Chapter Text
“How can I trust this one will not make it worse again?” said Jungkook’s fifteenth customer that day, ready to start screaming at any moment if things don't go the way she wants.
“I checked its color and smell, I’m sure it is the right one this time,” he kindly replied and handed the woman two bottles, one of them for free to compensate for the problem he caused. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience again.”
The woman put the potions in her bag and sent Jungkook an unfriendly glare before saying goodbye and leaving his shop.
Two days ago, that person asked for a potion that can make her hair longer. Jungkook could have said that all she needed was a hairdresser and call it a day, but he was happy to earn more money to buy some clothes and toys for his lovely daugh ter instead. He prepared the potion easily, put it into a green finger-sized bottle and left it on one of the shelves after labeling it, with the other orders that are ready. And somehow, the bottles were mixed up and the potion he gave to the lady made her hair shorter.
He actually knew the reason, it wasn’t the first time that he got complaints from his clients in the last few months. It was Eunbi, his 5-year-old daughter, who loved creating chaos and her dad’s potion room was the most interesting place in their home for sure.
It started when Eunbi’s best friend moved away, and she started spending more time at home, eventually getting bored. She sometimes visited Jin’s potion shop across the street too; however, it was still not exciting enough. Her solution to this was adding random ingredients to Jungkook’s cauldron, changing the labels of the potions and mixing them, not caring about the consequences.
Jungkook tried to talk to her about it numerous times, but it was useless. He couldn’t get angry at her for more than 10 seconds, she was the cutest thing that ever existed, at least for him. She knew that and continued doing whatever she wanted. However, this time Jungkook was determined to make her understand why she couldn’t do it, and how it might cause serious damage. He was afraid to lose his regular customers as well.
He went to the inner side of the store and then to the first floor, using the wooden stairs that he repaired almost 6 months ago. The first floor was their home, the living room right by the stairs, a kitchen, a bathroom and two bedrooms-one for Jungkook and one for Eunbi, even though she liked sleeping next to him a lot more.
He opened the door of her bedroom and she was nowhere to be found. That only meant she was in the potion room again, so Jungkook ran back to the shop, hoping to save at least a bottle from Jeon Eunbi’s hands. And there she was, standing on a chair to reach the shelf, looking at Jungkook with wide eyes as she had two bottles of potion in her hands.
“Are you trying to mix them again?” he said, crossing his arms, waiting for her to put them in their place, without Jungkook needing to say it out loud.
After doing that, she turned back to look at Jungkook, pouting as she apologized, “I’m sorry daddy.”
“You say sorry but you keep doing it, Eunbi,” he sighed, taking a few steps to help his daughter get off the chair safely. “Do you remember what I told you last time?”
“Yeah, when I-”
As she was beginning to explain, Jungkook heard the front door of the shop opening, the bell he hung there chiming.
He interrupted his daughter and held her hand to take her with him to the front side, “We can talk later, let’s see who’s here.”
She replied with a barely audible “Okay,” and followed him.
The customer was a young man, probably in his twenties like Jungkook, and he was so, so beautiful. His blue hair that almost reached his eyes, his plump lips forming a soft smile that grew bigger when he saw Jungkook and Eunbi appear while holding hands…
“Is this your real hair color?” Eunbi asked before Jungkook could say anything, looking at the blue-haired man in awe.
“It is,” he replied, now smiling bigger at the little girl’s cuteness. “Is this your first time seeing it?”
Eunbi nodded slowly, looking unexpectedly shy and innocent for a girl who was trying to mix potions just a minute ago. Jungkook let go of her hand to get behind the counter, right in front of the new customer and it was not really surprising that he was more good-looking from this short distance.
“Hi, what can I do for you?” he asked with the kind smile he always has when he’s talking to his customers.
“Hi,” the young man said as he looked around the shop and then his eyes returned back to Jungkook, “I didn’t know such a cute shop like this existed.”
Jungkook wouldn’t consider his potion shop as cute, but the stranger wasn’t totally wrong. Behind the counter, he had shelves filled with potion bottles of every color, some flowers hanging on the walls, and some special oils he had made that are good for health decorated the shelves on the walls next to the door. He also had some potted plants and flowers which Eunbi liked to water every morning.
“Thank you, my daughter helps me a lot to take care of the things here,” he pointed to Eunbi with his hand, knowing she would be happy to get compliments for this.
And just like he expected, she had a big smile on her face and quickly came to hug Jungkook from the side, “Yeah! I help daddy to clean and water the plants.”
As she was only 5 years old, she was just hugging his legs until he picked her up and put her on the counter so she could sit there and hug him more comfortably.
“Wow, your dad is so lucky!” the blue-haired man said to Eunbi, and she giggled, loving every compliment.
She was messing with his potions one second, and then she was cute and innocent. Jungkook had to deal with a lot of things for her, but he loved it. He loved her so much, he felt warm every time she hugged him like now, and wanted her to be the happiest person in the world, sometimes he felt like she was the reason for his existence.
