《The Proposal》Want You Back
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Later on in the evening, Yoongi grabs all the pillows, cushions and blankets he can find to create himself a makeshift bed on the floor.
Jimin turns out the lights, leaving the room still bright from all the island lights and setting sun. He gets into the bed. "I'm never gonna get to sleep." Yoongi pushes a button and motorized metal blinds come down outside the window, the sunlight instantly blocked out and setting the room in pitch black darkness. "Oh. Well. Thanks."
Yoongi settles into his pathetic excuse for a bed. The two silently lie awake and stare at the dark ceiling. "It was kinda weird seeing you naked."
Jimin groans. "Can we not talk about this?"
"I'm just saying. It was weird."
"It wasn't weird."
"How was that not weird?"
"Because we're... like teammates."
"We're like teammates?"
Jimin can hear the curiosity in Yoongi's voice. "We are teammates. And teammates see each other naked in the locker room. All the time. It's not a big deal."
"Well, if we're teammates can I sleep in the bed?"
Jimin sighs. "Good night, Yoongi."
The two lay in silence for a small moment before Yoongi breaks it. "Jimin?"
"Yes?"
"Don't take this the wrong way."
"Okay..."
"You're a very beautiful man."
Jimin smiles with his head turned away from Yoongi. "Get some sleep Yoongi, big day tomorrow."
The next morning not a creature is stirring, except for Gook who creeps into his office. He shuts the door softly and goes to his gigantic oak desk. He finds a phone number with a Seoul area code on a piece of paper.
He dials. "Yes. Mr. Guk? My name is Min Gook..."
Only the animal trophies that adorn Gook's office hear the rest of the conversation.
Upstairs Jimin wakes up. He looks over to Yoongi asleep on the floor with a blanket and a pillow. He stares maybe a beat too long, before there is a knock on the door. "Who is it?"
Du's lovely voice comes through the wooden door. "It's me dear. I made you two breakfast in bed. Can I come in?"
Jimin panics, trying to stall the woman a bit. "Uh, sure. Just a second." Jimin can't yell at Yoongi, so he throws a model wooden sailboat to wake him up.
He hits Yoongi in the head. "What the..."
Jimin mouths, "Your mother." Trying to be quiet.
Yoongi jumps and and replaces cushions and hides signs of his makeshift bed. He finished quickly, hops in the bed, and puts his arm around Jimin. "Come on in mum!" Du enters with a tray of pastries, fruit and coffee. "Ah mum, you made your cinnamon rolls."
"Well, it's your special day." Du smiles, puts down the tray on a bedside table and sits on the edge of the bed. She is buzzing with excitement. "You two need your energy, so eat up. We've got your suit fitting, have to get the house ready, and then your wedding."
"I gotta run into town to get Jimin a new phone." Yoongi says.
"Will you pick up some champagne while you're there?"
"No problem."
"And don't be gone for too long. Lots of work to be done!"
Jimin smiles awkwardly. "You don't have to got to all this trouble. Really."
Du sweetly looks back at Jimin. "Don't be silly. This is the biggest day of your life. You are coming into this family, and when it's family, it's no trouble. If your parents were with us, they would do the exact same."
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Du leaves and Jimin smiles as the door closes. Yoongi jumps out of bed and goes to the food.
Jimin feels touched by Du's words, and smiles warmly. "Your mum is just so sweet. I haven't had someone make me breakfast in bed since I was a little kid."
Yoongi takes a huge bite of cinnamon roll, and speaks with his mouth full. "I wish she hadn't. I mean she almost caught us. Damn, that was close." Like a pig, Yoongi continues to dig in and doesn't pay any attention to Jimin.
"You just take all this for granted? Your family, this house..."
Yoongi takes another big bite and turns to Jimin. "I'm sorry, what? You gotta try these."
Jimin looks at Yoongi with disgust. "Why are you doing this to them?"
"Huh?"
"Why am I here? You didn't have to bring me here."
"You made me bring you here! You told me I would be fired if I didn't."
"I didn't make you do anything. You could of said no."
"And what? Start over at the bottom again? No way."
"I get why a not rich person would do this. But you've got everything. It doesn't make any sense."
"Know what? This is none of your business."
"I wish it wasn't my business. But unfortunately, it has become my business, because I made a deal with someone I thought I could trust."
Yoongi stares at Jimin for a second. He's exasperated. "You wanna know why you're here? I'll show you why you're here."
"Fine."
"We leave in a half hour."
