"Oh? What's this?"

Jungkook chuckled when he was greeted with bibimbap on the dining table when he woke up while Taehyung smiled and gestured him to sit.

"You said you want to eat the bibimbap I made last time again, didn't you? So here we go. I prepared it for you. Try it and tell me if it's as good as last time."

Taehyung smiled as he watch Jungkook finish up the whole bowl.

The previous night, he saw a side of Jungkook he never knew before, though it's not been long since he came to his world, but the sight of him breaking down in disappointment on himself broke his heart for some reason he couldn't understand.

"Are you... are you feeling better now?"

Yeah, he badly wanted to know, because he at least wanted to make sure if Jungkook is feeling okay and not feel so despondent of himself anymore.

Jungkook smiled, putting the glass of water on his hand back on the table, "did you prepare this to make me feel better?"

Taehyung chuckled at the question because it's true.

"I did. Is it working?"

"It is. Thanks to you, I'm feeling much better." Jungkook smiled, and a nod to reassure he's really alright. "Don't worry. I'm much patient than you think. I'm not giving up yet. I'll surely get a job in a company with good salary and we're gonna live happily."

Taehyung just chuckled at how determined Jungkook's voice sounds once again, it kinda relieved him to hear it.

And talking about jobs, it suddenly reminded him of what he was thinking of the whole night.

"Um... Jungkook-ah, I was thinking... maybe I should work too? Y'know, it's boring to be here all day without doing anything and besides it'll be more helpful if I work too, don't you think?"

Jungkook just stared at him for a good few seconds without a word, sadness slowly clouding his eyes as he reached out to gently rub his thumb over Taehyung's hand.

"I'm sorry. I keep worrying you, aren't I? I promised myself I wouldn't let you work anymore so you can rest all you want and live here happily with me but... I'm such a looser boyfriend, aren't I? I don't even have a stable job and I'm here, even dragging you to worry about my financial problems when I should be the one to—"

"No. No. That's not it," Taehyung stood up from his chair to stand by Jungkook's side, their hands still holding each other's. "I'm more than happy with you here. What I meant is you're working so hard on your own when you should be preparing for your job interviews. I'm not saying you've not prepared yourself enough, I know you're doing your best but it pains me to think about how tired you might be with all your part time jobs. I hardly see you taking rest."

He wanted to make sure Jungkook doesn't think of himself like that. It's true that Jungkook's doing his best, he is trying and Taehyung didn't want him to engulf by any kind of discouraging thoughts, which he doubt, considering how persistent Jungkook is, but he still wanted to cheer him on.

And he can't let Jungkook be the only one to earn money for them, he wanted to help too. Because he know Jungkook is struggling, and he know for the fact that the few he earned from his part time jobs will never be enough for both of them.

"But... but it's you who've been working your whole life. It's you who didn't even get to sleep a wink. It's you who couldn't get a single rest. I wanted you to at least get enough rest—"

"Jungkook, I've done it enough tho? Thanks to you. Resting is all I've ever did since I came here, aren't I?" Taehyung shrugged his shoulders with a faint smile, he wanted to convince Jungkook but it's also the truth that he's been resting enough, and thankfully, looks like it worked seeing how the other finally nodded in agreement.

"And... we- aren't we living together right now? Can we really call this living together if you don't let me worry about these things? Doesn't it make me a freeloader if you're the only one to run this house while I do nothing?"
Taehyung faked a pout, crossing his arms to watch Jungkook's reaction.

"No, wait, no. It's not like that, okay? It's definitely not. Trust me. I just wanted to- Why? Why are laughing?"

Yeah, Taehyung was really laughing because that's exactly how he expected Jungkook to react and he actually did, he freaked out in panic the moment he saw the pout on him.

And that was kinda... cute.

"I know. So that's why, I should start working, and you should focus more on your job interviews. Let me help you a bit in this at least, hmm?"

While Taehyung was trying his best to act natural to convince Jungkook on saying yes to him by forming a big smile on his face-the same face which used to be cemented by sadness, the same eyes that always swamped with tears, Jungkook got lost in that beautiful smile he never thought he would ever got to see—something Taehyung doesn't have any idea about.

Well, it's safe to say it went well with the conversation considering how Jungkook just smiled and nodded and even encouraged him to call the cafe he mentioned of working.

Yeah, it's the same cafe Taeun tried to contact before, he thought it would be nice if at least he could actually work there like she wanted to. And now, Taehyung is finally sitting by the edge of bed, letting out a long sigh of relief after he was told to come and start the next day onwards on the call with the cafe.