“I know,” he said, his eyes on his daughter and his right arm around her small shoulders. He would love to talk about her more, but the blue-haired man was a customer after all, and he was here to get something, Jungkook didn’t want to make him wait more. “Are you here to get a potion or do you need something else?”
“A potion, yes,” the young man replied and Jungkook sadly had to get away from his daughter to get his notebook and a pen to write the order.
He opened an empty page from the notebook, “Can I get your name first?”
“Park Jimin.”
“Park Jimin,” he repeated, writing his name on the paper, “What would you like to order?”
“I want something to strengthen my hair, it has been falling out more than usual lately.”
“Did you see a doctor?” said Jungkook, looking at him. Jimin was probably a witch like him too, as he said blue was his natural hair color, and their bodies functioned similar to humans, except their extra abilities. Therefore they had their own part in the hospitals with specialized doctors. “It might be because of hormones or lack of some vitamins.”
“Yeah, I did a test yesterday and nothing was wrong,” Jimin replied while helping Eunbi to get down from the counter to go somewhere behind the door she and Jungkook came in minutes ago. “So Namjoon hyung suggested that I come here.”
“You’re a friend of Namjoon?” Jungkook asked, his eyes wide from surprise . Namjoon had an attractive friend like this and didn’t introduce him to Jungkook. They needed to talk about this later.
“Yeah,” Jimin nodded, “He comes to my bookstore every weekend.”
“Oh,” Jungkook had heard of the bookstore Namjoon loved before. When they hang out every sunday at Jin and Taehyung’s apartment, he liked to mention some quotes from the books he read that week and also why his friend working at that bookstore suggested those books. “He mentioned you before but never said your name so I couldn’t remember, sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Jimin shrugged, “When will the potion be ready?”
“No more than three days. You can come to get it on Tuesday or call me from this number if you need it early,” he handed Jimin his white business card with flowers on it, his name and number written in a pretty font.
Jimin put it in the pocket of his jacket, and then looked back at Jungkook, smiling brightly, “Thank you, I’ll be back.”
“See you on tuesday,” Jungkook smiled back and waved as his new customer left the shop.
Now he had to wait three days to see Jimin again.
☼
The first thing Jungkook did after closing his shop for the day was to check on Eunbi who was playing with her toys on the floor in the living room, like he left her 15 minutes ago but now the toys were scattered everywhere. She had a giraffe in one hand and a zebra on the other, walking them to a house she made with pillows.
“Eunbi,” he called her name as he walked towards the kitchen, “I’ll make j apchae for us, okay?”
“Okay!” she replied while putting more of her toys into that house.
Jungkook started out with cooking the glass noodles, and chopped the other ingredients quickly as he was waiting for it to be ready. He prepared the meat he’ll use for this in the morning, so he got it out of the refrigerator to mix it with others later.
In less than 40 minutes, their dinner was ready and they ate while Eunbi told stories about her friends in the kindergarten. After Jungkook washed the dishes, they went to his room to watch a movie on his bed from his laptop, cuddling. Eunbi couldn’t stay awake until the end, which Jungkook thought was cute. Everything about her was cute, unless she was in his potion room.
He turned the laptop off and spent some time on social media, being a witch didn’t mean he couldn’t have a twitter account in the 21st century, and also texted Seokjin about their plans for tomorrow.
☼
Days went by fast as Jungkook had so many orders of potions to prepare. He spent hours in his potion room every day, leaving there only when a customer came or to help Eunbi, and of course, to cook, clean and rest.
Hoseok, who was a part of their friend group, worked at the kindergarten Eunbi went to. His students were a year older than Eunbi, but he left work the same time she was done with school for the day. So he offered to take her home everyday, which was a big help to Jungkook. They all lived in the same neighborhood anyway.
That was how Eunbi came home on Tuesday afternoon, the day Park Jimin would come to get his potion. She spent hours playing, coloring and doing so many activities in school; however, she was not tired at all. After telling Jungkook how her day went, she played in her room, running around with her toys in her hand but it still wasn’t fun enough. She had to do something else.
She walked down the stairs carefully, and went to the potion room where Jungkook was adding some dried herbs to his cauldron and mixing it with a large wooden spoon. Eunbi thought he wouldn’t want to play with her now, he looked busy, so she decided to do something on her own.
She went to the front side of the shop and something on the counter caught her interest. It was the purple bottle Seokjin brought to her dad yesterday, and it looked like a purple diamond, too shiny to let go without having fun with it.
As she opened the lid, the scent of roses filled the room. The liquid in it looked pink, a color Eunbi liked a lot. She knew she shouldn’t drink every pretty potion she sees, her dad told her that almost every day when she was little. So she had this bright idea to mix it with one of the orders waiting on the shelf for their owners, that way the person who will get it later could enjoy this pink potion.
Jungkook’s new customer, Park Jimin, came to pick up his order an hour later. He chatted with Eunbi for a minute while Jungkook had a phone call with Eunbi’s teacher, then he paid for the potion, thanked Jungkook and said he will be back later if he needs anything else.
