Dont Touch Me. (1/1)

“Huff…that’s enough for today, I guess,” he panted.He got out his wallet and bought himself a drink to attend to his thirst. 6 laps aren’t a joke, to be honest; considering he wasn’t in any extracurricular clubs in his college –let alone a track club. A second year student but doesn’t belong to any club. It’s going to be a problem if he doesn’t find one fast since the qualification to graduate is to at least be in some kind of committee.His phone rang.“Oi, you going to class today…?” a voice slurred.“Jimin, are you drunk?” he chuckled as he found a bench to sit on.“I just woke up... Where are you? I can hear birds…or am I still dreaming?”“You’re not. I’m at the park. I just finished my morning laps,” he chugged on his drink.“…you’re doing morning laps again. Does this mean you’re going to class? Please say no, I’m too lazy to follow you today.”“You don’t have to if don’t want to. Just come to the café around 3 and we’ll discuss about this gig Yoongi hyung wants us to do. I’m still not sure about it.”“Hm, fine. Have fun at campus,” Jimin yawned.Park Jimin; the laziest ass human kind will ever know when it comes to waking up in the mornings and going to places he doesn’t like, that being college or anywhere educational. He hates being dissed but is always too lazy to counter back, likes to play around but gives up pretty easily. There was only one thing he’d like and it was none other than music. Dancing, singing; anything that has to do with music, he’d fall in love with it within .1 second.Taehyung smiled. Park Jimin; this friend of his was one of a kind, he had to admit. But they’ve been friends ever since before puberty. They were in the same class for years in middle school and high school. Back then he wasn’t as lazy, but wasn’t better too. He was-“Excuse me, d-do you…do you have small c-changes to spare?”Taehyung looked up and his eyes met a pair of brown ones.Slender shoulders, hunched back, jet black hair, white skin, furrowed brows, lip-biting, fiddling fingers, trembling figure…is he scared?“…small changes? Yes, I do, in fact. How much do you need?” he got out his wallet again.“J-just 2 dollars; for the bus f-fare…”“Here.”“T-thANK YOU!”The stranger bowed a few times before walking away.Excessive stuttering. Introvert? Taehyung wondered.  “WAIT!!! AHJUSSI, WAIT!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.The bus stopped just in the nick of time and the doors opened. He climbed on when he heard running steps just a few feet away. Must be late, too, then? He wondered, turning to the owner of the rushed steps.It was that stranger again. With brown eyes.Luckily both of them got on before the bus driver could split them in half with his nagging. Taehyung walked to the back and sat by the window. The stranger didn’t even notice him as he also got to the back seats; sitting by the other end next to the window.Taehyung quietly slid next to the stranger.Tap, tap.“Hey,” he started.A little shocked than he’s supposed to be, the stranger’s shoulder shot up a mile. Turning to his side, he inched away from Taehyung; though there wasn’t much space left considering he was next to the window.“Y-yes?”“You’re the one who asked me of the small changes at the park this morning, weren’t you?”Eyebrows furrowing yet again, he blinked excessively trying to recall the memories.Taehyung took a second to understand what he was facing. A boy –most likely in his teen years, sweating, somewhat trembling, trying to keep a distance; breathing irregularly…what’s wrong? He was like this before, too. Taehyung couldn’t help but wonder.“A-ah! Yes. I did. Here, let- let me return it to you,” he said, pulling out 2 dollars from his jacket pocket.Ah, a high-school student; 18? The school jacket seems familiar. Nametag; Jeon Jungkook.“Oh, thanks,” he smiled.Waiting for something, the stranger didn’t take his eyes away from Taehyung. Why isn’t he backing away? I paid him back…Jungkook fretted.“W-what are you looking at?” he stuttered.“What are you looking at?” Taehyung countered.“N-nothing!”“Do I look like I’m nothing…?” he gasped, as if he was offended.“N-no! That’s not what I meant, I-I’m sorry!” he worried.“Hey…I was joking, I was joking. Calm down.”He wanted to laugh, but it seemed inappropriate. So he kept quiet.