eunoia | k.nj ff

case 01; part three

the bartender | p a r t t h r e e

upon entering the bar called "midnight in gangnam", it looked like just like it would any other normal bar. there were booths seperated by wooden walls for people to leisurely drink, and a long side table where it was obviously the "bar" part of the place.

full of exhaustion, both mentally and physically, namjoon made his way over to the long counter where bottles of every brand of alcohol was put on display behind it, glasses hanging from the shelves, just like any other bartender's booth.

sighing, namjoon took a seat upon one of the wooden stools, hanging his head low as he felt the exhaustion hit him. he had been pining over case after case for over a week with less than an hour of sleep each night, and it was finally taking a toll on him.

finally forcing himself to look up, he noticed how empty the place was. boy, for being such a new place you'd think there'd be more of a rush here, he thought as he looked at the three other people sitting scattered across the room, and the one guy singing a sad karaoke song.

whatever, i like this atmosphere better anyways.

he heard some shuffling from in front of him and when he turned to see them, his dull brown eyes met the darkest, black eyes he had ever seen, "hi, my name's areum, and i'll be your server today." a woman with short black hair said as she stood in front of him behind the counter, a notepad in hand. "might i suggest our special—"

"no, that's alright," namjoon interrupted with a polite smile, "just two glasses of beer, please."

the girl, areum, smiled as she placed a simple dark brown menu on the table in front of him. "here you go. just let me know when you want anything else, i'll be back with your drinks." she said before she turned away to make the drink in the back.

he glanced at the obviously drunk man singing "my heart will go on" by celine dion (an american artist he never had much of an opinion on besides the fact that she's talented) very well out of tune on the karaoke machine.

by the time the man had finished the song and did and re-did the extremely unwanted encore almost three more times, namjoon was still sitting on the same stool, downing what must have been his fourth beer.

namjoon sank back into his chair, letting out another sigh. he brought his wrist to his face, taking a glance at his watch.

where on earth is he?

he contemplated whether or not to call him again, but decided against it, picking up the refilled glass once again and downing it in one go. though he was never truly fond of the bitter taste alcohol brings, the built up stress from the work of a prosecutor in korea more than makes up for it.

he wasn't one to have a hard time over work usually, but he thought way too much into the case. especially the poor girl who was attacked. he sighed again for what might as well have been the hundredth time as he went to grab another drink and chug it down, only to discover it was empty.

"can i get a refill please?" he said, his face darkening.

the girl who's name he'd already forgotten gave him a peculiar look as she took the glass from his hand and pour more of the substance in, sliding it in front of him. "i'm sorry if i'm prying but," she gave him a concerned look, "are you alright?"

namjoon gave her a weird look, raising an eyebrow. "do i look bad or something?" he looked at his clothing, he was wearing the same suit he wore to work, except he wasn't't wearing the coat and he'd rolled up the sleeves and loosened his tie. he might look a little dishevelled because of his long day at work, but he didn't think he looked too bad.

the girl smiled, small dimples on the either side of her smile appearing. "no it's nothing like that, you just look a bit bummed. and you've been waiting here for a while now, that being your fifth drink. it's just that you don't look like much of the drunk-till-shit-faced type."

he chuckled lightly. it was true, everything she said. namjoon normally wasn't much of a drinker, in fact he almost didn't like alcohol. but because of all the stress that came with entering such a hard practice and getting a higher position in the office, along with all the expectations that came with being such a young man with an important job, he just needed a minute to breathe and not think at all. he looked down at his drink.

why was my first reaction to stress just to drown it all away? he thought in more of a philosophical view point.

he heard the girl continue, "hey, i'm just another stranger. actually, even better — i'm a bartender! isn't listening to others' woes part of the job description?" a light hesitation evident in her tone.

namjoon smirked, chuckling again. "if you insist." he sighed. aruem smiled as she propped her elbows on the table to support her chin with her hands, bending down to his level across from where he sat in front of the counter.

he didn't really pay much attention to how light her eyes were — most Koreans only had either brown or black eyes, but he noticed how light aruem's eyes were, almost as if they were a dark and light mix of a caramel shade. he liked caramel.

before long, he realized he had been staring for an odd amount of time so he looked away, coughing slightly to cover his embarrassment as the tiniest of a blush crept onto his face and heat to his neck. "y-yes. i work at a prosecutors office," he noticed her raised eyebrows in surprise, which only made him want to boast more, an unconscious smirk taking place on his lips. "since i'm the youngest to make it to lead prosecutor so quickly, a lot of pressure's been building up on me." he saw her nod as if she understood, which in a way comforted him. "and this, uhm, case i'm working on isn't exactly the easiest." he finished with another sip from the glass in his hand.

areum nodded, humming in understanding. "yeah, that must be hard to handle." she spoke softly. "i mean, when you first walked in here, i didn't think you'd be a prosecutor."

namjoon felt a smirk forming on his lips. "what did you think I was then?" his voice full of taunt.

the girl leaned in a bit closer, as if telling him a secret. "not telling~" she said in a sing-song voice.

"aw come on, I won't say anything." he smirked.

she laughed, throwing her head back, her laugh was soothing to him almost like a melody. areum pushed herself back up off the table, tapping the table lightly. "i have to go back to work now," namjoon could feel dejected already, "but I'll tell you this."

she waved for him to move in closer, which he did without any hesitation, leaning over the table. "you, being a prosecutor and all," she whispered. "it's hot."

did I hear that right?

before he could question it, she interrupted him. "and i think your friend's here." she said as she pointed to hose ok behind him as he made his way to where they were, before leaving to the back room, but not before throwing him another (almost flirtatious) smile over her shoulder.

namjoon sat there, dazed, the words repeating in his head. hot? he felt like grinning ear to ear, but did his best not to as he heard movement beside him. "joon! I never knew you had this much game! who were you flirting with so much?" hoseok laughed.

"h-hyung! i wasn't flirting, there was no sort of flirting in this situation!" he stuttered, his face burning hotter every minute.

hoseok only laughed harder, amusement in the situation clearly evident on his face. "as if! you two were totally flirting, anyone within a mile could see it! plus she's super hot, don't tell me you didn't get her number." namjoon shook his head, wanting to hit himself for forgetting something so important. "well, do you know her name at all?"

namjoon sighed, a shit-eating grin placed on his face. "areum."