"I'll be ready in twenty minutes." Jimin angrily takes a bite of a cinnamon roll and slams it down on the plate. He goes to his suitcase and looks for clothes. A beat passes, and he comes back to the rolls. "These are really good." He takes a cinnamon roll and leaves.
Yoongi and Jimin board the yacht. They wear athletic clothes and running shoes. Yoongi drives the yacht and Jimin sits by himself.
Yoongi docks the boat at the Min Seafood pier. Located in the town's harbour, the packing plant consists of three large warehouses, and buzzes with activity. Fishing boats line the pier, unload their fish, and forklifts take the fish to be processed. Everything is clean and organized. Yoongi and Jimin walk down the pier, with Yoongi pointing to some turtles that swim close to the pier looking to eat the fish scraps.
Yoongi waves hello to workers, and and elderly Filipino man, Bayani, yells at them as he walks into a warehouse. "Hey, Yoongi! That the lucky guy?"
"Yes sir, it is!"
Bayani looks at Jimin. "You look much younger than everyone says."
Jimin smiles tight. "That's great to hear."
Yoongi is quick to cut off the conversation. "See ya on the line, Bayani." They enter into a locker room and Yoongi opens a locker and points. "Put this on. I'll meet you outside."
"But I don't..."
"Ah. Put it on."
Jimin opens the door with a sour look on his face. He's wearing a large green hip waders and suspenders, rubber fishing boots, and gloves. "Is this really necessary?"
"You'll thank me later." Yoongi walks towards the warehouse. Jimin follows him.
Inside one of the brightly lit warehouses, workers at different stations process the fish that come off the boats. At the top of the line, Bayani is handcuffed to the head decapitator machine. He happily feeds whole salmon into a guillotine, where the heads are chopped off. He awkwardly waves when he sees Jimin and Yoongi.
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"Why is he handcuffed to the machine?" Jimin asks, confused.
"So his hands don't go too far. So he doesn't..." Yoongi makes a chopping motion.
Jimin winces. "Nice." From the decapitator, fish are fed into the gut puller, where their bellies are slit and the intestines are pulled out. "You know, I shouldn't be here. I was a vegetarian for six months in college."
Yoongi leads Jimin to the end of slime line, where a long line of twenty workers give the fish a final cleaning before they are frozen. With great speed, they take the fish from the gut puller line and clean out all the left over intestines.
One of the workers spot them and cheers. "There he is! Big city boy come to show us how it's done."
"Ah, it's been a while."
"C'mon. Show him how we do it."
"Okay, okay." Yoongi and Jimin go to the end of the line. Yoongi expertly demonstrates with a knife. "You grab a fish, but be gentle, cause you don't want to bruise it. Open her up, tilt the knife, and then pull with the grain of the fish. Two quick stokes to clear the organs attached to the spine." Jimin looks nauseous. Yoongi enjoys his discomfort. "Then use the tip of the knife to squeeze the blood out of the vein. Then send her down the line." Yoongi guts another fish with precision and speed before offering a knife to Jimin. "Wanna try it?" Jimin doesn't say anything. All the other workers watch. "If it's too gross for you..."
"Gimme that." Up to the challenge, Jimin takes the knife and grabs a fish. He puts the knife in and keeps as much distance as possible between him and the salmon.
"I did this for five summers. Dad wanted me to earn my stripes before I took over."
"Is that why you're still pissed at him?"
"Nah, I loved it here."
Jimin grimaces down at the fish in front of him. "You loved this?"
"The slime line? Hell no. Nobody loves the slime line. I loved this place. The people. Growing up, running this place was all I wanted."
Jimin scrapes a huge glop of guts out of a fish, disgusted. "You wanted this?"
"I wanted to run this place. It was comfortable here. It was what I knew." He looks down at the fish Jimin is working on. "Don't forget the spine."
"I wasn't gonna forget." Jimin squeezes the blood out of the vein, sends the fish on its way, and grabs another fish with more confidence.
"But then things changed. And it wasn't so comfortable anymore."
"What kind of things changed?"
"Stuff."
"You mean, like, Gab-Do?" Jimin asks, as if he didn't know.
"Yeah..." Yoongi stops, he can tell Jimin knows something. "Oh my God. He told you didn't he?"
Jimin tries to act innocent. "Told me what?"
Yoongi is embarrassed and turns away. "About the... you know."
"The creepy teenage proposal?"
"Ah, shit!"
"You were a freak by the way."
"Okay, get it all out."
"And he was right to break up with you."
