~ The delayed flight and the annoying dude ~

"I'm really sorry Miss Song, but the company has gone into administration and we are having to make nearly five hundred employees redundant. I'd love to keep you but it isn't up to me. Head office have said that everyone who has been working for us for less than three years has to go. Again, I'm sorry," my boss, Mr Shiroto, tells me.

So here I am, three days away from Christmas, in the middle of Kyoto, where I'd been working for  the past six months to help the company I work for develop a new merger project with a company in Japan, and now I'm being made redundant.

"So, this is it?" I ask in disbelief.

"I'm afraid so. You'll receive your severance pay in the new year and of course we will put in an outstanding reference to any future employers you'll seek. Please pack your desk, your flight back to Korea is tonight," he gestures to his office door and I don't hesitate to leave.

I return to my cubicle and start chucking my belongings into a box that was left on my chair. It's as if this was planned torture and the fun part was telling me right at the last minute. I remember my family, especially my younger brother, Mingi, being so excited when we found out I'd landed this amazing opportunity to go and live in Japan, somewhere I'd always wanted to travel to, and work on a huge project that could have me set for life, financially, if it succeeded. But luck never has been on my side, not since my father left just after my little sister, Mirae, was born.

I went to a rather sought after middle school and when my classmates found out that my parents were separated, they started to pick on me, calling me an orphan and saying that my dad didn't love me anymore so he left. Single parents were frowned upon in our neighbourhood and when the news started to spread further than school, children from other schools in the area would come to our home and throw eggs. One time, I was leaving the house just as one was being lobbed and ended up smashing in my face, breaking my nose and fracturing my cheekbone in the process.

Mingi became the "man of the house" so to speak, and it was his suggestion that we move to a new area. I, for one, was very on board with the idea and so mum started looking for a new job and a new house for us all.

When we moved, things were perfect for about a year. I had just started high school and I had made lots of new friends. But of course, everything is temporary. One of the girls from my old school posted everything about me on social media and somehow found my username and tagged me. The next day at school, everyone would laugh at me as I walked down corridors and my friends treated me like a disease. Not wanting to deal with the memories of my past, I begged my mum to have me home schooled, which eventually she agreed to.

Of course, the torture continued every time I left the house for a while and Mingi became my protector - his words not mine. Which is why, when I graduated and landed a job at a prestigious company in South Korea, he was beyond proud of me.

I am now back at my hotel, packing my things. Once my two suitcases are full to the brim and I had to sit on them to get them to close, I leave my key on the bedside table for the concierge to pick up later and make my way to the airport.

After checking in and going through security, I shop around for Christmas presents in duty free and then head to my gate. I'm currently sitting on one of the seats in front the gate, alone, reading a book, and I see another guy bounding over out of the corner of my eye. He looks like he's walking in my direction. My thoughts are confirmed when he stops right in front of me.

"Hello," he greets cheerily. How dare this guy be happy when I just got fired.

I still don't look up at him, hoping he doesn't take the conversation any further.

He clears his throat. Oh no. "So," he starts, sitting on the empty seat beside me, "where are you heading?"

I sigh. This really isn't how I thought this journey was going to go. "Busan," I reply bluntly, bringing my book closer to my face hoping he'd get the message.

"No way!" He exclaims, "I'm going there too!"

"Good for you." Can this guy leave me alone already?

"I'm Jungkook. Jeon Jungkook. What's your name?" He asks, touching my upper arm to get my attention.

I turn to look at him for the first time since he approached me, wanting to tell him to shut up but feeling my breath get caught in my throat when I take in his appearance.

"Miah. Song Miah." I feel my mood lighten slightly just by looking at his gorgeous smile.

He goes to speak again when he is abruptly cut off by a pitchy ring on the speaker. "Attention passengers who will be boarding the seven-fifteen flight to Incheon, South Korea. Your flight has been delayed due to bad weather until tomorrow morning. We apologise for any inconvenience."

I lose it. "For fuck's sake!" I shout, slamming my book shut. My outburst makes Jungkook leap up from his seat and even attracts the attention of a few passers by. I start breathing heavily and go into a furious trance until a hand settles itself on my shoulder and I snap out of it and look up.

Jungkook stares at me with concern and then averts his eyes to the people around, a few of which have stopped. I immediately stand up and bow to them, mumbling an "I'm sorry," as they huff and continue walking.

I sit back down and place my head in my hands to conceal my sobs. I'm an Aries, I cry when I'm angry.

"Are you crying?" His smooth voice sounds from next to me.

"N-no," I reply, using the balls of my hands to subtly wipe my tears. I then remove my hands from my face and sigh.

"Okay, so maybe I am crying," I say when another tear leaves my eye. He looks down at me with the same worried expression as earlier and I wonder why he even cares. "Wouldn't you be crying if you just lost your job three days before Christmas and now you can't go home to your family, when that's exactly what you want to do, because your flight is delayed?"

His eyes widen momentarily before settling back to normal. "Do I look like I'm crying?" He asks with a smile.

"Huh?" What is he talking about?

"All of those things have happened to me too, but I'm still smiling."

****

i'm really excited about this one! i've never written a short story before so we'll see how it goes but yayyyy! also this jk is very different from the other jks i've written about. we've had idol jk who i tried to make as close to the real jungkook as possible, superhuman jk who is a tad pervy but all in all a big softie, and pretty soon we'll have cold jungkook adhjksl. so i thought i'd add to the collection by writing about crackhead-energy-but-also-introverted jungkook. et voila!

merry christmas! even though it's not christmas just yet but oh well 🎄🎁