<OST: eight - IU PROD. & ft. SUGA>
Jieun dragged herself back into the studio and crashed onto the couch with a loud sigh.
Jungkook ripped off his headphones and turned around to look at her, looking concerned. "What happened?"
"What else?" Jieun waved the phone in her hands. "Kim Jennie and Min Yoongi are having issues."
"I freaking knew it," Jungkook sighed as he turned around in his swivel chair to look at Jieun. "Why? He wants to stay and she wants him to leave...?"
"Mm-" Jieun sighed as she combed her fingers through her hair exasperatedly. "But not really, either. I feel like... they both partially want him to go, and partially don't want him to go."
"That's confusing."
"But is it, really...?" Jieun questioned. "If we were put in that situation, what would your choice be?"
"What...?" Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows. "You mean like... if I were the person who had the opportunity to go overseas and fulfil my dream? Or if the person was you... whether I'd want you to go or not."
Jieun thought for a while. "Both."
"If I were Yoongi-hyung..." Jungkook frowned. "I'd stay. If I were Kim Jennie... I'd also want him to stay."
Jieun let out a small scoff.
"I guess I'm just selfish like that-" Jungkook shrugged as he got up from his seat and sat down on the couch next to Jieun. "If it's for you, I'm willing to give up anything."
"We're different in that aspect, I guess-" Jieun pursed her lips. "If I were Yoongi, I'd wanna stay. But if I were Jennie, I'd want him to go."
"What?" Jungkook exclaimed. "But that's exactly what the two of them are doing, Jieun-ah."
"I know-" Jieun sighed loudly. "That's why, it's tough for me to persuade either of them, too - because I completely understand why both of them would choose to do what they're doing. From a third-person perspective, it looks so dumb... but if I were in the same exact situation, there's no guarantee that I wouldn't do the same."
"But why though?" Jungkook pouted, getting more and more invested in this topic. "Why would you want me to go?"
"Because I know you'd wanna stay for my sake-" Jieun explained. "And I don't want to be the reason why you're unable to chase after your dreams."
"But I'll do it out of my own will though-" Jungkook argued. "Because of how much I love you."
"I still don't want it." Jieun shrugged. "I can wait for you, but your dreams can't."
"But my dreams are nothing compared to how much you mean to me," Jungkook said with a small frown. "I won't be able to chase after my dreams if I don't have you by my side... You mean you can?"
"Mm, I can."
"Lee Jieun..." Jungkook folded his arms and frowned. "You don't love me as much as I love you."
"That's not true, and you know that-" Jieun laughed as she patted Jungkook playfully on the cheek. "We just have different love languages and ways of dealing with relationships - just like Yoongi and Jennie... but that doesn't mean we don't love each other the same."
Jungkook pouted. "I just hope we never get into such a situation... because if we do, we'll probably get into a huge argument, just like them."
"We won't."
"Won't what?" Jungkook clarified. "Get into such a situation?"
"No, get into an argument because of it-" Jieun said with a smile. "We'll discuss it level-headedly and come up with a solution that both of us are happy with. We're way past quarrelling with each other over meaningless things, aren't we?"
Jungkook smiled a little. "You're right."
Jieun smiled as she watched Jungkook for a few moments. "Hey, look at me."
Jungkook looked up at her.
"I love you," Jieun said.
Jungkook's smile widened. "I love you too."
-•-•-
"Bujang-nim-" Hyejin stared at Namjoon across the table, with a confused smile on her face. "What was it that you wanted to discuss with me?"
"Um..." Namjoon cleared his throat loudly, his eyes darting nervously around the room, landing on every spot except for Hyejin. "Well..."
"You were looking for something on your desk earlier." Hyejin's eyes darted around. "Do you need my help with finding it?"
"No, I don't-" Namjoon willed himself to look at Hyejin. "Because I've already found it."
"Found what?"
"The answer to the question I have been thinking about all this while."
Hyejin frowned as she looked directly at Namjoon. "Huh?"
"I really like you, Hyejin-ssi."
The air in the office went still as Hyejin stared at Namjoon for a few seconds as she sat in her seat, completely frozen.
"That's the answer," Namjoon said quietly, trying to stop his legs from shaking underneath the table. "The answer that I have been searching for ever since we became closer."
Hyejin's jaws dropped. "You... like me?"
"You didn't know?" Namjoon heaved a sigh of relief. "I thought I made it super obvious-"
"Actually, you did-" Hyejin sat up in her seat, taking a few deep steady breaths to calm herself down. "Actually... you were pretty obvious."
"Was I really...?"
"Mm-" Hyejin nodded stiffly. "But I wasn't sure though."
"Then you must not be very shocked that I'm telling you this today," Namjoon commented.