It's actually exciting somehow. Funnily enough, just like the excitement he felt on his first day at work. The moment he enter the cafe—a cozy and calm space with a soft jazz playing in the background—somewhere he would actually love to go and chill everyday after work if he was still Taehyung, he's welcomed by a lady, probably the one on the phone he presumes.

"Taeun-ssi, you finally made it. I was so happy when you called yesterday, I was eagerly waiting for you to contact us again, y'know. Come this way, let me show you the changing room first and meet the other staffs."

Taehyung just flashed a smile, trying to hide the awkwardness when the lady suddenly held his hand and lead him to a small room. And to be more awkward than it already was,

"Oh! I'm so sorry!"

He quickly turned his face and covered his eyes with his palm when he saw another lady taking off her shirt to change. Well, she did say she'll lead him to changing room to meet other staff after all. He should've known already.

"Taeun-ssi, what's there to be sorry about? Oh right, maybe you're shy because it's just your first day but don't worry. You'll get used to it. We're all women here. There's no male staff here in our cafe."

"Yeah, yeah. Womon you say. If you knew who am I" is what he thought while listening to the two lady laugh.

Just because he's in a woman's body now doesn't mean he is a woman. And he can't be watching women changing clothes like this, he shouldn't. He's not a pervert.

It felt so wrong in so many ways no matter what.

"Oh, so you're the newbie Yejin Eonni told about? Kang Taeun, right? I'm Kim Jiwon."
The lady greeted him with a smile after finally done changing into a neat white T-shirt with the cafe's logo printed on the front, probably a uniform for the staffs because the another lady was also wearing the same.

"Uh yes, hello. Nice to meet you, Jiwon-ssi. Hope you can guide me well." Taehyung just bowed politely, because both the ladies looked older than him.

"Oh come on, you can just call us Eonnie. Let's be comfortable, yeah? We're gonna be working together anyway. I'm looking forward to working with you." The other lady suggests with a smile, not having any idea how Taehyung was questioning his existence at the thought of having to call a woman older than him Eonnie instead of Noona.

"Well, we've already introduced each other before but let's do it again formally since you finally joined us now. Hello, Taeun-ssi, I'm Son Yejin, I'm the manager here but I also help out with the works here since we're short of staffs. So yeah, it's great to finally welcome you to our cafe."

And thus the first day goes by quickly, with not much work given to him since it's his first day, just washing the dishes and helping out with taking orders from the customers, which turned out to be a great experience for him, without much trouble-well, except for the two cups and one plate he broke of course. But both the ladies were too kind to not cause a fuss over his mistake like some people would to a newbie. He couldn't be more greatful for comforting him instead.

It all went smoothly, but not this moment. Why? Because it's time to close the cafe, which means he has to change the cafe shirt he was given to wear, which also means he has to enter the changing room along with the other two.

It was while he was trying to think of an excuse to change later when he heard the ding of the bell on the top of the front door that rings when someone enters.

"Sorry, but we're closed for toda–huh?"

He stopped midway of his sentence when he saw an unexpected face.

"Oh, Jimin? You came so late. We already closed the cafe. I thought you wouldn't come today."

Yeah, it was Jimin, standing with the same surprised look on his eyes as Taehyung's. But what? Why did Yejin sound like they knew each other? Is he, perhaps, a regular in this cafe?

"Oh yeah, I was a bit busy today," Jimin turned to her for a mere second with a smile only for his eyes to be back at Taehyung again. "What are you doing here?"

And before Taehyung could answer,

"Oh right. Taeun is finally working here now. Today is her first day."

Taehyung still felt Jimin's gaze at him even while Yejin was speaking, and it kinda made him feel nervous for some reason.

"Taehy–Taeun-ah, can we talk?"

The tone in Jimin's voice was... gentle and soft yet so fierce somehow, and it wasn't helping Taehyung's nervousness at all.

"Alright, I'll let you guys talk. But do it somewhere else, yeah? I have to lock the cafe before I go. My husband just called me to come back quickly. Y'know my son, he can't sleep without me. So—"

"Okay, okay. I get it. We'll go out." Jimin chuckles as he nod at her then proceeds to gesture Taehyung to come outside to which Taehyung took a minute of excuse to change his shirt first and thankfully, he didn't have to witness ladies changing in front of him anymore.

He thought the time he took to change would be enough for him to calm his nerves down but it didn't. The silence while he walked with Jimin along the road till his car was awkwardly stressful for no reason.

"How did you find this cafe?"

That was the first thing Jimin asked once they stood in front of his car.

"Woah, you finally spoke. I almost suffocated to death from that silence." Taehyung let out a long breath in relief. Or maybe he assumed too fast? Because Jimin was still looking at him with the same serious eyes which made Taehyung to stand stiff yet again to explain how he found the number and contacted again to work, but Jimin's silence continued even after he told the whole story, instead, he went to rest his back over the car with a long sigh.

