Chapter Text
He wiped the dust off the window pane, coming face to face with his own reflection.
Jeon Jungkook. Twenty-five years old, struggling artist and window cleaner extra-ordinaire.
Ha, he thought, the man who couldn’t clean-up his own messes was here cleaning windows of this 5-star luxury hotel.
A shiver shook down his body before he could even finish the thought. He had only heard people getting zapped with epiphanies. Eyes popping wide, he felt around his chest to see if everything was fine.
It wasn’t an epiphany, he realized, but the phone vibrating in his pocket. He put the dust cloth on the side and pulled his cell phone out of his overalls.
<Yoongi Hyung>
He knew what it was about and wondered for a moment if he should ignore the call. He was, after all, suspended several feet above the ground. But after the scene he had created in the morning… he sighed and picked up.
“Hey, hyung.”
“Kook, you okay?”
Guilt and relief washed over him in equal parts. “Is Jimin hyung ok?”
“He is fine,” Yoongi replied. “He just worries, you know.”
“I know, hyung. I swear I do. Please tell him I love him too.”
“Tell him yourself, you brat,” Yoongi scoffed.
“I will. I’ll be home early today and cook you all something nice,” Jungkook promised, before hanging up.
He was an absolute piece of shit this morning. Woke up like one too. Make-up from last night smudged around his eyes, hair a complete mess, traces of drool dried into a rivulet down his lips. Heart-broken, angry, ashamed. And he took it all out on his hyung.
“You jinxed it. You always jinx it.”
“You are making no sense you idiot.”
“It makes perfect sense. You are a witch. A black-magic-wielding witch. You even have a cat familiar.”
“For the last time stop calling my boyfriend my cat familiar,” Jimin exclaimed.
“Then stop betting on my love life, will you? I hate you! I really hate you!”
Mortification spread like a heat wave over his face remembering how mean he had been to Jimin today. All because he wasn’t willing to rely on his hyung’s advice and, like an idiot, wanted to trust his foolish heart instead.
The thing about Jungkook was that he applied his heart to all he did. A romantic through and through. Not just when it came to relationships – to everything he did in life. His hyungs worried for him. The glass window to his heart was fragile. Too susceptible, too trusting.
Three years back, a starry-eyed, fresh-out-of-college Jungkook had landed in Seoul, hoping to make it big in both life and love. Moving in with his glamorous cousin Park Jimin, whom he had looked up to back in their hometown of Busan, and Jimin’s equally exciting best friend Jung Hoseok, seemed like a journey well begun. After all, well begun is half done, isn’t it?
Only it was far from half done.
The glamorous cousin was not the hotshot model Jungkook had built up in his head, and the exciting friend wasn’t the much-sought-after choreographer he had imagined.
Not that Jimin and Hoseok were doing poorly. They were booked now and then. Jimin had even secured a few brand deals this year, though mostly as part of group assignments. Hoseok was now an assistant to a veteran choreographer while managing his own dance classes on the side. But they were still in their “hustle” phase — working side jobs while waiting for their big breakthrough.
For Jungkook, who looked at the world through rose-tinted glasses, it was his first real reality check. Just not enough to wear down his unyielding optimism.
Jungkook respected hard work. He understood success came only after investing time and effort. He was an artist, after all. He had the patience to sit through uncertain pools of ideas, to sift through them, develop them, and eventually create a piece of art. He followed the lead of his hyungs, picked up part-time jobs on the side while waiting to land his dream job.
He was here to work hard.
But he also wanted to play.
If not his career, Jungkook had hoped his love life would at least take off. After all wasn’t the big city experience all about abundance of opportunities for someone like him coming from conventional small town. It happened to his hyung, didn’t it? Park Jimin found his soulmate right across the hall at his management company. The one and only Min Yoongi, the brooding music producer and the hottest underground rapper of the town.
Straight out of a Christmas rom-com.
Jungkook wasn’t even that greedy. It was fine if he didn’t find his “the one” that easily. He could put in the work. Visit bars, take chances on apps, spend on dates.
But that was the second reality check.
He fell fast, and fell too hard. He believed in the idea of love so much that he ended up trusting anyone who could charm his socks off. Even if the person was total scum, only there to take advantage of a pretty little thing. He had a type he always fell for – guys who were fancy, as fancy as the night lights of Seoul.
The city was brimming with such jerks. The number of murders Yoongi had stopped Jimin from committing was quite telling.
The first guy Jungkook dated, within a couple of months of landing in Seoul, broke his heart so badly that it took a lot of lamb skewers and an entire makeover for Jungkook to start believing in himself again. Piercings, tattoos, hot gym body — an entire upgrade. Unfortunately, the glow-up only made him more determined to find himself a knight in shining armor, but none the wiser to the ways of the city.
The devious city was made up of equally devious assholes who wouldn’t blink before ripping a poor struggling artist of his heart and meagre earnings.
The latest in the series was the jerk Jungkook caught two-timing in the club last night, when he had gone to surprise him with a limited-edition watch as a one-month anniversary gift.
The gift he had taken an advance for from his job.
The gift he had picked up odd jobs to pay off.
The gift that asshole stole and then ghosted Jungkook in the most epic way possible.
The gift Jimin had warned Jungkook that it was too much, too soon.
“…you never listen to me,” Jimin had exclaimed.
“You need to stop interfering so much,” Jungkook had cried back.
“I can’t let you hurt yourself. I love you, you dumbass!”
Yes, he knew none of this was his hyung’s fault. Yes, he also knew that Jimin was always just looking out for him. But he really wanted to fall in love. Of course, he was less experienced, still finding his way around the world. But he was allowed to hope. He should be allowed to hope.
But maybe Jimin was right. He needs to grow up and not allow himself to get swayed so easily.
He lathered the window with soap and got back to cleaning.
…squeak squeak squeak…
Resolving hard to clean up his shit too.
…squeak squeak squeak…
No more fancy rich guys for him, Jungkook swore.
…squeak squeak squeak…
Just an honest-to-God, hardworking, sincere, reliable human being would do.
…squeak squeak squeak…
Now that should be easy to find, right?
…squeak squeak squeak…
…squeak squeak squeak…
…squeak squeak squeak…
Wait.
That sound wasn’t coming from his squeegee alone, was it?
Jungkook wiped the last of the soap from the window pane and found himself face to face with the weirdest laugh of all time — on the prettiest man he had ever seen.
Then the man noticed him and stopped laughing.
…and a glass shattered somewhere in Jungkook’s head.
Oh no!