"hey renjun, didnt you get anything from your friend seulbyul yet?"
renjun stop stacking up his files as his eyes went to yangyang who was staring at him with a cup of coffee in his hand. renjun gave him a smile, before he leaned back agaisnt his seat.
"im working on it"
"working on it? she didnt even come here and obviously you were in your office for the whole day, what do you mean working on it?" yangyang raised his eyebrows, started losing patience with his job partner.
renjun pulled up his sleeves, resting his arms on the table. he stared at the coffee in yangyang's hand, tried to think any possible answers to give his partner.
"hey, look" yangyang stepped foward when renjun didnt give any respond to his question. he took a seat infront of renjun, landing his cup on the table.
"we need to work it out, okay? she probably knows something that we don't know yet. you're her friend, why not ask her—"
"she didnt come back since two days ago" renjun cut yangyang's words.
"w..what? if she didnt come to your house then how about naeun?"
"she did send naeun to our house but she didnt even bother herself to come in and have a conversation with us. well, with me actually. we argued, i don't know, this is so stressful" renjun wiped his face and ran his hands through his hair.
"you guys, have a fight?"
"lets not talk about that. now, where's the report—"
"what report? gosh renjun, how can we write a report when we didnt even have the informations?" yangyang chuckled, making renjun smiled akwardly. his friend stood up with his coffee, and then patted renjun's shoulder.
"have some rest"
renjun just watched yangyang leave, before he loosened his tie.
he didn't want to know what is rest until everything is solved.
—
"hey, naeun" jaemin asked the little girl who was enjoying her ice cream. naeun looked up at him, eyebrows raised.
"do you remember haechan?"
"yeah! he came to my house last night to teach me—"
"at nIGHT? teaching service is available even at night?" jaemin asked, widening his eyes in disbelief. that's mean, haechan went to seulbyul's house at night. what time did he leave?
"yup. but it only took an hour or two. he left before 10pm"
"that couldnt be a problem if its before 10pm, i guess." jeno interrupted, sitting on the couch with a bowl of ramen. jaemin who still couldnt believe that happened, stared at naeun while tapping his chin.
"have you ever seen them... you know... being lovey-dovey?"
"if you consider staring at each other while smiling as lovey dovey" naeun finished his ice cream and grinned at jeno, pointing at his ramen.
"NO, COOK IT BY YOURSELF"
"you know i cant" naeun pouted, but jeno still refused to share his ramen. they end up having a fight on the couch, while jaemin was still thinking about this haechan guy.
"ASK JAEMIN TO COOK IT FOR YOU"
"look at him, he's in a whole new world" naeun sang, making jeno chuckled while throwing a pillow at his best friend. "bro, what's your fantastic point of view?"
"this haechan guy seems so familiar to me. but i cant remember when"
"you're just overthinking— wait, you know how he looks like?"
"i saw him at the park with seulbyul, holding hands" jaemin looked at his nails, trying to forget the fact that haechan gave him an evil smirk,
it felt like haechan knew him as well.
"THEY ARE DATING?!" naeun and jeno yelled, both of them widened their eyes. at the same time, naeun attempted to steal a spoon of jeno's ramen soup, and she succeeded.
"i dont know. but, this guy, this freaking guy, i know him from somewhere"
"you've met so many people, na jaemin" jeno ended up handing naeun his bowl of ramen, before he stood up to make another two bowls for him and jaemin.
"well, when was the last time seulbyul came here, instead of leaving naeun at the yard" jaemin started to make up any possible theories.
"your friend is having a boyfriend, is that even an issue?"
"no, its not just that! there's something about haechan, i know! just, let me think" jaemin slapped himself softly, trying to make his brain work so hard. he wanted to remember things, he knew that his instincts never went wrong. there's something wrong about this haechan guy, he knew it.
a minute later, jaemin felt like a lighting bulb appeared infront of his head.
"jeno" he called out his friend who was cutting something in the kitchen. "what?"
