pickpocket ↞ jenmin

"when do i not make you blush?"

IT WAS THE SECOND SESSION.

Jimin had brought one fourth of the value of what he had pickpocketed from the past week. It really wasnt a lot despite him bargaining with the pawn shop owner to pay him more for whatever he stole.

It was a shop that Jennie recommended. She had indeed mentioned that the shop owner could be a little cheap, but at the same time he was trustworthy because she knew he wouldn't snitch on them to the police.

Speaking of Jennie, she wasn't there yet.

Or maybe she's trying to approach me from behind and pickpocket me again, he thought with a pinch of salt lacing his tone.

Pickpocketing was a lot harder than he imagined. He truly admired the brunette for being so skilled at it. The first time he pickpocketed, he barely got away with it. And he, to be fair, is too much of a nice person. The lady had left her handbag open, one of its handles hanging off her shoulder, leaving it wide open for Jimin to take everything inside.

But as aforementioned, he was too nice. Too nice for a person who has such a poor financial background and had no choice but to rely on such means.

He couldn't afford to be so nice if he wanted to survive in this city with a roof on his head.

Of course Jimin learnt to brush off the guilt - at least by a little bit - after that. He didn't regret not stealing the phone and only stealing some money though, for the guilt would have eaten him alive. He wondered how Jennie does it without any hesitation.

"Hi"

There she comes.

"Hey"

"How's your progress been so far?"

"Well, lets see. At first, almost got caught, felt too guilty so I only pickpocketed $12 and didn't manage to pickpocket anyone the next day. But hey, I tried" he summarised and Jennie laughed.

"I mean, you were successful in pickpocketing at least. You'll get used to the guilt though" she paused to give a sad smile "you have to"

He pursed his lips, knowing she's right. Jennie sighed as well, recollecting her first experience, when she actually got caught.

That's when she met Hoseok, who somehow got her out of trouble. He was the one who taught her the tricks and quirks of the skill.

"Jimin" she said, catching his attention "why did Hoseok not teach you pickpocketing?"

She saw him hesitate and added quickly "If you don't mind answering, of course"

"Oh, I dont mind, I mean-" he tried to think of way to start "He didn't want me, Tae and Kook, the youngest ones in our friend group, to pickpocket. My other three hyungs too. So they did the illegal things for us - gambling and pickpocketing. They wanted us to have a good education and get a job but.. Yoongi and Namjoon hyung got caught last year for gambling illegal items, and you know what happened to Hoseok. So it's only me and Jin hyung left beside the younger ones, and while he can also pickpocket, he's actually the only one who has a cooking job at a restaurant. He took on extra shifts and can't teach me, so I tried to do it myself. I didn't finish studying anyway, so at least for Tae and Kook, I hope to help them"

Jennie's heart warmed up at the sincerity and fondness in his voice for his friends, and got reminded of her own. She remembered all the hardships and bullshit they had to do to have a place to live in, and she felt the familiar sting of oncoming tears.

How her parents ditched her and Jisoo unnie had taken her in. How Jisoo and Lisa gambled while Chaeyoung did street art for money. How no matter in what situation - whether it be having roof over their heads or not - they'd always stick together, sacrifice anything for each other.