Taehyung was walking back home from his mom's farm when someone jumps out from behind the tall grass.

 

"Boo!"

 

"Nice try, Jimin," he says unfazed and walks past the man.

 

"You're never scared," Jimin pouts and rushes to keep up with the slightly younger man. They're both he same ages but Jimin is born a few months ahead of Taehyung.

 

"And you're always scared," Taehyung kept his eyes ahead, not glancing Jimin a look at all.

 

The shorter man giggles and then asks why Taehyung went to the farm. "You don't even like the farm."

 

"Mom picked up some runaway guy and he now works there or something. She told me to drop some things for him," he explains. He walks a bit faster, in front of Jimin.

 

"Taehyung! Don't leave me behind! I'm scared!" Jimin had to run to catch up with the latter again, looking around him in case anything dangerous is nearby.

 

"Jeez, Jimin. If you're so scared, then hold on to my arm," Taehyung holds out his left arm for Jimin, who gladly took it.

 

"Thanks, Tae. I'm not scared anymore."

 

"Then let go."

 

"No! I was kidding! I'm still scared."

 

Jimin and Taehyung live next to each other; their parents are great friends.

 

Jimin would come over way more than Taehyung would go over to his house. But he's fine with that.

 

Jimin would try to spend time with Taehyung whenever he can even when Taehyung doesn't want to. But it's always fun no matter how much he wants Taehyung to see him in another light.

 

It's because he's in love with Taehyung.

 

Throughout their childhood, Jimin has always liked Taehyung, developed a crush, then real love.

 

He wishes Taehyung would look at him with love, but the other has not even thought about being in a relationship once.

 

But Jimin is fine, really. He knows that his time will come and he'll be with Taehyung.

 

The two walk home together, with Jimin clutching Taehyung's arm tightly.

 

~~

 

Taehyung is just sitting outside of his house trying to take a nap in the sun when Jimin pops out of nowhere.

 

"Taehyung! Are you busy today?" he smiles excitedly. He have some plans in mind for the day with the latter.

 

"Hm? Yeah, Jimin. Can we go out another day? I'm not feeling to well and my mom wants me to go to back to the farm today. It's been a week and our slave or whatever needs more food," Taehyung mumbles. He shields the sun with his arm.

 

"Oh. That's too bad. Well, I hope you feel better!" Jimin rushes to his house so quickly that Taehyung wonders what's up with his friend.

 

He chuckles slightly, "Why is he so happy all the time?"

 

~~

 

Taehyung takes the big bag of food and some other things to the farm. His mom says that Taehyung is still young and have energy so she will send him there each week. He doesn't want to go, but can't disobey his mom either.

 

He was already irritated that he had to go in the evening; the farm isn't close by. His body felt more exhausted than usual and he felt slightly lightheaded.

 

The familiar looking gate from afar came into his view and he felt relieved. He'll drop these off and go home right afterwards.

 

He remembers the guy that works here. His first encounter with him was a week before, when he first dropped off stuff. He never got his name but it's not like he would care since he won't see him so much.

 

The gate creaked as he entered, loud enough for the man to hear him. Taehyung sees him walking towards him.

 

"Mr. Kim," he addresses with a polite bow.

 

Taehyung waves him off. "Please just call me by my name. Mr. Kim is my great grandfather."

 

"Taehyung?" he guesses.

 

"Yeah. Just that."

 

They don't say much after that. Taehyung just gives the guy, Seokjin, the supplies and he just leaves.

 

The sun has set already and he thinks about running the way home despite being tired. But before he could get to the gate, he felt like collapsing.

 

"Mr. Kim, are you alright?" Seokjin comes over and takes a look at him. "You don't look so well. Rest here for the night."

 

"No. I can make it home," Taehyung says but couldn't even take another step forward.

 

"It'll get dark. Come, I'll make you some porridge," Seokjin insists before taking Taehyung inside the little house.