"are you serious that never heard about the name lee haechan before?"
"not that i can remember, why?"
jaemin's lips formed a thin line, before his eyes went to jeno who was already staring at him, kunfused.
"well, do you remember mark lee?"
—
8:41PM
seulbyul stared at her phone while walking out from the convenience store, reading the name of the person who called her for the 413th time today. she sighed, thinking if she would answer that call or let him be.
she chose to let him be. huang renjun, she didnt want to talk to him. she was being so sensitive and selfish for refusing to help him in this case, but remembering that renjun had no trust towards her anymore, he might blame her without any evidence.
not until he spammed her with texts.
RENJUN
are you even serious right now?
RENJUN
yes, ignore me
RENJUN
fucking ignore me
RENJUN
how about naeun here?
RENJUN
and you, are you that busy to even come here?
RENJUN
i get it, i know what i've said, alright?
RENJUN
im so sorry
RENJUN
but ignoring me wouldn't solve anything
RENJUN
you know how stressed up i am
RENJUN
i just need your help.
RENJUN
pls, come here.
read.
seulbyul shoved her phone in her pocket as she scoffed harshly. if they didnt want to take care of naeun, then why on earth didnt they send her here? jisung was the one who really wanted to play with naeun today. and that's on them.
she really want to help. but the fact that she knew nothing except that the killer is a guy, that's all. yes, she saw him, but she didn't saw his face, and the fact that he even walked away instead of killing her, it was totally curious.
while she was walking back home, she smelt something awful. the horrible smell that came into her nose made her wanna puke. she covered her nose as she tried to find the source of that smell.
she knew, she smell didnt come from a trash bin. this smell is different. awfully different.
she ended up walking near a dark lane as she used her phone to see clearly.
at the moment she activated her flashlight,
she didnt have to enter the dark lane, she can already see it.
another dead body in the middle of the lane.
seulbyul widened her eyes, as she quickly turned off her flashlight. she ran away from the lane, her face was still shocked and disbelieved. she wasnt expecting that.
the smell was so horrible, when did that person die?
this may be idiot, but she decided to not call the police about this. she didnt want renjun to blame her again, she already lost their trust, she didnt want to lose anything from them again. by midnight or tomorrow morning, someone must have found the body, there's nothing to do with her.
she stood there in silence, thinking about the dead body,
and she didnt even realized that someone was approaching her.
"seulbyul...."
she startled, opened her eyes even wider than ever, as she looked at the person who called our for her name.
at the moment she looked at the person, she gasped.
"haechan?"
he walked weakly towards her, and looking at him seriously suprising seulbyul. he didnt even look like himself. bruises everywhere, some part of his hoodie was torn off, blood dripping from his lips, and he looked so weak.
"hey!" she gasped again when he almost collapsed infront of her. she grabbed his arms, trying to get him up.
"who did this to you?"
no answer.
immediately forget about the dead body, seulbyul brought haechan home.
—
30 minutes later, seulbyul looked at haechan who was laying on her bed after a painful shower, closing his eyes. she gave him one of her oversized hoodie, and glad that if fit him perfectly.
she breathed out, crossing her arms and looked at that guy in kunfusion. she almost forget that he was so good in martial arts. but still, who would beaten him up like this.
and that thought made her speechless.
does that killer, wanted to kill him? and he fought back?
seulbyul slowly walked towards her bed, reaching the sleeping haechan as she put some medicine on her night stand.
"hey" she called out slowly, making the guy opened his eyes weakly.
"hey" he replied, closing his eyes again.
"look, your wounds and bruises, they need to be treaten. if could be an infection if you just leave them—"
"i'll be alright" he replied coldly, shutting her up. she never saw him being this cold, but still. if he wanted to beat her up, she knew that he was in his weakest state right now.
taking a medicine cream from her first aid kit, she slowly put it at haechan's cheek, making the guy quickly opened his eyes and sat up.
