T

Flutter

Taehyun stared at the papers in front of him and mentally tried to calculate his salaries at each one. He could feel his landlady, who was a middle-aged woman in her mid 60s, standing over him and peering over his shoulder. He decided he might as well ask for her opinion, "Ajumma, which one do you think I should apply to?" Taehyun raised the papers over him and held them out for her, "I don't know anymore." She smiled as she asked him what he was looking for the most but her smile quickly vanished when he bluntly said money. She almost looked angry as she told him to apply to them all if he's dying for money and walked out; which of course, didn't give Taehyun enough time to thank her for her great advice. He decided to give her his father's business card later and offer her a gift she would actually appreciate: a reduced priced funeral service. As for his applications, since he didn't know which one would actually hire him, he applied to them all, as per Ajumma's advice.

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Approximately ten days later, Taehyun was working three different jobs. On Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays, he was chopping heads and bodies of dead chickens for a fried chicken restaurant in the neighborhood. On Tuesday and Thursdays, he was handing out flyers for a bakery/cafe and on Saturdays, he was one of the promoters for various store events and openings. 

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Approximately another ten days later, he was fired from all of them. Of course, not at the same time. The firings happened over the period and Taehyun thought they were simply being cheap because their reasonings were so foolish. See, the fried chicken restaurant claimed he freaked out the employees because he was always talking to the dead chickens instead of other people and the bakery/cafe fired him because he never completed handing out his stack of flyers, you know, because everyone was somehow weirded out by him. And today, his promotion/event company claimed that his blank and pale face devoid of any emotion was apparently "scary" for people and hurting their business. Taehyun scoffed to himself as he walked home from the latest firing, how the hell do they expect me to be happy and cheery with the amount they pay me? 

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Landlady Ajumma recommended that Taehyun take a walk and get something to eat instead of searching for jobs on the internet like he had been doing for the last two days. And that was how he ended up walking along the random park in the middle of the city, his nose automatically scrunching at the sight of all the couples walking arm in arm together. Then, Taehyun's glance fell on this lady on one of the benches and caught her happily sniffing hot ramen before starting to wolf it down. Girls do not eat pretty like in the movies, do they? He sighed wistfully at the sight but continued to move on. He missed the smell of money and wished he too could smell it soon. 

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Soon came faster than expected when Taehyun coincidentally saw a position opening sign outside a funeral home services office near the city. His feet moved on their own as he walked down the hall to the main lobby and asked for the job. As he took his seat, he saw some guy dashing out as if his life were on the line but didn't get a closer look as the manager called Taehyun to his office. The man looked up and down and then repeated it twice before motioning for Taehyun to sit. 

"Did you see that man walk out before?" He asked and Taehyun nodded, "He, like dozens before him and like you, was here for the same job and look what happened. Many come applying to clean up and put make up on the dead bodies but they quit because they can't handle it. And you, you look so delicate and I-I mean, can you handle it? Have you ever seen a dead body before?"

Taehyun nodded but the man started to object again about how real dead bodies were not the clean, peaceful grannies seen in the movies and on and on. This time, Taehyun stayed adamant and reassured him that he knew what the job entailed and was perfectly capable, even happy, to do it. He told him about he had seen dead bodies with skulls cracked and fluids leaking, dead bodies with fractured and broken ribs, some even rupturing organs and breaking skin. Before he could tell him about the dead body that had so much fluid inside the stomach area due to being bed-ridden for so long and all, the manager hastily told Taehyun to report to his job tomorrow. 

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Clad in solemn black and white suit, Taehyun placed the dead woman's photo on top of the table. It was the third time this month that he had to clean the bodies and take part in funerals of young, rich, beautiful women. He thought it was a pity that they didn't get to enjoy their wealth and could only imagine their grief in not being able to take their money with them. 

Later on in the day, when he was in the bathroom, getting rid of his two day constipation, Taehyun heard some men whine about the smell and curse at him for being such a nasty prick. He also heard them talk about the young, rich dead woman whose entire fortune was going to be inherited by her husband and how he had won the best possible lottery in the world. Washing his hands, Taehyun was almost tempted by the scent of money.

