<OST: Winter Flower - Younha ft. RM>
"Hyejin-ssi!" Hoseok smiled as he placed a cup of iced coffee on Hyejin's table. "How's your work going?"
Hyejin looked up, unimpressed. "Yes, sunbae-nim? How may I help you?"
"Ah-" Hoseok gestured at the iced coffee on the table. "Here! I got this for you."
"Thank you, sunbae-nim."
Hoseok smiled at her. "Mm."
Hyejin furrowed her eyebrows. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"No, nothing-" Hoseok looked awfully suspicious. "Work hard."
"I will, sunbae-nim."
Hoseok hung around awkwardly.
"Mm..." Hyejin looked up at him. "Anything else...?"
"No, no, no-" Hoseok chuckled loudly as he pushed the iced coffee towards her. "Remember to drink this. Oh, also - feel free to ask me anything if you have any doubts."
"Sure," Hyejin said with a weirded out smile, not used to receiving this much attention from Hoseok. "Thanks, sunbae-nim."
"Okay then-" Hoseok backed away slowly towards his desk. "I'll be right over there if you need me."
"Okay."
"Mm..." Hoseok was still not leaving. "Remember - don't be shy, I'm always here to help."
"Sure."
"Remember, I am your sunbae-nim so-"
Hyejin let out an awkward smile. "Yes, sunbae-nim. I gotcha."
"Okay, good."
Hoseok left a few minutes later, sat back down in his seat and heaved a big sigh. "Wow, I actually think I'm lowkey afraid of Hyejin-ssi."
"You're really pathetic, Jung Hoseok-ssi." Chungha sighed as she shook her head. "You really are doing all you can just to win that bet, aren't you?"
"No, I'm not?" Hoseok rolled his eyes. "Don't you know what this is called? It's called caring for your colleagues, Kim Chungha. Well, I guess you won't ever really know since you've never cared much about your colleagues."
"Excuse you?" Chungha laughed mockingly. "Just because I don't care for you doesn't mean I haven't cared about the rest."
"Hey-"
"Let's set some ground rules, okay? Since you've been going overboard with the favours you've been doing for Hyejin-ssi." Chungha sighed as she gestured at the pile of snacks on Hyejin's table, all provided by Hoseok. "Firstly, let's not do that."
"I told you I'm just caring for my colleague-"
"Do you see snacks stacked up on anyone else's desk other than Hyejin-ssi's?" Chungha shook her head. "No. So let's not do that."
Hoseok whined. "You called Jieun-ssi this morning to check on her progress too-"
"That is allowed," Chungha declared. "We're only allowed to check in on them and give them advice - no snacks, no drinks, no meals. And most importantly, no putting in a good word to bujang-nim for them."
"What?" Hoseok frowned. "Why!"
"Think about it-" Chungha folded her arms. "Do you genuinely think you have an advantage over me if we're both allowed to put in a good word to bujang-nim?"
Hoseok pursed his lips. "Fine, no putting in good words."
"Whoever doesn't stick to the rules loses automatically," Chungha continued. "Okay?"
"Oka-" Hoseok frowned. "Wait- why!"
Chungha narrowed her eyes as she repeated herself. "Okay?"
Hoseok groaned. "Okay, fine. But only because I like you."
Chungha pursed her lips, trying not to smile as she looked away. "Do you really have to put that in whenever you have the chance?"
"Mmhmm."
"I can't stand you."
Hoseok grinned.
-•-•-
"Hey."
Jieun turned around and looked up at Jungkook. "Oh, hey. You done?"
"Mm." Jungkook nodded. "Thanks."
Jieun frowned. "For what?"
Jungkook put his hands in his pocket. "Just, everything."
Jieun smiled. "What are you doing now?"
"Practice."
"Ah."
Jungkook hesitated a little. "You wanna come see?"
Jieun's eyes lit up. "Can I?"
"Why not?" Jungkook headed towards the practice rooms, with Jieun following closely behind him. "You haven't had a good look around the company yet, have you?"
"Yeah-" Jieun let out a nervous chuckle. "No, I haven't."
"Also..." Jungkook hesitated a little as he led Jieun down another hallway. "About that favour I was asking from you last night-"
"Oh, right-" Jieun nodded. "I'll help you. What is it about?"
"Here-" Jungkook held open the door to his practice room, gesturing for Jieun to enter first. "Have a seat on the floor, and I'll tell you."
Slightly perplexed, Jieun still did as she was told.
"Well..." Jungkook took a seat facing her and looked her in the eye with a serious expression on his face. "Firstly, what you're about to hear may sound crazy to you."
