chapter 2

Tae sat quietly, jotting down notes, occasionally pausing to glance at his phone and type short replies.

"I've been waiting for you since morning, and now you're saying you won't come?" Jungkook muttered irritably, his voice low.

Before Tae could respond, Haein—a second-year student from the Business department—walked up, noticing Tae buried in his notebook.

"Taehyung! Are my notes ready?" he asked.

"Yes, I've finished them. Here, take these," Tae replied, pulling out two neatly written books from his bag and handing them over.

Haein flipped through the pages, his eyes widening.

"Your handwriting is like pearls. I can't even tell if this is handwritten or printed—it's so beautiful." He slipped 2000 won into Tae's hand as thanks.

Without a word, Tae turned toward Yoongi.

"Hyung!!" he called out, pressing the money into his palm.

Yoongi tucked the bills away smoothly, glanced at his phone, and said, "Including this, your total's up to 2,5000 now."

"Don't trick me, hyung! I only had 1,6000. With this, it's 1,8000." Tae corrected him firmly.

Yoongi chuckled. "You write notes for me too, but you never take a single won."

"That's because I don't need to. You already do more than enough. Whenever my brother needs something, you send money through your account. That's plenty." Tae's tone softened.

"You're so stubborn. You call me hyung, but you never listen to me..." Yoongi sighed.

Just then, Tae's eyes landed on Haein's shirt—a simple purple one. His face lit up.

"Wow! That color looks so good. Once you're done with it, give it to me, okay?"

Haein raised a brow, surprised, while Dahyun burst out laughing.

"Why are you so obsessed with this color? The other day, you wrote two sets of notes for Sana, and when she gave you her old, torn purple sweater, you didn't even accept money from her!"

"I don't know why. I just really love this color," Tae admitted with a shy smile. "You also have a top in this shade, right, Dahyun? If you're not using it, give it to me. I'll write notes for you too."

"If you want it, I'll give it to you for free. No need to write notes for me," Dahyun offered.

"In that case, I don't need it," Tae replied flatly.

Sana leaned closer, curious.

"Then why do you want Haein's shirt? Will you actually wear it yourself?"

Tae shook his head. "It's for my little brother."

Yoongi raised his brows. "Does Taesung also love purple like you?"

"No... he likes blue," Tae answered softly, his smile faint but warm.

Yoongi glanced at Jungkook, who sat slouched in the chair, lips pressed tight in irritation.

"You've been sitting here all this time, scribbling notes. You'll be here the whole day anyway. Instead of troubling him, why don't you go with him? He's been waiting since morning, hoping to walk to the park with you.see how he is crying

"I wasn't crying..." Jungkook muttered, his voice low but sharp. "I'm just... really irritated. Don't talk to me."

Yoongi sighed, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "I was only talking about you. If you flare up even when someone simply mentions your name, what are we supposed to do?"

"I said don't talk!" Jungkook snapped, turning his face away, his jaw tight.

Jimin, who had been listening, frowned. His eyes shifted from Jungkook to Tae, who was bent over his notebook. "Wait—what's really going on here? Tae writing notes for money, and all this secrecy... what is it? I don't understand."

"I'll explain," Yoongi started, but Tae raised his head and interrupted softly.

"They're talking about me. I'll tell it myself."

The surrounding grew quiet. Tae's hand rested on the notebook, fingers lightly trembling. His voice was steady, but the air around him seemed to grow heavier as he spoke.

"I have one younger brother. His name is Taesung—he's now a first-year engineering student." Tae's eyes lowered, the corner of his mouth tightening. "When I was fourteen, and he was just ten, both our parents died in a car accident."

The silence that followed was so sharp, even the ticking wall clock seemed louder.

"Our uncle didn't care about us. He never even asked how we were surviving. At that time, my mother's elder sister—my Aunt Jihyo—told us, 'You can stay in my house. But beyond that... I can't take responsibility. I already have a son and a daughter. My husband's small salary is barely enough for us. You'll have to find your own way to support your brother.'"

"So I thought of quitting school... finding a job in some shop. But one of my teachers found out about our situation. He spoke with donors, begged them to help us. Because of him, I stayed in school. My brother could study too."

He gave a faint, almost bitter smile. "My parents' last wish was that we should study well... build a future. That's why, no matter how hard it got, I couldn't give up. Later, with teachers' recommendations and donors' support, I continued till college. But the money was never enough—just tuition, just books. At home, nothing was sufficient."

His voice softened further, almost a whisper. "So I had to earn. During school, and then college, I worked in shops. And one day, someone told me, 'If you write notes for us, we'll pay you.' That's how it started."

He looked down at the scribbled pages on his lap.

"Since then... I've been writing notes, finishing assignments, even doing projects for others—whoever asked, as long as they gave me money."

"I do small part-time jobs whenever I can," Tae said quietly. "If you'd like, I can even write notes for you."

Jimin blinked in surprise. "But... didn't you tell me that you and Jungkook are dating? Jungkook is the son of a wealthy businessman. If he wants to help you, wouldn't that be more than enough? Why put yourself through all this—writing notes for others, running errands?"

"That's what we told him too," Nayeon cut in gently. "Even Jungkook himself offered to support him. But Tae never accepts his help. He always says, 'If I take his money now, then one day during a fight, he might throw it back at me saying he was the one who kept me afloat.'

He won't even accept things for free. The only time he agrees is if he earns it through his own effort."

Dahyun added, shaking her head, "At one point, he even went house to house doing chores just to earn a little money. We had to scold him before he finally stopped."

"You shouldn't have stopped me," Tae said with a faint bitterness. "If you hadn't, I would've found more small jobs. My poor younger brother... he's losing weight day by day without proper food. The dorm he stays in doesn't take care of him properly."

"But he's in a dorm, right? Don't they serve meals there?" Dahyun asked, puzzled.

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