 

It doesn't take long for Seokjin to cook some rice porridge. Taehyung laid on a single mattress with blankets all around him. Seokjin sets the food on a table nearby.

 

He lets Taehyung eat while he goes out to put the animals back in their pens for the night.

 

Taehyung takes a moment to smell the porridge. Then, he takes a bite.

 

"It's pretty good," he says lowly as he eats more.

 

By the time Seokjin comes back, Taehyung ate everything in the bowl. He sees that the latter is sleeping and does his best to not make too much noise.

 

Because there is only one bed, Seokjin slept in a chair in another room.

 

~~

 

The next morning, Taehyung steps out of the house. He looks around and doesn't see Seokjin anywhere.

 

'He's probably still asleep,' he thinks.

 

Next, he went to check on how the animals are. His mom likes to tend the animals but nowadays, it's getting harder.

 

So far, everything is good. That is, until he got to the chickens. Lying on the ground is a lonesome piglet, dead.

 

Taehyung couldn't believe it. For his whole life, his mother's animals had never died like this. He got a bit angry. Every single one mattered.

 

They don't have that many pigs so how could Seokjin forget about a little piglet?

 

He goes back to the house. Inside, he calls for Seokjin. When he didn't come, Taehyung stomps to find him.

 

~~

 

Seokjin is still sleeping on the chair when he is woken up.

 

"Huh?" he rubs his tired eyes. When he sees how upset Taehyung is he gets worried. Did something happen?

 

"Come with me."

 

Seokjin stumbles as he follows Taehyung outside, wondering if there is a problem.

 

"Take a look at this," Taehyung stands by a... dead piglet? Seokjin gasps.

 

"You forgot about this piglet," Taehyung says sternly.

 

Seokjin doesn't know what to say. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mea-"

 

"I don't need to hear about it. Bury it. I'm going home," Taehyung doesn't say any more and leaves. 

 

Seokjin stares at the piglet for a few minutes sadly.

 

Taehyung is right. How could he forget about a young animal?

 

He felt at fault. A mother has lost her child.

 

"Woah. You didn't tell me we were gonna have some bacon today." He doesn't know when Yoongi arrived but he stood next to Seokjin.

 

"Yoongi, I killed it," he whispers with grief. 

 

Yoongi, on the other hand, seemed pretty content. "You did indeed. Now how about you make something out of that, yeah?"

 

"Yoongi, I'm not going to cook this pig!" Seokjin says before picking the piglet up. "I need to bury it."

 

As Seokjin digs a hole, Yoongi ask, "So I saw Mrs. Kim's son leave a while ago. Did something happen?"

 

Seokjin stops digging and lifts the pig carefully, placing it inside. "It's okay, Yoongi."

 

Getting the hint, Yoongi drops the topic, shifting it to inviting Seokjin out. So far, this farm is basically all Seokjin has seen in their town. 

 

"At least come to my place," Yoongi urges. The more he kept talking, the more Seokjin is tempted to say yes.

 

But then, if he goes, he risks losing his job here and then he'll definitely have nowhere to go. Even if he finds a place, he doubts it'll be as good as this little farm.

 

"No, thanks. I want to go but I can't," he declines. Yoongi doesn't get disappointed or anything.

 

"That's okay. I'll just stay here with you then," he smiles and Seokjin wonders how lucky he is to meet the man.

 

~~

 

"Taehyung!" 

 

Jimin runs outside of his house and takes Taehyung's face into his hands. "Where have you been last night?!"

 

Taehyung shrugs him off and walks to his house. "I was at the farm."

 

"The farm? Why..." Jimin trails off as Taehyung disappears inside his home, leaving him alone outside.

 

When Taehyung finally finds his mom working in the kitchen, he enters, slumping into a chair at the table.

 

Mrs. Kim smiles, "You're back from the farm. I didn't know you missed it that much to sleep there too."

 

Her son rolls his eyes, "I didn't miss it. I couldn't make it back home, that's all."