“I’m Kim Taehyung, I got to Seoul Arts University. How about you?”Tipsy, the boy looked at the floor and bowed his head a little; being polite.“J-jungkook. I’m Jeon Jungkook…I’m a high-school student, senior year.”“Ah, the golden days. How nostalgic. I used to go to that school too. It’s fun, isn’t it?”“Y-you know my school?”“I’d know that yellow jacket anywhere. So you’re interested in arts, I see? What can you do?”“I…I can dance a little. A-and compose.”A little shocked, Taehyung’s eyebrows shot up a little. A quiet boy like him, a composer and a dancer; how peculiar. But then again, he wasn’t one to talk. He smiled.“Really? Maybe you should come to this café my friend owns. He lets people do gigs and stuff for $5 every night. His café is famous among college students so if you want to be recognized, then come along,” Taehyung suggested, beaming.“O-oh, it’s okay. I d-don’t like being…looked at.”Of course he doesn’t, Taehyung sighed.“…okay. Then you can come for drinks if you want to. The café’s really cool. It’s actually just a few blocks from your school. Big, has a little garden and a few outdoor tables…I’m a part-time barista there,” he said, still smiling.“…okay.”Taehyung wanted to keep the conversation going, but when the bus stops, the boy quickly got up and hopped off the bus. Sliding to the window, Taehyung waved at him as the bus passed by. He noticed, but as soon as he does, he kept his face down.Taehyung frowned. “MORNING!!!”Taehyung walked into the café and beamed at every single person he sees, especially the regular customers and his workmates. He waved to the cashier and slipped through the kitchen door.Making his way to the staff room, Taehyung hummed as his body was in routine mode; knowing what to do without needing instructions anymore. He got to his locker, changed his clothes into a barista uniform and combed his hair. Humming, he-“MORNINGGGGG!”Jimin jumped on his friend, pounding him on the shoulder. Also beaming, he unloaded his backpack into his locker, which was next to Taehyung’s.“My shoulder almost came off, idiot. You look bright and happy today…are you the same person as the one who called me earlier today?” Taehyung chuckled.“YEAP. Only now, I’m much more energetic. I don’t get how people are like this in the morning. Afternoons are so much better.”Finishing their routines, they walked out and went to their positions by the coffee machines. As soon as they did, orders came flooding in. Before, the cashier, Yoongi was the only one working but when they walked in, he passed the orders to the younger ones.“Finally. I thought you guys were making shit in there. We’ve got a lot of regulars today, so be on your toes. No one wants them to run away, okay?” Yoongi instructed, ruffling their hair.“Yes, hyung,” they chimed together, laughing.Yoongi’s a little lazy, if people were to ask about it; lazy to wake up early and lazy to actually continue studying, even when his degree pointers were high. He’s smart but he likes to do things his way, which was why he decided to open up this café, the ‘Late Latte’ café.It opens late, at noon and closes late, at 2am. Its specialty is Latte but it also serves other drinks. Food is a big matter here so it’s affordable for college students and they’re all healthy, served in big portions.Regulars here greet the staff and others ‘Good Morning’, even if it’s in the afternoon because for Yoongi; who originally started this tradition, prefers his afternoons being his mornings.“Good Morning, welcome to Late Latte! How may I help you?” Yoongi called out as the next customer came in.“Americano, yo,” a familiar voice said.Yoongi looked up from the counter and smiled a little. Kim Namjoon.“Well, you’re late today.”“Something came up at home so…yeah.”“Which home?” Yoongi asked knowingly as he wrote down the order.“Apartment, my home. Mom and dad are still travelling so right now there’s only one home for me.”“What happened?”Right when the question was in the air, Namjoon’s phone rang. He raised his index finger in the air and his eyebrows scrunching a little, he showed the phone screen to the other. Ah, girlfriend, Yoongi thought.He shooed Namjoon away and chuckled as he heard the other sigh.“His girlfriend again?” Taehyung called from his spot.“Yep,” Yoongi nodded.