Chapter 19; Strange, Strange, Strange...

Hope you'll love your little present tonight.

───── ❝ do haru ❞ ─────

Monday, 14th of February 2021:

'Damned freak.' Hae-im spat into Haru's face. Literal spit disgustingly trickled down Haru's face as if it were thick tears with tiny bubbles. It was not only gross but humiliating as well.

'You probably ate Mr Ryu's ass to even be recommended into this competition.'

'There's no way you're winning this competition. Even if Mr Ryu were to choose you, other judges would be way more sensible than to pick a fraud like you!' Mina added, kicking Haru sharply in the shin, and making her fall onto the ground. 

'Gross, lying freak!'

Even Minji and Soojin, her bullies from the facility, came to give her shit. Everyone was gathered around Haru, maybe a bit over ten kids, some of whose names she didn't even know, and everyone was kicking her whilst throwing vile insults at her. 

'Freak!'

'Talentless phoney!'

'You vicious leech, get off of Min Yoongi and Park Jimin already!'

'Nasty bitch! You're not even pretty but, of course, an old man like Mr Ryu wouldn't really give a shit about that, right?'

Haru shot up into a sitting position in an almost cartoonish motion, sweat dripping down her forehead and temples like she had just run a marathon. She took a few seconds to catch her breath before plopping back down onto the bed. She jumped in surprise when she felt something soft under her back.

'Meow!' Yoongi cavilled, scolding his owner for attempting to suffocate him, and Haru instantly lifted her back, allowing him to readjust into a different part of the bed. He rolled himself into a cute ball on Haru's pillow. 

'I am so sorry, baby.' she pulled him closer, snuggling into his warm fur as he began purring. 'I just had another nightmare.' 

Haru sniffed as she stuck her hand out towards her nightstand, clasping her phone. It was four a.m. and she just realised, after looking at her lock screen, that it was Valentine's day. She groaned, debating whether she should attempt to sleep or make some chocolates for Jimin and Yoongi as well as write them a letter or something. 

Haru thought about it for a few seconds as she ran her hands through Yeongi's soft and furry back before standing up with a sigh, occasionally scratching the back of his ears.

Chocolates it is, she finally determined. 

The girl made her way to the bathroom. Yeongi followed her through the darkness, his body was invisible, but his blue eyes glowed so much. He could have easily been mistaken for a real-life Cheshire Cat. 

Haru splashed some water into her face to wake herself up and tied her hair into a low, messy ponytail before making her way to the kitchen. After spending over seven minutes finding a few promising recipes, she got to work.

Haru wouldn't say she was a good cook—or a cook at all—but she learnt a couple of things here and there from Yoongi. She just hoped that the chocolates would turn out good and that Yoongi and Jimin would be pleased to receive them. 

After spending about thirty minutes or so on the chocolates, she took a seat at her desk and wrote small notes for Jimin and Yoongi. She left the notes along with the boxes she'd placed the chocolates in on the counter as the chocolates chilled in the freezer.

By the time all of this was done, it was five minutes past five a.m. And hence, Haru decided to get ready. She knew that today would be a busy day. It was Valentine's day and tomorrow would be her competition day. She also knew that Yoongi would spend time with Haneul after school.

Deep down, Haru was hoping that Jimin would ask her to go to dinner with him or something along those lines, but she was doubtful this would really happen. Whether she'd be asked out or not, she wanted to dress nicely, so she spent a good ten minutes picking out her outfit.

She had loads of time on her hands, why not take it slow?

Haru ended up choosing to wear a draped black blouse and matched it with a pair of high-waisted, tight-fitting leather pants. She then planned to wear some simple black sock boots to complete the fit. However, she needed to take a shower first.  

Once she was finished with all her 'bathroom stuff', had dressed up and eaten breakfast, she gave Yeongi some food and cleaner his litter box. By that time it was already thirty-five minutes past 6 a.m., so Haru packed up the chocolates for her friends and slipped them into her backpack.

'It's too early to leave and too late to start doing something,' she grumbled to Yeongi as she kneeled down and rubbed his back. 'I guess I'll just get to school early.'

After giving Yeongi one last caress, she slipped into a warm coat and exited her apartment. About five minutes into her walk to school, she noticed a convenience store that she had never seen before. She guessed they had opened a new one and decided to enter because she was bored anyway. 

With 'Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?' by Double Take blasting through her earphones, Haru got a weird idea. Yoongi smoked, and yet, he had never offered Haru a cigarette, which was not at all strange, of course, Yoongi wouldn't, but she hadn't asked him anything either. That was the bizarre part. 

And now, she was alone with a song talking about being high. Not that cigarettes really gave you a high, at least according to Yoongi, but she was still interested. So many people smoked and she thought it was only normal for her to be curious. 

Haru walked up to the counter and asked for a pack of cigarettes, but received a reply that she, for some reason, didn't expect. You can't really blame her, even though she drank, she had never smoked, 'What kind ma'am?'

