Suga

          Jin had been pointedly ignoring me unless if we were talking about business. And that honestly should not have been a surprise, given the nature of our argument. Whatever was going on had to be fixed before the Christmas gala.

          The Christmas gala was going to be when we started to fight back against the supposed onslaught of the other side. I would scoff and say that they had done nothing productive in their attacks, but it was clear that they hadn’t truly began to attack yet.

          If they did, we would be able to feel it.

          It was more obvious that they were biding their time and gathering information in order to make their move, and that itself was dangerous. The more information they had in their favor, the easier it would be to make a serious blow on our side.

          The doors to the hospital slide open, and I walk in, dipping my head to the front desk and heading towards the visitation counter and picking up the badge that I had asked to be kept set aside for me on a daily basis. The woman smiles at me, beaming a little too brightly, and I keep walking.

          People only smiled like that when they wanted something.

          I was half an hour earlier than usual, and I trace my steps towards Ahyeon’s room. The door is slightly ajar.

          “Hello?”

          An elderly woman looks up from Ahyeon, smiling slightly behind the thick lens on her glasses that made her look slightly bug-eyed. But I bow with a jerk of my head.

          “Who are you?” She squints through her lens, leaning forward. “And why are you visiting my granddaughter?”

          “Her parents crashed into my car during the accident. I didn’t know if she had family, so I’ve been visiting.” There’s something about the old woman that makes me slightly uncomfortable. I sit down on a chair across the bed, and she reaches her fingers out and grabs my cheek.

          “You are very kind to do that. I was afraid that she would be so lonely, especially because I live so far away.” She sighs, continuing to pull at my cheek and I barely manage to pull away, rubbing at the sore spot.

          “Where is the rest of her family? Maybe uncles or aunts?”

          “She doesn’t have any,” The woman frowns slightly. She glances at her watch, “Would you look at the time. I must go if I want to get home before too late.”

          She gets up slowly, hobbling slightly.

          “Good bye, Min Yoongi.”

          The door slides closed and my eyes do too as I lean forward and rest my elbows on the bed. And then, my eyes fly open.

          I never said my name.

          Hana stumbles into the room as soon the woman leaves, confusion all over her face, and it drops as she sees me. “I came early and you’re still here?”

          “That was Ahyeon’s grandmother.” I ignore her spoken question and I answer her unspoken once instead.

          “That makes more sense, but how come we hadn’t seen any of her family here before?”

          “She knew my name. No old woman who isn’t related to the business world knows my name.”

          “Well, did you get hers?” She rolls her eyes. “Don’t start questioning until you get a lead.”

          “There was something weird about her,” I mumble, not wanting to deal with Byun Hana’s sass at the moment.

          Byun Hana says nothing, dumping her bag on to the ground and wrapping her arms around her head. “Apparently her hospital bill hasn’t been paid for. Funny, if she has a grandmother. Especially because I wouldn’t have been asked about it first if she was family.”

          I blink, processing her words. “You?”

          “Me.” She agrees, looking up. Our eyes connect.

          “I’ll pay. And she should be noted as family when she visits.” I say immediately. There was something that didn’t make sense about this situation.

          “I already paid half,” She waves the thought away, eyes unreadable. “I would have paid full, but I thought it would irritate you more if I acknowledged that you probably wanted to pay and I paid anyway.”

          She was right. Paying half irritates me more than paying in full would have. Because at least if she had paid in full, she would let me assume that she didn’t know that I felt the need to pay. But she knew and paid anyway? Irritating.

          “So if that wasn’t her grandmother, then who was it?” My lip curls. This wasn’t the business world, so there should have been an easy answer.

          “A fraud.” Byun Hana’s eyes are dark, narrowing while she stares into my eyes.

          And as much I wanted to disagree, I couldn’t.
 

          “You think she can hear us?” She changes the subject, talking about Ahyeon with a jerk of her head. “If she can, what do you think she’s thinking?”

          “She probably thinks we’re dumba**es for arguing all the time.”

          Byun Hana gasps.

          “What?”

          “She’s a child! Don’t say bad words around her!” She’s got to be kidding, but as Byun Hana’s eyes widen I realize that she very much is not.

          “Fine. She thinks we’re dumb and she’s probably wondering where her parents are.” I slide my hands out, stretching my upper back and yawning.

          “We argue too much in front of her,” Hana agrees. “And if she can hear us, we’re probably the only ones who visit and talk, if you don’t include her possible grandmother.”

          “Mm.” I don’t say anything intelligible and we both fall into silence. For some reason, it wasn’t uncomfortable silence with Byun Hana. Even though we were on opposite side and very much different people, we inherently understood the exhaustion of the business world and how we had such little time to ourselves.

          My eyes close slowly, a sleepy haze settling over me. Something brushes against my unmoving hand, and I ignor