His legs were crossed and a file rested on his palm. He let his eyes scanned the words that were displayed on the booklet thoroughly. His big-rounded spectacle rested on his nose bridge, supporting his deteriorated eyes for the vision.
The name of someone was neatly written on the 성함 (seong-ham = name) space. He kept reading the whole form just to make sure what he read had 99.9% registered in his mind.
It felt like he was studying a subject.
He stopped reading when someone entered the room as his name was called, "annyeong, Kookie-yaa!"
A cheerful man left the door wide opened, entering the room as he randomly danced in order to attract Jungkook's attention.
"Aish..." Jungkook silently groused as diverted his full attention on the file on his hand. He then turned his chair around to avoid seeing the man dancing.
However, the man was way too clever. He knew if he danced on the other side where Jungkook was facing, Jungkook would change his position again. So, he stood behind the younger man and moved side to side, poking his face near to Jungkook's face while still dancing as he shook his hand to get his attention.
Jungkook slowly pushed his face nearer to the file while the man created another way to annoy him. He knocked the file several times in dancing motions.
He had successfully annoyed Jungkook somehow after that...
"Taehyung hyung!" Jungkook whined. "Geu-manhaeyo, jom! (Please, stop it!)" He said, making Taehyung laughed as he walked to the other way to face Jungkook.
Taehyung leaned his buttock on the edge of a table and looked at the younger man who was reading the contexts on the filled-form.
"What are you doing?"
"Reading."
"I know you're reading," Taehyung said. "I mean, what are you reading?"
"Our clients' profiles," Jungkook replied monotone and not leaving his sight away from the file.
"Since when are you interested to read their profiles?"
"None of your business, hyung," Jungkook muttered.
Taehyung faked a sob. "Jungkook-ah," he called. "How dare you speak like that to your hyung."
Jungkook sighed, closing the booklet as he got up from the seat. He pushed the chair under the table and walked away from Taehyung. But he quickly caught Jungkook's paces and slung his arm around Jungkook's shoulder.
"Are you hungry?" Asked Taehyung.
Jungkook shrugged his shoulder and continued to walk, ignoring the fact that Taehyung was too close to his face.
"Want to eat?" Jungkook looked over at him by the corner of his eyes. "My treat," Taehyung added. Jungkook curved his lips downward with an eyebrow raised.
Meanwhile, Taehyung played with his eyebrows, raising them up and down continuously.
"Lamb skewers," Jungkook said. And with one noun, Taehyung understood what he wanted.
"Okay, let's go!"
**********
Guess who found out the boys would be having lamb skewers?
He overheard their conversation and, literally just came out of nowhere, asking if he could join them. And there they were, adding another male in the group.
Taehyung checked the balance of the money he had in the bank via the internet. Maybe, he should not say that he wanted to treat Jungkook lamb skewers in public. Or maybe, he should not have wasted too much money for Gucci. He ordered a Gucci bag via online two weeks before...
Taehyung silently sighed after he rtt eceived his account's statement. He then put down his phone and watched three men deliciously enjoyed their meals for a moment.
The straight, short and brown-haired man slowly grabbed a pair of chopstick and pinned a ddeok-galbi with it.
He did not know that he would treat three men at once. If only he could see the future.
But urm...
'Nevermind,' he mentally said as chewed the meat calmly before swallowed.
"Taehyung-ah," Yoongi called, wiping his lips with a balled tissue. He then lightly dumped it on the table and added, "thank you."
"Yeah..." Taehyung muttered as he shoved in a spoon of rice into his mouth.
"Not for the foods, I mean."
The other two boys stopped their doings as they slowly made glances between Taehyung and Yoongi. Taehyung looked calm and just continued to eat his meal.
"It's okay, hyung," Taehyung said in a monotone. "He's just someone I know. So, yeah..."
"What are you guys talking about?" Jimin butted in. "We didn't miss anything, aren't we, Jungkook?"
Jungkook was shaken. He stared on the table for nothing. His eyes enlarged beneath the rounded spectacle he wore.
"Yoongi hyung finally got exempted from his punishment," Taehyung said.
"Jeongmalyo?! (Really?!)" Jimin and Jungkook chimed, surprised to hear the news. Taehyung nodded his head.
"Congratulations, hyung!" Jimin said with his eyesmile, while Jungkook clapped twice or thrice before he continued eating, looked like he did not give a damn on Yoongi's exemption.
The boys then said nothing after that, but Jungkook heard the eldest sighed which was too silent for Jimin and Taehyung to hear. Or maybe they heard him but pretended not to notice.
Jungkook was wondering what made him looking sad and sighed. He got a year punishment and six months earlier before the punishment ended, the older got an exemption.
Shouldn't he be happy? He got to work again as one of the boyfriend choices for the company and would get money from a contract. He knew Yoongi's current permanent work did not pay him much and there was once, he got scammed.
