vớ vẩn 2

chap 22 - I got Soul

Seokjin slipped his holdall bag up onto his shoulder, fixing the thick straps in place to keep it secure. Not that long ago he had found the weight annoying, had noted how it started to get heavier and heavier with each hour that passed when he carried it, but now he was strangely used to it. His shoulder felt somewhat naked without its weight. His hands didn't feel right shoved into his jeans pockets when they should have been carrying a bag instead. It had been just two weeks approximately since leaving Seoul yet it felt double that, almost as if they had been away from home for a month instead. The furthest they had reached had been Gangwon and yet he felt like they had been to foreign lands instead, walked along foreign shores and sampled the air thousands and thousands of miles away from Seoul. But now...now they were going home and the weight of his holdall bag was practically nonexistent on his shoulder.

"What's that?" Jungkook asked in his usual curious tone as he stepped outside the other room, eyes round as he looked at the envelope in Jimin's hands. The boy lifted it up to study it, as if he didn't know what it was too.

"A gift," Namjoon said as he pulled their door close and locked it with the keys. There was a metallic sound as he pulled them free of the keyhole.

"What kinda gift?" The boy didn't take his eyes off the envelope as Taehyung strolled out of the room and proceeded to start stretching with a series of groans.

"The check-in lady gave us a gift," Seokjin explained, watching Hoseok also locking the other door up. "She and her church prayed for Jimin and they also made a donation pool this morning, which she just gave to us."

"A donation pool?" Taehyung's interest piqued and if possible his ears would have twitched. He lowered his arms and stared at him with a wide open mouth. "What, like cash?" He nodded as he held his hand out for the keys, both of his friends placing them in his palm. "We got cash off a bunch of strangers? What the fuck?"

"Hey Yoongi," Hoseok said with a grin, "remember when you said-"

"Yeah yeah," Yoongi waved his wrist at this with a disgruntled expression on his face. "I was talking shit, is anyone surprised?" They all shook their heads even when he glared at them.

"I'm surprised," Jimin said in a quiet voice. "I didn't think anyone would do something like that after what happened..." He turned the envelope over in his hands and then glanced up at them all in turn. "I kinda feel bad."

"Don't feel bad," Yoongi replied brusquely. "What happened was an accident, nothing more. If she and her church buddies wanna throw their cash away on charity cases, let 'em. I ain't complaining."

"Such a cynic..." Seokjin muttered under his breath.

"Still, I wanted to give her flowers, as a thank you for the directions," Namjoon explained. "But I don't have a clue where we'd find a florists in this city..."

"Flowers?" Taehyung grinned widely at him. "Nammie's got a crush~"

"It's the respectful thing to do," the young man said as he tried to ignore him, "like Jimin said we caused some shit but she helped us out."

"She called the ambulance for me," Hoseok said with a nod, "and she gave us directions, and now this too."

"We might not be able to thank her with flowers but I made her a promise," Seokjin said as he started walking across the lot, turning to look back at them as he did. "To get you kids back home, and I don't break my promises." He wrapped his fingers around the double set of keys as he walked the length of the tarmac lot in the direction of the entrance building. The road just beside the building was relatively free of traffic, just a few cars rolling down the wide stretch every few seconds. No trucks, it seemed that Dangjin was not a very industrial city for he couldn't recall seeing many trucks passing through at all; mostly just cars and people on motorbikes instead. He heard his friends all talking lowly amongst each other and he stepped up the little concrete step to get to the door, pushing it open and entering the small building.