ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʟᴀss ᴡɪɴᴅᴏᴡ ☑

Routine

After a tiring day, Jimin opened the apartment door, carrying fried chicken and a bottle of Coke in shopping bags. The first thing he did was turn on the lights. As he entered the living room after putting on his home slippers, he put the food on top of the table and brought the cold drink bottle to the kitchen to put it in the freezer for chilling it by the time he showered. His legs and hands moved as if they were trained to do everything in the exact same order for years, building muscle memory. Without changing clothes, he boiled some water and put Ramen in it.

Once everything was set for him, he rushed into the bathroom and rinsed his body quickly to get rid of the sweat. Working as an engineer who went to the hospitals to repair the instruments if they malfunctioned, Jimin never had to go to the office to sit at a desk. He always traveled to different hospitals across the city to repair their diagnostic equipment and help the doctors.

He towel-dried his hair and wrapped a body towel around his torso before walking out of the bathroom and cracking two eggs into the Ramen, which was now almost ready. After stirring the ingredients in the pan, he turned off the stove and now walked into his room to change into a loose t-shirt and some cotton shorts.

Opening the window first, he paced over to the wardrobe to pick out the clothes. The house remained locked the entire day and it would get hot and suffocating inside by the time Jimin arrived, so he would always open the window first to let the fresh air in. He walked back to the living room, picked up the TV remote, and set it on the table in front of his gray couch. He then took out the cold drink which was now of perfect temperature to drink and then brought the Ramen from the kitchen to the table at last.

While watching the sitcom, he opened the fried chicken box as he sat on the rug in front of the couch and ate his dinner, occasionally laughing at the funny scenes.

After dinner, he cleaned up the table and did the dishes. Picking his headphones from the top of the dresser by the door, he walked out in his crocs and pajamas to take his after-dinner thirty-minute walk inside the society park where he lived. The society had many blocks named four wings and Jimin lived in wing A on the fourth floor.

As usual, he put on the music and walked slowly across the park that was situated in the middle of the society. A few kids were playing or skating. A few elderly were stretching, and a few younger people, like himself, were jogging.

He returned to his apartment after finishing his walk and scrolled through his phone before he slept.

The next morning, he woke up at six with his alarm and after his morning routine, went to the gym for an hour. He lived alone and worked out six days a week, taking a break on Sundays. 

After returning, he made himself a fruit smoothie, eight eggs, and bacon breakfast.

Breakfast was an important meal of the day for him as he would always be out in the field and sometimes, he ended up not eating lunch at all due to delays in service at the customer end. By the time he was done eating, it was eight in the morning.

He prepared his clothes for the day and took a few minutes to rest before going to shower. He would wear professional trousers and collared shirts every day to work. He soon checked in his phone where his appointment was scheduled for today and left with his car keys and wallet. 

His life pretty much was monotonous. Aside from the weekends, he didn't have much to do. He didn't have anyone to talk to either, as he lived alone. He checked his repair kit and tools, which were always sitting in his car before he drove away. 

The tool box was his second best friend that he always kept close to him. 

At about six in the evening, he returned home and turned on the lights as he wore his home slippers. The routine repeated as he set the food he had brought with him on the table. Today, he was earlier than usual, so he decided to prepare a hearty and healthy meal instead of boiling Ramen.

Opening the fridge, he took out the ingredients to make Dak Gomtang.

He mixed the one-pot preparation in the rice cooker and closed its lid once he was done setting the timer. He then walked into the bathroom to shower and came out with a towel wrapped around his torso.

The cooker still had a few minutes left on the timer, so he decided to prepare the clothes for the next day. 

He walked into the room.

As always, he opened his window.

But before he could walk back into the living room, his eyes caught sight of someone, who made his gaze glued to a window. 

Across his window in the adjacent wing B, another window was opened on the third floor. This apartment usually was dark, because no one lived there as the owners had moved to a different house. Today, the light was on and there was a boy standing there. Jimin saw as he struggled to put the small strings of lights on the window.

He stood in his own dark room. The only illumination was by the lights coming from the outside from different apartments. He kept looking down from his floor and the boy smiled widely once the lights were fixed and he tested them by turning them on.

Something about that smile captivated Jimin's heart. The boy looked extremely innocent with the same sparkle of excitement on his face as that of the new lights he had installed.

Jimin couldn't move. He kept peeking and that was until another man came into his view and back-hugged the one who was smiling. The innocent one turned around and even though Jimin couldn't see their faces from his place, it was no brainer that they kissed.

This brought Jimin to the realization that it was not appropriate to stare. He stepped back and felt his heart plundering immensely. This was so not his routine. He walked away from the window, trying to forget about the kiss he had witnessed.