Jieun raised her eyebrows. "Okay...?"
"But I just want you to hear me out," Jungkook said carefully. "I'm gonna need your help to test out something and if it really works, I might need an even bigger favour from you."
"Okay..."
"Well, basically-" Jungkook took a deep breath. "Basically, I think you might be the reason why I was able to sleep that day."
Silence.
"Wait... what?" Jieun frowned. "Me? Why? It was just all in your mind, Jungkook-ssi. Maybe Seokjin-ssi just wasn't up to par-"
"That's why we need to try it again," Jungkook instructed. "Put your hand on me and try to make me sleep again, Lee Jieun-ssi."
Jieun furrowed her eyebrows. "I really don't think I'm the one who..."
"We won't know until we try," Jungkook said as he set an alarm on his phone and lay down on the ground in front of Jieun. "I set an alarm for half an hour - I'm gonna try to sleep for that long."
Jieun frowned. "But-"
Jungkook opened his eyes and glanced up at Jieun. "You said you'll help me, Jieun-ssi. Are you still going to?"
Jieun looked down at Jungkook, who looked so eager to sleep once more. She did promise him she'd help him, but she was doubtful about his claim that she was the only one who could make him fall asleep.
"I will try to help you," Jieun said with a small nod. "Though I can't make any promises about the outcome, Jungkook-ssi."
"It's okay-" Jungkook said with a smile as he closed his eyes. "I trust you."
-•-•-
Jennie was shaking tremendously.
From a nameless neighbour, to someone she knew fondly as 105, to Min Yoongi the mysterious guy upstairs, to now a serial killer...? And all this had happened within a span of two weeks... Jennie simply couldn't wrap her mind around it.
She trudged towards the recycling corner with her garbage bag filled with trash, slowly sorting out the cans and throwing them into the metal bin.
Jennie frankly didn't know how to feel. If someone asked her if she thought that Yoongi was a serial killer at first glance, she'd definitely say no. But then again, anyone nowadays could be serial killers - even the most innocent-looking ones of all. Yoongi and his clear brown eyes had fooled her - they had fooled her completely. Perhaps he had changed since then. But now that she knew, it was hard talking or laughing with him the same way they did before.
"I thought you said you had to go, why are you still here?"
Jennie felt a cold shudder run up her back as she heard a familiar voice from behind her. She spun around, only to see Yoongi dressed in his usual outfit, but with a mask and cap on this time.
And Jennie was terrified. For the first time, he actually looked like a serial killer in her eyes. The clear eyes, the way he barely smiled, the way he always eyed her when she ran around his kitchen, the way he slammed the secret room in his house - who knows what else other than cameras were in there.
Jennie felt her legs turn to jelly, but she tried to remain calm as she put on a smile and looked down at the garbage bag in Yoongi's hands. "Oh, you clearing the rubbish too?"
"Yeah, because even though someone promised-" Yoongi sighed as he dumped the entire garbage bag into the bin for general waste. "She didn't stay to clean up the mess she made. So I had to do it instead."
Jennie couldn't believe that the man standing in front of her who had killed his own father had the audacity to be talking to her. Was there perhaps an underlying reason? If it was intentional, he would have been locked up for way longer than 6 years. Manslaughter, perhaps?
"I'm really sorry about that-" Jennie managed a smile, even though she felt sick to her stomach. She hurriedly dumped her leftover trash into the general waste bin and backed away slowly. "Anyway, I have to go now. See you, Y- Y- Yoongi-ssi."
"Are you avoiding me?" Yoongi asked as he took a step towards Jennie. "Your attitude towards me has changed significantly from earlier. Have you finally realised how bad a person I must be and decided to stay away from now?
"No-" Jennie shook her head, but she put up both hands and backed away slowly, away from Yoongi as he stepped closer and closer towards her. "No, I'm not trying to stay away, don't get me wrong-"
"Then why are you backing away from me?"
"Don't come near me-" Jennie warned as she walked backwards, looking around frantically for someone to help. "Min Yoongi, I'm telling you, you better not come near me-"
Yoongi pursed his lips as he kept approaching her, little by little. "There's no other reason why - you must have found out about my past. What do you think?"
"What past?" Jennie pretended, not wanting to offend him for fear of what he might do. "I don't know what you're talking about-"
"Oh, yes, you do-" Yoongi pursed his lips. "Now you know that I killed someone, you're afraid of me, aren't you?"
"No, I'm not-" Jennie shook her head as she stepped back onto the road. "We can still be friends, Yoongi-ssi... calm down-"
"Ya!" Yoongi glanced to his left and charged towards her all of a sudden, his eyes wide open. "Jennie-ssi, don't take another step back-"
"I said-" Jennie backed away, getting more and more frantic by the moment. "Don't come near me!"
