| Third Person PoV |
After a week has passed, [Y/N] has visited Jumin's penthouse every week days to take care of Elizabeth, and sometimes spend her time with Jumin. The two would often drink wine together and talk more about their selves and their stories, getting to know each other more. It's like what friends do at the beginning of their friendship.
Both of them would generally talk about cats, then they learned that they both like striped patterns, reading books and other things. Jumin has gotten more curious about his new friend, thinking that they both have similar minds.
Despite Jumin being annoyed by [Y/N]'s lively nature, he eventually found himself enjoying the woman's presence and her company. She would sometimes call him "Juju" like what Seven would always call him. Usually, he gets annoyed when someone calls him by that nickname, but when it came from [Y/N]'s mouth, he wouldn't mind it at all. He strangely enjoyed hearing her voice.
He would now treat her like a good friend, frequently acts like how a gentleman treats a lady regardless of his callous personality, though he tends to be his usual self around her, still aloof. It was unusual for him to act this way, but he exceptionally liked it.
He would now let her and Elizabeth roam around the penthouse freely as he gains his trust towards her. He thought that [Y/N] was the only person that Elizabeth has gotten closed with, other than him. It would always leave him stunned everytime he sees Elizabeth's expression lighten up as she saw the woman's appearance.
He was quite jealous of her, but he did it for Elizabeth's happiness anyways since he cherishes her deeply.
While [Y/N] though, she has grown her liking to the handsome director. She's desperately curious about her feelings to him, how her heart skipped fast when he walks by, and she can feel the butterflies in her stomach when both of them talked. Sometimes she would caught herself smiling, but then she realized she was actually just thinking about him.
All the endless thoughts about him makes her grow fond of the guy even more. Not entirely sure if she had fallen for him, but often denies the thought and would think of something else. She liked him, knowing that he's not just an uncaring person at all and deep inside there's something that makes her think that he truly does care. She knows that he's not really a cold person. He just lacks some feelings.
She felt that he's been hiding his emotions with a mask... or maybe he can't really feel anything at all.
[Y/N] promises herself that she will use any means to make him open up and show his true emotions. She had always loved the sight of seeing someone happy, it was like her happiness too.
Yes, taking care of his cat does make him happy, but she wanted to do something more than that. Like, she wanted to see his genuine smile again. A smile that always made [Y/N]'s heart flutter inside.
Then an imaginary light bulb came out of nowhere, an idea popped out. She decided to make a good portrait of him and his precious Elizabeth the 3rd.
Sure it wasn't the best gift she could give, but it was made of love and friendship. [Y/N] was incredibly good at anything related to arts. For a clumsy person like her, her artworks were very creative, although it may have a few smudges.
A painting of him and his cat would be a lovely present. Perhaps Jumin would like it...?
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| [Y/N]'s PoV |
I walk around as I watched the birds flew high in the air outside the large window, soaring around freely. It was an adorable view of two love birds. What makes it more cuter is that Elizabeth is slowly attempting to chase it.
About her, I have to make sure that she's perfectly healthy and contented. I don't think I should play with her or teach her some more tricks again. She was much more of a cat with an elegant taste than a playful one... or what Jumin once stated.
I love Elizabeth, but I don't want to dissapoint her owner again.
I have already made her feel better, which made Jumin thanking me repeatedly and giving me a huge amount of won. I declined many times, not wanting his money. But what he did is he just forcefully shoved it in my pocket while he glared at me, like he's making a look that says "Just take my money.".
I was on my way with Elizabeth walking beside me, getting the art supplies where the maids told me where it is placed. Jumin just left an hour ago, and I came here as early as possible to finish making a portait of him and his companion cat. I'm gonna surprise him with placing it in the wall in his bedroom. I hope he doesn't mind.
I planned to make the painting more realistic and perfect. Just like the way he likes it. Anything, just to make his smile show on his face....
..I don't know why I'm too focused about that, but Jumin's my friend! And I'd love to make him happy, he's just afraid to show it in his face!
...or maybe I just fell for his attractive smile?
No, I think that's creepy. Just stop with those thoughts again. If I really liked him, it's obvious that he wouldn't like me back.
I remember that I saw on one of his old magazines that he's one of the most wanted bachelors. But lately, I've been thinking that's about to change when I found an article of him dating a woman called Sarah Choi. She's probably the woman Jumin once mentioned before as his fiancée.
Nonetheless, I guess it's no use of liking him. He already has someone...
"Meow!" I looked down, staring at Elizabeth as she starts doing her cute gazing thing. "Are you tired, Elizabeth?" I asked, as she tilted her head. The cat then lifted her front legs and waited patiently for me to pick her up.
"Oh! C'mere, kitty. Let me carry you."
