The Hidden Treasure

~27~

Hyejin sat at her spot at the counter, staring out the front windows at the leaves that were gradually turning into beautiful oranges, red, and browns.  She sighed.  It had been a long week.  Not many customers had come through and she hadn't seen any BTS members.  Jinjoo had been sick this week and so Hyejin had been working all the shifts from open to close.  She was tired.  Mostly from being bored.  This week couldn't end soon enough.

She grabbed her feather duster and set out to do some unnecessary cleaning.  It was almost therapeutic for her.  She stopped by the overstuffed chair and smiled softly.  In her mind's eye she could see her father seated in that chair reading a book.  She ran her hand over the arm and sat down on it.  Looking back at the chair she saw the image of her father slowly morph into something different  and it made her frown. 

There he sat, studying the book in his hand, legs crossed and his head resting on his upraised free hand.  Platinum blonde hair practically glowed from the sunlight behind it. 

Jumping off the arm of the chair and taking a step back, Hyejin frowned at the image that had so easily replaced the warm and familiar one.  She shook her head and quickly turned back to the shelves, vigorously dusting the poor books, muttering words of shock and frustration.  Why had she imagined him there?

She looked towards the counter and saw the small man who had brought her flowers, smiling widely at her. She knew it was her imagination but she saw him just as clearly as the other. She scrubbed her hands in her hair and stomped her foot, frowning deeply. What was happening to her? She had been in the shop too long. The long week was getting to her. She nodded her head firmly. Yes, that's the problem.

She never considered herself to be easily drawn to men or even to be easily flattered or flustered by one. Actually, in all honesty, she'd had very little experience with men in general. Jinjoo had seen to that.

Her adopted spinster aunt had an unhealthy fear of men in general. Not for any particular reason, just because you never knew when you would come across a rotten apple. She had guarded Hyejin through the rest of her highschool years and practically scared off any boy who might have been interested in her in college. It wasn't a huge problem for Hyejin till now. Now she was older and could start thinking about those things for her own life. Hopefully, Jinjoo wouldn't keep standing in her way.

Hyejin stopped and shook her head again. Why was she thinking of this now? She looked back at the chair and counter and the images were no longer there. Maybe she was assuming too much. Maybe she had nothing to worry about. Who's to say either of them were interested in her anyway? Megan could be wrong.

Or she could be right.

* * *

Jin walked through the dorm. Checking each room he found only one person home.

"How is it you're the only one home right now?" Jin folded his arms and leaned against the door frame of the room.

"Because, believe it or not, I know the value of much needed downtime," laughed J-Hope. "What's up?"

Jin shrugged. "Just wondered if you would like to take a walk with me. Maybe do some shopping. Grab some coffee. Basically a man date." He giggled as J-Hope frowned.

J-Hope stretched and stood to his feet. "If you promise to never call it a man date again, I'll tag along."

Jin nodded as he laughed and led the way to the entryway of the dorm. Slipping on their shoes, the two men set off down the streets of Seoul. For one of them, the direction was aimless. For the other however, a specific destination was in mind.