Afterglow | K.TH

Count To Ten

RIEUL

He really is gone.

Jimin's the one who shakes me awake, pressing a finger to his lips as he points at Jungkook. He's asleep, with his favorite stuffed car toy to his chest.

"I'm going to go now." He says, ruffling his hair as I dazedly open my eyes. "I need to be at the café in like five minutes."

"Thanks, Chim." I say, still half-asleep as he quickly waves at me and leaves the house.

"Tell Jungkook I said bye!" He calls just before the door closes, plunging the house back to silence.

Groaning, I stand up from the mess of blankets on the floor and look around the house. When had he left?

Then my eyes catch on the pile of Jungkook's clothes I'd lent Taehyung yesterday, folded in a neat pile next to the drawer.

And his own clothes are gone from the clothesline.

Yawning, I tuck Jungkook's clothes back into his drawer. Then I sit down next to him, smiling at how peacefully he was sleeping.

At least he wasn't having nightmares.

"Kook." I say, poking him gently on the cheek. He groans, and I giggle when he turns to the other side. "Jungkook, wake up. It's time to go to school."

He doesn't budge.

But then I lean towards his ear, my lips curved into a grin as I whisper.

"I heard you're going to be learning how to draw there toda—"

I yelp when he sits up, getting up so fast we crash head to head. He just looks around in confusion, eyes going wide when he sees me curled up on the floor.

"Noona?! Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah." I stutter, rubbing at my forehead. It was probably bright red— I would always be Jungkook's loving sister, but I really had to admit that the kid had a head as hard as a coconut.

"Time to go to school." I groan, repeating. He nods excitedly, and I'm still rolling on the ground when he peeks his head from the bathroom.

"Noona? My toothbrush was orange, right?"

I nod at him, and Jungkook flashes a happy smile at me. He got this excited when he just heard the word art.

With a towel slung over my shoulder, I walk to the kitchen to fix something up when my eyes catch on an abandoned piece of paper on the kitchen table.

There's a broken pencil next to it, and I look over in curiosity. That hadn't been there last night.

So my eyes go wide when I flip it upside down.

It's a sketch.

It's the most beautiful sketch I've ever seen.

The towel slips from my fingers, landing on the ground with a soft sound. But I don't even notice, too busy looking at the delicate drawing.