Jimin's brother, Min Yoongi, wasn't necessarily intimidating for a cop but Eunha still felt an aura of strictness around him. He looked like the type of person who was very devoted to his job, someone who took life seriously, but also knew how to have fun and relax sometimes. When Ms. Nam had woken up and greeted Yoongi, Eunha could tell from the way they talked that they were friends. She liked that. Yoongi felt like a reliable person to have around.

"You've stopped taking care of yourself again," Yoongi stated as a matter of fact. It was a statement that he sounded confident in. Eunha watched Ms. Nam's smile drop along with Jimin's shoulders. Just a moment ago, they had been talking normally and everything felt light and good but suddenly the vibe in the bookstore changed. Maybe it was because of the cold but Eunha felt herself shiver as she watched Yoongi and Jimin exchange glances like there was a secret that only the two of them knew. Eunha felt something uneasy lingering in the air and wondered what it was.

"I'm doing fine." Ms. Nam replied sternly then added in a softer tone. "Met Eunha, have you?" Yoongi nodded. There was a short pause in the conversation before Yoongi turned to Eunha.

"Are you also a college student?" He asked suddenly, wondering if Eunha was the same age as his younger brother. Eunha hesitated for a moment before replying.

"Yes and no, I'm taking a break from college currently."

"Why?" Yoongi asked and he sounded rather casual for someone who was practically a stranger to Eunha. She felt her muscles tense up at his question. It was embarrassing to admit that she couldn't go to college because of financial problems.

Because I don't have enough money, Eunha imagined herself saying and felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment. Was there a better way to word her sentence? Should she make up a lie instead? Poverty wasn't an easy thing to admit to.

"Haha, ignore him. He always gets too nosy," Jimin intervened as he awkwardly put a hand on Eunha's shoulder, removing it instantly when she glanced at him. Jimin sent Yoongi a glare with a light shake of his head. Yoongi wasn't foolish enough to not get the hint but he still didn't seem bothered by his own question as if he genuinely didn't think he was being nosy. He was a very bashfully straightforward person, Eunha noted and felt rather scrutinized under his gaze. She felt embarrassed, relieved, and thankful at the same time as she stood next to Jimin with a forced smile on her face. She didn't want to answer Yoongi's unwanted question.

"Make sure to get back at it though, studying is important." Yoongi pressed on. Jimin groaned in annoyance beside Eunha who only smiled and nodded at Yoongi politely.

"Orrrrr there are a lot of other things one could do. He makes it sound like studying is everything." Jimin interfered once again with an awkward laugh, stepping forward and walking over to where Yoongi stood as if closing the distance between Yoongi and him was his way of telling Yoongi to close his mouth. Ms. Nam was still sitting in her seat, looking somewhat amused by the exchange happening before her.

"Your grades haven't gone down, right?" Yoongi sent Jimin a suspicious look.

"No, Dad." Jimin deadpanned. "You can go now. If you stay here, you'll scare away the customers,"

"There are no customers-" Yoongi began but was immediately cut off as Jimin held him by the arm and started dragging him to the exit.

"I'll walk you out, let's go."

"See you later, Jiyeon..." Yoongi turned his head to look at Ms. Nam then his eyes shifted to Eunha. "...and Eunha."

"Take care." Eunha smiled and slightly bowed her head.

After Yoongi had left, Ms. Nam and Jimin went to Jimin's little bureau in the back and started working with some long lists and registers that Eunha was not familiar with but it did not matter since she was not a part of it. She was told to watch the counter instead and was happy with that job. Watching the counter was an easier job as there were no customers arriving today anyway. She sat there for about thirty minutes, zoning in and out on Jimin's murmuring voice in a distance, or Ms. Nam's lively chuckles every now and then. She could hear the turning of pages, then a thud, the register had fallen to the floor. Eunha assumed it was because of Jimin. He was clumsy like that but even Ms. Nam found that cute about him.

When there was almost an hour left before the closing time of the store and Eunha was dying of boredom (she could only read books and magazines for so long), she realized that both Jimin and Ms. Nam had gone silent and wondered why. Feeling curious, she got up to check up on them and almost bumped into Jimin who was walking up to the front.