But Jungkook wasn’t expecting him to come so soon, the next morning, and to see a panicked Jimin. The first thing he realized was his hair being red instead of blue, and Jungkook was surprised that he dyed his hair after telling Eunbi how much he liked it yesterday. Also, he didn’t have a coat or jacket on, just wearing a plain white shirt. It was a cold day and the mornings were always extra cold, so Jungkook thought something was definitely wrong.
As soon as he got in, he started explaining, “I had two sips from the potion like you suggested this morning but I think something is wrong because my hair suddenly turned red.”
“Did you do anything different from other days today? When exactly did this happen?” Jungkook asked, putting the potion in his hands back to the shelf and focusing only on his customer.
“I didn’t do anything other than drinking the potion you gave me,” said Jimin, and stopped for a moment to find the best words to describe the situation, “It happened when I had a customer in the shop, around ten minutes ago.”
“Anything strange about the customer?” Jungkook asked, interrupting him.
“No, he was just annoying,” he sighed, “He was asking for a rare potion book I didn’t have. But he didn’t believe me when I said that and accused me of keeping the book to myself because I didn’t like him.”
“Was that the moment your hair turned to red?”
“Yeah, he was shouting and throwing some books to the floor, then he saw my hair changing colors and stopped,” Jimin said. He looked less panicked than the moment he came in, and Jungkook noticed something strange: His hair color was changing to orange.
It happened so fast, probably didn’t take more than two seconds. First, the left side became orange, then it expanded to the other sides.
“Jimin-ssi,” he said, trying to sound as calm as possible even though he was starting to get worried, “Your hair is orange now.”
Jimin raised his eyebrows in shock, quickly getting his phone from his pocket to open the camera and check. “Why is this happening?” he asked silently.
“I’m sorry, I really don’t know yet,” Jungkook replied, “But I’ll figure it out. Do you have the potion with you?”
He shaked his head, “No.”
“I need that to see if something happened to it or if I gave you the wrong potion,” explained Jungkook, “And if you can do it, I think it would be better if you close your shop for today and stay here, so I can see it immediately if anything changes again.”
Jimin agreed to it, and came back to Jungkook’s potion shop half an hour later. Jungkook brought him a chair from the back side of the shop, and asked Jimin to relax while he worked on the potion.
He first got a small white plate from his potion room and carefully poured some of the potion into it. The liquid was supposed to be transparent, it looked exactly like water when Jungkook made it two days ago. However, this one was light pink and smelled like roses. Rose was not an ingredient he used for hair potions.
He thought he probably put the wrong label to this one and searched his spellbook to see which potion this might be. After reading more than 10 pages and slightly getting bored, he checked on Jimin to see him reading a book, his eyebrows furrowed together in concentration. But there was something different, his hair color. It was blue again.
Jungkook tried to think of the only thing that might have changed in all three situations, what was the common thing? Jimin didn’t eat or drink anything, he didn’t do any physical activities other than breathing and maybe speaking, and the things he said were not anything special that can create or control magic.
When he couldn’t find a logical answer, he tried to match the hair colors with the events, hoping to see a trend. The first time was at the bookstore and he was mad at the customer. The second time was at Jungkook’s potion shop, when he was still worried but not angry or panicked like the moment he came in. The third time was when he was relaxing, reading a book.
And then, he found the reason, the most apparent change in all three situations. It was Jimin’s emotions.
Currently, he was probably lost in the book, forgetting the changes in his hair and that was why his hair wasn’t orange anymore. Worry was orange, anger was red and peace was blue. But that was just a theory, they needed to test it out to make sure.
“Jimin-ssi,” he said and waited for Jimin to look at him, “I think I found what it is.”
“It didn’t even take twenty minutes,” said Jimin and smiled, “You’re good at what you’re doing after all.”
Jungkook replied jokingly, “How can you say this after I literally gave you the wrong potion?”
“Nobody’s perfect, we can make mistakes from time to time,” answered Jimin calmly, “It wasn’t a serious mistake anyway. And Namjoon hyung told me how amazing you are in this field so don’t try to convince me otherwise.”
Like Eunbi, Jungkook also liked compliments, and he didn’t hear them much from people except his best friends, so it was a nice change. “Thank you for being understanding.”
“It’s nothing,” said Jimin, closing the book he was reading and putting in the bag he brought with him earlier. “So, what is happening with my hair?”
“I think it’s related to your emotions,” said Jungkook and explained to Jimin what he has thought so far.
“So you want to test it now?” asked Jimin.
Jungkook nodded, “Yeah, I thought we could watch some parts of movies and see if your hair changes color again.”
“Okay, let’s do it.”
Jungkook locked the door of his shop, he didn’t know when they’ll be done with testing so he didn’t want to leave his shop like that. He invited Jimin to his home, as it was the only place where they could watch movies.
They went up the wooden stairs and reached the small living room, which had two couches, a coffee table and a TV only, besides the toys that can be found everywhere.
They sat next to each other on a couch, the one facing the TV. Jungkook turned the TV on and started looking for a movie on Netflix. “Should we start with horror?”
