The Next Door Neighbor (Jeonghan)

𝟼・ 𝙶𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍é 𝙱𝚊𝚕𝚕

"Oh no," Eunae immediately declined, "You don't have to do that."

"I can't let you go home alone this late," Jeonghan told her, "I don't think I will be comfortable with the thought of you being out there alone so late."

"Jeonghan this is nothing new to me. I go home around midnight everyday. I will be fine. Besides, nothing will ever happen to me. There aren't even any people out there right now that would even commit crimes," Eunae told him.

Going home late really is nothing new to Eunae as she has does it pretty much every day. Granted, she has never worked over time till nearly one in the evening, but she still didn't feel scared or cautious. If anything, she was comfortable.

Jeonghan frowned a bit when he heard what Eunae had said and responded, "it's past one in the morning. I can't let you go home this late alone. Not to mention that you are injured."

"I'm seriously fine. And these small cuts can't even be really called as injuries. I've walked home with a broken foot before," Eunae said.

Eunae was referring to the time when she broke her leg in the second year of middle school and had to walk home nearly every day from the bus stop to her home, since both her parents were busy at work to pick her up. She knew Jeonghan remembers what she is talking about because Jeonghan was next to her when she broke her foot. In fact if he hadn't played that stupid trick of his on her that day, then she probably wouldn't have slipped down the slope and break her leg.

"Still. It's so late. Seoul has many bad people too," Jeonghan argued.

"What about you then? Why are you out so late? Isn't it dangerous for you to roam around this late either?" Eunae questioned.

"That's different. I'm a man and you're a woman," Jeonghan said.

"Just because I am a woman doesn't mean I am more susceptible to danger any more than you are," Eunae said, "You know most criminals do not hand pick which person they are going to make their victim on that particular day."

Jeonghan opened his mount to refute Eunae's statement but Mingyu beat him to it, "Hey, hey," He said in English, "Calm down guys."

Both Eunae and Jeonghan turned to Mingyu to face him, forgetting that he was also present in the scenario.

Mingyu turned towards his hyung and said, "Jeonghan hyung. It is late. And our dorms are also close from here. If you go drop her then that will make you even more late for bed. And don't forget that we have an early schedule in the morning."

"Perfect! Now that everything is sorted out, I should go and leave," Eunae said, sounding unrealistically happy, "Thank you so much for the band aids. You really didn't have to."

This time Mingyu turned towards Eunae and asked, "Are you sure you don't want us to compensate you for the phone miss?"

"Oh it's fine," Eunae waved it off, "My phone will survive."

Eunae had grabbed her bag from the bench and was all ready to leave when Jeonghan spoke up once again, "Mingyu. Go home first. I'll come after I drop Eunae home."

"What? But-" Eunae started but gets cuts off by Jeonghan, who said, "If you don't want to go home with me then I will follow you home to make sure you return safely. It's your call now. Which one do you want"

Eunae bore her eyes into Jeonghan's hard stare, making sure that her frustration was being conveyed through them. She wanted to stand her ground and be stubborn but another wave of exhaustion rippled through her and Eunae ended up gritting her teeth and saying, "Fine!"