Chapter 18

Thank You for Listening

  "This girl came in and handed in her resume. She had medium length black hair, kinda short, and she put working part time at a flower shop on her resume. I didn't get her name though."

  Jungkook didn't realise he had been holding his breath. "Is there anything else you can tell me? The name of the florist shop?"

  "Sorry, she just came in and handed in her resume. I didn't get a good look of it and I gave it to my boss. Only he knows the details of this girl right now. We're closing up shop at the moment, but I'll try asking him about it tomorrow for you."

  "Can you please do that? It would be very helpful. Thank you for telling me this."

  "No problem. I'll give you more details if I get any."

  "Thank you, Solyi-sshi." He said. The two of them said their goodbyes and they hung up the phone. When Jungkook slipped his phone back into his pocket he breathed a huge sigh to relieve the huge ball of tension that he had been feeling during the phone call.

  This could be a huge clue. Although the chances of this girl being the girl he was looking for were still small, it was far larger than anything else he had had to work with. His logical thinking was telling himself not to get his hopes up, but he couldn't help but feel excitement mixing with anxiety.

  Tomorrow would be the start of the weekend. He was going to visit the store tomorrow. If it weren't for the fact that the stores were all closing up at this time, he would go over there right now. He picked up his phone and began calling Hoseok and Taehyung. He had big news to tell them.

  The rest of the day and the night went by in a blur. Jungkook didn't remember what he said to his fyungs; he only remembered that they were all going to the store tomorrow. He carried out the rest of his daily actions in a daze; he did so out of auto pilot habit, his mind was thinking about this potential clue. He felt impatient, like he was a child again waiting for Christmas. Yet the day was over quickly, and before he knew it, it was the next morning, and he was standing in front of the gift shop with Hoseok and Taehyung by his side.

  He felt a hand rest on his shoulder, and he turned around to see Hoseok looking at him.

  "Jungkook, don't be disappointed if it turns out to be another dead end." He warned.

  Jungkook gave him a smile. "Don't worry about it. I know already." He turned to face the store entrance again. "Well, let's go in."

  The three walked into the store. For a gift shop, the place was rather large. They passed shelves stacked with ornaments and stuffed animals, and racks of multi-coloured cards, until they saw the cashier table, and leaned over it, a young girl looking at her phone.

  "Hey, Solyi-sshi." Jungkook greeted.

  Solyi nearly dropped her phone and looked at them in surprise. Obviously she hadn't been expecting customers at this time of day, much less one that would know her name. She looked at them with a stunned expression until it changed to one of warm recognition.

  "Oh, Jungkook! Hi! I wasn't expecting to see you this early." She said with a smile. She looked over at Hoseok and Taehyung. "And good morning…um…"

  "Jung Hoseok." Hoseok introduced himself with a dazzling grin.

  Solyi's cheeks grew pink at seeing his smile. She tried to say something but it came out as a quiet stutter, which Hoseok chuckled at, causing the poor girl to flush even more. Taehyung and Jungkook rolled their eyes. Hoseok was a bit of charmer. He could get any girl blushing like a tomato. He did it more for his own amusement than out of any real interest in the girls.

  Jungkook coughed to bring attention back on him. "So, Solyi, what did your boss say about the resume information?"

  Solyi snapped out of her schoolgirl crush mode. "Oh, yeah that…" her face fell slightly. "I'm sorry Jungkook, I asked him but he wouldn't disclose any more information. He said something about privacy and all that. He wouldn't tell me anything. The resume's locked in his drawer in the back. Sorry about that Jungkook."

  If Jungkook was disappointed, he didn't show it on his face. But he did pause for a moment before replying. "Oh, don't worry about it. It's fine, but thank you Solyi for trying to help anyway."

  "Sorry." She apologised again.

  Jungkook waved his hand dismissively before walking over to the card racks. Hoseok and Taehyung followed.

  "Are you okay?" Hoseok asked.

  "I'm fine." Jungkook sighed. "Just a little but annoyed I guess. The potential clue is so close, literally in the back office of this place, but we can't get to it."

  "Why don't we just go in there and get it?" Taehyung deadpanned with a straight face.

