Chapter Text
Ever since birth Jeon Jungkook had been different. His mother died after giving birth to him, his father left him at his grandmother’s front steps. His grandmother fed him, bathed him and loved him instead of his parents. She became his world until two years ago, she died of a heart attack. Once again, he was alone in the world. His aunts and uncles had come to the funeral and fought over his grandmother’s inheritance but the lawyer said she left everything to Jungkook. Now, everyone was after him. He was the bait in a pool of sharks.
Last week, he had to hide behind the giant garbage can across the street for four hours, wating for the street thugs his aunt from Busan sent left. He had woken up with a fever the next day and had to skip the physics test he had been studying for whole week.
Sometimes, he wished this was just a bad dream and when he woke up he is a son of some rich business tycoon living in one of the nice-looking apartments in Seoul.
But this wasn’t the worst thing about his life. No, the worst thing was he could see things that other people couldn’t see. Talk to people who other people couldn't see. And touch things that other people deem invisible. This made him a freak of nature. At first, he thought his grandma was playing a trick on him when, she said she couldn’t see the kid on the swing next to him. She had even sat on it herself but the kid had vanished long before.
He had thought, his seven-year old mind was playing tricks on him since he had spent the night before reading the new set of picture books his grandma had given him for his birthday. May be because he had lied to his grandma saying he went to bed early. But he was proven wrong when not two days later he saw a man with a knife stuck on his chest outside his kindergarten. He had started screaming and shouting telling his teachers to help the man but everyone told him there was no one. The next day no one sat next to him in lunch and he had to play alone with the buildings blocks when everyone else was sharing them.
After that he tried his best to ignore them but it was hard. Like, when you are waiting for the bus and a crying child is right next to you. Jungkook always wanted to help everyone and he had to curl his hands into fists and dig his nails into his palms until it bled. His grandma did say he had a king’s heart, a person who always looked after others and tried his best to keep them happy. He would always argue that no king would be as poor as he was and then she would smile like she knew something he didn’t.
He missed her smile. Her food, her stories which he is sure were made up most of the time and above all her blind faith in him. She believed him when everyone in the world was against him. She listened to him talk about all the different things he saw like the small kid in the park who always talks to him on his way to school or about the lawyer who babbles about the cases he lost and even the cute cat that everyone seems to walk through. He had brought the cat home but his grandma couldn’t see it, but she didn’t seem to mind the empty milk bottles.
As he grew up he learnt that the things and people he could see were called ghosts. He tried his best to cope and try to be a normal teenager. He would go to school in the morning and go to his part time job where he ignores the high school girl who is in the locker room. He didn’t want to be fired for talking into thin air. He wanted to help but he had no other choice. His grandma told him that it was a good thing he wanted to help but he should think of himself once in a while. So, this is him putting himself first.
After the job, he would try to make it home without getting caught by the thugs who try to catch him and finish his homework get ready for the next day. He is fine with this routine which made him feel almost like every other teenager in his school. He got good grades, he joined his high school dance group and he had people who he could call friends. But, he didn’t dare to share his personal life with his friends. He didn’t want them to run the other way when he tells them about the woman in a white dress who seems to follow Taehyung or the old woman who he once saw at Jimin’s house.
Well, one can only escape reality so many times.
He is exhausted. He had just finished his dance practise and he was on his way home. Jimin and Taehyung had invited him to join them for dinner but he was too tiered and he had an assignment to finish. He dragged his feet along the familiar streets towards his house where a warm bath and his favourite ramyeon was waiting. May be because he was exhausted he forgot to check his surroundings for the now familiar faces of the thugs who has now taken permanent residence outside the gates.
He could hide but they were already making their way towards him. Jungkook wasn’t small by any means he is a good 5’10 and he made sure to work out to keep himself in shape but he couldn’t take on three guys who beat people for a living. So he turned around and ran. Maybe it wasn’t the brightest idea when the road leads to an empty alleyway filled with industrial waste and rats. Why couldn’t he be born with some useful super power like speed or strength instead of being able to see dead people who couldn’t even help him? He really had the worst luck of all.
He stopped at the end of the alleyway which really is a bad place to die, even for someone as poor as him. He always wanted to die in a nice place after getting everything he wanted in his life, probably in one of those fancy looking apartments in the heart of Seoul. He isn’t dumb enough to think it would ever be possible but a seventeen- year kid could dream, right? Even though those dreams remain dreams.
He really wished his stupid ability could be of help, like summon an army of dead people? Who knows it might work but he couldn’t see any of those ghosts who seemed to cling to him at all the inopportune times. He wanted to laugh. How pathetic could his life get? He is waiting for dead people to help him escape a bunch of people, who are very much alive and angry.
His grandma said "have hope". Have faith because angles is watching after him. And things may be rough now it will get better, it may not be now but one day it will be.
Maybe she was wrong. Even old people can be wrong. They are human after all. There were no angels watching. If he did have on his angel is a dick (excuse the language).
He closed his eyes as the first punch landed on his face. He could hear the sound of his own nose breaking. Maybe he could close his eyes and when he wakes up he could meet his grandma in heaven. Would he go to heaven? He should have been nicer to all the ghosts he chased away.
He could hear the sounds fade away, it’s like when you are listening to a song and it’s coming to an end except getting punched is not a nice sound. He could only hear his own heartbeat now, the organ trying to keep him alive and all the blood he needed. He wished he could control his heart, make it stop. Enough is enough.
Suddenly, all the sounds stopped. He slowly opened his eyes, through the tears blurring his eyes he could see the thugs walking away. Maybe they decided to let him live even though he really doesn’t feel alive right now.
He groaned as he made his beat-up body turn. Everything hurt. Jungkook is sure at least three of ribs are broken that would mean he won’t be able to dance at the upcoming competition. He didn’t want to disappoint his friends, he winced as he tried to move his hands toward his phone lying on the floor, almost a foot away from where he was lying.
As he tried to reach for the device that could save his life someone picked it up. Did one of the thugs stay behind to finish the job? Why Jungkook? Why must you always end up in shitty situations?
He could only see the person’s shoes but for a thug he wore really fancy and expensive shoes. They were black and shiny like the owner spent a long time taking care of it. Those shoes didn’t fit in this grim filled alleyway. He wanted to tell the owner to get out because the thugs might return. No one deserved to die in a place like this, may be this was his fate but he didn’t want to drag anyone else with him. He wanted to warn them but his voice wouldn’t work.
The figure moved and now the person was kneeling in front of him. Through the crappy lighting of one of the buildings he could make out the person’s face.
It was unfair. Such a beautiful person shouldn’t be here. The figure was beautiful, probably the most beautiful person he had laid eyes on.
May be this was his angel. He wanted to apologise for calling such a work of art a dick. He wanted to smile, he wished he could meet his angel at a better place in another situation where they weren’t surrounded by rotting garbage.
Then, the angel laughed. A beautiful laugh that fits the figure, it is a sound he wouldn’t mind hearing again. It could easily be one of his favourite sounds in the world and he definitely wouldn’t mind it being the last thing he hears. Jungkook wanted to ask if they could meet each other in heaven but his voice just wouldn’t work.
He felt tired but he didn’t want to close his eyes, but his body had other ideas. He let his eyes close to the image of blonde hair, chocolate brown eyes and a smile that he wished to see again.
to be continued....