Enslaved || jeongchan

☾☾☾ chapter 12: prelude

many conversations from his normal life replayed through jeongin's head, while he mindlessly stared at the white ceiling above. 

his classic plushie seemed impossible to tear off of him, now conceiving as a body part of his own, which jeongin would be crucially hurt if it had been snatched away. he fiddled with it's small arms in his own slender fingers, each strand of fur he scraped through was a hidden prayer of hope, to maybe just wake up from this nightmare he lived. 

but of course, like any other prayer, he'd blink back into seeping his new found reality. the brunette would've been lying to himself if he didn't feel himself disassociating from the idea of hoping for the positivity left in his life. 

other than the memories he grasped from his life of normality, were the memories spent with jisung. though he was grateful that the essence of the insomniac nights, daily blood shed and hours of labor were devoid in this mansion, it didn't cut out the amount of loneliness he was faced between the walls.

the prior morning he'd attended another business meeting as per usual, which went by agonizing and were only reckoned by the brunette with his yawns since it had been scheduled at the brightest crack of dawn. he'd remember seeing chan there as well, and to his luck, they hadn't interacted as much ever since. 

for a moment, he glanced at the box stuffed neatly against his nightstand, as an irrelevant comment echoed in his mind; 'should i thank him for it?' but that thought lasted for a second, before bursting out of his insanity as pride took over. 

no way in hell was he ever going to leave a positive remark on the blonde's behavior. 

ever since the meeting seized, he was escorted back to the lonely walls of his bedroom. jeongin didn't know whether he could claim it as his, since he quite literally perceived this place as anything but home. 

but the company of the small memorable items from his bedroom and the two nights he spent, he eventually started loosening up. 

in fact, a few hours of boredom even led him to attempt watching a documentary on the large screen tv. he was startled at how almost every channel except the news was available- it was the exact opposite of the subscription at his own home. where their channels were only limited to the daily news reports and a few sport channels which nobody ever laid an interest on. 

but of course, none of his attempts lasted long, because every distraction led him to lay back down on his bed and daze on the nostalgic feelings of his home, friends and family. 

a knock had interrupted his rummaging thoughts as he slid his figure to sit vertically on his bed with his legs crossed. he memorized minju's knocks by now and felt a soft smile play his lips, "come in." he granted

minju who peaked her head first, smiled on making contact with the boy sitting upright, entering with a small tray of brunch.

"i'm sorry you missed breakfast," she apologized, placing the tray down on a nearby desk. "i hope this makes up for it."

jeongin shrugged it off, besides he wasn't the one to digest the food anyway. 

he came to develop minju's presence unthreatened as well. the maid was soft spoken and seemed to carry a gentle aura which eased jeongin's mind. her concern was also another reason for approving her, though it could get annoying at times, jeongin still couldn't deny it. 

a part of him was certain that she'd done these small efforts of concern just for the sake of her job, yet another part of him reminded that it was best to savor what was given rather than meddle on the negative side of things.

"minju," jeongin called out, instantly causing her to jolt all her attention towards him, "is it possible to.. have some company around here?". jeongin wasn't the biggest socializer, but the loneliness had gotten to a point where he was on the verge of steering insane with no human interaction at all.