All the time they want to take your place,
the back stabbers, they smilin' in your face
⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ⛧ ﾟ｡⋆
𝓃𝑒𝓍𝓉 𝒹𝒶𝓎
Loud ringing of the phone made Jimin stir in his sleep. Head feeling heavy and eyes unwilling to open, he was, for a second, convinced that he accidentally made his alarm ring at the wrong time. Turning to the side, his hand reached out and he squinted at the screen that wasn't even too bright, but made his eyes water regardless. After a few attempts to try and get used to the light, he realized that Jungkook was the one calling him.
"Yes?" Jimin answered groggily, closing his eyes and still keeping his head on the pillow.
"Sorry I woke you up, but this is important." Immediately, Jungkook's voice grasped his whole attention because his tone meant that something wasn't right. Jimin sat up slowly, glancing towards the window to see that it was still very dark out.
"What is it?"
On the other side, Jungkook was searching around his office, opening every single drawer and looking through his schedule planners and other notebooks that he kept around, but the card was nowhere. "Did I give you the card back?"
"Which card? For today's meeting?"
"Yeah."
"No. I gave it to you when I got back from Singapore," Jimin said lowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and trying to remember things correctly. "Why? Did you misplace it?"
"I know exactly where I put it but now it's not there. I'm sure I didn't take it out."
"Do you think it was..." Jimin's voice faltered.
"What? Naomi?" Jungkook asked, seemingly unfazed but his heart clenched a little. Jimin hummed, lips pursed because he knew that it definitely was a possibility, considering the way she acted on the daily.
"No, she wouldn't," Jungkook shut that down quickly while shaking his head. "Not a chance," He said, but a hint of doubt kept scorching at his brain. One thing that he was determined about was that he wouldn't believe it until he was sure what exactly happened.
"Okay. But still talk to everyone at home."
"Will do," Jungkook sighed. "So what do we do about the meeting?"
"It's in five hours. We still have time to come up with something," Jimin turned his head to look at the digital clock on his night stand. "Look, I'll get in contact with the bank. I'll tell you what they say. Then I'll talk to Jin and we'll figure something out."
"Alright, thanks." Jungkook hung up and tossed the phone back on his desk, restless and fidgety. The impatience to find the card was immense and nothing could make him keep still.
"Jo!" He called, already walking towards the kitchen and seeing her behind the counter. "You're here. Good."
"Of course I am," Joanne smiled and turned to face him. "And you're early today," She mentioned and placed a cup full with coffee in front of him.
"Thanks," Jungkook said and dragged it closer once he sat down. "Yeah, I have a meeting. I wanted to ask you something."
"Sure." She nodded attentively and took a seat opposite him, intrigued as to what he had in mind.
"There's a credit card missing from my office. I put it there a few days back and now it's gone. Have you seen anything?"
Joanne thought for a moment and then shook her head. "I was in the kitchen the whole time. Washing up. I doubt Alec would've done it. He left after lunch."
"Okay, I believe you." Jungkook nodded, knowing that the worst thought was coming closer and closer. "I hope you don't hold it against me. I had to ask."
"No, no, I understand," She said and put some breakfast in front of him. "Here, why don't you eat and I'll get a hold of Alec."
"No, it's alright." Jungkook dismissed. "I know that none of you could ever do something like this. You know, deep down, I already know who it was, but I keep trying to find somebody else to blame."
Joanne remained quiet for a while, deep in thought before saying, "She was very angry with you."
"I know. Feelings are mutual."
"Why not start from the beginning? Spend time together, talk to each other, ask questions? You know, just take a short break from all of this arguing. The problems that you both have are, in my opinion, much deeper and warming up to each other might help with being more open about everything that's troubling either you or her." Joanne told him, knowing that he would appreciate her point of view in this.
"I tried that."
"And then you gave up?"
"I don't think I did." Jungkook chewed on his food and tilted his head from side to side. "It's just that I'm tired of trying by myself. Naomi doesn't try at all."
A long breath rolled out of his mouth. "But, well, I won't pass all my problems to you." He chuckled and stood up, taking his empty plate along to put it in the sink. He lifted up his cup, "I'll take this with me. Thank you for breakfast."
"Don't mention it. I'll see you in the afternoon." Joanne smiled kindly, letting him go with a warm feeling in her chest.
Jungkook then languidly walked back to his office and once he passed a window, he caught sight of someone parking their car out front. Observing for a moment, he realized who it was. Upon seeing Naomi step out of the drivers seat, everything got clearer and he fastened his steps to walk out the front door, anger piling up inside him.
He thought that she would stay at Monica's house for a few more days, at least—like he had gathered from what Joanne had told him—but he knew that his wife being back was only for the show.
"Oh, look at that. Husband greeting me at the door," Naomi laughed, almost scoffing out at the surprising sight. "Missed me that much?"
"What's that?" Jungkook nudged his head towards the black Mercedes-Benz that she just got out of, also noticing the entire back seat area filled with shopping bags.
"What does it look like?" Naomi jingled the keys in her hand. "My brand new car. I bought it," She said with a proud brow raise.
"Yeah? With what money?"