“Good thing I’m single, then,” Jimin laughed.“No it’s not a good thing. You need a girlfriend because I know that when you do, I’ll be free from your annoyance and hyperactivity,” Yoongi stated.“I love you too, hyung,” Jimin grinned.Taehyung laughed, looking at the two. Yoongi walked away from the counter and excused himself. Maybe he wanted to go to the washroom, he thought. But he doesn’t know, nor does anybody else. Yoongi does that, disappearing once in a while but he comes back after a few minutes.Well, it’s his café, anyway, Taehyung shrugged. He was finishing whipping some cream on a customer’s frappe when the front door bell rang again. Another customer, he perked, signalling Jimin to go deliver the frappe to its owner before attending to the cashier.“Good morning and welcome to Late Latte! How may I help you?” he chimed, wiping his hands on his apron.“I t-think it’s already noon…”Though a little surprised, Taehyung’s eyes familiarly greeted those brown eyes again. It was Jeon Jungkook, the high-school boy who stutters a lot, Taehyung said to himself; beaming as he usually does.“It’s a tradition here, greeting ‘Good Morning’ when it’s noon. I thought you have school?”“Oh…we f-finished early today because the school’s electricity was d-down.”“Oh, good for you then. So what’ll you have? Our specialty is Latte here, Vanilla Latte, Cinnamon Late, Chai Latte and every other syrup you might want to use as the base; we make it work. Or maybe you want some brunch…if you’re hungry?”“Cinnamon Latte, p-please.”“One cinnamon latte, coming up. Anything to eat?”Looking down, he shook his head.“Alright, then.  Well, have a seat and we’ll swing by with your drink in a few,” said Taehyung.Quietly, the boy walked away and found a seat on the high stool by the wall decorated with variously coloured sticky-notes. As soon as he sat down, he traced his fingers on the nearest sticky-notes and smiled. Taehyung was looking at him and he was shocked, he had to admit. So the boy can actually smile, he thought.Jimin was on duty to send the customers’ orders to their tables at the time but Taehyung insisted that he’d send Jungkook’s by himself. He wanted to talk to the boy, get to know him more; though he didn’t know why.“Hey. Here’s your drink,” he put the mug down.“T-thanks.”“And this is on the house,” he smiled, putting a plate of mini sandwiches beside the mug.“E-eh? No, no it’s okay…I-I’m not hungry,” the boy politely refused.“Yes? I’ll be right there,” Taehyung called out, responding to no one.Laughing quietly, he got up to go back to his station. Jungkook was left to himself, staring at the sandwiches before him and wondering whether he should eat it or not. Hesitating, he took one and started munching on it. Hm, tasty, he smiled.Taehyung –who was looking at the boy from the cash machine, smiled.Only when it was hours later that he realized, the boy was still at his table; staring at the wall. He was surely staring at it, Taehyung thought but it seemed like he was somewhere else; in his own made-up world. So he took the initiative to walk back there and check up on him. Truthfully saying, he was worried. The boy ate nothing but the sandwiches given to him earlier and that one cup of cinnamon latte. He should’ve been hungry.Carefully, Taehyung poked the boy’s shoulder with the extra pen he had in his apron pocket. He jolted up a little and turned around.“You alright?”“H-huh?”“Aren’t you hungry? Don’t you want something else to eat?”“I-I’m not hungry…”“Dude, all you ate was those little sandwiches I gave you and that was hours ago. It’s almost dusk now. Our dinner promo value is up if you want to try them,” Taehyung tried persuading the boy.“I-it’s okay. I’m just going to g-go.”He got up and got ready to leave. Bowing goodbye to the elder, he smiled a little and left.Taehyung, on the other hand was…confused. He suddenly had the urge to follow the boy and try to persuade him to stay. Reasons? None were legit for him to point out.“Hyung? Yoongi hyung? Can I leave for a while? I need to attend to something. I’ll come back in a little while-““Be back for the gig,” the elder said, shooing him away.“I will. Thanks.”Taking off his apron, he dashed to the staff room and got his jacket; leaving as soon as he could, bumping into Jimin on the way out.