“Anything is fine,” Jimin replied, and Jungkook clicked on the first movie he saw. Instead of watching it from the beginning, he started playing it from somewhere near the end; it had around 20 minutes left.
It was a scene that had a woman crying silently, trying not to make any noise so she won’t be found. However, the person she was running from found her and opened the door. Jungkook thought it might be a scary scene, so he wanted to check on Jimin, to see if his hair color has changed again.
It was now yellow as Jimin was watching the movie with wide eyes and he looked uncomfortable, holding the pillow next to him tightly. Jungkook quickly paused the movie and turned back to him, “You could’ve said no, you know.”
Jimin, who was still thinking about the movie scene, looked confused, “Say no to what?”
“Watching a horror movie,” Jungkook explained, “We could’ve just tested the other emotions and left this one.”
“It’s fine, it wasn’t that bad,” Jimin said, looking embarrassed.
“Apparently, your body doesn’t feel the same,” he pointed to Jimin’s hair, “It’s yellow now, but fading back to blue slowly.”
Jimin immediately checked it using his camera, “Oh.”
“Let’s watch something else now,” Jungkook suggested and went back to the main screen on his Netflix account. “What about a family movie?”
Jimin nodded and Jungkook chose the one he watched with Eunbi a few days ago. It was so sweet and it had emotional moments in it as well, he thought maybe that would make Jimin feel something too.
Just like he expected, it did. They watched the first hour together, Jimin’s hair turned to green after watching thirty minutes but he wanted to watch it a bit more, and how could Jungkook say no to him when he smiled so bright and giggled when a cute scene came up? If Jungkook didn’t get a call from one of his regular customers saying she was waiting at the door, they would probably finish the whole movie.
The phone call made them realize they were spending more time with this test than they should have and it was a weekday, Jungkook had to work. However, before he went downstairs, he started playing a new movie for Jimin, saying he’ll be back as soon as he can.
The movie he chose was his favorite for years now, he watched it more than five times and it was still as heartbreaking as the first time he had watched. Jungkook wasn’t sure if something called “real love” existed, but that movie made him believe every time he watched it.
When he came back 30 minutes later, Jimin was quietly crying. He wiped away his tears as he saw Jungkook walking towards him, and taking a seat next to him like he did earlier. “It’s sad, isn’t it?” he asked, even though the answer was obvious.
“Yeah,” Jimin sighed, his hair was dark blue, “I usually don’t cry when I watch a sad scene, this one is really good.”
They watched it until the end. Jungkook went to deal with his customers three more times but he was there in the last scene, where the characters were finally happy and the movie ended with a sweet kiss.
He was so focused on the movie, getting emotional although he watched this scene five times before, that he didn’t look at Jimin until he asked Jungkook a question, “What’s my hair color now?”
“Pink,” he answered, “Baby pink, to be more specific.”
“So far we have seen seven colors, right? Including two tones of blue.”
Jungkook nodded, “Red for anger, orange for worry, yellow for fear, green for happiness, blue for being calm and content, dark blue for sadness, and pink for...” He stopped and looked Jimin in the eyes. They haven’t talked about that so he didn’t know what it really meant.
“Love,” Jimin completed his sentence with a small smile, “Even though it wasn’t me living that life, I really felt it. Thank you for making me watch it.”
Jungkook smiled back and was about to say something, but his phone started ringing again. It was Hoseok this time, saying they left the kindergarten with Eunbi and will be home in fifteen minutes.
When he explained it to Jimin, he checked the time from his phone, “I have a meeting at 4 pm,” he said and stood up, “I should go now.”
“Okay. I think you won’t have any serious side effects but if you feel like something is wrong, call me. I’ll answer even if it’s the middle of the night,” he said, it was his mistake after all, he had to take responsibility.
Jimin took his bag from the couch which he left it on and was about to go down the stairs before Jungkook stopped him, “Wait!”
He turned around and saw Jungkook rushing to him. “Your hair...” he said, and moved closer to Jimin, until they only had something like 20 centimeters between them. He lifted his hand and touched Jimin’s hair. Jimin thought he liked it more than he should have, since they just met last week, and Jungkook’s face being this close didn’t help at all.
His eyes were beautiful and as he looked at Jimin worriedly, moving his fingers in his hair slowly, Jimin wished he could be even closer than this to Jungkook.
“It was half blue and half pink,” Jungkook said quietly, “I was expecting it to turn fully blue now that the film is over but it’s pink again. I don’t understand why this is happening.”
He was confused and looked at Jimin’s face to see what he was thinking; however, when he realized how close they were, he knew the reason.
Jungkook quickly pulled back and apologized, “Sorry, I didn’t realize I was invading your personal space.”
“You don’t need to apologize, it’s okay,” Jimin said, he could feel his face heating up a bit. Because of that potion, Jungkook could easily see how Jimin felt, even when he wasn’t ready to admit it to himself yet. He needed to get out of there, as soon as possible, and think about his feelings for Jungkook in the place he felt the most comfortable: His bookstore.
He waved to Jungkook, rushed down the stairs and left the shop.