"Oh-"

"There you are," Jimin smiled a smile that did not reach his eyes. The pen he had been holding earlier was clasped in his hand again but he was fidgeting with it now. "I was coming to tell you that you can go home,"

"Go home?" Eunha's voice echoed in the silence as her eyes glanced at the wall clock across them before shifting back to the brunette boy. "But there's still forty-five minutes left though."

"It's alright, I sometimes leave early too. Plus we're not getting any customers today anyway." Jimin reasoned.

"Okay, I guess. What's Ms. Nam doing?" Eunha asked as she proceeded to put on her coat.

"She's getting ready to leave too. She's not feeling well so we're closing early today," Jimin answered in a strained voice. Eunha blinked up at him.

"Oh? Did she catch a cold or something?" She asked as she wrapped her scarf around her neck, wondering why Jimin looked so worried.

"So the thing is, she has a heart condition," Jimin said, his voice dropping a few octaves. "I think she's overworked herself again." He added hesitantly.

Again.

"Oh." Eunha felt like someone had dumped a human-sized bucket of snow on her. For a moment, she was unable to move or speak as she stared at Jimin, chilled to the bones. That was the last thing she had expected to hear today. She was overthinking about how she should react and what she should say but even when she parted her lips, no words came out, and she continued to stand there like a fish out of water. Jimin's eyes were gentle and soft with a lingering gloom in them when they met Eunha's wide ones as if they were telling her that she needn't say anything at all. She slowly closed her mouth, feeling her heart thump against her ribcage. She felt a fear run through her veins but she did not know why she was feeling afraid.

"Is it really serious? Her heart-" Eunha tried to ask but was cut off by Jimin the moment footsteps were heard approaching them.

"See you tomorrow then," Jimin rubbed the nape of his neck as Ms. Nam came out to the front, looking haggard and exhausted, the opposite of her usual lively self. She did not even look at the two of them as she stumbled towards the counter and collected her stuff. Eunha felt a strange sorrow build up inside her.

"Yeah. See you." She nodded in understanding. After exchanging quiet goodbyes, she turned around to walk out of the bookstore with a heavy heart.

~~~

"See, Mister? This is super easy."

Taehyung whistled merrily as he slid his hands inside the inner pocket of the drunk man's gold blazer. He had managed to bring the man outside by pretending that they were old acquaintances. It wasn't a difficult task, the man was not in his best senses. He opened his drowsy eyes slightly as Taehyung held him up against the wall at the backside of the boisterous club. He stared at Taehyung for a moment then closed his eyes as if he didn't have a care in the world. His head fell back, against the wall, as he murmured something incoherent and smiled. Taehyung grunted as he supported his wobbly body to make sure he didn't drop to the ground.

"Look at him," Taehyung turned his head to look at Jungkook who was leaning against the wall a few feet away from the other two men with his arms crossed over his chest sloppily. "He's drunk as fuck." Taehyung grinned.

"Have you ever gotten that drunk?" Jungkook questioned, tilting his head.

"Once or twice, only when I was with Eunha. What kind of idiot drinks this much when they're alone and outside." Taehyung clicked his tongue sarcastically as he looked through the man's ID and cash that he had found in his pockets. "Plus I'm a heavy drinker, I don't really get drunk easily,"

"Oh. Can't relate." Jungkook sucked his teeth.

"I can see that," Taehyung smirked.

"Hey, I'm not drunk," Jungkook said as he straightened up, shifting his weight from the wall to his two feet as if to prove himself. His cheeks were flushed.

"But you feel tipsy, don't you?" Taehyung wondered as he pocketed the cash and put the ID card back in the older man's breast pocket.

"No?" Jungkook lied.

"Bet." Taehyung pulled out the man's cellphone and forwarded it to Jungkook.

"Are you giving me this?" Jungkook asked, grabbing the phone.

"No. I need you to hold it for me for a moment," Taehyung deadpanned as he used both of his arms to hold up the man who had started slipping down the moist wall.

"Ugh, just hold it yourself!" Jungkook whined, annoyed.

"Do as I say and don't be a nuisance, Jungkook. You're already no help." Taehyung rolled his eyes as he pulled the man upwards. For a moment, he thought that the man had passed out but then he opened his eyes again and muttered more incomprehensible words.

"You're the nuisance." Jungkook groaned.

"Man, I thought he'd have a credit card on him. Tsk." Taehyung sighed in disappointment.

"The cash is a lot though. Looks like he was planning to go all out tonight." Jungkook was right but Taehyung digressed.

"There we go, mister. No hard feelings, okay?" Taehyung said as he patted the man's shoulders. The man muttered something about 'more alcohol' and Taehyung gave him a revolted look.

"What about the Rolex?" Jungkook suddenly asked, his eyes moving to the golden watch around the man's wrist.

"I don't want it," Taehyung said.

"Why not? Even if you don't want to wear it, you can still sell it," Jungkook scowled.

"You can take it if you want," He shrugged.

"You're the strangest person I've ever met," Jungkook commented as he bent down and removed the Rolex from the man's wrist, stuffing it into his jeans' pocket.

"Help me take him back inside," Taehyung told Jungkook as he threw the man's arm around his neck and supported his lethargic body. Jungkook put his other arm around his neck and shifted under his weight.

"Ugh, he's heavy." Jungkook groaned, stumbling inside the club.

"Ugh, you're weak." Taehyung mimicked his tone, visibly supporting more of the man's body than Jungkook.

"Shut up, jackass!"

