23rd

Chapter 23

Sometimes, Jieun contemplated briefly on whether she preferred the time before the twelve demons had unceremoniously collapsed into her life and thus invaded her little personal bubble she inhabited in the safe confides of her apartment.

Even she had to admit that it was a—somewhat—pleasant change to have company around, she had become so accommodated to doing everything from the household chores to coming home from either visiting Grandma or the weekly food shop to an empty apartment.

Beep beep. That sound, however, was the blatant reminder of why their presence was not always pleasant.

Jieun had restrained herself from replying to the copious amount of text messages being sent through her phone. I gave them an old phone to contact me if there was an emergency…I don’t think they understood that…

“…Uh, Jieun-noona, aren’t you gonna answer your phone?” Zelo whispered from the other side of the table with a slightly confused look marred on his features, similar to her part, there were a couple books scattered around his class notes.

“It’s probably nothing, I taught Grandma some basics on the phone and I told her to practice.” She shrugged it off nonchalantly before she returned her attention back onto her piece of text she was reading. It wasn’t long, however, before the phone sounds became more frequent. And in the quiet haven of the library, where you could literally hear a pin drop, the sounds coming out of her phone were much louder than she had anticipated.

Beep.

Just ignore it, Jieun. She scribbled in a note in the margin before she forgot it in her suppressed rage. Beep, beep.

Beep, beep, beep, beep. A few nearby students lifted up their heads to glance in her direction; she could already feel her face heat up in embarrassment. Even Zelo had momentarily opened his mouth to say something but then a second later rethought this decision before slowly going back to his work.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEE—What the hell is so bloody urgent for them to keep texting me about?! I think I’m going to have to confiscate that stupid phone when I get home.

The brunette inclined her head to a few neighbouring students apologetically, a strained smile curled on the edges of her lips. In frustration more than anything else, she took out her phone by the lap, out of sight from the stern faced librarian. When she unlocked it though, she could feel the wisps of anger starting to boil again once more.

40+ text messages

Time: 11:43am

Sender: Kim Joonmyeon

Jieun-ah, we noticed you had forgotten your coat this morning; it’s quite chilly today so please stay inside as much as you can and please try not to stay out too long.

Take care on your way home, we’ll see you soon

Suho

Time: 11:47

Sender: Luhan

Buy some milk, you drank it all again.

Greedy little kitty, you are.

Time: 11:52

Sender: Luhan

Oh, Sehun just told me he finished it.

Time: 11:54

Sender: Luhan

You still have to buy me milk, though.

…Give me a kiss and maybe I’ll forgive you.

Time: 11:59

Sender: Chen

Sorry about that, Luhan wouldn’t let go of the phone. Don’t worry too much about the milk, it’s not like he’s growing anymore.

I think I remember you saying that you’ve got a shift tomorrow; I could come along with you…

If you don’t mind of course?

Umm…okay, I’ll just leave it here…

This is Chen by the way.

Time: 12:04

Sender: Tao

Hello human,

Sehun says hi, that is all.

Time: 12:10

Sender: Baekhyunnnie

Jieunnie~ when are you coming home??

Its soooooooooo boring without you here…even Chanyeol’s all grumpy!

Time: 12:12

Sender: Baekhyunnie~

That place you go to everyday…I don’t like it.

Not one bit.

Time: 12:13

Sender: Baekhyunnie~

It takes my Jieunnie away~~~

Time: 12:15

Sender: Baekhyunnie

I’ll be looking forward to seeing you when you get home, my darling~

…if I don’t die of boredom anyway, SO PLEASE HURRY BACK~~~~

Time: 12:21

Sender: Kyungsoo

It is lunch time now, right?

Which means you’re eating your food, yes?

I tried something new today with your lunch… I hope you find it to be delicious.

Oh and just a heads up, for some reason Jongin-ah wanted to help make you something >_<

So…just in case, he’s the one who made the bento in the red box.

Kyungsoo

Time: 12:29

Sender: Kris

I’ve been practicing drawing dragons lately, it reminded me of Dongmin.

I think he could be an artist prodigy, taking after his hyung of course.

Time: 12:35

Sender: Xiumin

There is NO food in this apartment, whatsoever.

And trust me, I checked looootssss of times.

I hate to say this Jieun, but I’m disappointed in you.

You had one job, or at least arguably one, to buy food.