'Um... I don't really know,' answered Haru, kind of embarrassed. 

The female employee chuckled, 'Well, you seem to be quite new to this. I would recommend you do not start, but I can't stop you.' she shook her head, 'If you want, we have a new mint-flavoured edition unless you'd like something different.'

The female cashier was pretty. She had long, golden hair and most certainly was not Korean. She had blue eyes as if she had just come out of a fantasy movie. The woman looked tired, but somehow still managed to look very young, Haru doubted she could have been any older than thirty years. 

Despite her black apron with a logo of the convenience store printed on the left side of her chest, Haru caught sight of the woman's simple skinny denim jeans and red dress shirt. Haru, in her mind, read the woman's name tag. Cashier Arwen Kim. 

'No, no, the mint ones sound good.' Haru smiled, pulling out 15,000 won. 'And thank you for your concern, you sound like a great person.' she handed the employee the money, making the latter giggle yet again.

'Thank you, my dear. I really do hope to be a good person.'

'Um, are you American?' Haru inquired, unable to take her eyes off the woman.

'Haha, I've been asked that a lot,' Arwen laughed, 'indeed, I am. My parents were both American, but then my father got a divorce, moved to Korea and started dating my current mother.'

'Ah, I see, well, I hope that wasn't an awkward thing to ask about.'

'Nah, no way. I love how Korean people get startled when they figure my accent is actually pretty good since I learnt Korean seven years ago.'

'Dang, it's been a while indeed, and yes, your Korean is amazing.' Haru smiled, taking the cigarettes and placing them into her bag. 'Have a good day.' Haru bowed, receiving a small wave from the cashier, then left.

She settled herself outside of the shop, inspecting the pack of cancer sticks. The picture of the sick baby on the pack made her cringe. 

I don't care, being a mom would be a nightmare anyway. 

Opening the pack, she grabbed a cigarette and was soon hit with the realisation that he didn't have a lighter. Just in time, the cashier from earlier walked out of the store with a small, white lighter in her right hand. 

'No need to pay me,' said Arwen as she handed Haru the lighter. 'I just thought you might need this.'

And with that, she disappeared back into the store, leaving Haru with a peculiar feeling in her stomach at the thought of such an act of kindness. Nevertheless, she shrugged her thoughts off and got to the point by finally lighting this stupid roll of garbage up before pressing it to her lips.

She took a deep breath and really, really tried not to cough. Despite her hard work to spare herself some embarrassment, she coughed thrice before gaining back her composure. She decided that standing there and wasting her time, where perhaps the kind cashier could see her, was inutile, so she started walking.

Little did she know, that Arwen was already tittering to herself at the sight of Haru's cute inexperience with cigarettes. 

With each breath Haru took, she got more and more used to the familiar odour and feel of cigarettes. She reckoned that this was what osculating Yoongi would feel like. And it was certainly a weird thought, but she kind of wanted to know now.

She slapped herself in the face. Literally. How could she think of something so stupid? Why was she having so many strange and foolish ruminations recently?

Soon, she was finished with her cigarette and thought that it was no big deal. Haru stared at the tiny cancer stick that burned more and more with each passing second. Then she finally pressed it against a wall and threw it into a trashcan. 

Ten minutes past seven a.m.—still plenty of time to make it to school.

...

It was seven-twenty-five by the time Haru had made it to her locker which left her with over twenty minutes more of waiting for Jimin and Yoongi. She sat against her locker, knees pressed into her chest.

Stupid nightmares, thought Haru. If it weren't for them, she wouldn't be sleep deprived despite having drank coffee for breakfast. However, with all her brooding of anger and disappointment, Haru slowly dozed off. 

A sudden tap on the shoulder woke Haru up from her short nap. She jumped in stupefaction when she realised that Jimin was squatting down in front of her, his head tilted to the side cutely. 

'Usually, I am the first to come. What's up today?' asked Jimin.

'Oh, well, I couldn't sleep and I woke up very early,' Haru explained lazily, stretching a little before standing up with Jimin's help. 'Anyway, I've got something for you!'

She bounced excitedly, receiving a curious look from Jimin. Haru opened her locker, dug into her bag and pulled out a baby blue cardboard box. It looked pretty boring by itself, but Haru had tied a glittery dark blue bow around it to make it better. 

'Happy Valentine's Day, Jimin.' Haru stuck her arms out as she held the box in hope of Jimin accepting it, which he did with pleasure. He opened the box without saying anything, and as he was about to pull out the letter, Haru placed her hand on top of his. 'Don't. Read it alone.'

'Sure,' he chuckled, 'wow! Did you make these? They look good as heck.' Jimin looked up at her, stealing a chocolate from the box and placing it into his mouth. 'Mh! It's incredible, what's the filling?'

'Well...' Haru scratched her head and bit onto her lower lip, feeling a little mousy. 'Some have white chocolate inside, others have Nutella or milk chocolate since the outside is made out of dark chocolate—if that makes sense...'