"ouch! what is that?"
"shut up and let me treat you" seulbyul stared at his eyes, and her stare made him sighed in defeat. he leaned agaisnt the head of the bed, looking at her putting some cream at his wounds. it stung, but he just let it be.
not until her finger went to his lips.
she leaned closer so that she could get a clearer view of his wound at his lips, and putting some cream on it.
"try to not lick your lips for the night" she whispered, eyes staring at his lips.
haechan didnt know where does this feeling came from, his heart was beating so fast, his face turned red,
and he felt like jumping off the cliff right now.
he looked at her up close, staring at every inch of her face as her focus went to his wounds. she probably knew that he was staring, but she didnt want to stare at him back. and that thing totally drove him crazy.
"okay done" she pulled herself away from him, putting the cream away.
"any other—"
"im good" he replied, giving her an akward smile.
"well, if you need a bandage, i put it here so, use if whenever you want to" she pointed at the first aid kit on her nightstand, and haechan just gave her a nod.
he was about to lay down again when she stood up.
"just call out my name if you need anything"
"where are you going?"
"i'll sleep in naeun's room" she said, turning away, going to reach for the door.
but a hand stopped her.
"you make me feel guilty, this is your room, i dont have the right—"
"its okay" she replied, giving him a comforting smile. but still, haechan couldnt buy it.
he pulled her by the hand, making her seat on the bed as his eyes stared at her deeply. seulbyul widened her eyes, startes to feel nervous just by looking at his stare. his eyes are so powerful and that's a fact.
"stay, this may sound flirty. but, stay" he said, patting the other side of bed for her while grinning. seulbyul just looked at him for a few seconds, didnt know what's up with him.
he was so weak 30 minutes ago, how could he pull her to the bed and talk so much?
"come on, i'll feel guilty—"
"okay! okay! just, shut up your mouth" she sighed before she slowly laid herself on the bed, totally akward since there's a guy beside her.
she swore, she may be friends with guys like renjun, jeno and the others but they never slept in the same room together. or more extreme, the same bed.
"great" he smiled, wrapping the blanket around her as he turned his body to face her. he smiled at her and grinned, she swore again that his smile totally made her feel uncomfortable.
"can we just, go to sleep now?"
"lets have a story telling session" he said, making seulbyul shook her head.
"im sleepy, goodnight" she said, turning away so she wouldnt need to face haechan. she hugged herself, trying to get rid of those nervous feelings, trying to hide the sound of her heart that was beating so fast.
but before she could even hide it,
she can feel that haechan scooted closer towards her. closer and closer, until she can feel his breath hitting her neck.
and within a second,
she felt an arm wrapping around her waist, pulling her closer towards the person.
he pulled her close until her back touched his chest, and he interwined his hand with hers, resting it on her stomach. after that, he put one of his leg around her legs, still pulling her closer.
she didnt care about the world right now, she really want to explode. glad that no one could see her red face, glad that no one could see how nervous she was.
but she knew that the guy who was cuddling her could hear her heartbeat.
"uhm... haechan?"
"huh?"
seulbyul took a deep breath, his sleepy voice really made her feel like disappearing from this room. she felt even more nervous when haechan's thumb caressing her hand, as he leaned even more closer so that there would never be any room in between her back and his chest.
"what are you doing?" she knew, but still, she wanted to ask.
"to heal my wounds quickly" he whispered, she could feel his lips moving against her the back of her neck, immediately sent shivers down to her spine.
"what? is that even related—"
"shhhh, im trying to get some sleep" he whispered again, making seulbyul stopped talking.
she tried. she tried to sleep, she tried to his lips at her neck, she tried to ignore his soft thumb brushing her hand, she tried to ignore his leg wrapping around her, she tried to ignore everything and go to sleep.
but before she could go to dreamland, she felt him pulling her interwined hand, and brought it to his lips. he gave it a peck, before he rested it on her stomach again.
"thank you"
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