☼
Eunbi opened the door of the potion shop exactly fifteen minutes later. Her dad was sitting on a chair behind the counter, quickly turning pages of a spellbook he rarely used.
“Daddy!” she called him, and ran to Jungkook who was waiting for her with his arms open now.
As they put their arms around each other, one of his best friends came into the shop as well, “She couldn’t wait for me again,” Hoseok said, putting his heavy backpack to the floor.
Jungkook smiled at him, “Thank you Hobi, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“It’s nothing, you know I’ll come here to visit Yoongi in Jin's shop anyway,” he said and sat on the chair Jungkook brought for Jimin earlier.
Yoongi and Hoseok were dating for a long time, Jungkook couldn’t even remember when it started. He met them before Eunbi was born and they were boyfriends back then as well, so it must have been more than five years.
Yoongi worked at Jin’s shop, which was just a few steps away from Jungkook’s, with Taehyung and the shop owner himself. And his boyfriend loved to spend time with him as much as he could, even if it meant that he had to sacrifice other things sometimes.
Jungkook offered to make coffee for him, like he did everyday; however, he had a date planned with Yoongi, and he didn’t want to be late. So he left the shop earlier than usual, and Jungkook could finally have the talk he had in his mind all day with Eunbi.
When he saw the potion’s color being different from the day he made it and smelled the roses, he thought it could be one of the potions Eunbi mixed. He didn’t want to blame his little daughter for it without hearing it from her, he thought maybe he had made a mistake with the ingredients he added. But if it was really her, he needed to know every detail so that he could solve Jimin’s problem as soon as possible.
Eunbi changed her clothes and came back to the living room,where Jungkook was sitting on the same couch he and Jimin did 30 minutes ago. He asked her how her day went and she was more than happy to tell everything. Then, she asked how his day was.
“Busy,” he replied and took this chance to mention the topic, “Do you remember our new customer with blue hair? Park Jimin?”
Eunbi nodded, “Yeah, he was here yesterday.”
“He had a problem with the potion, his hair is changing colors now,” Jungkook explained, “I asked him to bring me the potion and it was supposed to be transparent but now it’s pink. Can you believe that?”
“It is pink?” Eunbi asked, looking at her dad curiously.
Jungkook nodded, “Thankfully he didn’t have any serious side effects. I should be more serious with the orders, what if he got hurt because of something I made?”
He tried to use some words that can make Eunbi understand how dangerous this could be, but at the same time he didn’t want her to be sad or blame herself for something Jungkook should have double checked. That was why he said it like that and hoped Eunbi would confess if it was really her who did this.
She stayed silent for a while, looking at the floor. Jungkook thought that maybe he should’ve mentioned it a bit softer, but she didn’t take him seriously the other times he did. He had to make her understand before something more serious than a hair color change happened.
The silence didn’t continue for long, “Daddy, there’s something I need to tell you,” Eunbi said and looked at him, Jungkook could see worry in her eyes.
He placed his hand on her small shoulder, hoping that would help her to feel better about the whole situation, “I’m listening,” he smiled encouragingly.
“I used some of the potion your friend Seokjin brought,” she said quietly and was pouting after finishing that sentence. If they weren’t having a serious talk right now, Jungkook would hug her and kiss her soft cheeks.
“Which one?”
“The one in the purple bottle,” she said, still not looking her dad in the eye, “It was pink, so pretty, and I mixed it with something on the shelf.”
“Do you think it was Jimin’s potion?”
She nodded, “I’m sorry daddy,” she said and when she finally looked at Jungkook, he saw the tears in her eyes. He couldn’t hold back anymore, he had to comfort her daughter and do everything he could to make her smile again.
Jungkook pulled Eunbi to his lap, hugged her small body and Eunbi put her arms around Jungkook’s neck. He moved his hand up and down, “It’s okay baby, Jimin is fine,” he whispered, “I’ll find a way to make it right.”
He asked Eunbi how much pink potion she added to Jimin’s, and she said she didn’t remember but not much. Then they played with Eunbi’s toys together, had dinner and played some more. And after putting her to sleep, Jungkook went downstairs, to his potion room.
Apparently, she mixed a special kind of courage potion he got from Seokjin for one of his customers, which helped with honesty, with the hair potion he prepared for Jimin. Since it was a mix of two, the potion worked as if it was helping Jimin to be honest with changing his hair color.
The courage potion only affected the person for a short period of time, like ten minutes or a few hours, depending on the amount consumed. However, it was mixed with a long lasting potion that Jungkook made, so he couldn’t say when it would wear out. The best choice was to make a new potion, instead of waiting.
He started with reading a few pages from his book, about how to undo a spell and there was a specific section about mixed potions as well. He spent five hours in that room, and when he left to sleep, he finally had a potion to help Jimin.
☼
The first thing he did in the morning after sending Eunbi to school with Hoseok was to send a text to Jimin. He got his number from Namjoon, since he couldn’t get it when Jimin left in a rush. Next, he went to his potion room to prepare the new orders he got yesterday. He usually didn’t have customers in the morning on weekdays, so he used that time for things like this.