 

"Is that so?" Mrs. Kim washes her hands before drying them and sitting next to Taehyung. "How is everything? I'm sure Seokjin is doing well."

 

Taehyung snorts. His mom seems confused at this, not knowing why Taehyung found it funny.

 

"I thought the same at first," he says, remembering just now that he never thanked Seokjin. "But he killed one of the animals, mom."

 

Mrs. Kim's eyes widened, "What? He killed one of them?"

 

"Not exactly. He forgot about a piglet and it died in the middle of the night. At least it wasn't eaten by other critters out there," he sighs and scoots his chair in to be more comfortable.

 

"Oh, no. I must go see him later," Mrs. Kim notes to herself.

 

"Make sure he really is reliable," Taehyung says before getting up and going to his bedroom. He's not surprised when he sees Jimin inside, on his bed, under his covers.

 

He smirks and quietly sneaks up to the bed. With a loud growl, Taehyung lunges at his friend, who's shrieks soon turned into laughter.

 

Taehyung lies next to Jimin as the both of them recover from their laughs.

 

"You come in here like you live here," Taehyung smiles. Jimin didn't say anything back, only admiring Taehyung's face without him paying attention.

 

"I'm sorry if I worried you last night," he apologized. He and Jimin are very close; some can say that they're more than friends. Taehyung considers him as a little brother even though he's younger than Jimin.

 

"It's okay," Jimin says. "Hey, now that you're back, let's go to my house. I did something after you left yesterday."

 

He jumps off the bed and pulls Taehyung with him.

 

~~

 

One week later, Seokjin sees Taehyung come back to the farm. This time, however, he notices that Taehyung looked worse than before, tired and angry.

 

"Taehyung, you're back," Seokjin smiles. Despite what happened the week before, he had to be polite or he'll risk getting kicked out.

 

"And I will always be back. This farm is completely mine from now on," he says hoarsely.

 

Seokjin couldn't stop himself from asking. "Did something happen?"

 

Taehyung's stare at him intensified, looking at him like he's a joke. He takes a step back, not tearing his eyes away.

 

"It's because of you."

 

Seokjin didn't understand. He's in big trouble now, isn't he?

 

But Taehyung seems too tired to shout at him; he sits down on a nearby stump. Seokjin doesn't know how to approach the latter.

 

"My mom passed away six days ago."

 

"What?!" Seokjin exclaims. How?

 

"After I left the farm last week, I told my mom about the piglet," Taehyung explains. "She tried to come here the next day to talk to you but..."

 

He couldn't really talk anymore but Seokjin fears what happened.

 

"You know how there's not many people around here. Mom was robbed and killed by some people..."

 

Seokjin crouched down besides him and wants to hug him. Then he remembers that this happened because of him.

 

So he places a hand on his shoulder but Taehyung pushes it away. The action made Seokjin feel more at fault. "I don't need your pity. You're just some slave after all."

 

He nudged the bag at his feet towards Seokjin.

 

"I brought the normal stuff. I'll come back next week," he stands up and walks away.

 

Seokjin watches him until he reaches the gate. Taehyung stood there for a few seconds before turning to Seokjin.

 

"Remember this. Since my mom is gone, you belong to me now."

 

~~

 

Jimin cries as he hugs Taehyung from behind. He couldn't believe that his friend has to be hurt like this.

 

First, his mother passes away. Then, his father moves far away to find a place to work. Taehyung doesn't have siblings so he's all alone. Jimin promises not to leave him.

 

Taehyung makes no movement to remove Jimin's arms around him like he would normally do. A part of Jimin actually wishes for Taehyung to remove him because that's what they do when they're playful. Of course Taehyung doesn't want to play around now but Jimin is just very worried.

 

His tears soak into the back of Taehyung's shirt. Even though he couldn't see his face, he knows that Taehyung is crying too.

 

"Jimin. Stop crying," he finally speaks. 

 

Jimin shakes his head against Taehyung's warm back. "No. If you're sad, I'm sad too."