"I still am-" Hyejin held up her arm for Namjoon to see how much she was shaking. "Look at me shaking. I'm still shocked because I... I'm overwhelmed."
"I wasn't sure," Namjoon continued. "I wasn't sure if I truly had feelings for you. That's why I had to wait for so long to confirm it before confessing to you... I'm sorry."
"Don't apologise..." Hyejin pursed her lips. "But what were you not sure of?"
"Whether the feelings I had for you were real," Namjoon said honestly, pausing to look up into Hyejin's face to see her expression. "You remember how much you comforted me a lot during that period when I was rejected by Chungha-ssi...?"
"Ah..." Hyejin nodded. "Yeah, I do."
"It was shortly after that when my feelings started-" Namjoon recounted. "And I didn't know whether those were feelings that grew because you were there for me emotionally when I was down and fragile. I didn't want to confuse gratitude for genuine feelings, you see."
Hyejin nodded slowly. "Fair enough."
"So I had to make sure," Namjoon explained. "Only that way, it will be fair towards you. I didn't want you to just be a rebound, or someone I could use to get better... or even make her feel jealous. I wanted to make sure that my feelings for you were real before I stood before you and told you how I felt."
Hyejin nodded.
"And not too long ago, I realised how real my feelings were-" Namjoon carried on. "When I started thinking about you all the time, wanting to see you out of work, trying to match the time I usually came to work with yours... so I could pass off meeting you every morning as pure coincidence, when it actually wasn't. It's things like this that made me realise that it wasn't just gratitude I was feeling towards you, because I didn't feel like I wanted to lean on you. Instead, I wanted you to lean on me. I wanted to be someone who could be there for you all the time. That's when I bought the gift you're holding in your hands right now."
Hyejin glanced down at the pink bag in her hands.
"I just found out that your favourite colour is yellow and not pink," Namjoon said with a shy chuckle. I gave the pink bag to you honestly because I thought it was the nicest. But honestly, I still don't know a lot about you... What I'm saying is that, I want to know you more. So... will you give me the honour of being your boyfriend, Ahn Hyejin? I promise that I'll work hard."
Hyejin didn't smile, instead she frowned as she looked down at her bag. "Answer me one question... is my gift different from everyone else...?"
Namjoon bit his lower lip, slightly thrown off by the fact that Hyejin didn't answer his question immediately. "Mm... yeah."
"That's why you were being so stressed out about us exchanging bags...?" Hyejin chuckled under her breath. "Why do you have to be so cute for?"
Namjoon wasn't too sure if he was hearing her right. "Huh? What do you say?"
Hyejin grinned as she placed the bag on her lap and looked up at Namjoon. "I can open it now, can I...?"
"Huh? Mm-" Namjoon nodded. "Mm- of course, I-"
Hyejin carefully opened the box and pulled out the present. It wasn't a generic stuff toy, like Hoseok had mentioned. Instead, it was a shoebox. Hyejin lifted the lid carefully and peered inside. It wasn't high heels... it was a pair of sports shoes.
Hyejin glanced up at Namjoon. "Shoes...?"
"Mm... yeah-" Namjoon rubbed the back of his neck, his body extremely tense. "That day, when we went to interview Jennie-ssi, I noticed that you had blisters on your heel and you kept limping. That's why, when I passed by a shoe shop, I thought of you and bought it. High heels is your usual style, but I thought that comfort is more important for you when you're rushing from schedule to schedule. That's why I got this pair of shoes for you."
"You know there's a saying that if you buy shoes for your lover, they'll run away from you-" Hyejin smiled as she looked up at Namjoon. "Don't you, bujang-nim...?"
Namjoon froze.
"To make sure that I don't run away..." Hyejin placed the shoebox on the ground. "Why don't you come over and help me wear it? Make sure you tie the shoelaces tight."
Namjoon was going through a rollercoaster of emotions at this point, but he quickly got to his feet and fumbled his way over to Hyejin, kneeling before her and picking up the shoes at once.
"Bujang-nim."
Namjoon looked up and recoiled a little when Hyejin bent down a little to meet his eyes. She reached out and grabbed Namjoon by the top of his tie, tugging him closer before landing a peck right in the middle of his forehead.
Namjoon inhaled sharply as his hand rose to his forehead, his fingers slowly tracing the area that Hyejin's lips had just met.
"I heard your answer..." Hyejin smiled. "So... well, that's my answer."
Namjoon's jaw dropped as the shoe in his hands fell back into the box. He finally let out a sigh of relief as he buried his head in his hands. "I... I thought I was going to get rejected again."
Hyejin giggled. "To be honest with you, I didn't really like the way you confessed."
"Why?" Namjoon frowned as he looked down at the shoes. "Is it because of the gift? Would you have preferred high heels instead? Ah, I should really have known better..."