As he was putting the ones he had just finished onto the shelf behind the counter, the bells on the door signalled him that someone had just come in.
It was Park Jimin with baby pink hair again. He was out of breath and his cheeks were a bit redder than the last time Jungkook had seen him, so Jungkook thought he must have rushed here. He looked at Jungkook and smiled shyly as he walked closer to him, “Jungkook-ssi, hi.”
“Hi,” he said back, his eyes on Jimin’s hair. He wondered why it was pink again, they weren’t having a moment like yesterday or watching a romance movie. Maybe he met someone he loved before coming here, he thought and decided to wait a bit more before getting excited about the possibility that it might be connected to him.
“I wasn’t expecting you to be done with the new potion so soon!” Jimin said, with a cheerful tone, “Namjoon hyung was right after all, you’re amazing.”
“Thank you,” Jungkook replied, he would never get tired of hearing it from Jimin. “I hope it will work without any problems this time.”
He took the small light blue bottle he labeled as “Park Jimin” last night, placed it on the counter and pushed it towards Jimin.
Jimin took it and put the bottle in one of the huge pockets of his coat, “How do I use it? A sip or drink it all?”
“Drink it all before you go to bed and things should be fine in the morning,” explained Jungkook and apologized after that, “I’m sorry for this again.”
“It’s okay, it’s just a color change,” Jimin said, even though that color change really affected his daily life. He had to be more careful with his customers in the morning, especially the human customers, he didn’t want them to be scared of the sudden change and leave his bookstore.
Also, he couldn’t hide his feelings from Jungkook. He hated that his hair turned to baby pink in just two seconds, he saw it from his reflection on the glass door when he came in. He still wasn’t confident about the answer of the question he asked himself so many times yesterday. Did he like Jungkook or not?
In the message Jungkook sent to him, he also explained that his order was accidentally mixed with a potion that helped with honesty, and Jimin thought he didn’t need to think more. The potion answered his question. It was his true feelings, whether he was aware of it or not. And nothing was wrong with liking Jungkook, a young man who is handsome and kind, also really cute when he smiled with his bunny teeth. Adding to that, his daughter was the sweetest 5-year-old he had ever seen, not that Jimin knew any other little kid personally.
“Thankfully,” Jungkook replied, “Would you like something to drink if you don’t need to go?”
Jimin shaked his head, “Thank you but I need to go now, I left the bookstore to Namjoon.”
“Oh, I didn’t know he went there on weekdays too.”
“He comes when he’s not busy with paperwork,” Jimin said, smiling kindly at him, “But he said he has a meeting in an hour, so I don’t want to make him wait, see you later Jungkook-ssi.”
“See you later,” Jungkook replied and as Jimin was walking towards the door he said, “Let me know if the potion works tomorrow!”
Jimin, whose hair was still pink, pushed the door open, “I will.”
Thursday morning was not busy as usual and Jungkook was sitting on a chair in his potion room, stirring the liquid on the small cauldron with a wooden spoon. He had to do it for 10 minutes and it was the perfect time to think about something, or someone, that was on his mind since yesterday.
He had an idea about the reason why Jimin’s hair was baby pink again, but wasn’t ready to admit it to himself. He didn’t want to get his hopes up for no reason, he didn’t want to be heartbroken when he had to take care of his lovely daughter Eunbi every day. That was why he tried to be careful, but was there any other logical explanation?
If Jimin wasn’t interested in Jungkook, then why would his hair stay pink all the time? Usually, his hair changed color immediately when his emotions changed, it took around two seconds. However, while he was in Jungkook’s shop, it didn’t change. He was feeling love, or fondness-or maybe his heart was just beating a bit faster than usual, but the only reason for that in his shop was him.
He couldn’t deny that he found Jimin attractive the moment he came into his shop, and would totally be interested if Jimin asked him to go on a date or something. Yet before he got his hopes up, he decided to wait and see what would happen the next time he sees Jimin-or if he sees Jimin again.
He was waiting for a text from him, telling him if the potion worked, not Park Jimin coming to his shop for the fourth time this week and especially not with pink hair again.
As usual, he left the potion room when he heard the sound of the bells and Jimin was standing there, a confused look on his slightly red face like yesterday. Jungkook couldn’t hide that he was also flustered this time, seeing Jimin with pink hair again was the signal that convinced him that it could be real, that Jimin could have feelings for him.
The only problem was that seeing Jimin like this meant his potion didn’t work as expected, again. He didn’t like that Jimin had to go through this for so long, it should have been fixed by now.
They looked at each other in silence, Jimin didn’t need to say anything to explain the situation, Jungkook could see it clearly. He sighed, he really thought this potion would work, he did everything described in the book. Maybe I should increase the dose, he thought, as that was the only thing not specified in the spellbook, and asked Jimin to wait a second.
That night, he put what was left in the cauldron into bottles, labeled and put them in the storage, thinking he wouldn’t need them for a long time. Therefore, it didn’t take more than five minutes for him to get one of the bottles and take it to Jimin. “This is the same potion,” he explained, “I think the amount you had was not enough.”