"You done?" Jimin nods his head yes, so Yoongi carries on talking. "I know now that it was the right thing, but it screwed me up for a little while."
"For a little while? Don't sell yourself short."
"When Gab crushed my heart into little pieces, a life down here didn't seem so great anymore."
"So you moved to the open arms of Seoul?"
"At first it was about getting as far away from this place as possible, but then I fell in love with it."
"With scheduling my Pilates?"
"With editing. See, as an only kid I'd always read a lot, but until I worked for you I didn't love it. I mean, when I realized that we could find the next Cuckoo's Nest, or Catch 22, or..."
Jimin speaks with reverence. "...To Kill a Mockingbird. It's all about To Kill a Mockingbird."
"Exactly! We could find the next To Kill a Mockingbird. God damn, how great is that?"
Jimin smiles. He never knew that Yoongi had this kind of passion for the job.
Yoongi continues talking. "So when I tell my folks that I want to spend my life finding books? My dad goes ape shit. 'How dare you forsake your family...you'll come crawling back to us... you're nothing without our help'. I left that night and we didn't talk for a year. Haven't been back here since."
"So we're 'getting married' so you can give daddy the finger?"
"No."
Jimin gives Yoongi a disbelieving look.
So, Yoongi gives in. "Sorta. Okay, yes. Coming back here with you... I get the promotion and I get to show off. You're editor in chief. You make a good prop."
Jimin smiles. "I guess that's a compliment."
"So now you know I'm a petty asshole. Am I trustworthy again?"
"Oh yeah, we're good. By the way, you're more screwed up than I am, Min."
"Yeah. Thanks."
"One more question..."
"Yes, everyone at work thinks you're the devil incarnate."
"That wasn't my question."
"I know. Just lashing out."
Jimin smiles again. "Can we stop gutting fish? I need my phone."
Yoongi and Jimin enter the well appointed general store, filled with food, booze and electronics. A mini Wal Mart.
"Hey Rosito." Yoongi greets as they walk in.
"Hey Yoongi. Hello mahal ko." Rosito greets them both.
Jimin recognizes Rosito, the male dancer from last night. "Hey." He is so embarrassed. They walks a few steps, and before Rosito can say a word, Jimin turns to Yoongi. "You know him?"
"He was my shop teacher."
"Of course he was. How many people are on this island?"
They start to fill their cart with cases of champagne.
"Like eight thousand? Depends on the time of the year."
"Fells smaller."
With the cart now full, they head over to the checkout.
Yoongi speaks to Rosito. "You got the phone I called about?"
"Charged up, ready to go, number changed." Rosito throws Yoongi a phone.
"Thanks, Rosito."
"No problem." Rosito gives Jimin a flirty wave.
Jimin awkwardly waves back. Yoongi pushes the cart out the front door and does not pay any attention to the awkward exchange between the pair. Jimin is confused.
Yoongi keeps pushing the cart, and Jimin manages to catch up. "Why's Rosito letting you steal his stuff?"
"It's our stuff." Yoongi points to the 'Min General Store' sign.
"That must have been handy in High School."
"You have no idea."
"Should you leave the cart?"
"It's our cart. I didn't know you were such a prude."
"I've come to realize that being my assistant gave you more access to my life than I ever imagined, but there are a few things you don't know about me."
"I doubt it. When I started, you were still wearing those Ugg boot things."
Jimin's tone is deadly serious. "I told you never to talk about that."
"I'm just saying it's been a long time. I know it all."
Jimin turns on his new phone. It searches for signal. Up to the challenge, Jimin decides to quiz him. "Did you know I took contemporary dance lessons in the sixth grade?"
"Where?"
"Just Dance Academy."
"Jimin 1, Yoongi 0."
"Uh, my first concert was Taeyang."
"On your own?
"I won the tickets on the radio."
"What'd he sing again?"
"You know." Jimin starts to sing. "Your eyes, nose, lips. Your touch that used to touch me..."
Yoongi shakes his head.
Jimin huffs. "Well he was good."
"There's a lot of groups in South Korea."
"I really like PSY. Not in a 'wow he likes that trash in a funny way." I really like it."
"Wow. I'm getting shut out here."
"Allergic to pine nuts."
"Knew that."
"Afraid of penguins."
"Huh."
"Haven't slept with someone in a year and a half."
"Holy shit! You're practically a virgin again!" A mother walking by with her seven year old gives Yoongi a nasty look. "My bad." The mother walks on.
Jimin is mortified and walks faster. "Psy gets nothing, but that gets a Holy shit? I've been busy!"
