Snow and Ice || 태국

Anecdote

Strictly speaking, a long, long time ago, Taehyung and Jungkook once held a wedding.

It was a marriage of convenience.

It happened in primary 2 and took place in the latter half of the school year.

Back then, a snack called "The Great Zodiac War" suddenly took the school by storm. It was a snack made from puffed rice and its novelty came from how it was shaped into the twelve animals of the zodiac. Thin and crispy with a hollow center, every piece was a savory crunch. There were two flavors available: barbeque and tomato.

Besides being delicious, the snack's appeal came from the collectible cards that it came with. Inside every packet was a zodiac card. After collecting all twelve zodiacs, a person could exchange them for an amazing toy set to show off to their friends.

Countless children were obsessed with collecting the full set of cards, causing them to spend all of their pocket money on the zodiac snack.

Taehyung caught onto the craze as well. He diverted some of his attention from Kinder Joys to the zodiac snack and "invested" a hefty sum of money into it.

Jungkook also found the snack appealing. However, as his allowance was always surrendered to Taehyung, he could not afford it himself and had to ask his parents to buy it for him instead. Fortunately, his father's friend bought him an entire carton of "The Great Zodiac War" after hearing that he liked it. Every day, Jungkook would bring and open a packet in school.

The collectible cards in "The Great Zodiac War" were not evenly distributed. The rarest card was the rabbit card. Several classmates had collected all eleven cards except for it. Nobody in the entire school could complete their collection due to the rabbit card. The redeemable toy set in the school convenience store collected dust as the older students began to wonder if the rabbit card even exists.

One ordinary afternoon, amid the ongoing suspicions, Jungkook opened a packet of "The Great Zodiac War" as he did every single day.

Then, from the packet, he fished out a rabbit card.

The whole class was in an uproar. Everyone jostled to Jungkook's side to see the white rabbit card. A classmate prodded his shoulders to ask when he was going to redeem the toy set.

Jungkook was about to answer "right after school" when he turned and happened to see Taehyung glancing enviously at the card in his hands. He immediately changed his mind.

There was no rush.

In the following few days, Taehyung exhausted all possible means to obtain that precious card from Jungkook's hands.

Jungkook had long hidden the card well.

Taehyung was like a donkey trailing after a dangling carrot he held. Though Jungkook suffered in his hands, Jungkook took secret delight in thwarting Taehyung.

One day, Taehyung heard from his parents' conversation that two people's assets were shared after getting married. This meant that if he and Jungkook were to get married, he must take out his rabbit card to share with him.

The next day, Taehyung rushed to hold a wedding with Jungkook.

The marriage officiant was Yoon Bora.

Looking at a piece of paper, Bora read, "Jungkook, are you willing to be with Taehyung and share with him all your snacks and allowance, and not leave him no matter how poor he is or how terrible his exam results are?"

"I'm not willing," Jungkook said.

Bora turned to look at Taehyung. "Taehyung, are you willing to be with Jungkook and share with him all your snacks and allowance, and not leave him no matter how poor he is or how terrible his exam results are?"

"I'm not very willing either..." Taehyung voiced his honest thoughts.

Bora said, "I now pronounce you married."

Taehyung waved his hands. "Okay, time to collect the wedding gifts."

From snacks and coins to stationery and toys, he proceeded to collect various types of gifts.

In the end, Taehyung still did not manage to obtain the rabbit card from Jungkook. However, he was satisfied with the numerous wedding gifts that he had received.

After that incident, holding mock weddings to receive wedding gifts became very fashionable among the lower primary students. Principal Kim had no end of headaches over this trend and lamented the creativity of children these days in coming up with devious ideas. Luckily, Taehyung did not participate in such nonsense.

.

.

.

A long, long time later.

Jungkook was tidying up his old items when he found a card on the bottommost shelf of his bookcase.

On the card was a white rabbit tinted a faint yellow with time.

Jungkook sat cross-legged on the floor as he recalled a storm of memories stirred up by the card.

He sat there for a long while, till Taehyung's call came in.

"Jungkook, what are you doing?"

Jungkook turned the card clasped between his fingers, a gentle and warm smile on his face as he looked at it. "I discovered our very first asset after marriage."

"...Lunatic." Taehyung could not make sense of his words.

Jungkook stood up. "I'll head over to find you now."

"What for?"

Jungkook chuckled. "To fulfill my obligation as a husband."