Time: 12:41

Sender: Xiumin

Jieun, you have failed me.

Time: 12:49

Sender: Xiumin

But I’ll be willing to overlook this slight hiccup if you get me some more dumplings!

Oh and cake…hmmm, cake.

Time: 13:03

Sender: SSSSehuuuun

Ieojfoijfoisjf Hhow the hheck am I maaeant to ttype on this tttthing?

Time: 13:15

Sender: SSSSehuuuun

AAint nooooobody gott ttimmme fffooor thissss sssshhiiittt

JJieuun??!!# Yyouuu needd too coommee hooommmee to helllppp meeee withhh thhisssss

NNNOOOEEEWWWWWW

Time: 13:21

Sender: Lay

…ah, I forgot what I was going to say…

Time: 13:32

Sender: Chanyeol – Jieun’s no.1

Jieun-ah~~~~

I’m so lonely, lonely, lonely, LONELY, LONELYYYYYYYYYY~

So come back homeeeeee~

Time: 13:39

Sender: Chanyeol – Jieun’s no.1

Y r u not answering my messages?

D.O Y.O.U L.O.V.E ME? I don’t think you do, if you answered me then you do!!

If u still ignore me, apa apa~~~

Date: 13:45

Sender: Jongin <3

Jagiya, are you still in class?

I’m not so sure about the human school system, aish. You didn’t eat much for breakfast today, I hope you liked the lunch Kyungsoo prepared for you, I helped out a bit

…I hope it’s to your liking :)

I miss you, Jieun~

Yours,

Jonginne

I don’t even know how to react to these… A variety of expressions flew across her face upon reading each and every text message—until it reached a point in which she ended up skipping the copious amount taking up space on her phone and her face fell into its impassive phase. Honestly, I trust them with an old phone and they just bother me all day…aish.

But then again, they’re only doing it out of concern…She frowned slightly, feeling torn at being exasperated and touched that they cared enough to check up on her. The latter would have been stronger if the messages had eventually stopped and if the messages were relatively normal—her phone was still beeping persistently.

Zelo, by this stage had mostly packed away his belongings into his bag, turned to the brunette with a blink of his eyes. “We’ve been working for a while, do you fancy going for a snack Jieun-ah?”

The brown eyed girl gazed at him with an emotion that could only be regarded as relief. “Junhong, that’s literally the best thing someone’s asked me all day.”

In response, the tall male stuttered in response as a dark blush coloured his cheeks, to which he managed to recover with. “I think there’s a good convenience store a few blocks from here with some good ramyun calling our names!” Jieun quietly put away her books back into her bag, feeling slightly exasperated with the fact that she hardly made any progress with her work because of all the persistent interruptions. Placing her bag over her shoulder, she shot the grey haired male a small smile as she looped arms with him.

“Sounds good, lead the way, Junhong-ssi!”

Sometimes, even when she was extremely annoyed or just didn’t know what to do with her feelings, Jieun always knew she could rely on one thing.

And that was food.

“Whaad did I lell oohh?” Zelo mumbled through slurps of spicy prawn flavoured noodles. Though, the brunette was far too concerned in her own ramyun cup that she didn’t happen to notice the slightly disturbing sight. Instead she merely lifted her thumb up to show her agreement.

Once all the noodles were devoured, he raised the cup to his lips to drain all the soup until there was nothing left. With a satisfied sigh, he patted his stomach with a pleased grin. “So, do you want to talk about anything, Jieun-ah?”

The girl in question blinked but nevertheless continued eating her food in silence. How am I even supposed to begin to explain my situation to him now?

“What do you mean?” After a moment of silence, she casted a side glance in his direction before chewing the noodles. “I don’t have anything to talk about.”

The snapback clad teenager tapped his fingers on the counter. “That’s not the vibe I was getting back in the library, if I didn’t know any better from the murderous looks you were giving your phone, I would say that you could have easily set off your phone on fire with those death glares of yours.”

Think Jieun, think of anything. “It was just notifications coming from game requests; I think that would be annoying for anyone.” Worse lie ever, though that is something very annoying that he can hopefully understand. Zelo’s eyebrows furrowed together in evident confusion, she could see the wheels running in his head—trying to fathom what she was saying.

