Room 409

Chapter 14

BIGGER PLAN

"Why are you so happy?" Hanni asked chewing on her food watching her brother smile ear to ear. Jungkook regained his composure at her comment.  She rolled her eyes at him playfully and continued eating as they walked home together. They were on their way back to home, both of them carrying bags from a bakery that was only two blocks away from their house. Hanni was carrying some bread for herself.

It wasn't the most expensive but she liked it nonetheless because it tasted like the freshness of nature in spring. Jungkook carried the rest of the groceries and all the ingredients he needed to make dinner. He was going to make Hanni something new.

To her, he was problematic, arrogant, cold, secretive, mysterious, strict but he didn't mind being called that. He had always wanted the best for Hanni. He was the only person Hanni had and she was the only one he had.

Jungkook was twelve and his little sister Hanni was seven that time. Jungkook will never be able to forget the inhumane screaming and fighting of their parents everyday and night . The constant yelling and screaming until it felt like the walls around them would collapse. It took them weeks to even get used to not being woken up by the constant screeching when they were finally abandoned.

One day they finalized their decision, they could no longer support their kids. So they abandoned them.  And Jungkook was left alone with no choice but to take care of Hanni, since nobody else would take care of them. They were 'kind' enough to leave the house in Busan to themselves and leave for Seoul.

Jungkook had no person he can ask help for. He took up small jobs in neighbourhood  stores just to earn money to provide for his younger siblings and himself. But that wasn't enough. Once he came across a running race flyer and the winner would be given a huge prize money. He thought about it. If he won, used it like a miser then it can get them through 3 months.

During this three months, Hanni had fell off the stairs and fractured her leg. Jungkook used all the saved up money but it wasn't enough. He was desperate for money. That's when he met Mingyu. A rich spoilt brat who offered a deal to him. Mingyu would pay for his and Hanni's school, their basic needs and livelihood but in return Jungkook had to take blame for his doings which sometimes involved going to jail for months.

Years went on as the deal continued until Jungkook graduated. He decided things were to be ended and broke the deal with Mingyu. He and Hanni shifted to Seoul where Jungkook did some jobs enough to keep their stomach filled with food.

"oppa"
Her voice brought him back to present. He looked over at her. Her face filled with hesitance as she spoke. "uhm the principal has called you tomorrow in the school" "and why is that?" "I may or may not have hit a student" He chuckled. "Why did you hit the person?" His faced turned back to serious as he asked. "He was stalking me" she replied.

"why didn't you tell me?" He asked incredulously. "I didn't want to bother you with it, oppa." "that doesn't matter" He sighed. She nodded and looked back at the street in front of them. The silence lingered on for a while until they reached home.

He went inside the kitchen and put the grocery on the countertop.  Hanni sat down on the couch next to the TV waiting for him to start cooking. He pulled out all the ingredients he needed to cook and started chopping everything up into small pieces.

-+-

Jungkook met Namjoon when he was photographing Han river one fine afternoon.
The sun shone brightly in the sky, warming Jungkook who wore a simple black tee shirt with black jeans with white stripes on each knee and black combat boots. He was taking pictures of the scenery when Namjoon walked up to him.

Namjoon was quite impressed by the young man's skills that he offered him a job to be a cameraman for his news channel without any hesitance. Jungkook was shocked but he didn't want to deny the offer. Only if he knew what bigger plan awaited for him as a cameraman.