~~~

After their successful steal back at Wild Stars, Taehyung and Jungkook were headed to their house with the stolen goods in their pockets. Taehyung had taken the phone back from Jungkook and was fumbling with it. Cleverly enough, he had checked for the password of the phone and applied the fingerprint of the man to unlock the phone before they had left. He did a factory reset on the phone and switched it off.

"I wonder what Eunha is doing right now," Jungkook said casually as they walked on the snow-covered sidewalk. Taehyung eyed him weirdly.

"Why are you wondering that?" He raised an eyebrow as he reached inside his blazer's pocket for something.

"Just because I'm curious?" Jungkook shrugged. Taehyung produced a sim removal pin from his pocket and put it into the tiny hole on the side of the phone.

"Then don't be curious." He deadpanned as he removed the sim card from the phone, dropping it on the ground.

"Why? Do you have a crush on her?" Jungkook asked with a cheeky smile.

"None of your business," Taehyung muttered much to Jungkook's dissatisfaction.

Taehyung halted to stomp on the sim card very hard three times with his heel before kicking it away arbitrarily. Jungkook watched him put the sim removal pin back in his pocket.

"Do you always carry that around?" He questioned. Taehyung only nodded as he pocketed the phone.

"So are you going to keep the phone or sell it?" Jungkook asked again.

"Do you always ask this many questions?" Taehyung stared at him with a bored face as they walked side-by-side.

"Ugh, it's pointless trying to talk to you." Jungkook rolled his eyes, seeming irritated by Taehyung's lack of conversation.

"Just like how it's pointless having you around," Taehyung stated. Jungkook snapped his head to glare at him, looking deeply offended.

"Fine. I'll leave then." Jungkook spat at him angrily and started taking bigger steps to walk ahead of Taehyung. He turned his head to look back and saw Taehyung walking in his typical lifeless demeanor.

"I'm leaving! Why are you following me now?!"

"We're literally going to the same destination, what do you expect?" Taehyung rolled his eyes, stuffing his hands in his slacks' pockets.

"Take a different route, I don't wanna walk with you anymore." Jungkook curled his lips, turning away from Taehyung.

"You're more than welcome to take a different route. I'll take this one, it's a shortcut." Taehyung told him calmly which seemed to annoy Jungkook more. He made a gruff sound with his mouth.

"Whatever."

"So dramatic," Taehyung mumbled under his breath. Jungkook had already walked quite a few steps far from him as he continued to walk at a faster pace, stomping along the way.

"Walk slower, you'll tire yourself out!" Taehyung called out to Jungkook who started forcing himself to walk even faster just so he could do the exact opposite of what Taehyung had asked him to. Taehyung watched the brunette boy stomp away and his lips unknowingly stretched into an amused smile.

__________________

A/N: Happy New Year everyone! <3

❄️2024❄️⛄