It was unusual to see Jimin wake up earlier than noon. It was more unusual to see him race around the apartment, looking through every nook and cranny around the shared two bedroom apartment wearing a white singlet and only a towel to cover his lower body. His dark hair were clumped together, droplets of water dangling at the ends.

Taehyung was waiting for Jimin to finally find whatever he was looking for but it’s been over five or so minutes and his friend still haven’t preoccupied the item he was hunting for. Taehyung felt a sense of annoyance inside of him for some reason.

“What are you looking for?” He asked at last in between his mouthful of cereals.

Jimin cringed at his previous action. It was a pet peeve of the boy when people talked while they’re in the middle of eating. Taehyung knew yet he still does it. Jimin sometimes reconsider if Taehyung even respects his personal wants as a friend.

The boy didn’t respond and dug his hand deep into the cracks between the cushions of the beige couch. He grunted and internally vomited when he felt pieces that felt like old food and chips between his fingertips. He mentally reminded himself to vacuum and clean their couch. They had it for over two years yet the two boys barely even though about cleaning it up.

“It would be better if you tell me. I can help.” Taehyung reminded him, thankfully, he swallowed his cereal beforehand.

When the high tuned ring of the dryer tinkled throughout their apartment, Jimin didn’t waste any time to cross their home towards it, only to crouch and fish out all the clothes, throwing them onto the tiled ground and rummaging through it. It was Taehyung’s laundry but that didn’t stop Jimin from scavenging through the pile.

When the owner noticed what Jimin was doing, he shrieked. Running towards Jimin, he pulled the boy up by his forearm, tearing him away from his clean laundry.

“They’re clean.”

“Exactly.” Jimin responded without thinking. He saw the confused look on Taehyung’s face and let out an impatient sigh. He knew it himself that he wasn’t making any sense but he was too frustrated to care. The panic inside him was slowly brewing as he spotted the clock above Taehyung’s head. He didn’t have enough time.

“I don’t need your help so,” he brushed off his friend’s hold and then bent his back to look through the pile for the second time. “Leave me alone because you’re not helping me. At all.”

Taehyung scoffed in scepticism.

“I’ll wash these once I come back…in the meantime, let me be by myself. Please.”

The other was about to say something then suddenly the light bulb above his head dinged as it lit up. He was quietly watching Jimin with a knowing smirk on his face. He was being entertained by the whole scenario as if it was a joke to him, even if Jimin was panicking and sweating on the other hand. The latter gazed up to his friend when he didn’t move even the slightest bit. The look in his eyes told Jimin that he knew. Jimin couldn’t help but to be flushed, looking at the ground and fidgeting with Taehyung’s white turtle-neck cottoned sweater.

“Are you looking for your ‘lucky’ jeans?” The deep-voiced male wasn’t questioning, he was teasing and Jimin wanted to kick him on the shin.

“If you already know, what’s the point of asking?” He was hissing without any emotion in his words because he was too aggravated at Taehyung’s teasing but mostly at himself for letting his words slip out so easily.

“Look, ,” Taehyung followed Jimin who stood up, leaving Taehyung’s pile of clothes behind on the cold, dirty ground. “There’s no such thing as a ‘lucky’ jeans so don’t get caught up in it thinking it will give you some magic powers to make your date with Jungkook to be spectacular. This isn’t a fantasy.”

“Says the one who has a ‘lucky’ earring.”

Jimin turned around and crossed his arms. His nose was stuck up in the air, trying to challenge Taehyung but the other was too tall for him to confront him. Taehyung was a bear and Jimin was an ant. He felt too small, too vulnerable to be able to tackle Taehyung down – even by the use of words.

Taehyung slightly pinked at his previous sentence though and that was all Jimin needed to boost up his lowering self-esteem. The smaller huffed as he spun on his heels again. With small and quick steps, he arrived in front of his own bedroom door which was opposite from Taehyung.

