SKYLIGHT [Completed] ✅

Chapter 1

Jungkook's POV

Another day, another dismal day in the life of Jeon Jungkook. What else is new? Nothing. I was cold and hungry. I hadn't seen a hot meal in three days. My coat was wearing thin. I was worried about winter this year. Normally I would move to the warmer cities or villages, but I was too far now. I had miscalculated my time in the city and now I was hard pressed to avoid the cold.

Ask anyone living on the streets and they'll tell you, the cold hits the worst. It goes into your bones until you feel like your head could split. And there's no reprieve. You bear it or you die. Simple.

I hadn't chosen this life. This life chose me. I had no other choice. It was either be beaten and treated like a punching bag for the next 5 years or take to the streets until I turned 18 and look for a proper job. But nothing ever works out.

I would get odd jobs now and then but they didn't last. I didn't have access to clean water or better clothes. They knew I was homeless. All I would get was pity and worse sometimes, a beating or spat on. Once a woman in a fur coat and high heels had tried to swat me away with her handbag like I was an insect.

Humiliation. She has been my bedfellow for many nights. I did not ask for this life. I have no one to ask for it anyway. I wish I could just get some warmth but first some nourishment. I'm starving. I've turned to petty crimes sometimes but I hate it. I know it's wrong but what choice do I have?

I saw a woman standing outside, probably on her smoke break. She'd carelessly left her bag on the dumpster out back. I took the chance and grabbed it, running for dear life. She screamed and two of her co-workers gave chase. They got me as far as a fire escape next to a tall building. I took it, three steps at a time, all the way up.

My breath was coming thick and fast. I think I lost them or they were too lazy to chase me longer. When I'd got back an even breath, I looked at my surroundings. I was on top of a new building. Lots of airconditioning ducts and piping up here. Then I saw a faint light at the centre in the floor. I made my way to it and peered inside.

It was a clear fluorescent glass skylight. I took out my pocket knife I had hidden in the folds of my grubby clothes and pried the window open. It pulled back easily. I waited to hear for an alarm to go off. None came. I was safe. It was large enough for me to lower myself through. I fell into a spacious and dark hallway.

Everything was immaculate. I felt like if I touched something, I would taint it with the filth that covered me. I looked around and found the huge apartment to be empty. The furnishings were beautiful but simple. A place I would have liked to live in had I any money.

I didn't want to dirty the upstairs master bedroom, so I closed that door quietly. Not like there was anyone to hear me here. Still, I felt like I was invading someone's privacy. I walked back downstairs and discovered a general bathroom and guestroom. I took a shower. A long, hot and blissful shower. The water cascading down my sore limbs was medicine for my wounds, both physically and mentally.

I cleaned my teeth after months and used a vanilla scented body wash. I located a razor pack and cleaned myself. I found my face under the layers of hair after what felt like years. When I was done, I pulled a towel around me and walked to my stash I had got off the lady.

Lots of money to tide me over for a few weeks. I disregarded the credit cards. A nice looking watch I could pawn for a few bucks. Some family photos and a cell phone. I had seen these. I opened it up and removed the SIM card, destroying it with my teeth. I put the phone back together. I could sell this. Two candy bars. I ate those hungrily.

I was happy with my haul. But my heart sank when I thought of the suffering the woman would now have to endure. The trouble she'd be in to get her credit cards and driver's licence. I cursed my existence but I could do nothing else.

I walked to the living room and decided to kip down on the plush rug in the centre. It was soft and comfortable. Better than the hard floor I was accustomed to. I slept like a baby or as much as my grumbling stomach would allow.

The next day, I trashed my dirty clothes in a trashbag and wore a pair of clean workmen's overalls I'd found in the janitors closet in the kitchen. There was a pair of sturdy boots and a parka. Probably left by some worker and forgotten to retrieve them. I thanked my blessings for clean clothes.

I cleaned up the place and made sure it looked untouched. I took the trashbag containing my old clothes and the lady's bag and made my way out the door. I looked like a normal workman leaving the building. No one questioned me. I walked out into the new day, and trashed the bag, making my way to a corner cafè.

I ordered 2 breakfast specials and bottomless coffee, wondering when I would have an opportunity like this again. To sit in a decent place and have a meal like a normal human being, not being treated like a lepper.

I grabbed the newspaper someone had discarded on another table and looked for odd jobs. With my new clothes and clean exterior, I might be able to get a decent job. I circled a few choices and made my way to the first one, my belly full and my heart full of hope.

Maybe it would last. Maybe it wouldn't. Life never worked out for me. But maybe it would one day.

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Hey my swties 💖😙

Another new Jinkook. I hope you will support and enjoy this book as much as you have with my other reads.

I purple you 💜

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Love Swty 😘