Touch Of The Poor

③It's Not Gonna Happen Again

 
Taehyung woke up at seven in the morning the next day to have enough time to get ready and go to work. He wore his black sweatpants with a dark purple sweater, and once he was fully ready, he went to the bus stop.

He disliked the idea of taking the bus — too many people in his personal space. He hated that.

He always thought that when he would pay off his debt, he would buy a bike. But now that he knew electric bikes existed, he would definitely buy one of these.

He arrived fifteen minutes earlier than his shift and smiled kindly to Inguk when he noticed the boy getting everything ready.

"Good morning." Inguk returned the smile. "You actually come to work on time. I'm amazed."

"Why would you think I wouldn't?"

"Oh, nothing personal. Jihoon was just never on time."

"Well, I don't like being late anyway."

"Good, I like that!"

Taehyung giggled at his high-pitched tone and continued his way to the storage room to change his shirt.

 
It was busy that day from the start. They had five new orders in addition to their fixed ones from eight until twelve thirty.

Taehyung got ready to deliver the next package to mama's house. Although he was kind of tired, he didn't stop and only pedaled faster. He was already two minutes late because of the tight schedule and the additional deliveries.

"Sorry for the wait," Taehyung said with an apologetic smile as he entered the hair salon.

"Don't worry, honey," Minji uttered in a sweet tone. "Can you wait a minute? As you can see everyone is busy right now."

I am too. He sighed mentally. "Yes, of course."

He counted every single minute that passed as he waited because his next delivery was to JK Auto Company, and he really, really shouldn't be late.

"I'm sorry, Minji, I have to go," Taehyung voiced out after six minutes of waiting.

"Just a sec." Minji sprayed the client's hair with hairspray and quickly took her wallet out to pay for her package.

"Thank you, bye."

He returned to the cafe in a hurry as he was now eight minutes behind, and he knew he would get scolded.

"Inguk, I'm really sorry—"

"No time for that, probably mama's house was busy. You're supposed to be there already. Jeongguk won't be happy. Just apologize and don't say anything else. Go." Inguk shoved the package into his hands.

Taehyung groaned in frustration as he practically ran outside and got on his bike. He pedaled so fast his legs went numb, his breath coming in short, shallow puffs.

He didn't even have time to think about taking his helmet and mask off; he just slammed into the building, heading to the reception. "I'll come back to get my payment." He set the one bag on the counter and then dashed to the elevator.

He murmured some curses as the elevator seemed to take forever to arrive. Once he finally got in, he gasped as he remembered what Mr. Jeon had said to him about his helmet and mask. He pulled them off with an eye roll as his remark about his aesthetics and shit came to his mind.

He dabbed at his slightly sweaty forehead with his sleeve and tampered with his hair in his attempt to look as presentable as possible. He couldn't care less about how he looked overall, but whether he liked it or not, he was inside a millionaire's building at that moment.