"That's a really long time."
"That hurts coming from Mr. Magic Pants."
"I knew it had been slow going, but I figured there was a booty call in there somewhere."
"Yeah, well, I'm not good at that."
"I find that hard to believe."
"No, not that. I'm great at that. Aces. Top notch."
"I'll have to take your word for it."
"Yes. You will."
"How, exactly, do you define top notch?"
Jimin is smiling as he listens to a message on his new phone. In an instant, he's all business. "I need a computer and the internet. Now."
Designed to attract tourists, the Fisherman's Net is awash in bad nautical props and fishing gear. A bored teenage clerk in a pirate outfit greets Jimin and Yoongi.
"Aye lassie, welcome to the cyber seas. Our T-1 line is faster than a clipper ship in a hurricane, but for now ye be needing to scrawl your mark on this sign up sheet."
Jimin looks and sees that all the computers are taken. "No, no, no. I need on now. I've got a Booker prize winning author demanding I send him an e-mail in the next forty five minutes explaining why he should stay with a publishing house that 'makes' him do publicity."
The Pirate looks at Jimin like he's speaking another language. "Arrgh..."
"Listen to me asshole..."
The Pirate looks around to make sure his boss can't hear. "Look man. You gonna put your name down on the list or not?"
Jimin is about to throttle the Pirate, when Yoongi pulls him back. "C'mon. I got an idea." Yoongi leads Jimin to the door.
As they are leaving Jimin shouts out. "I didn't know there were a lot of pirates in The Philippines!"
Inside 'Peachies' elementary school, Jimin sits at a computer, furiously opening his e-mail. Yoongi has brought him to his elementary school, where he and his old principle, Mrs. Wang, stand over Jimin.
"I'm so excited about the wedding!" Mrs. Wang gushes.
"Thanks for letting us use your computer." Yoongi smiles.
"No problem." The lady turns to Jimin. "So what flowers are you going with? Are you having flowers?"
Jimin turns around annoyed, but manages to keep his cool. "I'm sorry, but could I have a minute alone."
"Oh. Sure."
Yoongi tries to reassure his old teacher, seeing as she looks a bit embarrassed by bothering Jimin. "Show me around will you Mrs. Wang? It's been years."
Yoongi and Mrs. Wang walk around the elementary school.
"Do you think he'll be long? I've got work to do." She questions Yoongi.
"He'll be out there in two shakes." Out of the corner of his eye, Yoongi catches sight of Gab-Do teaching a class of second graders. He stops transfixed.
Mrs. Wang turns her head to see where Yoongi is looking, and smiles. "We're lucky to have him. Mr. Mabalo really left us shorthanded when he ran off in the middle of the school year. He's living out in the forest now with his wolves. Full time."
Yoongi hasn't heard anything that his old principle has said. He's too hypnotized by Gab-Do. He looks happy teaching these kids, and they hang on his every word.
Mrs. Wang speaks. "Will you excuse me? The bell is about to ring, I need to get ready for recess."
Yoongi isn't paying attention. "Uh, sure."
Mrs. Wang leaves so Yoongi goes to the classroom door and Gab-Do sees him. Good lord can that man smile. He waves him in.
Inside the class room all the kids turn to see Yoongi when he opens the door.
"Class, this is my old friend Yoongi."
The class greets him all together. "Hi Yoongi!"
"Yoongi and I used to be in this very same classroom together. We even had your old teacher, Mr. Mabalo."
A child speaks up. "Mr. Mabalo smelled like farty eggs!" The class giggles.
"That's not a nice thing to say, Pablo." The bell rings and one girl gets up. Gab-Do eyeballs her. "Malaya?"
"Sorry." The kid apologizes, sitting herself back down.
Gab-Do waits a moment to speak again. "Okay, everyone is excused for recess."
All the kids pop up and head to the door. Mrs. Wang directs traffic outside.
Yoongi makes his way to Gab-Do. "Pablo's right. He did smell like eggs."
"It's still not a nice thing to say. And actually, Mr. Mabalo smelled like wet dog and..." He makes a smoking pot motion. "...Matanuska Thunderfuck. But let's keep that between us."
Inside the office, Jimin reads over his e-mail to Feng. "I give you my word as an editor and a friend..." The door opens suddenly, and Jimin shouts. "Five more minutes! Please!" Jimin turns to find a pig tailed girl in the doorway. Terrified she shrikes and runs off. Jimin wants to apologize, but needs to keep working. "Sorry." He mumbles weakly.
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