"But what about you? Are you... kind of a regular here? The manager seems to know you well."

It was a simple question but Taehyung didn't expect Jimin to chuckle suddenly, which is more confusing for him, of course.

"You don't even know anything, do you?"

"Know about what?"

"That I'm the owner of this cafe?"

"Oh yeah–Wait! You what!?" Taehyung had to double take what he just heard, because it was the least expected answer but Jimin just shrugged.

"And did you know Taeun actually rejected working here?"

"Huh? She what?"

Jimin shook his head with a sigh after seeing the shocked look on Taehyung's face, which is a confirmation that Taehyung really didn't know.

"Well, she did contacted and came to work here actually. But after knowing I'm the owner, she rejected right away. She didn't want others to think she works here because of me."

"But she isn't tho? She went without knowing."

And that made Jimin to sigh again, "but I knew tho? I knew she contacted the cafe and I was the one who told Yejin Noona to hire Taeun when she comes. That's the problem."

"Woah, so did I just do what she didn't want? I thought she wanted to work here." Taehyung closed his eyes in disdain while massaging his own forehead.

"Well, we wanted to, actually. It's just... I'm the problem here. I should've told her before but I just wanted her to get the job she wanted. And I thought she would be safe if she works here. So..."

Taehyung nodded in agreement on what Jimin was trying to mean, he gets it because how would he not when he just met two nicest people in this cafe? Of course Jimin would've obviously thought they would take good care of Taeun.

"Can't believe I just got a job through connection." Taehyung blurted out but it somehow made Jimin to chuckle a bit.

"So? Are you gonna quit?"

And Taehyung surely noticed the concerned tone in Jimin's voice.

"No. I need money."

And that answer surely made Jimin to let out a chuckle again, a sign of relief mixing the laugh this time.

"No but seriously. There's nothing we can do without money. It's really hard to live if we don't have money in this generation. Everything needs money and we need money for everything and everything is so damn expensive. It'd be no surprise if one day we'll need money to even breathe because look, even drinking water is so costly."

Jimin kept laughing as he listened to Taehyung babbling because it's a fact. He hasn't laugh this freely in a while since the day he found out about Taeun's situation. Maybe he really needed that good laugh after all those depressing nights-he felt a bit lighter.

"I'm serious, alright? I know this because I've also been there once when my dad's textile company went bankrupt. I was in high school but I've seen how hard it was for our family to reach where we're right now, it was like we had to start from the beginning all over again when we moved to Daegu. Well, we can say our family is stable now, our debts are all cleared, and everything else is well and good, but it's not the same as before anymore. There's still so many things lacking and it's just all about lack of enough money at the end. Maybe that's why I was desperate to get promoted and kept focusing on my work to earn more, enough to not have time to visit my own family even once in a month."

Taehyung doesn't even know why he's telling all these things to Jimin out of nowhere, he never told anyone about his family but for some reason, eventhough he met Jimin less than a week, he made him feel like he could tell about all his problems and stories when he's in front of him.

"Hmm, well, maybe it's not just all bad? We always learn something from your hardships and bad things do happen in our life. You learned about value of money from your old experiences and now you've learn the value of visiting your family after being like this. That means you'll still have another chance to spend more time with them once you're back to yourself."

It might sound like he's giving Taehyung an advice but no one would actually feel the way his heart hurting as he finished the last sentence, not even Taehyung who just smiled and nodded with a thanks at his advice. It's still a hard pill to swallow for him to accept it. And the fact that Taehyung going back to his body means he has to let go of Taeun forever by then as well.

"Well, anyways, I'm not quitting the job, I'm gonna keep working here till I can. I hope this will be a little help. And do you even know that boy Jungkook has been working whole days with four to five part time jobs? He don't even rest on weekends, not to mention his failed interviews. I don't even know how he's managing by himself but it's frustrating for me to just sit and watch, y'know? He really needs to cut down some of his jobs and get some rest."

Jimin just fondly smiled at Taehyung talking about Jungkook, it reminds him of Taeun—though the way they talk about him is completely different yet so similar. One used to talk about how caring and sweet of a person Jungkook is, how she always wanted to make him happy like he did to her, and here we have Taehyung complaining how hard Jungkook works all by himself. It's different yet there's one thing that's common between the two and that's—

"You seem to care about him too." Just like she did—it's what Jimin said with a faint smile, of course the last word was in his mind.

He thought he said something harmless but Taehyung was giving him a mischievous smirk as he leaned closer to him.

"You. You like Taeun, don't you?"

***