Touch Of The Poor

⑧What Are You Doing Here?

 
Taehyung was on edge the moment he woke up the next day. The thought of not working, which meant not earning money, drove him crazy and terrified him, to be honest. He couldn't survive otherwise. So he crawled out of his nest of misery and got ready to head to Jjang cafe-restaurant.

     

"Taehyung!?" Inguk exclaimed, shocked by his appearance.

"Hi, hyung. I'm here to work," Taehyung stated with a smile.

"What are you talking about? Tae, you can't work like this and you need to rest. Go home."

"Hyung, please." Taehyung grasped his hand, his desperation shining through his pleading eyes. "I can be behind the bar. I can be here all day and help you with something. You don't even have to give me my full payment. I can't just stay in my apartment and do nothing."

"You should, Tae. You should do that." Inguk heaved a long sigh as he gave him soothing strokes on his back.

"Please, hyung. I will do anything."

"Okay then. Is it okay if you work from three to eight? I could use a hand in the bar."

"Yes, hyung! Thank you, thank you, thank you." Taehyung's gloomy face lit up in a flash, and he would be jumping up and down from joy if he wasn't wearing a cast.

"You should go home and rest now. It's still early." Inguk chuckled at his cuteness.

"Since I'm here, you can teach me what I have to do and where everything is."

"Okay, stay here. I have to prepare an order, and I'll come to find you." Inguk disappeared towards the kitchen then.

A hopeful smile dangled on the corner of his lips as he perched on a stool. He felt extremely lucky for having a boss like him, although Inguk was more of his hyung now.

 
After Inguk showed him everything he needed to know, he sat at a table to have lunch.

"You know, many of our customers called me to ask what happened to you. They like you," Inguk said as he served him his meal.

Taehyung broke into a wide smile at his words. "That's nice."

"And maybe you won't believe it, but Jeongguk called too."

"He even called me," he muttered with a sigh. "Wait, did you give him my number?"

Inguk glanced away as he tittered. "He pestered me for ten minutes straight. With everything you said, I didn't want to give him your number, but he literally wouldn't shut up, so I did. I'm sorry."

"Whatever the rich CEO wants, he gets it anyway, right?" Taehyung sneered. "Don't worry, I'm not mad at you."

"Nice. I was feeling kind of bad."

"It's okay," he reassured with a warm smile and then started eating as Inguk headed back to the kitchen. He didn't want to tell him that not only Jeongguk called him, but he also bought him some of the things he needed and left them outside of his door. It was already weird, and maybe a little creepy too, so he decided to keep that to himself.

  

He started his shift a while later. He had to use his crutches to walk, but because the space behind the bar was narrowed, he chose to hop around as subtly as possible.

A lot of customers asked what happened to him and why was he working in that condition, and when Taehyung explained what happened to each one of them, they gave him that look of pity he despised. He chose to brush it off and smile in return.

At some point, the door opened once again, and the one person he truly didn't want to see sprang up in front of him, staring at him with wild eyes.

"What are you doing here?"