  Jungkook and Hoseok looked at him. "What?"

  "If it's right there, we can just go in and get it." Taehyung said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

  "Um, I'm pretty certain that would be breaking in, and trespassing on property." Hoseok pointed out.

  "So?"

  "Even if we do try to get in…" Jungkook broke in. "We can't do it without getting caught. There's camera's and there's Solyi right there. It's impossible."

  "Nah man." Taehyung grinned. "This is a small business run by a half assed owner. The cameras are busted and the security TV in the back isn't even plugged in anymore."

  "Was that the first thing you noticed when we came here?!" Hoseok hissed.

  "Yeah." Taehyung answered. "What else did you think I was doing when you were flirting with the cashier girl?" He jerked a thumb back over to Solyi. "Oh, and if you're worried about her, Hoseok can distract her."

  "What?!" Hoseok looked appalled. "Hell no! I'm not going to manipulate that poor girl!"

  "Then what do you call what you did with her just five minutes ago?" Jungkook mused with the idea.

  Hoseok turned to him with his mouth open. "Jungkook, you can't seriously be considering this?!"

  Jungkook ignored Hoseok and turned to Taehyung. "What about the lock?"

  Taehyung gave a devious grin. "Are you seriously asking me if I can pick a lock?" He shook his hand in his pocket and the sound of jingling metal could be heard. Obviously he kept a lock pick's tools with him.

  "Okay." Jungkook decided. He patted Hoseok on the back. "You go distract Solyi."

  Hoseok looked like he was about to object but Taehyung grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him towards Solyi. He gave him a thumbs up, and then grabbed Jungkook by the arm and dragged him to the back. Hoseok looked at them awkwardly as they left, but he quickly collected himself and turned to Solyi.

  At the back, they came across a blue painted door. Taehyung knelt down in front of the door and pulled out an Allen key and a paper clip from his pocket. "Keep watch for me." He told Jungkook.

  Jungkook looked around and saw nothing wrong. The shop was empty. Solyi was effectively distracted, and evidently smitten, by Hoseok as he talked to her. Hoseok flashed him an awkward glance, but Jungkook only grinned at him. He thought this was funny.

  He turned back to Taehyung and saw him efficiently working the lock with quick hands. Obviously he had done this before, a lot. "Taehyung, how many laws have you broken today?"

  "This would be the third." He answered. "Don't worry, they're all small ones."

  Jungkook heard a pop sound and click, and the door opened. "Success." Taehyung grinned before he darted inside. "Keep watch." He said again to Jungkook. 

  Taehyung ran over to the desk and began shuffling through the drawers. He searched each almost methodically, which further reinforced Jungkook's theory that Taehyung was definitely a regular at doing this. After a while, Jungkook heard all noise cease.

  "What's wrong?" he asked, and he saw that in Taehyung's hand he held two sheets.

  "I think I found it." Taehyung replied. "But there's a problem."

  "What?"

 

 

  "There are two of them."

 

 

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yuxuan #1
i love this story so much that i don't mind to keep on reading every time when i came back to AFF
snowcastles
#2
Chapter 1: The both of them seemed to have endured lots of hardships along the way, I really hope that their situation improves over time. I can really relate to this chapter, cause my parents are divorced as well. So this hits me pretty hard. Also, not being able to openly talk about your personal struggles is a serious issue. There's a very genuine & understanding nature to the female lead.

She deserves to find her own source of strength, and steer towards a happier life! ♡
Amsohappy
#3
Chapter 44: Thank you for writing 🙏🏽
I loved and enjoyed every part of the story
cheonchoni
#4
Chapter 29: hoseok need to rest his flirty
cheonchoni
#5
Chapter 23: Oh wow i guess the depressing 3 months really worth it huh?
cheonchoni
#6
Chapter 18: His friends are funny lol
THIRSTY-RP
#7
this was really great
WholesomeRain
#8
Chapter 44: AWWWWAHSGJA! That's so freaking cute!!!! The ending leaves me wanting more! I want to read about these two again lol!
WholesomeRain
#9
Chapter 16: Their friendship is so adorable!
WholesomeRain
#10
Chapter 14: AHHHHH!!! He's back baby!