Abruptly, he clicked his fingers, nearly startlingly her in the process. “Ah, I get it now Jieun-ah, that is super annoying. Do you want me to have a look at it to see if I can switch the notifications off?” As if the device itself could tell the future, unsurprisingly it gave off yet another beeping sound. He shot her a knowing look.

She waved off his concerns with a roll of her eyes. “It’s fine Junhong, I’ll sort it out later when I get home.” Yeah, exactly when I can finally deal with the main pests causing the problem personally. The other male pursed his lips together in an undeniable pout, a second later he opened his mouth to retort when the door to the store opened beside him.

Jieun already knew who it was just by seeing the sea of snapbacks and jersey shirts standing outside the entrance. I should probably make a move; otherwise I’ll be stuck here for another good thirty minutes or so. It’ll be turning dark soon if I don’t get home in time.

“Well, I’m off then, thanks for the ramyun!” In one last gulp, she finished her meal, chucked it into the bin and was already planning her escape route—whilst trying to hide from the newcomers. The petite girl was already picking up her bags and stepping down from her stool when the younger male had obliviously ruined her plans.

“Why in such a hurry, Jieun-ah? It wasn’t actually my idea to eat here, Jin hyung texted me earlier about this.” And with that being said, Jieun had lost her escape plan once the angelic faced male popped his head around Zelo’s profile; his face seemed to light up. In a matter of murmurs exchanged amongst the group that alone was the confirmation she had that all hope had been lost in leaving.

“Ah! So this is the Jieun-noona we’ve been hearing so much about.” It was almost like a blur of faces which unexpectedly appeared right in front of her, three evidently excited—akin to puppies who had found a potential friend—young ones staring at her in wonder. Why do I suddenly think of Chanyeol when I see these three?

Jieun blinked owlishly, peering over one the middle one’s shoulders to see a blonde male conversing with Zelo. So that must be the famous ‘Rap Mon?’

“This is unbelievably selfish of you, hyungs! Keeping such a pretty noona all to yourselves!” The left one, a light brown haired male with slated eyes whined out even with an added stomp to the ground. While the right sided boy with jet black hair fidgeted with his fingers, his eyes moving around to meet anywhere else but her own shyly. As if being able to sense his friend’s discomfort, rather than being supportive, the first one who acknowledged her presence after Jin notified them all, merely none-too-gently elbowed the ebony haired boy in the gut with a radiant smile etched on his face.

“I’m Taehyung, your soon to be favourite one in the group—“

“Don’t you mean alien of the group, V-ssi?”

Nonetheless, as if he didn’t hear the interruption, he digressed. “And those two beside me,” He motioned to his left. “This child right here is Jimin, here’s some special advice for you Jieun-noona, don’t believe anything he tells you.” The eye smile boy protested loudly in response with a frown.

“And this one right here…” The smiling boy’s arm s around the silent one’s shoulders, causing the latter to jolt out of his thoughts. Jieun suppressed the urge to smile at their antics. How cute. “He’s not usually this shy; he’s a sick dancer I can vouch for that. This is our baby maknae, Jungkook.” Slowly, his eyes crept up until two twin pairs of brown eyes clashed. The eye contact lasted for roughly a few seconds before he bowed his head.

“Now hold on a minute here, why the heck does Jungkook get such a better and cooler introduction than me?” Taehyung sighed as if all the problems of the world rested on his shoulders, then he turned and rested a look of what Jieun could interpret as sympathy as he patted the younger boy’s head. “Jimin hyung, there are many things that you are far too young to understand; I couldn’t even begin to explain my reasoning to you. You just wouldn’t be able to take it.”

If looks could kill, the death glare Jimin was shooting the light haired male, the latter would have no doubt dropped to the ground in a heartbeat. “What the hell do you mean too young, I’m older than you pabo! You should respect your hyung!”

V didn’t seem too concerned though as he casted a weary look towards Jieun’s direction. “See what I have to deal with on a regular basis, Jieun-noona?”

“And you guys complain about us hogging Jieun? We aren’t even able to get a word in edgeways.” Suga grumbled in annoyance, interrupting the tanned male in his pre-rant. J-Hope nodded his head in mutual agreement, before he waved with an animated grin at the brunette when he managed to catch her eye.

“Well, the next time we meet I’ll try to hold back on favouritism, Yoongi-ssi.” She said sarcastically with a shrug of her shoulders. Taehyung grinned suddenly as he nodded in approval at her ‘sassy’ response. “I know I’ll be your favourite, I won’t tell any of my hyungs!” He mouthed to her with a subtle wink.