“Oh and by the way,” Jimin said but he wasn’t looking at Taehyung. He was gaing down at the door handle that he gripped on, ready to turn it. “I’m not going out with Jungkook.” With that, Jimin was inside his bedroom. The door slammed right behind him.

Taehyung rolled his eyes and went back to where he left his cereal bowl. All the flakes were now soggy because of the amount of time he had left it to soak up the milk. He frowned at that. He hated soggy cereal.

“Not Jungkook my ,” Taehyung mumbled to himself as he place the quarter-filled bowl down the sink. “What does he think I am? An idiot?”

 

As Jimin got closer to the café where the two decided to meet, the harsher the rain fall become. It started off as big, plumped raindrops which transformed into fine, harsh vertical drops that attacked his windshield. The wind outside was driving the rain to the direction which was the opposite to where Jimin was heading. His tiny hands scrambled to flick the wipers to its highest speed. It didn’t help as much but he made sure to also drive ten less than the actual speed limit. He couldn’t afford to get into an accident or hit anyone.

All the slots outside the café were filled. It left the male to park a couple of metres away. It was no surprise to him however. He knew that the people around the area just wanted to go under somewhere safe and out of the rain. Luckily for them, living in Seoul meant that cafes were everywhere and scattered all over the place so there was no need to cross the road or to walk two or three blocks down since there would always be at least one at the end of every block. If not, then it was the trusty convenience store.

 

He shrugged off the drops from his black umbrella, almost like how a dog would shake of the water particles after its bath. Jimin scowled when he felt fine splatters on his face. The worker that was next to him smiled a little, thinking he was cute.

“I’ll take that for you.” She offered and Jimin gladly gave the object to her. He watched as she prepped it against the window seal, away from the rest, which was good since nearly everyone had the same looking umbrella.

“I had a reservation. Well, my…” Jimin pondered for a second, “friend did.”

She moved behind the front table and checked the book in front of her. Smiling at him once again, she took out two menu books and lead the way to the end of the café where there was only one table empty that had a sign ‘Reserved’ stuck onto the table.

“Menu.” She set them down on the middle of the table as she tore off the sign. Smiling at Jimin for the last time, she hurried to the front of the desk once again to greet an upcoming customer.

 

The brunette didn’t want to order without Jungkook with him, so he played with the handles of his leather tote that was on his lap while biting his lips and trying to calm his anxious heart. The interior of the café wasn’t even hot or anywhere close to warm. The heater was blasting but from where Jimin sat, the heater was way too far to reach his end. Yet, his palms were sweating and he felt like he couldn’t breathe properly.

He didn’t understand. His lucky jeans were always hanged on his wardrobe safely. They were always washed straight after used and kept hidden in his room. There was no way that it would be anywhere else. His room was turned upside down – his appliances, clothes, items, everything else was scattered all over the floor yet it was nowhere to be seen. It was ridiculous. There was no way that it disappeared.

Sighing, he gazed out to the window where the pedestrians were doing their best to stay in the shade. All had their coat tightly wrapped around their freezing body and huddling close to one another to keep warm. Jimin was lucky he managed to get inside since the storm worsened. The wind can be heard howling from the inside.

He snapped his head around when the chair of in front of him scrapped as it was pulled back. Jimin’s mouth hang as he saw a beaming Jungkook standing in front of him, shrugging off his soaked coat.

“You look cosy.” Jungkook commented as he hung his coat at the back of his seat. The clothes he had on were nowhere close to being warm. All he had on was a black loose turtleneck shirt and nothing else. While Jimin on the other hand, had at least four layers underneath his greyish blue tint coat.

“You’re soaked.” The older pointed out.

“It is raining outside.” Jungkook pointed outside, as if it wasn’t obvious. He was sitting down now, hands already taking the menu to read through.

Jimin stood up, making Jungkook to look up with curiosity. The elder then realised how his hair was still dripping from t