When I finally carried her, she nudges her head at my neck comfortably as she makes a soft purring sound. The vibrating sound of her purr tickles me along with her soft fur. She would always do this to me, and I'm here just giggling like a little girl.
Jumin was right. Hugging her felt like you're laying in a bunch of soft clouds with tranquility.
Feels like heaven...
But it all suddenly stopped when I heard an angered hiss from her.
"Elizabeth...?" I looked at her face, seeing her spiky fangs exposed while her fur stood up.
Is she angry at me...? I looked at her frightening cat eyes, seeing that she's actually not glaring at me, but from someone behind.
I turned around seeing a woman with fair skin and long, magenta hair. She stared at the both of us, with a disgusted look on her face.
I'm being honest here, she looked pretty in her style – wearing an expensive, blue earrings with a matching blue necklace. Along with her purple long-sleeved shirt with a golden belt. She looks like a gold digger, but I have a feeling that she's not a good person.
She looked at me suspiciously, observing my appearance as she eyes me from up slowly to down.
Elizabeth hissed again, but louder this time. She glared at her, but then just smirked. "Aw, don't be such a tiger, kitten~!" She says, gazing at the cat in my arms, then looked up at me. "And I assume you're Jumin's... babysitter of the cat?"
"Ah.. uhm, sort of?" I say nervously. I feel like I should force myself to respect this woman since she probably comes from a wealthy family.
The magenta-haired woman stared at me, then laughed. "Hahaha! Anyways... I don't really need to introduce myself since you have already known me~" She says proudly with a hand in her chest, while I just stand here, confused. "I-I'm sorry but... I think I haven't seen or known you before..?"
"...Oh, you don't." She snobbishly narrowed her eyes and continued speaking. "You're here, working for Jumin as a "babysitter"... lt's such a shame that you clearly don't recognize me..." She scoffed.
"Do I know you..?" I asked, brows furrowed in confusion. "Uh, hellooo~? it's me — Sarah Choi! I'm the future wife of Jumin Han~!" She said with pride.
Oh, it's her. I finally recognized her! Though I didn't expect her to be like this... She acts like as if she's a "queen" by the way she looked at me with her narrowed eyes and her smug grin. Now I know why Jumin doesn't seem to like her.
I backed away meekly. "O-Oh, I'm sorry. I-I finally recognized you! Congratsulations on your engagement by the way!" I nervously said. I don't think this will end well.
"Oh my~! I'm surprised that you've been the first person ever to congratsulate us!" She palms her cheek as she giggled. "Hmm... you look like a pretty nice person... Perhaps I should ask you a question..." She put her hand under her chin, in a thinking position.
"So, tell your name." She asked, slowly approaching me as Elizabeth jumped down and ran somewhere, probably hiding away from her.
She looked way taller than me as she got close. No doubt that she wears high heels.
"...[Y/N]." I quietly responded as she gave me a conceited smile. "Well [Y/N], I would like to ask you something~"
When she finally got close, she leaned down, her head just a few inches away from mine. "Are there other woman that Jumin's fondly closed with?" She peered.
I'm not entirely sure what to answer that question. It seems that she's the possesive or jealous type? I don't think I should answer that I am his friend, though he's clearly not fond of me. And I don't even know if there's other women he's got close with.
"I honestly don't know... but I think that Elizabeth is the only woman he's gotten close with." I sheeplishly replied. "Hahaha! I said woman. Not a cat!" Sarah laughed while I just stood quiet.
"Ah, you had the same answer as the assistant. Well, I guess what she said was true." She sighed then slowly walked away. Her heels clicking every time she placed another step.
"I gotta say, you're very interesting... I'll look forward seeing you again, [Y/N]~!" She said and winked at me. "Oh! And by the way, please don't tell the security that I'm here. Bye~!"
With that, she skipped away.
I just stared at where she once stood as I remember the things she had said to me. Elizabeth interrupted my thoughts, meowing. How did she get here so fast...?
She must have hated Sarah.
I don't mind Sarah though. She seems nice to me, but I don't think she's that nice.
"I should go find the art supplies by now.." I sighed as I looked down at Elizabeth, then proceeded on walking as Elizabeth followed behind.
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"It's almost finished!" I yelled out of joy. It took me five hours to paint without any break or rest. I did it with no distractions, though I was exhausted, hungry and my hands are tired. But I'm not done yet!
I cleaned my hands that were covered in paint at my apron as I take a short look at my masterpiece – A medium-sized portrait of Jumin, sitting in his large chair with Elizabeth the 3rd in his arms, petting her. I made him look down at her with his sincere eyes instead of his usual cold ones. While Elizabeth innocently looks up at him, with a paw reaching out to touch his face.
