2: The Guest
When Yoongi came downstairs for breakfast the next day, he found the strangest sight in the kitchen. His grandma was happily rattling with the pans and pots and next to her, on one of the rickety chairs, the tourist was sitting, hugging a steaming mug.
Yoongi stopped on the threshold, staring.
"Oh, good morning, Yoongi-ah," his gran greeted him. "I found this one at Old Kim's last night, crying into his beer, so I brought him home with me." She winked at Yoongi, and Yoongi wanted to go and drown himself.
But that would be impolite and his gran would no doubt die of grief, so he settled for a growl instead and sat down across from the tourist.
"Hi, I'm Kim Taehyung," the tourist introduced himself with a blinding toothpaste smile. Yoongi couldn't help himself but swoon a little. That guy really was too handsome. How could his gran think that he had any chance, crippled leg be damned. Even if Yoongi had been fit and famous, he'd be no match for that man.
"This is my grandson, Min Yoongi," his grandma introduced him with a sharp look. "He needs coffee to remember his manners."
A steaming pot was placed in front of Yoongi and he hummed involuntarily when the dark aroma hit his nose. Nothing better than coffee for breakfast.
The tourist chuckled like Yoongi was the funniest guy he'd ever met, then he sipped on his own mug. "It's fine. After last night, I feel like we've been friends for years."
Yoongi stopped in the middle of bringing his mug to his lips. WHAT!? What had his gran told that stranger?
"Grandma, what did you –"
"Oh, just good things," his grandma assured him, "like how good you take care of your grandma. That you help in the house, and –"
"Please stop," Yoongi interrupted her. He suddenly didn't want to know. She had probably told that guy her version of what she thought was an awesome husband. He could happily live without that knowledge. Mr. Tourist probably thought he was the most boring guy in the world, which, honesty, Yoongi was. He was living on a fisher island for god's sake.
"I find that quite amazing," that Taehyung guy said. "I haven't visited my family in years. The job was always more important, and my friends were always more important, and then my grandma died, and I was too late."
Yoongi didn't know what to say to that, so he mumbled an awkward, "My condolences."
Taehyung only nodded, looking a bit putout.
"Why are you here, then? Shouldn't you spend your vacation with your family?" Yoongi tried to steer the conversation away from that sad topic.
For some reason Taehyung looked like Yoongi had called him out on a lie.
"I can't."
Yoongi tilted his head in question.
"Well, they don't know."
Yoongi rolled his eyes. Either he wanted to speak or he didn't, Yoongi didn't care, but he wouldn't pull it out of the guy's nose.
"Oh, it's fine. Yoongi likes boys, too," his grandma chirped.
Yoongi breathed in some coffee and almost fell from his chair from the resulting coughing fit. "Grandma!" he scolded her.
Taehyung was staring at him with bright red cheeks.
"He's here because his boyfriend dropped him for a new colleague," his gran explained. Apparently, she had not only told that tourist Yoongi's life story but also pulled the guy's story from his nose. That devious woman.
"How'd she get you to talk?" Yoongi asked Taehyung after getting his lungs back under control.
Taehyung smiled embarrassed. "I can't really hold my liquor."
"You got him drunk, grandma?" Yoongi asked her shocked.
"Only four beers. How could I have known that he was such a lightweight?" she defended herself.
Yoongi couldn't believe it. His grandma had gotten the tourist drunk, pulled his life story out of him, and on top of that had brought him home with her. What kind of drama was this?
"I am deeply sorry for her," he told Taehyung and indicated a bow.
"Oh, no, don't! It's fine, it's fine. She gave me a place to sleep, so if anything we're quits," Taehyung assured him.
Yoongi wanted to point out that this was in no way an exchange but that his grandma had hidden motives, but then he decided that it wasn't worth it. Taehyung seemed nice enough and his grandma looked happy, so who was Yoongi to ruin that. In a few weeks the tourist would be gone, and everything would be back to normal, so why should he make things difficult. Maybe Taehyung would even pay rent, so his gran could earn some money with it. Yoongi would be the last one to object to that.
"How long will you stay?" he asked casually.
"I got four and a half weeks," said Taehyung.
"And you want to spend all of it here?" Yoongi asked, skeptical. Their island wasn't Seoul nor Jeju. Within a week you'd know all the places and get bored.
Taehyung stared into his coffee mug. "Well, it's quite nice, actually."
Yoongi looked at the man like he'd lost it. "Nice?"
"Well, it's far away from Seoul and far away from mainland, too, so I can get my mind off everything?"
Why did that sound like a question? "How'd you find this place anyway?" asked Yoongi.
Taehyung's ears and cheeks were burning again. "Well, I opened the map and searched for the furthest place away from Seoul that isn't full of tourists."
"And you came here?" Well, Yoongi had to give him credit that their island matched Taehyung's description perfectly.
"I thought it would be suitable to get my mind off things. Just nature and some fisher villages, you know, solicitude and all that..."
"Yeah, of course," Yoongi murmured. This was ridiculous. Who just randomly picked a fisher island and went there without planning? What if no one had taken him in? What if Yoongi's gran hadn't gone to Old Kim's? Would Taehyung have slept on the street?
"Breakfast's ready. Have some soup, Taehyung-ah. It'll help with the hangover."
Yoongi watched how his gran mothered the tourist and thought that this couldn't get any more ridiculous.
He was wrong.
Once they had finished breakfast, his gran had suggested that Yoongi should show their guest the island, so now they were riding his grandpa's old scooter along the one and only street of the island. The whole thing was about ten kilometers long in total. At two and a half kilometers was Geomun Bridge, which connected the two islands into one; at three kilometers was the second-biggest of five cities on the island, the only one with a supermarket bigger than a shoe box and a primary school; at eight kilometers was their biggest city with the only official sashimi restaurant on the whole island (Yoongi could make that by himself, so he had never been there); and at the very end was the lighthouse. That was about everything interesting here, apart from nature, if you liked that. It took them less than half an hour to see it all and get back on their way home.
All the way, Yoongi tried not to think about the arms slung around his middle, but he was failing spectacularly. It was the only thing he could think about. With his self-imposed dry spell this probably was no wonder. Any fool could see that Taehyung was attractive, and Yoongi was dying a little inside at the thought that he'd have to endure this for a whole month without touching. It was like heaven was torturing him. Maybe he shouldn't have threatened to kill Little Mao, maybe this was karma.
On the way back, they picked up some groceries. Yoongi was pleased when Taehyung offered to pay for it. That man had a conscience, he appreciated that. And when they came through Yeosu again, Taehyung bullied him into picking up some mussels as well. To no one's surprise, lunch was mussel soup.
When Yoongi excused himself to work, it was the first time that day where he felt like he could breathe freely. He hadn't even noticed how tense he'd been the whole time. The thought of one month made him groan again.
"Yoongi-ah! Yoongi-ah! Is it true?" Hwaseung cried. "You grandmother took in the tourist?"
"They say she picked him up at Old Kim's last night," Eunha said.
Yoongi took a deep breath and let it out slowly, before slumping into his chair. "Yeah, she took him in," he admitted.
A storm of questions broke over him at that. It would be one hell of a day.
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