'It does! I think I got the milk chocolate one, and it tastes great.' Jimin closed the box, placing it carefully into his locker. 'Thank you so much, Haru. You have many talents.' he winked. 'I'll make sure to read your letter at home.'

'It's no biggie, I am happy you liked them. It's nothing special.' Haru waved her hand dismissively, unable to make eye contact with Jimin. 

'By the way...' he walked closer to her, placing his hand onto a random locker behind Haru, thus trapping her. 'I did come empty-handed, but I have been planning to use today's occasion to take you out. I have been saving up for a while so that we could go to a nice restaurant.'

'What?' Haru squeaked in surprise, her face lightening up as it usually did whenever she got zingy. 'Really?'

'Yes, today at seven-thirty p.m. I'll text you the address after school.'

'I'd be... oh my God! So, so, so glad!'

'Great, you're up for some good, old-fashioned stake and red win?' Jimin winked again, and Haru closed her eyes as she sighed.

'Stop winking!' she mumbled, 'And yes, I am always up for meat... and alcohol.' 

This time it was her turn to wink, which made the both of them chortle. 

'What's happening?' Yoongi suddenly appeared, which made Haru push Jimin off of her as she smiled at her best friend in embarrassment. 'Did I hear steak and wine? Ew, y'all literally going so cliché for a second date!' he cringed, shoving his backpack into his locker. 

'Shut it, Hyung!' Jimin wrapped his arm around Yoongi's neck as if they had been friends for years. Yoongi threw him a glare before turning to look at his other friend who was holding a light green box, similar to Jimin's, with a glittery dark green bow. 'What's this?'

'Your present for Valentine's Day! I already gave Jimin his. Also, don't read the letter here, do it by yourself.'

The bell rang.

'Shit, we've ought to go go!' Yoongi said, disappointment clear in his voice. 'Thank you so much, whatever it is, I appreciate it.' he pulled Haru into a tight hug before letting her go. 

'No problem, Lil' Meow Meow!' she ruffled his hair as he groaned. 'Let's run, guys.'

And just like that, they all ran to their respective classes, splitting up into different directions at some point.

As Haru was running to her English class, she abruptly bumped into some tall, skinny guy. She stared at him in a daze, her chest rising and falling from how fast she had run.

'Watch where you're going,' said the guy coldly, rolling his eyes. He walked away so quickly that she barely got to see his face, but that was alright because Haru managed to catch sight of his clothes.

He wore a denim jacket that matched his pants along with some black Converse. Underneath, he wore a dark grey T-shirt with a typical edgy print of skeletons, guitars, random words and red roses. She couldn't deny that his style was good, however, it did not match his nasty attitude. 

Haru shook her head, got herself together and finally stepped into her English classroom.

'Good for you, Ms Do, you made it thirty seconds before class.' the professor gave her a glare of annoyance before clearing his throat and adjusting his glass. 'We may begin class now.'

...

It was finally the end of a tiring school day. Haru was released slightly early from her sewing class, which was very different from her designing class, since the teacher, Mrs Yoo, strongly believed in love.

What did that have to do with being released early? Well, Mrs Yoo said that the students should leave five minutes early and get ready for their dates, which most people found stupid or unreliable.

But, hey, they were being released five minutes early. No one had room to complain. 

As Haru fumbled with her locker, a sudden piece of paper fell out of it. She picked it up and curiously opened it, wondering if it was sent to the wrong locker or something. 

Hi, sweety.

Hope you'll love your little present tonight.

No need to thank me!

—With love, from Mr You-Don't-Need-To-Know-My-Name-Yet.

'What. The. Hell?' Haru cramped up the paper, throwing it into her bag. She felt the speed of her heart accelerate, she just hoped that the note was sent to the wrong locker because, for some strange reason, this note made her feel extremely uncomfortable.

'You good?' Yoongi placed a hand on her shoulder, startling her.

'Motherfucking heavens! You scared the shit out of me, Yoongles!' Haru relaxed against the wall, looking at Jimin's and Yoongi's judgy faces. 

'Sorry...' Yoongi grinned sheepishly. 'Well, I've got to go. Thanks for the present again, Haru, I'll check it out at home.'

'Yeah, see you, Yoongi!' she smiled at her friend and waved at him before turning to look at Jimin.

'I am excited for tonight.' Jimin lifted the right corner of his mouth in a little smile as he threw whatever he needed into his backpack.

'So am I, see you tonight!'

'See you tonight,' repeated Jimin. 

↳ TO BE CONTINUED... ❞

Author-nim's note:

By the way, I forgot to mention in previous chapters that if I use any names that are the same as some K-Pop idols like "Mina" and "Soojin", I am not talking about them. They were just the first names that came to mind as I wrote this. You can imagine them as the characters if you want to, but please note that they are actually not meant to be. Hopefully, this makes sense.

Published date: 3/05/2022.

Word count: 2,851.

—jiminandhisjams