“Dude, where’re you going? I thought we’re doing the gig tonight…?” he called.“We are and I’ll be back in time for that. I just…I have something to do first, okay?”And with that, he left; running out into the cold night air.The sky was dark now, compared to earlier. Taehyung carefully walked down the street, his head turning left and right looking for the boy namely Jungkook. A few feet from the café, there was a bus stop but it was empty; which was both strange and worrying for him since he knew that the boy wouldn’t have any way of going home without having to use the bus……unless if his house was nearby. There’s always that possibility, he agreed with himself; though he quickly disagreed when he turned to go back to the café, overhearing a plea that came from a nearby alley. Being his curious self, he tried to get as close as he could to the voice pleading before. The alley was low-lighted but he could see 3 figures, 2 tall ones confronting a shorter one; which could easily be overlooked as another fistfight incident if not because of the fact that the one pleading was one of the tall ones and not the shorter one.Confused, Taehyung tilted his head to the side, eyebrows crunching together and lips pursed. He thought that the short figure was familiar. Could it be Jungkook? He unconsciously wondered.“Please, R. We really need your help. The academy’s been gloomy ever since you left and the director is thinking of shutting it down if we’re not improving within the next month…and you KNOW we can’t let that happen, right? Right, R?” One of the tall ones said to the shorter one, sounding as desperate as one can ever get.R? Of course it’s not Jungkook, Taehyung sighed in relief.“I can’t, H…I don’t do those anymore and you know that, right?”Wait, that IS Jungkook, Taehyung gasped, his eyes popping out of shock. But then his eyebrows were scrunched together again, realizing that something was different; in which was regarding the boy’s voice and way of talking.He wasn’t stuttering, Taehyung realized.“I know. And I know it’s because of what happened last year but you can’t just leave us like we meant nothing to you! I thought we were family, R! 10 years of living together and this is what becomes of us?”“We were never a family, H. We were just a bunch of kids gathered together because we were weak, dependant and incapable. So we lived together, so what? We danced and sing. That was it. We weren’t a family,” Jungkook said coldly.“Bastard.”“But you still came to this bastard for help,” he sniggered.And a punch flew across his face, right in the cheekbone.Instincts rushing in like adrenaline, Taehyung sprung from his hiding spot and quickly made his way towards the boy who had fallen. He didn’t know what to do nor did he plan to do anything, for that matter so he just stood there. He knew how to fistfight but he wasn’t a fan of it; still he prepared for the worst, clenching his fist and gritting his teeth.Probably amused by the view, the other guy smirked, showing signs of giving him a few good punches but Taehyung was quick to react when the other one namely H grabbed Jungkook by the collar. He turned to them and landed a solid punch on H’s jaw.Immediately he regretted it.The moment his skin made contact with the other, a white flash blinded his eyesight, coaxing out a heavy headache; resulting in a few groans from the male. Thinking that it was just a slight disturbance, he tried to shrug it off. Getting up, H was quick to not give the swing a shit as he landed one of his on Taehyung’s lower cheeks, scratching his lips. Unfortunately for Taehyung, not only did the wound throb but so did his head as he received another blow of white flash accompanied by yet another angry headache.He screamed.He didn’t scream because he was physically hurt but… he felt his chest tightening, hurting his lungs and shortening his breath. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, thumping it against his chest. He tried to breath and tried to clear his vision but the flashes of white was still there. In his mind, all he could hear was a woman shouting; shouting and the fire of gunshots.As if he was the one being shot, he screamed again, falling to the ground.  A/n: So tell me if it's okay because I'm still reconsidering actually continuing with this story.