“Are you sure drinking so much of these in 24 hours won’t cause anything?” Jimin asked, he looked worried, “I’ve never had two bottles of a potion before.”
Jimin’s hair color changed to orange and stayed like that until he heard Jungkook’s answer, “Don’t worry, it only has basic ingredients in it, no magic. Even some humans drink that mix like tea.”
“Interesting,” he said as his hair turned back to baby pink, “Can it still be called a potion then?”
“Yeah,” Jungkook nodded, “The preparation process is different so it doesn’t count as tea, it’s more effective as well.”
“Okay, I’ll drink it,” Jimin said, opened the lid and drank it in one go. Right after he put the bottle back to the counter, his pink hair slowly turned to blue.
Jungkook was relieved to see that, finally he made things right. He had one of his biggest smiles on his face as he quickly got a mirror from the storage and put it in front of Jimin, showing him the result.
If someone told Jimin he would be so happy to look at the mirror and see his hair blue last week, he would probably laugh and say, “Why would I feel that way when I see it every day?” Yet, that was what he felt now. He could work in his shop more comfortably, he didn’t need to try and control his emotions, which he learned was really hard in the last two and a half days.
“Thank you Jungkook-ssi,” he looked up and smiled, “Can you still prepare my original order by the way? I really need that.”
“Yes, of course,”Jungkook replied, he felt like he needed to do something to compensate for this. He was planning to give Jimin two bottles of the potion he asked for, both for free, however, that didn’t feel enough. He thought of what he could do and came up with an idea, he wasn’t sure if Jimin would agree to that though, “If you don’t have anything to do tonight, would you like to come over for dinner? I think Eunbi would like to apologize to you as well.”
He and Jimin were not close enough to invite each other to their houses comfortably, but he wasn’t a stranger. He was Namjoon’s friend and Namjoon said that Jimin was a person that he trusted to share his deepest thoughts about life, friends and family. Jimin helped him with his words and the small notes attached to the books he suggested to Namjoon. They were really close.
Therefore, Jungkook didn’t feel like it would be a mistake to invite Jimin for dinner. He guessed Jimin had some feelings for him as well, so it was a nice way to get to know each other. Also, he knew Eunbi would appreciate having company. The last person they invited for dinner was Hoseok, and it was two months ago.
Jimin nodded, “I’d love to spend more time with her,” he said. If he had enough courage, maybe he could have added, “ and you. ”
☼
Jungkook closed the shop when Eunbi came home. He usually would stay there for three more hours but he needed to cook and clean before Jimin came.
Eunbi was so happy about the news, she quickly took all of her toys to her bedroom and helped him with organizing the table. It was funny how she got on a chair to place the chopsticks, spoons and napkins on the table, she even decorated it with some flowers she got from her dad’s shop. She also put the plates there very carefully, she was only five but she knew how to do them all, learning them from her dad.
Jimin said he would come around 7 pm, so while waiting for his arrival, Jungkook placed everything else on the table. He put three bowls of rice next to each plate, the main dish and the side dishes he made with vegetables in the middle, taking some of the flowers Eunbi placed there back to the kitchen.
The doorbell rang and Eunbi quickly ran down the stairs, even though Jungkook told her not to do that. The only entrance was from the shop so they had to go there to let Jimin in. He followed his daughter, with the keys in his hands. As he reached the front side, Eunbi was already there, jumping up and down in front of the glass door, waving at Jimin, who had a large bouquet of flowers in his hands and his eyes looked like crescents when he had that big smile on his face.
Jungkook felt warm, seeing his daughter happy was all he asked for, and today, the reason for that was Jimin.
He told his daughter to move back a bit so he could unlock the door, she nodded and went a bit to the left. Jungkook pushed the door open a few seconds later and before he could say anything, Eunbi started talking as she pulled Jimin to the stairs, her cute voice filling the empty shop.
Eunbi took Jimin to the square table that could fit 4 people at most, “My dad is an amazing cook! You’ll love these,” she said pointing to the food.
Jimin responded with kind words, putting his coat and the bouquet he brought to the empty chair next to him before sitting on the left side of her. It was a tradition among witches to bring flowers when they were visiting a house for the first time, it was believed to bring luck. The ones Jimin chose were really pretty, Jungkook noted in his mind to put them in a vase after Jimin left.
Jungkook sat on her other side, right across Jimin. With his chopsticks, he filled Eunbi’s plate with the ones she liked the most and put it back in front of her. She smiled and thanked him, had a few bites before starting to ask personal questions to Jimin, starting with his family, “Do you have sisters and brothers Jiminie?”
While he was taking some food on his plate, Jungkook was a bit embarrassed to hear Eunbi talking to their guest informally. It was fine doing that with Jungkook’s best friends since they were close; however, they didn’t know Jimin for a long time. But he didn’t look uncomfortable with that. Instead, he was smiling widely as he answered her question, “I have a brother only, he’s older than me, he’s a witch doctor and lives in Busan.”