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It was another day at the funeral home as Taehyun recieved his newest body and found it to be once again a young, beautiful (well, sort of) and wealthy woman. 

"I hear you were a too," Taehyun spoke to the dead body as he put on his mask and gloves, "how nice would it have been if you had dated me for a couple of months before you died! Then I would get all your money."

Taehyun stared into space as he daydreamed: Him taking such good care of the woman in her last days that feeling utterly grateful, the woman happily leaving all her possessions for him and Taehyun more than happily accepting all of them. 

"Ahhh, where were you all my life? Why only come now and that too, like this?" Taehyun spoke once again to the body and watched the said dead person start to speak. She told Taehyun that she wasn't the only rich in the world but Taehyun replied that they also needed to have a short life span like her. The dead body told him that there were plenty of those kinds of people too but of course, Taehyun had to look for them himself because she was dead and couldn't. 

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Spending a whole night thinking about it, Taehyun finally figured out what the dead woman was trying to say. Three days later, Taehyun enrolled in the nursing institute and a couple of years later, he got his certificate of nursing. He knew it was only due to his persistence and dedication and not his genes as his sort-of friend Seunghoon said. 

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It was his first day at work (where Seunghoon also got hired) and he was assigned to the place he so desperately pleaded for. Yes, it was the terminally ill department. He smiled as he changed into his scrubs. I will become her best lover and best husband as well as the best hospice to her. I will stay at her side till the last moment and she will take care of my future life. Yess!!!

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Very soon. Very, very soon, in fact, Taehyun found that it was actually much harder to find a fit amongst the patients and that his plan may not go in action for a while. One patient was too poor so immediately disqualified. Another one already had a family so also, disqualified and then another one that Taehyun thought was a fit turned out not to be as she already sensed his motives  and called him out on it....so also disqualified. 

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Another day, another hope was his motto. Taehyun enthusiastically looked through the list of new female patients in the department but soon, to his dismay, he had to cancel out all of them for various reasons. Discouraged for the day, he headed to the hospital morgue and sat down at the table, waiting for his ramen to cook. He thought about what possible luck he could have to not find even one potential candidate and how he was going to get all that money without one.

It was then that the door flung open and a dark skinned patient scurried in before closing the door shut behind him. Too busy hiding from someone and keeping watch from the slight opening, the man–Taehyun assumed he was a patient from his clothes–did not take notice of him. 

When his ramen was fully cooked, Taehyun stood up to open one of the empty freezers (where the bodies were usually kept) and took out his box of kimchi. The noise attracted the attention of the male patient who looked with clear horror on his face at the sight before him but of course, Taehyun just continued to eat his lunch. What? It was comfortable here and the fridges were very convenient.


 

A/N: Yay! Seunghoon makes his entrance, well, sort of. (btw, did you guys watch the latest WinnerTV? What did you think of the parody? Even though he's not my bias, Seunghoon was too good, the star!! Ok, little sidetrack/fangirling over.)

Hey, so, I actually had a reason for putting this note. Just in case you guys were sort of confused, the mini page breaks are supposed to show that this chapter (and all chapters) occur over a period of time, so like changes in time. To clarify, each page break is like another day or another couple of days/weeks/months etc. that I want you guys to assume without me saying it specifically. You guys get what I'm trying to say? (I don't know, I'm bad at explaining stuff). .....Hope I didn't confuse anyone........... ㅠㅠ

Thanks again for all the lurve....^^

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Comments

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dadapalentinos #1
Chapter 4: hahaha! I like the plot and I liked the way taehyun was depicted!
orangefilter
#2
Hi I am patiently waiting for you to update!! :)) I really like your story and I'm really curious on how Mino and Taehyun's first meeting will beeee
evha666 #3
authornim please update soon.. please..
eescorpius #4
Chapter 4: Later on in the day, when he was in the bathroom, getting rid of his two day constipation 《《《 ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!
eescorpius #5
Chapter 3: LOL the repenting box idea is so cute...
jurangirl0604 #6
Chapter 2: I want to know to what is that something very important kkk
When they will cross path again now that Mino move~~~
eescorpius #7
Chapter 2: Does Mino owe Nammie money LOL XD