So, that's it. Shouldn't Yoongi be happy for getting an exemption?
Jungkook did not dare to open his mouth to ask. He knew that he needed to be careful because he did not want to hurt Yoongi's feeling this time.
"Yah, that's mine!" The voice of Taehyung snapped Jungkook out of his thoughts. He looked up at the opposite side of his seat and, saw Jimin and Taehyung were fighting over a ddeok-galbi.
Jimin was seen enlarging his eyes as he tried to get the galbi from his friend. Taehyung was about to eat the meat when Jimin got up tickled his side.
Taehyung laughed out loud because of the tickles and eventually stopped when he persuaded Jimin that they would share the galbi.
"Now, that's fair," Jimin muttered as he pinned the meat with his chopstick and went back to his seat.
**********
At 5 o'clock in the evening, Nahee walked towards the entrance of the university alone. She knew her brother was going to pick her up, so she just took her leisure time to reach there.
But to her surprise, someone's familiar back view was seen standing in front of the entrance, waiting for her. Not only that person but also the vehicle that was waiting for her. She blinked her eyes multiple times before she quickened her paces to reach there quicker.
"Jeon Jungkook?"
The man turned his head as he heard her voice. He then turned to face her, smiled at her and waved. Nahee was flustered.
"What are you doing here?"
"To bring you out," Jungkook cooly answered as he shoved his hands into the jeans pocket.
"How... How did you know I study here?"
"Your profile."
"My profile?"
"Our contract profile."
Nahee just gave an 'ah'. She just forgot that they were tied by a contract relationship. "Since you're here to bring me out, then I guess, I have to tell my brother not to pick me up."
Jungkook nodded as he watched Nahee got her phone and dialled Namjoon's number. When Namjoon answered her call, she informed him that not to take her from the university.
"And, I'm going somewhere with... urm..." For a moment, Nahee let the conversation to get quiet.
"Yah, with who?" Namjoon asked, sounding worried.
"M-my-my boyfriend."
"Ahh..." Namjoon chimed and Nahee could feel he was smirking behind the phone. "Okay, go then. I'll change my direction to go to the studio."
"Okay."
"Don't come home late. We don't want eomma to freak out."
"Yeaaah, alright."
"Okay. Have fun!" And with that, they ended the call.
Nahee stuffed her phone into her bag and looked up at Jungkook who was watching her. She smiled for a moment as she zipped her bag and slung the straps on her back.
"Ready to go?" Jungkook asked and the girl nodded her head.
Jungkook was about to go to the driver when suddenly he remembered that he should open the door for her. He ran back to the front passenger's seat door and opened it for Nahee.
His girlfriend smiled at him and mumbled a 'thank you' to him. She slid her leg inside the car and dropped her buttocks on the seat before Jungkook shut the door and ran to the opposite side.
He entered the car and pushed the button to ignite the engine. As he got himself ready to drive, Nahee spoke.
"Where are we going?"
Jungkook answered with a faint smile, "we'll grab a meal at Seokjin hyung's café, and then we'll go to Han River."
**********
A bell above their heads tingled as the door was pushed open, welcoming the couple into the café. They were greeted by the soft aroma of coffee and muffled noises from the coffee machine that was processing itself to give out a dark brown liquid into a cup.
The couple approached the counter and was greeted by the sight of Seokjin making coffee. At the same moment, the barista turned himself around with a cup of coffee in his hand. He noticed them. He then handed the cup to his worker and instructed him to send the coffee to one of their customers.
"Ah, my favourite brother finally came," Seokjin said as the sight of his worker getting further to do his job. He leaned himself forward and rested on the counter's surface.
Nahee bowed at him to greet with a bright smile on her face.
"Omo, Nahee's here too! Long time no see!"
Nahee chuckled, "long time no see too, sajangnim*!"
"Aish, no need to call me 'sajangnim'. Call me 'Jin oppa' and that sounds nicer if that comes out from your pretty lips," he winked and then smiled sweetly at her after saying his words.
Nahee awkwardly chuckled at that, but that did not mean she was uncomfortable. She got used to it and having herself to be the person where Seokjin showed his flirtatious side was not a big deal to her. Perhaps, that could help him to get some girls who hung out there to notice him other than being the boss of the café? And perhaps, ask him out?
But wouldn't that make them think him a freak? Hopefully, not...
Weird, isn't it? When Jungkook wanted to close his distance with her, she got nervous. She could feel her heart thumped fast and the heat in her body rose. But when Seokjin was trying to flirt her, she did not feel anything. It was weird for her to think how peculiar her body systems sent signals to other specific parts of her body systems.
'He's starting...' Jungkook thought as he walked away to find two high stools from a store for him and his girlfriend to sit at the counter.