"Hey, watch out!"
With a single swift motion, Yoongi reached out and grabbed Jennie by her shoulders, sweeping her into his arms before they tumbled to the ground. The speeding car that Yoongi had spotted from miles away zoomed past, missing Jennie by barely an inch.
Jennie looked down at her knee, which now had a small gash slashed across it. Her heart was pumping hard and her fast and her breathing quickened as she realised she had almost gotten hit by a car - and Yoongi was the one who had saved her.
"Thanks for that-"
Jennie turned around, wanting to thank Yoongi quickly and leave as fast as possible, but her voice trailed away when she laid her eyes on him. He sat there, by the road, clutching his knees close to his chest and shaking badly with his head down.
Jennie frowned as she hesitantly moved towards him, reaching out and placing a hand on his shoulder. She should be afraid of him, she should be running away right now, but somehow... she wasn't. He had just saved her life, and she cared for him, somewhere deep down inside her.
"Yoongi-ssi...?" Jennie swallowed hard as she lowered her head, trying to get a glimpse of Yoongi's face. "Are you okay...?"
Yoongi was shaking so badly, and his body shuddered every time he let out a sob. He slowly looked up at Jennie, with tears flowing from his eyes, as he shook his head. "I'm okay..."
Jennie's eyes widened in surprise. She had never seen him like this before, so she did not know what to do. It seemed so similar to how she looked whenever she got an anxiety attack, but yet so different. There was genuine fear in his eyes, like he actually feared that the car would have knocked her down. But why...? She barely even knew him, why would he care so deeply about her-
"You could have almost gotten hit by the car-" Yoongi said, between sobs. "Why did you have to risk your life trying to avoid me...?"
Jennie stared blankly at Yoongi.
"Why does everyone have to leave me?" Yoongi covered his eyes and sobbed loudly. "Why me? Why do I always end up hurting the people who get close to me? Why does everyone have to leave my side? Why-"
Jennie's eyes welled up in tears. This man, was no evil serial killer. There was simply no way he could be. He was kind-hearted, he was afraid of hurting people, he was fragile, just like she was. And as she sat by his side, watching him cry, Jennie knew.
He was a good man.
"Is that why you have been avoiding me all this while...?" Jennie asked as she reached a hand out and wiped away a tear from Yoongi's face. "And is this why, you have been avoiding everyone like a plague, fearing that you'll hurt them the same way you hurt the people in your past?"
Yoongi looked up at Jennie slowly, his sobbing slowing down. "You really..."
Jennie swallowed hard, her hand trembling tremendously as she took Yoongi's hat off from his head. "Just tell me one thing-"
"I never killed anyone in my life, if that's what you're asking-" Yoongi swallowed hard as he stared into Jennie's eyes with tears pouring down his face. "I would never kill someone. When I was younger, my dad- my mom- well, I-"
"It's okay, you don't have to tell me anything-" Jennie shook her head, a small smile playing at her lips. "I know we've barely met, Yoongi-ssi, but from day one, I knew you were a good guy. Look - even after finding out about your past, I'm not avoiding you now, am I?"
"If you come near me, you'll get hurt-" Yoongi said, his voice trembling. "That's the way it always is. Anyone that comes near me will eventually get hurt in one way or another. I don't know why you decided it'd be a good idea to be my friend, but Jennie-ssi - you are no exception. I can hurt you, be it with my past, or be it with any other way - I can hurt you. Before it's too late, you need to run from me. I'm a... I'm a monster."
"You're not-" Jennie shook her head. "You helped me in the rain, when I needed someone the most. You have a kind heart, Yoongi-ssi - a heart much kinder than you think it is. The only reason why you keep hurting people is because you put a barrier between you and others - look, just now I was avoiding you because I didn't know the truth. But if you stop thinking that way, and let people in, you'll soon start to realise that the past is already in the past - you can let go and live again."
Yoongi pursed his lips. "You don't even know-"
"I don't need to know, Yoongi-ssi," Jennie said with a small smile as she grabbed Yoongi by the arm and pulled him to his feet slowly. "What did I tell you? I'm someone who repays favours. Back then, you were the one who saved me when I was all alone in the rain. Now it's my turn to repay you."
Yoongi gave her a blank stare. "How...?"
"From now, you don't have to be all alone anymore-" Jennie dusted off Yoongi's mud stained pants and looked up at him with a twinkle in her eye. "You can lean on me now, you can."