I remember the time when he cradled her, calmly looking down at her while whispering sweet nothings with his soothing voice. I just sat there and watch the both of them. It was a very sweet moment. So I decided to paint it.
There may be a few flaws, but it looked perfection for me. I feel proud of myself of being able to do something without a single mess.
I turned my head to check on Elizabeth, who's sleeping far away from me on the couch. I made sure to keep her distance away from me to make sure there isn't a single drop of paint on her. I just gave her a quick bath earlier.
I sighed tiredly as I cleaned my hands once again and picked up the paintbrush. I should finish this by now. Jumin should be here in one hour.
I'm gonna make him smile at my masterpiece!
Now, the only thing I need to do is I need to finish all the highlights and add some details. It would take some minutes, but I'm sure I'll make this quick. My hands were shaking out of tiredness, but I tried to stay still.
I carefully traced my wet paintbrush from the guide lines, making sure that I haven't made it all wrong.
After a few minutes of the details, I moved my hand from the bucket to add more color from the paintbrush. I eyed my painting, seeing the highlight of Jumin's face is fainted a little. I should add more light colors to lighten his face a bit.
That's gonna be the only last thing I need to do, then I'm finally finished.
"Ah, yes. After this, I'm finally gonna take some rest..." I said to myself with a sigh then raised my paintbrush to the part of Jumin's face. I always thought to myself that this will painting will leave a huge shock to Jumin's face. I wish he had the same expression like I had when I look at my beautiful artwork.
I felt like a true artist, even though I'm not one. It was unusual for me to paint a person with a cat. I usually paint something related to nature, mostly trees or flowers.
I put my paintbrush against his face and brush it swiftly. Leaving a huge color on his face.
That's when my eyes widened when I realized thet I just painted his face with the wrong color. I gasped as I lost the grip of my paintbrush as it falls down.
"Oh no..."
I painted his face to color green, and it covered the whole face from the fast movement from my hand. But I was about to finish this when it just got all wrong..!
Maybe I can fix this.
I picked up a cloth and attempted to wipe it, but it only made it worse as the smudge gets bigger. Well done, [Y/N].
After a few minutes of trying to fix his face, it only made it awful. The green color was still there even though I covered it with his skin color. I even tried painting the whole face to color white, but the color green is still noticeable.
Another few minutes of failed attempts on fixing it, I still tried and tried. Then my arms gave out. I'm tired right now. I don't think I could finish this.
I spent the whole five hours to make this. But it ended up getting worse. Maybe this isn't what I expected to turn out to be. It used to be good and beautiful, now it looks bad. Terribly bad.
I don't think Jumin will like this anymore.
"Ugh, it's no use..." I sighed, giving up. I can't fix this. It's not even a perfect masterpiece anymore...
Though I remember the paint bucket was a different color, I don't remember it being green. Or maybe I'm just really stupid..? I looked at the bucket, seeing that the color got mixed inside, making it green.
Someone must have added a color without while I was busy painting...
I sighed tiredly as I began to pick up the art supplies. I'll just have to throw this painting away. I don't think I'll see a surprised expression on Jumin's face anymore.
He'll think it's trash anyway.
"Allow me." I heard a male voice behind me as I saw a hand pick up the paintbrush, dipping it in a bucket of paint and began painting. "Eh..?"
I shyly looked behind me to check who's painting, seeing a turquoise-haired man with the same color in his eyes. He wears a light gray jacket and a black shirt inside. He looks like he's the same age as Jumin.
He focused painting, peacefully concentrated as he followed his eyes on the brush, covering the whole mess flawlessly like it almost looked so realistic. I moved over the side to let him paint as he fixed the huge spot I have left. I wish I could do it like that.
Now, that's what I would like to call a real artist with a creative talent.
An hour has passed and he's finally finished as he moved to the side to show the portrait. I felt my jaw dropped as I set my eyes on the picture. It looked masterly beautiful!
He made the whole canvas look even more veristic by adding a few details and lightening it a little. It was way better than it used to be.
I admit, I was a little jealous that he had an awesome talent like that. He was a better painter than me. I should thank him for his kindness.
"Wow, thank you so much! It looked way more pretty than earlier." I happily said, looking at him in awe. "I was thinking I could use a bit of a help after seeing what you did there." He put down the paintbrush and cleaned his hand with a cloth. "How did you do that? Are you a painter?"
"Oh, I'm not a painter, I just loved painting... I'm more of a photographer." He replied, standing up straight.
"Your painting was pretty neat. I liked it." He commented with a kind smile.
"I think yours was way better!" I exclaimed cheerfully. "Thank you, I appreciated that... My name is V, and I suppose you've already known me..?" He asked as my eyes widened from realization.
"...Rika's boyfriend?"