 

Taehyung turns around and hugs Jimin, wrapping his strong arms around his friend. He's glad that Jimin is still with him.

 

~~

 

"Yes! I've heard about that!" Yoongi says loudly. Seokjin had told him about Mrs. Kim. "It's very unfortunate. Such a kind lady too."

 

Seokjin felt very sad about what happened. If it weren't for Mrs. Kim, he wouldn't be here right now. He'd would possibly be found and brought back to where he came from.

 

"Yoongi, maybe you shouldn't come here anymore. With what happened, it's dangerous for you to be walking around out there," Seokjin looks out at the gate. Ever since he arrived, he hasn't set foot outside that gate once.

 

"What are you talking about? Because it's so dangerous, I need to be here and make sure you don't die," Yoongi gives him a friendly smile.

 

Seokjin giggles at this. "Thanks, Yoongi."

 

Yoongi taps his foot a few times before turning to face Seokjin again. "So what's going to happen to you and this farm?"

 

"I guess it belongs to Mrs. Kim's son now," Seokjin shrugs. That's what Taehyung said too.

 

"Well, it's time for me to go," Yoongi heaved himself up. Every time he visits and leaves, Seokjin feels the loneliness come back. But he always promises to come back to talk so Seokjin is more than happy.

 

Once he's gone, Seokjin goes to feed the animals alone. He's humming a soft tune to himself when he hears footsteps behind him. It didn't alert him because he thinks that it's probably Yoongi coming back to get something he forgot. However, when he turns, he gasps.

 

"T-Taehyung," he looked both scared and relieved. "It hasn't been a week yet."

 

Taehyung looked a bit annoyed. "Is there a problem with me coming here?"

 

Seokjin shakes his head stiffly with a soft, "No."

 

The man sighs and stands next to Seokjin, watching the chickens that were currently being fed.

 

"I came here because I miss my mom already," Taehyung says gruffly but Seokjin can hear the ache behind the voice. He turns to Seokjin. "I'm gonna stay for the night, just to let you know."

 

"Yes, of course," Seokjin finishes his job quickly before rushing inside to tidy things up. Luckily, Yoongi gave him more blankets that he no longer needed, so Seokjin doesn't need to sleep in a chair. Taehyung can sleep in the bed again while he makes a nest of blankets and they'll both be comfortable.

 

When it got dark, Taehyung came inside and the first thing he saw was the nest of blankets. He raises his brow. "Is this for me?"

 

Seokjin comes out from the little bedroom doorway. "It's for me. I got the bed clean up for you."

 

He leads the latter into the bedroom, which has been cleaned throughly. Taehyung looks at the fresh bed and then at Seokjin, who looked at him with innocent eyes.

 

"Why are you so nice?" Taehyung asks. Seokjin explains that he's grateful that the Kims let him stay here. Taehyung reminds him, "But aren't you upset that I yelled at you before?"

 

Seokjin looks away. Instead of answering, he says, "Are you hungry? I should've started dinner long ago."

 

He hurried off, leaving Taehyung in the bedroom.

 

~~

 

Taehyung finds himself coming to the farm more than before. It reminds him of his mother, calming him every time he set foot into the farm.

 

Maybe it's also because he's starting to like seeing Seokjin.

 

The older man is humble and cute. Taehyung still brush this feeling off. He would remind himself that Seokjin is not important, a no one with nobody but loneliness to be with him.

 

But one day, as he arrived at the gate, he sees a man talking with Seokjin. He worried for a bit, thinking that it could be someone dangerous until he realized that it's a man from another farm about a mile away or so.

 

Curious to why he's here, Taehyung stays by the gate, watching the man pinch Seokjin's cheek.

 

The man then waves to Seokjin and Taehyung hides. When he hears the gate creak open and close, he knows that the man has left.

 

"Seokjin," Taehyung calls out to the busy man. Seokjin looks up while wiping his forehead with his arm.

