have eaten anything last night? What does he do for food on other days?

I shake away the questions sprouting within my mind and ask him the only question which matters right now, “would you like some tteokkbokki? I have some, and I thought you could have it maybe?” My question brings a look of wonder to Taehyung’s face, but he stands completely still.

“Think of it as a return favor for your kindness yesterday. Can I come over now?” I ask again, making my best effort not to sound too desperate, and he slowly nods his head in acceptance.

“If it’s not too much trouble,” he displays an apologetic grin, shyly rubbing the back of his neck, and I’m not going to lie, but it surely succeeds in making him look a little adorable.

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Published on : 01/10/2023