The day was awkward to say the least. Jimin and I barely made eye contact. Here I had been shamelessly flirting with him in the hopes of a one time thing, and now we're suddenly working together for two months.
The next day was the first official day of work.
I was up pretty early so I decided to get ready.
Today's outfit was a striped romper that I had bought on my shopping spree. Actually, Jungkook picked it out. I've gotta thank him for that, because it's super cute.
I headed into the living room to find my grandpa drinking some coffee while reading a newspaper.
"Hey sweetheart. There's some coffee and breakfast on the counter if you want," my grandpa said.
I grabbed some coffee and some of the food my grandpa cooked. I missed it. He used to cook for my brothers and I all the time and it was literal heaven.
We started catching up and he asked me things like how uni was and how my brothers were. It was a pretty normal conversation, until my grandpa stated to get all gossip needy on me.
"So, tell me, any new lovers lately?" He asked.
Honestly, we talked like this a lot. I was never uncomfortable with him and he often pried about these parts of my life.
I chuckled, "I've had some temporaries here and there and a few one nighters but that's it. I haven't been in a relationship since you know who."
To describe my love life simply, I'll explain the types of long-term boyfriends I've had.
My first boyfriend was my longtime crush. I found out he had a crush on me too. So we started dating. He was my first boyfriend. But our relationship turned toxic pretty quickly. He was controlling, degrading, and an all around tool. He was emotionally abusive too. So after a bit of hanging on, I knew I needed better. So we broke up. My second relationship was with this other guy I had met in high school. He was sweet and seemed to get me. But that relationship turned pretty toxic too, but this time it was my fault. I became too clingy and constantly made sure that everything I did was to his liking. I never gave him space or time to express his individuality. So we broke up too. By the time we had broken up, we were at the end of high school. After him I started doing a lot of my temporary boyfriend and one night stand shenanigans. Until I met my last proper boyfriend. We were a really good match. He wasn't a total jerk like the first one, and I had learned to trust him and back off. The thing was, we were both so busy. He was already working and I was a freshman in college. We barely ever saw each other and when we did we were too tired to do anything. So it kind of fell flat.
My grandpa sighed, "It's a shame. You're a beautiful girl sweetheart. But I'm sure the right guy is just around the corner."
Just then Jimin appeared, quietly shuffling to the kitchen.
I don't know what it was, but every time I saw him, I felt my heart rate double. Something about him was so enticing and mystifying. I was enamored by him.
Jimin sat across from me, continuously glancing at me every so often.
I cleared my throat, "So what exactly are we doing today grandpa?"
My grandpa smiled wistfully, "Well today, I was thinking we'd start you off simple. Jimin knows what he's doing so he can give you a few a few pointers."
I glanced at him. Our eyes met quickly before he looked down.
God we were terribly awkward.
We continued to eat breakfast quietly, the only conversation between Jimin and I happening when my grandfather would address us both.
"Alright I guess we should get to work," Jimin finally said.
Jimin suddenly stood up and grabbed my hand.
He gently pulled me outside so that we were out of my grandpa's view.
"What the heck are we doing?" I asked, stopping him from going any further.
"I don't know I was gonna ask you. Why are you acting all shy? I know we got off on the wrong foot but—"
"Actually sir, we got off on the right foot, but you stepped on my foot when you decided to push me in the lake," I huffed.
He sighed, "You're still mad about that? I'm sorry, I really thought you were a real estate person. If I had seen your face properly I wouldn't have done that."
I rolled my eyes, "Yeah whatever. Anyway, what should I start with?"
Jimin considered my question.
"Well there is something that your grandpa needed done that I was supposed to do, but it's easy so I can give it to you. If you can repaint that sign, I'll start teaching you how to work with fish."
I shuddered, "Can't I just keep painting things?"
His sweet laugh returned, filling my ears with the sounds of euphoria. I don't know why or how, but he made me weak. I felt like I was tripping over myself every time he spoke.
I shook my head trying to pull myself from my daze.
"I can do that. Just show me the paint buckets and I'll happily do it," I said.
My feet dragged along the dirt path, kicking up dirt as I walked. It was a weird habit of mine I've had since I was a kid.
The sign was rather high, but Jimin set up a ladder for me and passed me all the paint buckets I needed.
To be honest, I had an immense fear of ladders. Not of heights, but ladders. It was stupid and no one knew about it, but I was totally petrified of the ladder folding beneath my feet.
But I wasn't about to show my strange fear to the attractive guy standing in front of me.
So I climbed the ladder with paint buckets in tow. Luckily, the ladder steps were wide so I put the paint buckets beside me on the top step.
As I mentioned before, I have no artistic talent whatsoever, but Junghyun had taught me not to suck. So that's what I was going to do. Not suck.
But, before I did anything, I had to do the number one thing before starting any sort of work. Play some music, duh!
I started playing various artists and placed my phone in my pocket so it didn't fall or accidentally get stepped on.
Once I had my tunes, it was time to start the grind. Feeling a bit lighter with the sound of music playing, I merrily dipped the paintbrush in the can of paint and began redesigned the dull wooden sign.
Surprisingly, this was very cathartic and each stroke provided me with a headspace of piece and serenity.
"Damn I've gotta talk to Junghyun about this," I hummed.
As I painted, my fears of being on a ladder seemed to disperse and all that mattered was me and my careful strokes. I had to be delicate mainly because if I got too abstract it might start looking like a swamp monster, so my strokes had to be controlled. But just like Junghyun taught me, there are no mistakes in art.
Time seemed to fly by and a few hours later I had finished the large sign.
My arms were covered in paint and there was even some on my face but I had managed to keep my outfit clean so the score goes to me.
I admired my work, rather pleased with how it turned out.
I turned only to realize I had to get off of the ladder now.
So the question now was, do I kick the paint cans off, or take a leap of faith?
Jimin was standing on the port thing taking care of fish. Looks like it's time to call in the cavalry.
"PARK JIMIN!"
He whirled around, giving me a confused look. I motioned for him to come over. He jogged over to me, giving me an amused look.
"Everything alright over here?" He asked.
"I'm throwing the paint cans to you, catch them," I said.
"Wait-"
But I didn't give him time to finish.
I started tossing the paint cans to him. He caught them but every time I could see his life flash before his eyes as if he was sure that the paint was gonna spill all over him.
Once all the paint cans were down I told Jimin to hold the ladder steady.
He made an 'o' face before giving me a stupid smirk.
He held the ladder steady while I climbed down, and once I was close enough to the ground he extended his hand out and helped me down.
"Well that was certainly amusing. But I must say, the sign looks nice. It's unique and colorful," he said.
"Oh my god that means you think it's awful," I groaned.
He chuckled, "Not at all! It looks good, it's just expressive."
I rolled my eyes, "What's next?"
He grinned, "Actually, there's a few more signs that could use a splash of life. And I'd love to help."
I broke out in a smile. Once we had gotten past the awkwardness, it was hard to not notice how fun and sweet he was.
Maybe this summer wouldn't be as dreadful as I thought.
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