 

"Taehyung, welcome back."

 

"Why did you let that man come here?" Taehyung starts to raise his voice. After what happened to his mother, someone could really hurt Seokjin as well. "Did he want something from you?"

 

"No! Taehyung, he lives on the farm way over there," Seokjin points to his left.

 

"I know that. But he's never come to our farm or even talk to my family," Taehyung says.

 

"Yoongi is my friend," Seokjin tells him. "He comes here quite often to talk to me. Most of the time, you're not there to see him."

 

Taehyung narrows his eyes. "He's your friend? Aren't you afraid that he might do something while I'm not here?"

 

Seokjin looked offended. "Don't think of Yoongi like that. I like him. He keeps me from being lonely... I look forward to each day just to see him visit."

 

Now it's Taehyung's turn to be offended. "What about me? Is my company not enough for you?"

 

"I do like your company. It's just..." Seokjin begins to fiddle with his fingers. He looks at the ground, "I'm just your slave... that's it."

 

 

 

Taehyung freezes. Seokjin's eyes watered a bit. It had been made clear that Taehyung is wrong.

 

Seokjin is human too.

 

He matters just as much as anyone else.

 

"Seokjin, I'm sorry," Taehyung whispers but Seokjin has already left to tend the rest of the animals.

 

~~

 

Jimin is organizing his room when he sees Taehyung exiting his house through the window. He leaves everything behind and runs outside before he misses the other.

 

"Taehyung!" He shouts to his friend, who turned to look at him. 

 

"Where are you going today?"

 

"The farm," Taehyung says simply.

 

"Again? Didn't you just go there yesterday?" Jimin asks. For some reason, Taehyung has been at the farm a lot lately.

 

"It's important. I'll see you later, Jimin." Taehyung strolls off again. Jimin sighs sadly. He misses the man so much, it seems like years since they did something together.

 

"W-Wait!" Jimin yells. Taehyung turns around again.

 

"Um, when you're not busy, can you come over to my house? It doesn't have to be my house, we can go anywhere, really. I... I have to tell you something," Jimin says nervously.

 

"Sure. No problem," Taehyung said with a small smile before walking away.

 

Jimin sinks to the ground, screaming inside. 'Why did I do that?!! Taehyung has no idea that I'm in love with him and now I'm going to confess to him! Oh no, what if things go wrong?'

 

He hides his face in his arms. 'No, I can't give up hope. There's a chance that he likes me too.'

 

~~

 

"Let me help you," Taehyung says to Seokjin and takes the knife from him. He cuts the onion while Seokjin went to work on other ingredients. The older man looked so stunning even as he worked, Taehyung couldn't stop himself from staring.

 

Then, he feels his eyes sting and water. The onion is too strong and without being careful, Taehyung accidentally cuts the tip of his index finger.

 

He curses and Seokjin quickly takes his hand. Taehyung has trouble seeing what was going on with the tears blurring his vision.

 

But when things settled down and Taehyung's finger is all bandaged, Seokjin insists that he sit at the table and wait until the food is ready.

 

Even then, Taehyung can not stop thinking about Seokjin. He rubs his injured finger softly, thinking about how kind Seokjin is.

 

The fond smile on his face is accompanied by the rhythm of his warm heart.

 

~~

 

After two days at the farm, Taehyung goes home. Jimin is sitting in front of his house, waiting for him.

 

"Taehyung, you're finally back!" Jimin perks up at his arrival.

 

"Yeah. Want to come inside for a bit?" Taehyung asks. Jimin shifts his weight from one feet to the other.

 

"Sure."

 

Once inside, Jimin waits for the perfect moment to tell Taehyung his feelings. He was so nervous that half of the things Taehyung talked about didn't even make it past his ears.

 

Jimin shuts his eyes tightly when Taehyung remembered that he wanted to tell him something. He opened them slowly and sees Taehyung's curious face.

 

Time to reveal to Taehyung who he loves.