“He lives in Busan? I want to go there too!” she said before she put a piece of carrot to her mouth. When she finished chewing that, she quickly changed the topic, “Joonie told me he loves your bookstore and goes there every week. Why do you have a bookstore? All the witches I know have potion shops.”
Jimin giggled, “Not all the witches make potions,” he explained, “Some people need to be doctors, like my brother, and some people need to keep and sell precious books like me. So that your dad can buy them if he needs.”
Eunbi nodded, her eyes wide as she took every information and stored them somewhere in her brain, “Do you also have fun books there? With pictures,” she asked but didn’t stop to let Jimin answer and continued to ask more, “Do you have flowers and pretty lights too?”
“I have flowers but only a few at the entrance,” replied Jimin and Jungkook felt bad for him since his daughter didn’t let him eat and kept asking questions, “There’s not enough sunlight in the store for them to live. And yes, I have pretty lights. You should come to see them one day.”
“I will!” she said excitedly.
That was when Jungkook thought he could intervene and save Jimin from her questions, “Why don’t you tell him about yourself too?”
“Okay,” she said, leaving her chopsticks on the table as she was thinking about what to tell, “I love toys! Bunnies are my favorite. Tae bought me a bunny plushie last year! I always sleep with that when I’m in my room.”
Jimin smiled and nodded, “What is your favorite color?” He decided to go with the basics.
“I have so many,” she answered, counting them with her fingers as she said their names, “Purple, pink, orange and blue, like your hair!”
“I love blue too,” Jimin said and they continued to chat until everyone was finished with their plates. Jungkook barely spoke during dinner, as his daughter was only interested in Jimin.
Eunbi held Jimin’s hand and pulled him to the living room while Jungkook put all the dishes in the sink and cleaned the table. He joined them a few minutes later, on the carpet, as Eunbi wanted to play Uno together.
A few weeks ago, they were watching a variety show at Jin and Taehyung’s house and after seeing the guests of the show having so much fun playing Uno, she wanted a deck for herself too. Taehyung, who adored the 5-year-old, came to Jungkook’s shop the next day with the cards that had a colorful wrapping and taught her how to play until she got tired of it.
Ever since that day, the cards stayed in her closet and Jungkook was surprised to see her wanting to play it. Unexpectedly, she was quite good at the game this time, she even won the first round. The only problem was that she mixed 6 and 9, therefore Jungkook thought maybe he could get her another deck with characters so that she could just match them without needing to recognize numbers. She didn’t know what they meant but she could play the game with just matching the last played card and the ones in her hand.
After a few rounds, she wanted to play a board game, which Jungkook bought to play with his friends when they got bored and had nothing to do. She liked rolling the dice and moving the pawn; however, she couldn’t read so she needed to team up with someone every time - Jungkook, mostly. To Jungkook’s surprise, this time she chose Jimin and sat on his lap, moving a bit until she found a comfortable position.
Jungkook quickly set the game and Eunbi took the dice in her hands, “I’ll start!”
They played like that for a while and Jungkook could see Eunbi was getting tired. She closed her eyes for a little while when it was Jungkook’s turn, it went like that for a few minutes. After that, when it was almost 9.30 pm, she didn’t open her eyes or respond when he called her name and said it was her turn. She fell asleep.
Jimin looked him in the eyes and whispered, “Do you want me to carry her to bed?”
Jungkook smiled and nodded, “If you want.”
Jimin carefully stood up with her in his arms, it was hard but he managed to do it without waking her up. Jungkook stood up as well, guiding Jimin to her room. As he pulled the door open, he saw that the floor, including the way to her bed, was covered with the toys that she brought from the living room earlier. So he asked Jimin to wait a second while he made enough room for Jimin to step on.
After putting her to bed and tucking her in, they left the room, trying to be as quiet as possible. As Jungkook closed the door behind them, Jimin turned around and said, “Thank you for inviting me here today, I had fun.”
Jungkook was happy to hear that, he definitely enjoyed Jimin’s company too, “Thank you for coming, you made Eunbi really happy.”
Jimin smiled brightly and as they looked at each other for a few seconds, Jungkook hoped he could see the underlying message he was trying to tell, “ You made me really happy as well. ”
As he heard the notification sound from his phone that was somewhere in the living room, Jungkook averted his eyes, looking at his hands instead.
“I think,” Jimin said and paused for a second, feeling a bit awkward, “I should go home now. It’s getting late, and you probably have things to do as well.”
“Okay,” Jungkook replied and stood there while Jimin got to the table and took his coat from the chair, where he put it earlier. Then they slowly walked down the stairs and to the entrance of Jungkook’s potion shop, stopping as they reached the door.
“I forgot to tell you something,” Jimin turned to him, while he wondered what it could be, “Eunbi apologized to me when you were in the kitchen, she said she will never touch your potions again.”
“Thanks for letting me know Jimin-ssi, I hope she really means it this time,” said Jungkook and sighed.
“I hope so,” he replied, opening the door. He took a step out, and turned around while his hand was still on the doorknob, “And you don’t need to talk to me formally, only Jimin is fine.”
“Okay,” Jungkook had a small smile on his lips as he waved, “Then, see you later Jimin.”