THE MANAGER NIM

46. SULTRY SUN

Dawn's sun bathes your body in soft sunlight, the threaded rays of warmness flow through the glass ceiling, smearing the glimmer all over the chamber. You just lie there with wide awakened consciousness and shut closed eyes, silently devouring the warmth of the sultry sun, as the faded trace of last night's deep doze is still protesting to evanesce and continues to lull you into a drowsy state.

As you leisurely drown into random thoughts in that half-asleep state, you realize a not so vital yet surprising fact. This is the first time you've ever slept this intensely without hugging something, and as a person who struggled with chronic insomnia since childhood and used pillows to cuddle and ease off panic attacks, the realization continues to genuinely shock you,

until a burly arm slides away from the bottom of your head, inch by inch, cautious at every degree, since the movement might wake you from your deep slumber.

Your cheeks start to blaze red as the realization slowly sinks, but you stay dead in the sleeping position to avoid the absolute awkwardness. After a solid minute, he completely releases his hand which might be partially paralyzed by this time and his mild mint fused morning breath fanning against your face starts to test your composure, as he carefully places your head over his crumpled blazer.

Holding your wavering breath, you impatiently wait for him to move away in a swish as he is done with whatever he was doing, but to your dismay, he continues to stay in that inclined position for the reason which only God knows. "Good morning y/n" his raspy voice sounds deeper and airy than usual. For a goddamn minute, you thought he found you're wide awake behind those shut closed eyes and your heart tries to leap out of the ribcage. But soon enough his hand weakly slides over your head notifying that he is not aware of your statue game yet.

"Sorry, sorry for everything." This time it comes as a mere whisper with no trace of voice. Before you could decide upon how to feel at the moment, his hands quickly retract from your head in haste, as if his own heart bashed him for his actions.

His frame moves away, allowing the blocked flow of sun rays to engulf your body all over again.

An invisible sigh of relief escapes your nostrils and the relaxation washes over your body.

You avidly wait for some sort of sound to exhibit your wakening naturally and promptly his phone rings like a celestial announcement.

"Hmm...yeah we will be there in a while. Hmmm...okay!" he converses over the call in a dim voice and stands ahead of the glass wall, hindering the humid sunlight from falling on your serene face.

An obscure smile finds its way over your lips as your eyelids flutter open. More than his delicate behaviours, the fact that you got a chance to witness his real face that has been veiled by his fake arrogance all these days makes your heart leap in joy. Stretching the stiffness of your body, your hands proceed to disentangle your haystack hair, but it halts abruptly when it lands over the spot where his palm drifted over a few minutes back.

Your lips choose to stay still but your eyes couldn't, it curves into a little cup that recollects those sweet moments.

"Finally, the sleeping beast decided to wake up after decades it seems!" he quickly moves away from the sunlight to not make it obvious, your eyes squeeze shuts at the sudden exposure to bright sunlight. His personality changed in a swish, reminding you of the time Bang PD called him an excellent actor.

Curbing the smile induced by his bunny face, you raise from your place with a monotonous face, devoid of any emotions.

He strides towards you in few big steps and picks his dirty blazer from the ground. Shaking off the dirt over the branded blazer, he hauls a key from its inner pocket. "Let's go!" he says while gazing at the key and starts to walk away.

You quietly follow him like a lost pet, trying to push the fact that your heart already misses the soft Jungkook, behind the back of your mind.

Walking through the same secret passages and shelves, you both reach a fancy gate. He inserts the key and the fancy lock opens with a thud. "This is the only way to enter and exit this floor and there is only one key for this gate." he lets out a piece of vital information casually, and it flares a spark in your brain.

"Then how come another person entered this floor when you locked this door right away after we entered?" your iris expands in amusement.

His solemn gaze shifts from the lock and halts over your dubious face. Tension in the air induced by your question escalates high, but the timely growl of your empty stomach dilutes it.

You both continue to walk past the said gate and reach a giant staircase, a lady is waiting at the end of it. "She will escort you around, I'll come back in a while," Jungkook says while swivelling around his shoe heels, but quickly he turns back and envelops your shoulders with his blazer. "My brother might still be roaming around here; you can take it off if you don't want it!" he says quietly while his eyes stare at the logo of the blazer.

He strides off in the opposite direction and you cascade down the stairs. The said lady in uniform escorts you towards a huge kitchen with sheeny interiors straight out of the IKEA catalogue.

"Welcome y/n-shi!" a sweet voice greets you from behind.

A woman in her fifties with a pair of eyes that is exhibiting her sparkly soul stands behind you. Her bunny smile reminds you of the portrait you once saw in Jungkook's home and your brain sends a quick reminder about her identity.

Jungkook's mom is standing there as an angel descended from heaven, clasping a ceramic cup in her hand.

Your body bends in reflex and pays its respect.

She flashes a dashing smile, sweet enough to melt you like a wax statue, and hands over the glass of piping tea to you.

"Here, have this, your favourite ginger tea." Her mellow voice sounds like a billboard hit song.

You take a sip of that alluring tea and look up at her face in a flabbergasted state. "This legit tastes like my mom's tea!" you blurt out in excitement, "and how did you know I like ginger tea?"

She stifles a soft smile and continues, "I thought you will be concealing your face with a mask as per your contract rule, but thank god, I got a chance to witness your pretty face today!" she casually throws a compliment buried inside an atom bomb at you.

"You...you know...about the con...tract?" you fumble for words.

"Ah! What's the time now? Shakshi must've done with cooking by now, she told me today she will teach the recipe of Chole bhature, should I call her then?" she asks you like a little girl asking her nanny and proceeds to call someone in her iPhone without waiting for your reply.

You continue to relish the tea and sudden realization drives you to choke on the hot tea.

SHAKSHI?!

"So, how's my dumb daughter doing?" your mom's voice echoes from the iPhone's speaker behind your back.