He placed the earphones on his bedside table. Once again, he stared at the ceiling as he laid on his back and replayed what happened that night.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
His phone has been vibrating in his pocket for the nth time and he's getting annoyed. The other boys were laughing at some of Jin's lame dad jokes. The loudest, J-hope was obviously drunk now with just a few drinks, his face red as hell. He stood up after he bottomed up his third bottle of beer.
"Where are you going, Hyung?" V has always been the clingiest to him amongst the group.
"I'll be quick." He answered, patting V's head.
"His phone has been ringing non stop since we got here." Jimin teased before he could get out the door.
"Oooooh, is it who I think it is? I know who that is, Hyuuung." JK has been drinking the most tonight. He blabbers when he's drunk.
He sneered at them but didn't respond. It will be an endless bickering if he did. The others just let him be. These kids, really. He thought as he stepped out of the door.
One of their bodyguards outside the door signaled the other one to follow him.
"No. It's fine. I won't go far." He pulled up his mask propped under his chin and lowered his cap. He then walked out the main entrance to look for a much quieter spot, leaving the hesitant bodyguards.
Tomorrow will be one of those rare days off and they decided to come here after a whole day of strat meetings. He planned to get drunk as hell tonight and sleep the whole day after.
I'll just dismiss this as fast as I can and go back. He thought while walking on the street next to the pub. He pulled out his phone when he finally found a quiet spot in front of a restaurant.
"Yeoboseyo." He finally answered in his low deep voice. This seemed to be the hundredth call from the same number.
"Oppaaa." A flirty voice answered on the other end of the line. "I miss you. I'm free tonight, the other girls are out partying. You can come over." She giggled.
"That's really tempting...but I'm really busy right now." He lied. He just wants alcohol tonight.
"Jinjja? I heard you and the boys are out drinking." Jeez, words do travel fast within the K-pop community.
He sighed before saying anything. "Look, I wanna spend time with the boys. Why don't you go out with the other girls? It would be more fun with their leader, you know."
"Don't you miss me..?" He can imagine her saying that in pout. "I miss your touch Opp--"
"Babe, I gotta go. I'll call you soon, okay? Bye." He then dropped the call in annoyance. Gosh..I only went out with her twice and now she's acting like a girlfriend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
He cringed as he remembered it vaguely.
He secretly dated quite a number of girls, mostly from the same line of work. It's easier to deal with them since they know exactly what's in store if they weren't careful. He somehow successfully covered up his feelings for this one particular solo artist he had his eyes on even before debut.
He made his way through his connections and a project with her just a few months back was made possible. It was a short-lived happiness but the years of seeing her from afar was worth it. No one comes close to how drawn he was to her.
Well, not until recently. He smiled as he let his mind trail off back to that night again...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
He was running after the girl he bumped into on his way back to the pub. He then saw her standing frozen in front of the wrecked car. It was right before he could even reach her when she collapsed and hit her head on the rough road.
"Oh shit." He cursed under his breath as he ran over to her. He knelt and checked on her. Her head was slightly bleeding but thankfully it looked nothing serious, just a scrape.
She must've collapsed from the shock. He thought as he heard the sirens coming nearer.
The light post where the car crashed looked dangerously bent over from the impact. Several people have gathered around the car. A lot of them are passers-by and some cars even stopped to snoop.
"Can someone help me please?" He asked from some of the people who stood nearby. Their full attention was on the car wreck and nobody can seem to hear him.
He quickly assessed the girl's physique, she's maybe a little over a hundred pounds judging from her petite stature. His eyes started checking her body in detail but also almost immediately virtually slapped himself back to reality.
This is no time for perversion man. He scolded himself and swiftly slid his arms under her body and lifted her.
As he was scanning the vicinity for a safe place to put her down, a car stopped in front of him. It's his manager's car. Damn it. The car door wound down showing his manager's confused face seeing him with a girl in his arms.
"What do you think you're doing?" His manager asked him in a stern voice from inside the car.
"How did you..." He dismissed the question and looked around.
The media would go haywire if he's spotted doing whatever he's doing right now. More and more people are gathering around the car wreck paying no heed on the danger it poses. On the "brighter" side, no one's paying attention to him and the girl in his arms.
"Open the door."
"What are you ----"
"Just open the door before I get too much attention here, please?"
His manager stepped out of the car from the passenger's seat and opened the back door. His face mortified seeing how crowded the place was.
"Let's go to the nearest hospital." He instructed the driver after struggling in getting in the car. His manager gave him a disapproving look from the passenger's seat but signaled the driver to go.
He leaned her head on his shoulder and pulled her mask away to allow her to breathe better; exposing her face. It was silly of him to notice her seemingly soft lips in this situation but he couldn't help himself from staring, even from a difficult angle.
Even with the poor lighting inside the car, he could tell that she's not from this country. He tried to compose himself as he waited for them to arrive.
The whole ride was fast but it was enough time for him to stare at her unconscious face from the rearview mirror. She really is beautiful even if she's barefaced.
What on earth am I doing? Snap out of it! He seemingly rebuked himself.
He looked down to get a hold of himself and noticed something fell beside the girl. It's her phone. He reached to it and pressed the power button.
He was surprised at how ridiculous the chances were; looking at her lock screen. It's a picture of her and another girl each holding an army bomb in one of BTS' concerts. He also noticed that the screen was cracked, probably from her fall, and it sliced right across the other girl's face. A sudden awful guess crossed his mind. "Is this the girl in the car earlier?" He cringed from the thought.
Their car took a sharp turn into an emergency lane into a hospital. He quickly slid her phone in the pocket of her hoodie before the car fully stopped.
"Don't get out." His manager warned him in a stern voice before he stepped out of the car and asked for a stretcher. A few hospital personnel managed to get the girl out of the vehicle. It wasn't long until his manager got back to the car and they're on the road again.
"Did they find any identification card on her?" He asked reluctantly. "They must be puzzled about what happened."
"I took care of it." His manager's voice was not happy. They're really good at cleaning up after them, but it's also a pain in the ass to hear their lecture right after. He was about to ask if he got her name but it's best to not say a word at this point. If this incident reaches the knowledge of the higher ups, he's dead.
He asked to be taken home instead of going back to the boys at the VIP pub. He didn't want to deal with nosy questions from them tonight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
That was one hell of a night. He thought as he concluded the replay in his head.
The days following that event, he heard from the news that the girl who died from the car crash was an artist of CGF; the company who will be working for their production design.
That means, there's a high chance that the owner of this earphones works there too.
He didn't like where his mind was going, thinking that he's taking advantage of the awful events that happened.
I'm just gonna return it to its owner. Which is the right thing to do. He tried to justify his intentions as he held up the earphones.
Anticipation casually filled up his chest in synch with his lips slowly shaping into a gummy smile.