ticket — jieun&taehyung
jieun struggled to keep a hold of all her books while weaving through the large crowd of people around her. spending an afternoon in seoul’s largest public library was not the ideal day for most people her age, but it was a stress reliever like no other for jieun.
the rush of strangers flowing past on the sidewalk jostled jieun back and forth unknowingly, the pile of novels in her arm teetering dangerously close to falling. jieun cursed her horrible decision making, thinking that parking her car a good 3 blocks from the library would somehow benefit her. something to do with less competition to find an actual spot, or whatever. it was a rash decision that she really regretted.
her mood brightened considerably when she finally spotted the white hood of her car through the hustle of bodies, practically a glowing beacon of relief. those feelings crashed back down when she spotted the still back of a police officer next to her car, scribbling something down on a colored notepad. a parking ticket. just what she needed.
"ah, officer - excuse me, miss, sorry - this is my-" jieun’s urgent rambling to stop the man, interrupted by a woman scurrying in front of her, came as she pushed through the crowd and rushed towards her car. the officer turned towards her as the ticket was ripped from it’s pad, and jieun almost stopped in her tracks as a wave of nostalgia flowed over her.
the familiar, confused expression she had come to know from her (not very long ago) days in high school made the officer instantly recognizable. “ah- taehyung?” jieun questioned, her stack of books shaking in her arms due to the surprising reunion that had just occurred.
One could imagine his reaction when he was assigned ticket duty when an officer hadn't shown for his shift. Typically, he wouldn't have generously filled in, but today had been rather slow, and he needed something to occupy his time to make night come sooner. As long as he made it onto his mattress by the closing of the day, he was content.
Maybe he was having hopeful thinking when he considered that everyone would abide to the parking laws, but he groaned when he spotted a car that was just at the edge of the fire lane. Sure, he could understand that there weren't many places on the side of the road and the prices were high to use a parking garage, but he didn't join the police force to be sympathetic — well, not most of the time.
So, as he would normally, he wound up beside the vehicle, scribbling down the ticket without much thought. He was about two-thirds of the way finished when a female voice interrupted his internal ranting. Now he would have to calmly deal with the owner, and today would become a fraction more strenuous. Finishing it up and dotting the last "i", he removed the slip from its pad, head turning towards the frantic tone.
He would have recognized her anywhere. After staring at that face for years, it had seemingly imprinted permanently into his mind. Now, he had been intent on being professional during this little complication, but this changed everything. He hadn't expected to ever meet her again, but here he was, ready to fine her for parking incorrectly.
Blinking dumbly (he had always been a bit slow), his gaze flickered between her and the ticket. "Oh... hey," he began nervously, reminding himself he had to be more stern. "Um," Taehyung cleared his throat, gesturing to her car, "Technically, you're parked in the fire lane.." Pointing out the problem had never sounded more lame coming from his lips.