Rolling her eyes, Naomi started to walk towards him. "Listen. You forbade me from leaving the house—"
Lie.
"Get inside." Jungkook interrupted and grabbed her hand.
"I am going, if you haven't noticed." She sent a glare and tried to pull her hand away from his hold, but Jungkook managed to pull her inside his office.
"Sit down." He nudged his chin towards the chair.
"Wh-"
"Sit. Down." He repeated and Naomi stilled in the same moment. Worry began to paint itself in her eyes and she stared at him wordlessly, feeling shame starting to weigh her shoulders down.
"Do you think I'm a fool?" Jungkook asked with eyebrows scrunched together and piercing gaze set on her. "Jimin asked if it could've been you and I said no. I believed that my wife wasn't capable of doing something like this." He scoffed and looked up at the ceiling. He rarely yelled when he was angry but if Naomi could've chosen between the lecture she was given now and him yelling, it would've been the latter. His voice was incredibly scary whenever his tone lowered this way and that was the exact moment when she realized how badly she messed it up.
Jungkook looked back at her, shaking his head slowly before speaking, "And there you go, meddling into things that you have no business in. I'm embarassed to face everyone on the job because they're going to feel let down."
Jungkook was fuming on the inside. All the negative emotions hit him at once and it was on him to keep them under check, but determination was still hovering, reassuring that Naomi wouldn't be the one walking away from this without a worry.
A thought came to mind and Jungkook immediately turned on his computer. It was one thing for Naomi to keep messing with him only, but when everyone else was involved, things turned into a different way and Jungkook would make sure that she owned up to her mistakes.
Naomi kept her composture and gulped down the knot that suddenly formed in her throat. "I don't know what are you mad about. It's your fault. You did this to yourself." She was glad that her voice didn't waver, but her heart was beating like she could pass out at any moment. Admitting that she was wrong kept on being out of the picture.
Jungkook only shook his head in disappointment and smacked his lips, "Don't twist it on me, Naomi. You know damn well what you've done," he said. "You've ruined months of hard work."
Naomi started feeling even worse, but that didn't mean that she would apologize. He deserved it after all that he put her through. Didn't he? She fell quiet and thought about it. It was the worst feeling in the world when somebody could visibly be so disappointed in her that she could torture herself to death. But she was clutching onto Monica's words; "He's the one neglecting you. What does he expect?"
Naomi tried to calm down her breathing, while Jungkook sat down and typed something on his computer. They remained in silence until he placed a paper sheet on the desk in front of her.
"What's that?" She asked and glanced at him but Jungkook didn't reply and let her read it.
Naomi scanned the words, feeling her heart fall. I, Naomi Landon, undertake to return all 100,000 dollars, which I spent on the company's card. This statement serves as proof.
Her mouth went dry and her breath got caught up in her lungs. Her eyes kept on jumping back to the beginning and she read it again and again, hoping that she would see just about anything else written down. "Are you being serious? Where am I supposed to get it?"
"I suggest you stop asking questions and sign it," Jungkook said simply and passed her a pen. "I don't care how you're going to do it, I just want you to return everything as soon as possible."
"You're crazy. I won't sign it." She began to shake her head.
"You will. I hope you know that you're in no position to give me conditions," He said. "If I was in your place, I'd think about selling a few things that aren't needed."
"No."
"I just want you to take responsibility." Jungkook's voice didn't get any friendlier as he leaned forward and interlocked his fingers. He kept his eyes on her, not feeling any guilt or regret about his decision. It was the right thing to do.
"You're treating me like a kid and not as your wife."
"That's not true." He shook his head. "I keep asking myself why are you doing all these things? And it's because you wanna be seen. You're rebelling because you're angry. I don't know what's behind this since you never talk to me and I need to figure out everything on my own, but that's what you're doing."
Naomi's eyes reddened at the corners, almost as if she wanted to cry. "I never knew you could be such a back stabber," She said, but Jungkook ignored it altogether.
"I'll give you an ultimatum," he leaned back confidently, having an offer that she couldn't refuse. "If you sign, it means that you commit to this or you'll be charged for theft or missapropriation." Jungkook dragged his tongue over his lower lip and tilted his head to the side. "Both Jimin and Jin are furious. You can be sure that they aren't taking this lightly and are willing to press charges." That wasn't entirely true, but at some point, she would have to own up to her own mistakes.
"But the card is yours!" Her eyes widened.
"And you took it without permission. It wasn't meant for personal use," He explained. "If you think I'll take the blame for you or if anyone will believe it, you're wrong."
Naomi mustered up the worst glare she could, keeping her jaw tight to indicate her anger. Harshly picking up the pen, she signed her name on the paper and stood up without a word before leaving out of the office.
Her footsteps echoed down the hallway and Jungkook guessed she was headed upstairs, which gave him some privacy to make a phonecall.
"Yes?"
"Turns out that it was her," Jungkook said over the phone. "If I had any doubt about not continuing with what we've talked about before, there's none of that now."
"I thought so," Jimin scoffed on the other end. "Luckily for us, we figured out our issues. Come to the office and we'll talk about it."
"I'll see you in an hour."
― ❅ - ☼ - ❅―
What do you think Jungkook has planned? 🤔