Jimin woke up later than expected. He looked at his phone and it was already 8 O'clock. He was still shivering under his thin blanket due to the rain of the night before, which caused him to be drenched. He'd probably catch a cold sooner or later. He sat up on the bench and lifted up the big painting, the only painting the rain had ruined. Since it was a painting of the prince of South Korea, the painting still looked nice.
The prince was coated in soft and warm colors, and portrayed the emotions Jimin felt whenever he caught a glimpse of the prince on the streets, in the papers. He had yet to comprehend how someone could be so imperfectly perfect. Jimin could never quite capture prince Jeon the way he wanted to, he was never completely happy with the results. There always seemed to be missing something. Maybe it was the spark in his eyes when he genuinely smiled or the friendly aura that seemed to follow him wherever he went.
Jimin picked up his average sized backpack, while leaving his paintings behind, and walked towards the yeongsan river, which was placed close to the park. He took out an old towel out of the backpack, took his clothes off and went into the cool river. He washed his body and hair the best he could, got out again, dried himself off and wore dry clothes. This consisted of: a black shirt, a moss green hoodie and black jeans paired with worn sneakers. He fluffed his blonde dyed hair and sat down in the sun, letting it dry while closing his eyes.
After it fully dried he carried two bags back to his home, the bench he had been sleeping on the past year. In one bag were his dirty and wet clothes bundled, the other was filled with his essentials such as clothes, an umbrella, a mobile phone, money, his apron, materials for painting and two of his absolute favorite novels; 1984 and All The Lights We Cannot See. He then stacked his paintings on a pile, under his bench, with a tray asking for money had anyone been wanting to buy one of his paintings. He started his day by walking toward the local bakery, his backpack hanging on his right shoulder.
The familiar bell ringed as he walked in with a bright smile on his face. Jane, the owner of the store waved at him in a friendly manner and smiled back at him. She was an old, but kind woman in her late 60's. She hadn't minded that he didn't have a roof over his head and he was her favorite employee. She always tried her best to help him whenever his life got difficult and tough, and he appreciated it more than she imagined he did.
He found a socket in the store, plugged in his charger and let his phone charge. He quickly put on his apron and got behind the counter. Costumers came in and out and Jimin observed the way they lived their lives, the way some were in a hurry because they had somewhere to go to. They had someone to meet, someone to get back to which was nice to see. He got so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the taller guy standing in front of him until he heard him scraping his throat loudly on purpose.
"Welcome to Kyo Bakery, what would you like to order?" Jimin said mindlessly, before looking at the taller guy. Once he did he almost had a doubletake. The sparkling coffee eyes were familiar, the soft smile created by the thin upper lip and fuller underlip. The parted black hair, that covered most of his eyebrows; and the cute fuller nose he happened to possess. He looked into those big eyes he never seemed to be able to draw correctly and took a deep breath in. He started bowing, but prince Jeon mentioned him to stop with a small smile painted on his face.
"I'd like a baguette and a cup of green tea please." he said with a smooth voice and Jimin noticed that he literally had perfect teeth, with the front two sticking out slightly in an adorable way. He stood quite confident and casual, with his arms leaning on the counter and his right foot crossed behind the other.
"Alright, yes, a baguette and green tea coming right up." Jimin said with his usual bright smile, but some factors were different this time. First of all, he noticed how sweaty and shaky his hand were getting and secondly, he seemed to zone out more, which he blamed on the prince's pleasant eyes.
He placed the baguette down on the counter and tried to steady his shaking hands while balancing with the cup of green tea. This failed and Jimins shaking hand caused the cup to tilt slightly and he spilled some of the hot tea on the prince's hand, which the prince rapidly retracted. His barely visible eyebrows knitted together in pain and his eyes widened in shock.
"Shit... Are you okay? I'm so sorry, sorry." Jimin set down the tea and grabbed the others hand while investigating it. It only looked a little red, no possible burns were visible. He could feel the eyes of the people in the bakery on them and he looked down in shame. "Maybe you should hold your hand under cold water for a few minutes if it hurts." Jimin thought out loud, but the prince shook his head with a small assuring smile.
"No, no, it's fine, don't worry." he lifted up the baguette and the tea and expertly carried it to an empty table. Jimin didn't dare to look in his direction again.
He was beyond ashamed of himself. He knew he was a quite clumsy person, but to have spilled tea on the person he had looked the most up to was quite the embarrassment. He was leaning with his elbows on the counter while covering his eyes, trying to erase the moment. However, the prince appeared in front of him again.
"How can I be at your service?" Jimin asked politely, while prince Jeon chuckled and got out his wallet. He pressed about ₩ 70.000 ( € 50 ) in Jimin's hand and winked.
"I forgot to tip you, have a nice day." and with these words he walked out of the shop, leaving a shocked Jimin behind.
✽ . ✽ . ✽
After work Jimin decided to visit his sister. It was a hell of a walk, although definitely worth it. His sister meant the world to him, she'd done a lot for him, too much even. She even offered him to live in her apartment but he couldn't accept it. She was struggling so much already on her own, so he only took up the offer at really extremely cold days at winter time. He knocked twice on her apartment door and she peeked out her head.
"Jimin!" she shouted and attacked him with a hug and fluffed up his soft hair. "Jee, I missed you." he responded and hugged her back.
"Missed you too little fighter, come in, come in." she said and he followed her into the tiny apartment. She prepared something to drink and eat and observed him.
"Did you know prince Jeon is having a ball this sunday at the palace? Everyone is invited." Jimins ears perked up by those words. He eyed his sister wary. "A ball? Why would he have a ball?"
"Rumor says he's looking for a girl to call his wife and his father is convinced he'll find his future wife at one of those balls." Jee explained with a smile on her face.
"Are you going Jee?" Jimin asked, an eyebrow tilted up. His sister wasn't that fond of parties or balls of any kind. The only reason she'd be going to a ball would be for the free food.
"Only if you are. I'm not stupid, Jimin, I've seen you're artwork. You barely paint anything other then prince Jeon." she snorted.
"I do not! I've drawn sceneries too..." Jimin protested, but he knew she was absolutely correct. So he looked up at her with a prominent pout on his lips. "Fine, just don't expect anything. As you said, he's looking for a wife."