Hyejin smiled. "No, that's not it - I love these shoes. They're probably way more comfortable than those heels I wear on a regular basis."
"Ah... was it because I told you about all those unnecessary things?" Namjoon sighed loudly. "I shouldn't have mentioned Chungha-ssi, should I? I'm really sorry, I'm quite tactless when it comes to such things..."
"No, that's not it either-" Hyejin laughed as she ran her fingers through Namjoon's hair naturally. "I liked your honesty, really. And besides, all that is in the past. What matters is now."
"What did you not like then?"
"I didn't like what you said about working hard," Hyejin finally revealed. "You already work so hard on a regular basis, why should getting into a relationship require you to work hard too?"
Namjoon finally smiled. "Ah..."
"I know I'm an amazing person, but you're also an amazing man, bujang-nim," Hyejin said with a smile as she adjusted Namjoon's tie and hair a little that she had messed up. "Your question to me was whether I could give you the honour of being my boyfriend... my answer is yes. Now answer me this - will you give me the honour of being your girlfriend, Kim Namjoon-ssi?"
A smile crept onto Namjoon's face as he rose to his feet to meet Hyejin's eye level.
"Yes, Ahn Hyejin-ssi. I'll give you the honour."
-•-•-
Jennie woke up with swollen eyes the next morning from all the crying.
And the first thing she did when she woke up was think of Yoongi. Then she glanced at her clock. 1pm. Amazing, he was probably gone by now, considering that the morning was already over. Still, Jennie couldn't resist but throw on her sunglasses and rush out to the corridor at once and check if there was any trace of Yoongi left outside his house.
Her heart sank the moment she came out and her eyes landed on the now empty corridor, with Yoongi's shoerack no longer in sight. He was really gone. Jennie fought back the urge to cry.
Wasn't this what she wanted...?
Disappointed, Jennie headed back inside, changed out into her jogging gear and left the house once more. Running always took her mind off things - and she definitely needed that more often, now that Yoongi was gone. She left the shades on, since they were swollen like golfballs - she didn't want anyone to see her in the state she was in.
"Ya- ya- isn't that Jennie Kim?"
"Mm, haven't seen her in a while."
"Ya- what's with the shades..."
"She must be sad, of course..."
"Her boyfriend's leaving her, after all..."
"Ya... keep it down..."
Jennie stopped in her tracks. She had heard the security guards talking about her from a distance away and had intended to walk past without saying a word. But the moment she heard them mention the word 'boyfriend', she simply couldn't ignore them any longer.
Boyfriend...?
Jennie leaned over the windowsill and pulled her sunglasses off, staring directly at the two security guards with her swollen eyes. "I heard you guys talking."
"Ya, see?" The taller guard nudged the other. "I told you not to talk so loudly... See? She heard us."
"You guys mentioned my boyfriend...?" Jennie frowned. "Who's my boyfriend?"
"Sorry, Jennie-ssi-" The shorter guard slapped himself. "We shouldn't have assumed. We're sorry."
"I'm asking you a question right now!" Jennie exclaimed, getting slightly worked up. "Who's my boyfriend and who gave you the impression that he was my boyfriend!"
"Um-" The taller guard glanced at the shorter and shook his head. "We were talking about Unit 105 next to you... but please ignore us. We're just really bored sometimes so we gossip about all things under the sun..."
"It's just that-" The shorter bit his lower lip. "We've been observing your interactions and we thought you both might probably be dating... considering the way he's always looking out for you... you even mentioned him on an interview this morning, didn't you? We watched it and assumed that you were talking about him-"
Jennie felt her heart drop.
"How do you know that he has been always looking out for me...?" Jennie felt a lump form in her throat. "I don't remember even talking to the two of you before, how would you know what our interactions are like?"
"Shit."
Jennie was getting more and more worked up by the moment. "Tell me!"
"It's the CCTV, ma'am..." The taller guy lowered his head. "We didn't intend to watch you guys on purpose... but it's just that one day, someone from your floor came by and told us their package got misplaced... so we ended up helping them to check the CCTV. We found out through the footage that the deliveryman had left it at the wrong house and they had taken it without saying a word... but in the process, we also happened to observe a lot of interactions between the two of you and figured out that you two might be an item- But don't you worry, Jennie-ssi - our lips are sealed, we've never even mentioned this to anyone outside the both of us."
"Where's the footage?" Jennie asked urgently. "May I see it...?"
"Um, well-" The shorter one glanced at the taller nervously. "By right, we shouldn't..."
"But we'll make an exception for you this time, Jennie-ssi-" The taller conceded as he hurried to the computer. "Come and take a look."
Jennie rushed over to his side, managed to watch less than five minutes worth of the footage... and she was already in tears.