red ribbon : yoonmin

two

Jimin looked around.

"Whoever's here...please, stop, this is...beyond intrusive..." Jimin trembled as he stood up. Despite the note that was just written, he grabbed his jacket and walked towards the coffee shop.

He stepped in line once again and waited for his turn. Once it was his turn to order, he looked at the same barista as yesterday and spoke.

"Could I have the special, please?" Jimin asked softly. The barista looked up from her paper and her brow furrowed.

"Park Jimin, correct?"

"Uh, yeah."

"This has been sent for you," the barista said. Jimin looked down at a small box that the woman had handed him. He took it, said his thank you's, and sat at the same table as before. He opened up the box slowly and cautiously, oblivious of his surroundings. He looked inside to see a piece of folded paper. He unfolded it gently.

"Here's your miracle."

To the right of the words was a taped on check for $255.

Jimin's eyes widened as he peeled the tape off of the page and took the check off. He kept the box with him and started walking home with a faster pace than usual.

Once he returned home, he immediately sat down and started writing.

"Oh my...

Who are you...what are you? What you did was so, so kind of you...thank you, thank you, thank you. I hope you're in a good place - $255 is a lot. I hope you are happy and have a good life and everything's going well for you. Thank you, honestly."

Jimin closed the journal and bookmarked it once again. He excitedly got up and started walking to the bank to cash in his check. When he returned, he started to sort out his money. He left out $155 for needs and urgent things he needed to pay. He kept the other $100 for trying to clean himself up.

He walked to a local thrift shop and got himself a blanket or two. He got himself a pair of new shoes, a t-shirt, pants, and two pairs of socks. He paid with most of it with the $14.85 he had remaining in his wallet from yesterday. He barely had to spend any money - thank God for thrift shops.

Jimin walked out of the shop with two paper bags in his hands, feeling good about himself for once. He walked home.

Once he got to his apartment, he set his bags down and sat at his desk. He opened up the journal and looked for another note. There it was.

"Not a problem, Jimin. I hope you enjoy everything you get out of your money. Spend it wisely, it wasn't easy getting it. Let me know what you purchase."

Jimin pulled out a shoebox from underneath his bed that was labeled 'memories'. He picked up a small, disposable camera with a bit of film left in it. He laid his new items from the thrift store out on his new blankets and snapped a picture. With the last bit of film, he took a picture of himself wearing his new clothes. He let the film develop, and once it did, he placed it onto the next clean page of the journal that was marked with the red ribbon in the spine. He wrote back,

"My mystery miracle: here's what I bought! I didn't use all of the money - I still have bills to pay and things to fix. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Jimin picked up his phone and started to dial a number. He listened to the raspy ring as he waited for a voice to answer.

"Hello?" Another voice called.

"Yoongi-hyung! I know what I'm gonna write about!" He exclaimed.

"What's that?"

"I'm gonna write about this crazy experience I'm having right now. You're never gonna believe it! I found this journal at Miryang Mocha the other day, and when I write in it, someone responds!"
"Listen, boy, that's not a poem idea. That's a police report. You shouldn't talk to some stranger like that." Yoongi sighed. Jimin blinked, and zoned back into reality for a second.

"O-..." he stuttered. "Oh. Okay. I'll think of something else." Jimin put the phone down and hung up.

Pulling out his old chair, he sat down and started writing.

" Yoongi-hyung said that I shouldn't be talking to you. He's afraid you're gonna hurt me, I guess. Thank you for everything you've done, really."

Like usual, he placed the red ribbon in the spine of the journal and got up once again.