Notorious ⊷ Haechan

18 ⊷ Self-taught

I have been lowkey obsessed with ATEEZ lately, sorry for including them in every new story I write lmao

⊷ 18

A nurse led the two into a treatment room. She asked them both to wait there as the doctor would join them shortly. 

"Do you want me to stay or leave?" Haechan asked once the door closed behind them. Ji-yoon walked over to the examination table and hopped onto it. 

"Stay," she decided quickly. 

Haechan nodded, took a few steps to the side and leaned against the wall. He looked through the room to distract him, yet there wasn't much he could do or see - it was just your average, cold, dreary treatment room. 

Because of that, he ended up looking at Ji-yoon who was looking at her phone, smiling amusedly. She seemed happy, typing messages. 

"Who are you texting?" he wondered out loud. 

"My brother," she replied. "He was in a meeting until now and asked if he could rant about this one colleague that he hates."

As he watched her there like that, he couldn't shake off all the questions that occupied his mind. He had been curious about her ever since they met, but at this point, these questions had accumulated to a high, unstable pile. 

He had to focus on his work, on the theft, on the murders. But there was no way for him to completely get her off his mind. 

Why couldn't he shake her off? 

"Yesterday, when you said that you just don't tell us things because we aren't asking about them," Haechan said out of the blue. "Was that true?" 

Looking up, her attention shifting from the phone that was still buzzing in her hands to him right away, she frowned. 

"What?" she asked. "Why else do you think I said that? So you would talk more to me?" 

Not quite sure what to say, Haechan stayed quiet, while Ji-yoon raised a brow. 

"Actually, that's something I would do," she admitted. "But I meant it - for the most part." 

Haechan looked at her curiously. "Then what are the things you won't tell me?" 

"Can't tell you," she corrected him. "The things I can't tell you are things that I promised to keep to myself." 

"Promised to...?" 

"My brother." 

"Then," Haechan said. "Can you tell me who your brother is?" 

She pushed the heels of her hands into the examination table, leaned forward as if that would bring her any closer to the boy. She grinned. 

"That's the one exception of things I could tell you but I won't." 

He frowned. "Why not?" 

"Because I want to see how quickly you will figure it out on your own," she admitted. "Although Yangyang texted me saying he almost told you anyway." 

"He said I know him." 

She nodded quickly. "You do. You are pretty close too." 

"Then..." he looked at her doubtfully. "Is it someone from DREAM?" 

She shrugged. "Maybe?" 

Much to the dismay of Haechan, the door opened right at this moment. A boy stepped inside. He had a file in his hand and, once he spotted Ji-yoon, also a smile on his face.