While Jungkook was gone, Nahee sauntered towards Seokjin. The man suddenly leaned closer and that gave Nahee a shock that she almost gasped.
"How has Kookie acts around you nowadays?" The man asked.
Nahee blinked her eyes multiples times before she answered. "Well, it's not like we meet each other often."
"Uh-hm," Seokjin hummed as he nodded, also showing a serious look on his face. "Tell me other things," he said.
He also added, "in details."
Nahee pursed her lips into a thin line. She buzzed and said, "he gave me a call twice or thrice a week. And I get messages from him every night. Like 'good night' or something like wishing me 'good luck' for tomorrow's classes."
"Uh-hm."
"And... Urm," Nahee paused, trying to remember what else Jungkook had ever done for her. "I guess that's all."
Seokjin sighed, lowering his head down in disappointment. He lifted up his head again and asked, "what about other things? Like when he did weird things like he wanted to kiss or something like that?"
"Exclude the kissing one, since our contract doesn't allow us," she sighed.
"I know about that," Seokjin interfered. "I mean like kissing the cheeks or forehead?"
Nahee shook her head.
"Aish," the older groused.
"But there's one time when we went to the arcade. When I couldn't play games, he just guided."
Seokjin felt a struck in his mind. "Yah, tell me about it."
"Well, he's so close on my back. He held my hand and played the game with me."
"That doesn't sound interesting," Seokjin muttered. Nahee sheepishly smiled at him. "But... There's also one time when we got emotional."
And that got Seokjin more interested. His eyebrows jumped, signalling her to continue her story.
"He told me about his past. About his late parents. And late... Kang... Kang Gaeun-nim," she said softly. Seokjin slowly feeling his heart withered the moment he heard the deceased girl's name.
The man then slowly smiled, "this means Jungkook trusts you."
"What do you mean?" Nahee asked.
Still softly smiling, Seokjin answered as he fixed his sitting position, "you want to know what? Jungkook isn't the type who tells about Gaeun to anyone. Other than me, you're the second person knew about her."
"I... I don't understand."
Seokjin sighed, "I've been taking care of Jungkook since he was 15. And when he was 16, he had a girlfriend. They were in love for so long and not until the girl died when they were 18."
"I don't know under what circumstances the girl died. Jungkook didn't tell me about it," the man added.
"Based on what my instincts say, I'm sure he had told you everything," Seokjin uttered, giving out a bitter smile at the end of his words.
Nahee studied Seokjin's face for a while. It seemed true that Jungkook did not tell how Kang Gaeun died. For someone like her who Jungkook barely knew, she knew everything. But someone who was Jungkook's cousin did not know half of the things that happened to the girl?
'Why?' She wondered.
Since Seokjin did not know how the girl died and it seemed like Jungkook did not want him to know either, she kept her mouth shut, sealing the secret safely inside.
At that moment, Jungkook came back with two high stools in his hands. Nahee instantly moved away as he approached her with them. Her eyes widened. For someone like him managed to carry two heavy stools at once. Well, not surprisingly! Compare to herself, there's only a pack of fats in her arms and that, she could only handle a stool.
Jungkook placed two stools side by side and then smiled for awhile at Nahee as if he was telling that a stool was ready for her to sit.
Nahee sat on the stool and faced the counter with Jungkook.
"So, what do you guys want?" Seokjin asked, obviously trying to change the atmosphere and Nahee understood that he did not want his younger cousin to feel the heavy atmosphere which was still clear in the air.
"How about you make Nahee your new recipe?"
"Which one?" Seokjin asked.
"Rosy Latté," Jungkook recommended. And Seokjin let out a long 'ah' as a sign he got it.
"Would you like that?" Jungkook asked Nahee for a confirmation.
"It sounds interesting, so why not?" Jungkook and Seokjin chuckled at Nahee's respond.
"And my Kookie, what does Kookie want?"
Jungkook rolled his eyes the moment he heard the elder adding 'my' before 'Kookie.'
"Arigato coffee," Jungkook answered with confidence.
"What is Arigato coffee?" Seokjin asked, flustered at the foreign name type of coffee that just come out of Jungkook's lips. "Are you trying to make a lame joke?"
"No, hyung... You know, the latte that you shake in a glass."
"Ahh, you mean Shakerato?" Seokjin asked to make sure if what he thought was right. He was almost laughing at the mistake that Jungkook just said.
"It's called Shakerato? Not Arigato coffee?" Jungkook was surprised at his own mistake. His eyebrows were upwards, jaws loosened as he was still thinking of the coffee names.
Seokjin laughed out loud with Nahee even though she did not know what coffee was that since she had never tasted it. Seeing Jungkook's expression for realising his mistake was funny to her.
________________________
|| A/N ||
*sajangnim - often means boss or the owner of a shop.
Since it's a school holiday, I'm giving double updates. FIFTEEN and SIXTEEN