THE MANAGER NIM

42. THE RED DRESS

"Well two days back I met one of his close friends and that guy wanted to meet me for a specific reason and that is, he is an overzealous stan of Hinduism and dharma and his ultimate bias is Hanuman, hence the date session evolved into a how to become a monk session and we ended up singing Hanuman Chalisa in perfect harmony. The day before yesterday, I met one of Jungkook's Canadian classmates who was a bibliophile and the date ended up with us mourning over all our favourite fictional characters who met with tragic deaths. And yesterday I met his friend's brother, after few minutes of conversation he proceeded to order live octopus sashimi called San-nakji, I said bye-bye Ji and left the spot at a lightning speed. Today, Jungkook said he has a very important schedule planned for me and asked me to be prepared for it, though it's exhausting as heck, the irritation that suffuses his features every time I turn down the guys makes it worth the struggle." You narrate the whole thing in a low voice, since this information is off-limits for Joe's ears, it should be the same for Darla too, but it's an impossible task for you to keep something a secret from your best friend.

"Y/n, I'm begging you, for my sake, please be careful with your every move, don't goof around, you're not a teenage kid anymore. Stop blaming your fate for everything and take the responsibility of your life in your hands. I've always trusted your decisions, even now. So don't let me down" the genuine concern in her voice drives you to rethink the decisions you made in past few days, simultaneously your heart swells with happiness as you think about the kind of friend you got for yourself.

The blaring alarm goes off in the background indicating the end of her break time, "Alright y/n, keep things I said in mind and act accordingly, also convey my thanks to that handsome gay friend of yours, for taking good care of your chaotic ass. I gotta go now, will text you later when I get my phone back from the institute, bye! Take care, I hate you!" her voice abruptly cuts off with a piercing beep, reminding you the fact that she loves you more than anything in this world.

Little beads of tears engulf your eyes as a major slab of your heart longs for those good old days, where she was a call away from you.

"Wanna eat the ramen before it becomes a bunch of sticky worms?" Joe taps your shoulder from the back and walks you towards his dining table.

Softly slumping over the dining chair, your eyes rove around the place. This is the first time you got invited to his place and he even cooked a delicious lunch for both of you. Considering the myths about those typical guy's rooms, he seemed like an unusual one with his squeaky-clean apartment. It is quite simple with minimal aesthetics, matching his personality. Apart from a huge portrait of a fish, which is a vibrant fuse of black, white and orange, the whole wall is vacant and bland.

"What is that on the wall?" as he continues to fill your glasses with cold water, your curiosity steps ahead before your brain's contemplation.

He pauses his action and turns around his back, "ah that" he turns around with a warm smile induced by your question, "it's a clownfish, my favourite species on earth." His smile grows wider, escalating your curiosity even more, but this time he continues, making it much easier for your curious self.

"Do you know that these fishes don't have any assigned gender in nature?" his question hauls your attention from the portrait to his face.

"What?" you ask while thrusting an empty fork into your mouth in a curious state.

"Yeah, clownfishes are all born male, later some of the most dominant ones will turn into females and takes care of the role of breeding." The fork in your mouth tumbles down the table as your jaw slightly hangs low.

"There are few more animals, which has similar gender fluidity and together they're referred as hermaphrodite animals. But when I was a kid, we had one of these in our house and I've always been fascinated about these clownfishes and when I heard about their gender-fluid nature, I started to consider them as my spirit animal, I guess you know why" throwing an adorable wink at you and he pulls his chair to sit.