Chapter 30 (1/1)

[I noticed I already said the male was Jongdae, but for some reason I kept his identity hidden during the last few chapters, which I’m not too sure why I did that... anyways the male is referred to as Jongdae from here on.]Kyungsoo stood in front of an atm and pressed the number five and two zeros, pressing the green button to confirm the amount he was withdrawing from the machine. He was off work and after giving his mom a stupid excuse of, “I’m going to go on a walk... you know... for exercise,” he made his way to his nearest bank. The sun was beginning to set and the cool night breeze was blowing against his uncovered skin. He wore a plain black long sleeve with regular blue jeans. Wrapping his arms around himself, he began walking back home after withdrawing the money from the bank. A part of him was beginning to regret his actions, but another part was telling him he was doing the right thing. Everyone wants to feel like they’re useful to others and that’s what Kyungsoo wanted. Being alone for all these years with only his mother by his side, he wanted to be able to help others. He was still young, but he was still stuck working at a flower shop that his mother painfully worked day after day in order to pay bills to keep up. The amount in his bank account wasn’t that much at all though. He wasn’t even sure if he’d be able to get by after giving away the $500 to Jongdae. His mother’s flower shop didn’t earn that much. There were a few regulars that would order special orders of flowers a few times a month, but with the lack of customers, his mother couldn’t afford to give Kyungsoo a regular pay. That being said, the low income was also why Kyungsoo was stuck there. There wasn’t any extra money that could be used to hire extra help. Kyungsoo’s mother also worked another side job at night to support herself and Kyungsoo, which meant that she couldn’t be tending to the store the whole day. To this day, Kyungsoo still isn’t sure why his mother is so intent on keeping the shop up even though they barely scrap by every month, but he was sure it had to do with his father. Kyungsoo didn’t remember much of his father and he was never brave enough to confront his mother about it. He just left the things he wanted to ask unsaid and brushed it off. He arrived back at home after walking for a few minutes from the bank. The lights in his small shared apartment with his mother were all off, signalling him that his mother was already asleep in her room. He crept inside, making sure not to make any noise and slowly opened the closet that was in the living room and pulled out the white coloured futon, laying it out onto the ground. As he did so, the pillow fell out, rolling onto the ground and falling next to the futon. He placed the pillow in its proper place on the futon and went back to the closet to pull out his worn out blue blanket. The apartment was small. The living room and kitchen were all in the same area and there was only the one room, aside from the bathroom, and Kyungsoo caringly allowed his mother to use it. For most of his life he lived in this tiny apartment, sleeping in the living room on an uncomfortable futon that left him cold during the winters. He hated this small enclosure, but knew he needed to survive it in order to make his mother happy. In his heart, he wished he could get out and achieve something that would allow his mother to be able to run the flower shop without having to work at another job during the night. He wished his mother would allow him to take on another job during the mornings when she worked her shift, because each time she refused whenever he brought it up. It was hard to watch his mother suffer and only wished he had the strength to release her from her suffering. He sat down on the futon cross legged and spread out the bills that he retrieved from the atm. Kyungsoo stared holes into them and sighed, looking up at his mother’s room and back at the bills. He brushed them back into a pile and placed them into his wallet. After he did so, he got up and headed towards the bathroom to take a shower before retiring for the night. His mother’s room was on the way and before he made his way into the bathroom, he paused in front of his mother’s room and muttered a soft, “I’m sorry,” towards the wooden door and continued his path. The next morning was a bright and breezy one. Birds were chirping loudly outside the window of Kyungsoo’s apartment as if they were his alarm clock. He awoke from the noise the birds were making and took it as a sign to get ready for work. The smell of bread being toasted flowed throughout the room, causing him to rub his tired eyes to look for the source of the smell. There was his mother, standing in the kitchen spreading strawberry jam onto a freshly toasted piece of toast. “Morning, mom,” Kyungsoo said as he slowly got up. “Good morning,” his mother repeated back to him. Once he finished up at home, he headed to the flower shop with his mother. It was around eight in the morning. The sun was still beaming in the sky while small fluffs of cloud were gracing across the blue sky. It would’ve been perfect weather on a perfect day until Kyungsoo saw Jongdae standing there in front of the shop, casually staring into the shop as if he was going to steal something. His actions alarmed Kyungsoo’s mother who immediately raised her voice at him. “Excuse me? What are you doing?” she asked, stomping towards him. Jongdae put his hands up as if he was in front of a police officer who was about to arrest him. “N-Nothing ma’am,” he muttered before noticing Kyungsoo taking baby steps behind his mother. “Hey, Kyungsoo.” Kyungsoo mother turned to look back at Kyungsoo as if asking for answers, but Kyungsoo only shrugged and gestured his mother to get the shop opened up for the day. After his mother was out of sight, Kyungsoo stepped towards Jongdae with a cautious expression on his face. It was the time for him to become a hero to Jongdae now. He was going to lend $500 to someone he barely knew, but still, Kyungsoo felt some need to give him the money. “Hey, that $500, could I have it now?” Jongdae asked, holding his hand out in front of Kyungsoo, waiting for the money to be placed onto his palm. Kyungsoo willingly took out his wallet and placed the bills he retrieved yesterday onto the male whose name was still unknown to him. “Thanks, Kyungsoo,” Jongdae said. “I’ll be sure to return you the money when I find another job.” With that, Jongdae left quickly as he usually did. Kyungsoo sighed as he watched the male depart. Little did Kyungsoo know, Jongdae would never return the money to him and he would never receive the money that he was owed because he soon found himself falling for the mysterious man and his mysterious actions. Being the only person other than his mother that he knew, Jongdae was an easy first love for Kyungsoo while Kyungsoo was an easy target for Jongdae.