"Right... It's good to finally meet you, [Y/N]. Rika has told me so much about you." He offered a hand for me to shake as I took it without a thought and shaked it rapidly. "Rika used to talk about me?"
"Yes. In fact, she was the one who told us for you take her place and work for the RFA after she... died." He quietly said the last part, which made me saddened a little. "I'm sorry if I didn't go online to the chatroom to meet you there, I was busy all the time. I don't expect to actually meet you here in person though." He chuckled.
I don't understand why Yoosung really hates this guy despite of him having secrets, but he seems very nice. I can tell that he cares for Rika deeply like I do.
"So, may I ask why were you here?" He asked kindly. "I could ask the same thing... Jumin lets me come here every week days to take care of Elizabeth."
"Hmm. I know Jumin... He must have gained some trust in you to take care of Elizabeth the 3rd. He's really never the type to trust women, other than his assistant and his cat." He said as he took a seat from the couch. "Jumin informed me that you've been recieving a lot of emails in a short time. Which is good since the party is about to start in the next four days."
"I–In the next four days?!" I exclaimed.
"He didn't tell you that before...?" V asked while I sheepishly shrugged. "I think he's just too busy and he eventually forgot.." I said as I also take a seat. "So, what are you doing here, V?"
"Oh, I just came to visit. I believe that Jumin comes home in a time like this after from work. But I can't find him anywhere." He mused, looking around the living room. "Is that so? Well, I was about to hang this portrait in his room as a surprise for him."
"Oh, A surprise for him...?" V lifted his brow, then his frown turned upward. "You like Jumin, do you?" He asked softly with a playful smile.
What makes him think that I like Jumin?!
"A-Ah! Of course not! I only like him as a friend, nothing more..." I palmed my face and looked away. I can feel my face getting flushed to red. V chuckled calmly as he patted my back in a friendly way.
"If you say so... Now, let's clean this up.
I'll help you carry the painting and hang it in his bedroom." He began picking up the tools, while nodded and I did the same.
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"[Y/N], I'm home. How's Elizabe– ..V? What are you doing here with [Y/N]...?" Jumin asked with eyes widened as he stood by the door, while V and I are about to hang the canvas. I stared at him silently. V decided to be the first one to speak.
"I came here for a visit, my friend. But I couldn't find you anywhere." He got down the chair while I adjusted the painting. "Then I just found [Y/N] instead. I didn't expect to meet her here in your penthouse." V said as he politely offered a hand to me to help me get down.
I looked at Jumin nervously as he eyed the portrait on the wall that V probably did most of the work even better.
"Did you make that?" He asked pointing at the painting. "Oh, V was the..." I wasn't able to continue speaking when V raised a hand in front of me, stopping me.
"[Y/N] did this all by herself. I just helped her hang it on your wall. We hope you don't mind. I must say, her work looks was quite exquisite, doesn't it?" V simply said.
"...Agreed." Jumin coldy stated as his eyes are still laid on the painting. After that he approached the bed. He placed his briefcase on top of it and removed his coat, leaving him in his gray vest and his long striped shirt. "What brings you here tonight?"
"I want to talk to you, privately..." V said as he walks outside the door, waving farewell at me as I wave back. "I'll go to living room to wait for you. You can have a chat with your girlfriend first." He glanced at the both of us and smiled. "She's not my girlfriend."
"I think she will be soon. I'll see you later. Goodnight, [Y/N]." V chuckled lightly as Jumin glared at his back walking out the door. That guy...
Jumin turned his head at me. "I apologize about my friend's behavior... It's very odd seeing him act like this. Although he would always make fun of me when we were children." He said, as he went to the cabinet, opening it.
"That's adorable. I didn't know V was your childhood friend. You two seem to get along very well." I say, watching him pull out a bottle of champagne and two wine glass. "Would you like some?" He asked, lifting the glass.
"No thanks. I'll just have to rest for a bit and I'll go home early." I stated and leaned on a wall. "I presume that your overtired after the all the painting you did, correct?" I nodded in response as he gazed at the painting again, making me even more nervous.
"You did all of this... for me?" He questioned, taking a sip from his champagne.
"... Yup! It took me for about five hours or more than that. I decided to paint it because I thought that you treasure Elizabeth a lot!" I cheerfully said out loud, which made Jumin flinch. "...Thank you, [Y/N]." He said without a smile and walked his way to the door. He didn't smile, but it was enough to make your heart skip a little.
"Also, you should have put yourself in the portrait beside me. Elizabeth also cherishes you too. Nevertheless, you did a great job." He said as he left the room, leaving me in his room, flustered by his words.
He always have a lot of different ways to make my heart skip fast. Though, I'm still not sure if I completely like him.
... Scratch that, I think I'm in love with him.