Jungkook blinked his eyes as he averted his gaze from the people he grew up with towards Jieun. “Does that mean you’re leaving?”

The petite girl in question shoved her hands into her hoodie’s pockets, smiling slightly towards the young male. “I’m afraid so, I’ve still got some work I need to finish but it was really lovely to meet BTS as a whole. I’m sure this won’t be the last time we’ll see each other, Jungkook-ssi.”

“But we just got here! Are you sure that you’re just making excuses so you don’t have to be around us?” Hoseok tilted his head to the side, an evidently exaggerated pout settled on his lips.

Jieun merely shook her head as she made her way closer towards the door. “Oh no, just when I thought I wouldn’t get caught, you found me out Hoseok-ssi.” Zelo hopped off his seat, swinging his bag over his shoulder as he followed after her. “There’s something I’ve got to do too, I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

To which he received only feigned annoyed ‘boos’ from the others as they focused on waving goodbye to his brunette friend instead. She raised a hand to wave back with a smile before returning back to pull the door open and the brunette inwardly braced herself as she took one step outside, now unprotected against the colder breeze sweeping along the atmosphere. The pair was walking down the lane in a peaceful silence, surprisingly Zelo seemed to be in a world of his own, every now and again one or the other would speak up to break the quietness but there wasn’t much else than that exchanged.

Just as she was about to take another step around the corner, she could see a dark form approaching and even before she could dodge out of the way, Jieun could feel her balance slip away from her. If it wasn’t for Junhong standing behind her, she probably wouldn’t have been able to regain her stability. Though, she couldn’t say the same for her bag as the contents split out for all the passing pedestrians to see along with the belongings of whoever she had just bumped into.

“I’m so sorry!” Was her initial reaction as she bent down and started to sift through the small pile of items pooling on the ground, smaller hands were also reaching out to retrieve back their belongings. Once the majority of her stuff was pushed to the bottom of her bag, Jieun could see a red box being held out before her. The same box that she had just remembered was the lunch that Jongin had prepared for her. The one she had left after being full from eating the lunchbox that Kyungsoo had made. Her eyes followed up to meet startling pink—what she had presumed was contact lenses—eyes staring back at her.

“…I think you dropped this.” Her voice was very soft and delicate and suited her doll-like features.

Jieun blinked, as if the spell had bee broken as she slowly accepted the box back with a small nod. The girl blinked back at her as she stood up and continued walking as if she did not stop halfway. That was weird to say the least…

The snapback clad male didn’t hesitate to lend a helping hand to Jieun to stand up, a pondering expression etched on his face. “I think that girl’s in one of my classes. She never talks to anyone though, just tends to sit by herself away from everyone during lectures.”

Maybe she’s lonely? She nibbled on her bottom lip subconsciously in sympathy. Though, she couldn’t get out the somewhat haunting image of those pink eyes staring at her out of her mind. There were emotions swirling around in them that she could not even begin to examine in such a short period of time that consisted of fleeting seconds.

“Come on then, Jieun-ah. Let’s go get you home safe~” Zelo grinned at her. And with that, the pair continued their walk home the grey haired male started to about the various members of BTS, to which caused her to forget completely about the girl she had just encountered. A meeting that was merely a coincidence or of doomed fate perhaps?

Who knows?

Author's Corner

I'm not really sure how everyone's going to react to this chapter, I know it's mostly a filter chapter and I don't think it makes up for the long hiatus but I wanted something light hearted (ish) and honestly ever since the Exo scandal a few months back (I know it's old news by now) and the way I have protrayed the characters are most likely to be nothing like the Exo members but I do feel like it's more difficult writing about them now because of what has happened.

No matter what though, Exo is imporant to me, they're the muse of this entire story and without them this wouldn't have been made.

But aside from all the seriousness, I literally cannot begin to express my thanks to the support I've received despite no updates coming through. I say it time and time again but you guys are amazing. Writing is always something that I liked doing as a child and to have the kind of support I've getting from you guys, I never thought I would get ever.

THANK YOU GUYS.

I'm tired now //shocker >< I wanted to get this by the 25th (obs I missed it) but I was determined to get this published no matter what. (So if it's not as good as my previous chapters, then I'm sorry.)

I always get nervous whenever I press the update button//save changes...