Read 'em and Weep! {NA JAEMIN}

TWO

"I'm not even big into sports," he had sheepishly admitted.

Speaking to Jaemin felt oddly safe. His demeanor made you feel comfortable, and you grew to look forward to being in his company. While he hadn't said it, he felt comfortable being in yours without any drop of reservation.

It was about two weeks before your final project was due, and Jaemin was daydreaming in the office. Johnny had asked him to start coming in again because he swore no one else could get his coffee as good as Jaemin could- it also didn't help that Jaemin hadn't made any big moves on his investigation on who Patches was.

"Earth to Jaemin?" Xiaojun was snapping his fingers in Jaemin's face, calling his fellow Junior Copywriters attention.

"Hmm?" Jaemin hummed, blinking quickly to bring himself out of his head and back to reality.

"Dude, did you see the WizMedia page?" Xiaojun lowered his voice when he spoke, looking over his shoulder wearily.

"No," Jaemin quickly typed the WizMedia home page and stared at the home page. "I'm just seeing them announce their convention coming up."

Xiaojun muttered an obscenity to himself and shoved Jaemin's hand aside, clicking the link on the convention page and pointing out the emboldened paragraph. "Patches is planning to appear in person."

"Oh fuck," Jaemin cringed. Before, the only deadline he had was to strike while the iron was still hot, but now, the date on the screen was screaming at Jaemin that he had to stop dragging his feet.

Xiaojun leaned over the top of the cubicles to take a peek and ducked his head down before hissing, "Johnny's coming, good luck man!" he scurried to his own cubicle next to Jaemin, cowering.

"Jaemin I swear to god you better have a god damn lead and you better be ready to give me that copy any day now," Johnny didn't even bother to greet Jaemin, speaking through his teeth in anger.

"Yep, I'm actually going to make some calls right now," Jaemin was grabbing the landline that sat next to his monitor, trying to keep his nose from twitching.

"I need that in as soon as possible and it better be good- Yuta has been breathing down my neck non-stop, so now I will start breathing down yours," he shot a glaring look at Xiaojun, and stomped back to his office. Jaemin slumped in his chair, feeling defeated. He had to call someone, lest someone told Johnny that he was lying about making a call.

Jaemin was shocked by two things after entering the number- one, that he somehow managed to memorize your phone, and that you even bothered to pick up a phone number you didn't know. You, however, were used to Kun or Hendery calling you at random numbers since the landlines at their job sometimes offered the only signal in the building.

"Hello?" You absentmindedly answered the call. You were fielding through your emails at the moment, going through any potential freelance work you'd be interested in doing.

"It's Jaemin, sorry I'm calling from my work phone," his voice sounded more sheepish than when you first met him.

"Oh, is everything okay?" you got strangely worried. What if something happened to him? You hoped not, and found yourself biting your lip as you waited on a response.

"I had to call someone regarding some stuff at work and you were the only person I would want to talk to," he admitted, the heat in both yours and his cheeks rising as you digested what Jaemin said.

"Well, what's going on at work?" you wanted to keep speaking with him. You found yourself oddly giddy- he wanted to speak to you at any point, even at work when he had other things to do. It was a strange joy that built up in your chest- like when you were in high school and your crush would speak with you.

"Well, I've been assigned a certain... task... and I'm not sure," Jaemin paused, lowering his voice even more, "if it's worth following through on."

The smile on your face dropped, and you swallowed the lump in your throat. "Is this task... by any chance... something to do with Patches?"

"Yeah, I guess it was obvious huh?" Jaemin chuckled dryly. You two hadn't spoken much about the article since that night at family dinner- it helped that a lot of the hate subsided, but it was still a pretty gnarly stain. You fiddled with your free hand now, trying to think of a way to stifle the situation.

"What is it they need you to do?"

"They want me to figure out who Patches is," it was the answer you had been dreading. You didn't know what to say for a moment, your mind reeling at the painful confirmation.

"Do you have any leads?" you tried to speak casually, but you Jaemin caught the nervous tremble in your voice.

"Just one," he admitted, "your cousin."

Your mind blanked. "Hendery!?"

"Yeah- wait, do you know something?" the way you raised your voice confused Jaemin, it held too much weight, he felt.

"Why would you think Hendery is Patches?" you were oddly offended. Jaemin had hardly been around Hendery except for those occasions where Hendery would swing by your townhome or that one family dinner weeks ago.

"His LinkedIn randomly has him listed as a WizMedia assistant, Flight of the Wolves is clearly inspired by his aunt and uncle's work, and he's randomly mentioned specific WizMedia people in conversations," Jaemin listed. It was one thing for Jaemin to figure out it was you, but for him to assume it was Hendery really rubbed you the wrong way- although, you couldn't decipher why.

"So because Flight of the Wolves is so popular and geared towards younger men, you assume it was written by a dude?" you pressed.

Jaemin foolishly was confused by your anger, but continued answering as if nothing was wrong. "No, it could be written by anyone- I just feel like all signs point to Hendery."

"God you're... why can't you guys just wait until Patches is revealed?" you groaned, leaning back on your office chair. You finally agreed to make an in-person appearance, much to Kun's joy and your own dismay- yet GameLabs seemed determined to reveal any identity for Patches beforehand. No- Jaemin seemed determined.

"They want us to be the first to announce Patches' identity, and I have that promotion on the line," Jaaemin pressed his lips in a tight line, not feeling satisfied with his own answer. He hated how upset you sounded, he just wished he could know why you felt this way.

"And is your promotion really worth all... this frustration? All this digging?" you asked softly. Jaemin was silent, seeming to consider the weight of your questions.

"I... I don't know," he admitted.

"I'll see you later, Jaemin," you whispered, hanging up your phone then.