A ROSE’S SEVEN THORNS

CHAPTER 10

“Lectures and Losers”

Earlier

“Yes, coming,” Namjoon looked at Jangmi and he lifted a finger to his neck. Then she watched, with a sense of déjà vu, as he dragged it across. With a fake innocent smile, he disappeared into the kitchen.

She groaned loudly, but it was muffled by her hands that had covered her face.

Kill me now.

•••

Is he still…?

Jangmi glanced up from the table and instantly averted her gaze when she met Namjoon’s piercing stare. She cleared loudly before shoving pasta into , still avoiding him.

About twenty minutes after her childhood friend arrived, Mrs. Lee finished cooking dinner with the help of Jangmi. At that time, she didn’t have to worry about Namjoon’s evil stare.

Why, you ask? Because something rare happened.

Jangho didn’t have many moments where his older sister cherished him. He was snarky and rude. In fact, she was starting to wonder if all the males in her life would turn out this way. Sure, she loved her little brother deep, deep, deep down. Way down there.

He was usually bugging her, but tonight she realized just how much she was happy to have him as brother. Since he was all infatuated with his Joonie-hyung, he was able to pull all the attention away from Jangmi.

She had never been so happy to hear her little brother’s voice, distracting Namjoon and his scary, pissed faces from being directed at her. She knew he was waiting to sink his teeth into her and rip her a new one for going out alone.

Maybe if she ate fast and went to bed early, he would have no choice but to leave. He wouldn’t be able to scold her after all. Yes, she did say she deserved each and every one of his scoldings.

BUT – that didn’t mean she wanted them. She knew how much he could nag and scold and act very parental. It just wasn’t something she wanted to deal with at that moment. When she said she would take his scoldings, Jangmi thought maybe in a day or two after the incident.

I didn’t think he would show up a few minutes after I was dropped off!

Finishing the last bit of her pasta, she stood suddenly and placed her dishes in the sink. Namjoon raised an eyebrow while her brother and mother turned towards her. Then she stretched in an exaggerated manner and forced a yawn out, “Oh goodness, I am beat. Long day at work. I think I’ll head up first.”

Her mother frowned. “Jangmi-ah, we have a guest.”

It’s just Joonie. She thought, but didn’t dare say. After all, this was the first time her mother and Jangho were being reacquainted with Namjoon since they moved away.

Finding her inner ahjumma, she grabbed her lower back and made a face, “I know, umma, and I’m very sorry. But tonight, I’m just not feeling too good. A good night’s rest should do the trick.”

“Ah my hardworking little girl,” Mrs. Lee cooed and Jangmi tensed. This may have seemed sweet and endearing, but she knew her mother was planning something. “Fine, you can go first.”

Jangmi knew she wasn't dismissed yet, but her mother seemed to be dragging it out. When was she going to—?

“This weekend, you're on kitchen duty.”

There it was.

Jangmi spluttered, “Not just dish duty?”

In her house, they were all required to wash their own dishes. If you made dirty dishes, you clean them up. Therefore, the punishment was that Jangmi would have to wash everyone’s dish. It bothered Jangmi how many dishes a family of three could make in a matter of days, but this was simple.

Kitchen duty was different. Technically, dish duty is one part of it. During it, Jangmi would have to do the dishes, sweeping, mopping, dusting, cleaning out the fridge (if need be), cleaning the microwave, and cleaning the stove.

You may think ‘oh, that’s a lot but you can get it done in no time!’

Yeah, not when you had a tiny spawn as your younger brother.

Like stated earlier, Jangmi had very little moments where she cherished him. Jangho always made a lot of work for her during dish and kitchen duty, and by the look on his face, he would not disappoint this time.

Mrs. Lee raised an eyebrow at her. “Sweetheart, didn’t you just say a good night’s rest should work? I figured since you’re going to rest well tonight then you will have all that extra energy.” Then she smiled, “You don’t have work, so why not put that energy to good use?”

Namjoon’s eyes widened. Now, he knew where Jangmi got it from. This reminded him of when she got one passed him – when she used his own words against him about open ground and being safe at the pizzeria.

Jangmi sighed in defeat. Umma is good. “Yes, I understand.”

Mrs. Lee smiled endearingly.

She knew her daughter was faking it, hence why she put her on kitchen duty. Little did Jangmi know that the stove, fridge, and microwave had been cleaned a few days ago. There wouldn’t be too much to actually clean. Jangmi also didn’t know that her mother never left her own dishes in the sink; she always washed them.

“Get some rest and feel better,” She told her daughter, her tone sincere. Yeah, she knew Jangmi was lying but she figured something was up.

Before Jangmi could exit the kitchen, Namjoon stood up. “Excuse me, eomeoni, may I be excused? I need to have a word with Jangmi.”

Her eyes widened. No! No! No! She hadn’t planned this far ahead. She really thought he would just let her leave.

“I’ll help with the dishes after,” He told Mrs. Lee.

up.

Mrs. Lee smiled at his offer, but waved him off. “Nonsense, you’re our guest.”

You’re no help, umma! What do I—?

“Joon-hyung, did you want to check out my video games?”

Jangmi had to hold herself back from jumping in the air. Oh, she has never wanted to hug Jangho as much as now. Yas! Thank you Jangho!

But alas, fate was not always nice.

“Uh-uh, you’re helping me with the dishes, Jangho-yah,” Mrs. Lee told him, making the younger boy groan. “None of that. Now gather the dishes while I start the water.” With that, the two went to work, although one did it grudgingly.

Jangmi’s face was now in her hands. Why?

“Oh my, is your head hurting?” Namjoon asked, his tone overly concerned.

She glanced at him and narrowed her eyes. His tone may have sounded concerned, but his expression did not match. He was smirking at her as if he knew this had been her plan to get away.

Namjoon moved closer to her and gently began to lead her to the stairs. “That’s no good. We should get you upstairs, so you can rest.”

Oh, he was so not happy.

“You’re so fake,” Jangmi muttered lowly.

Namjoon replied, tone also low, “So are you.”

Touché, Joonie, touché.

All too soon, they made it to her room. She immediately went to her dresser and searched for some comfier clothes. Namjoon closed the door behind him.

Then he faced her, but didn’t actually look at her. He bit his lip in frustration, recalling all the anger and worry and fear he had felt when V told him about her little incident. He had been out with Jin, just taking a break from being cooped up in his office all day, when Jin received the call.

Namjoon’s phone had been turned off since earlier and he hadn’t remembered to switch it back on, thus why he missed Jangmi’s call.

It was all a blur after that. He switched Jin and took over driving, and let’s just say they wouldn’t be able to use the truck for a while. They’d have to hack into the cameras around the intersections and erase the footage of Namjoon speeding and running red lights.

Hack.

That reminded him that after this talk with Jangmi, he would need to have another with the hacker of his team. V didn’t give a lot of information, but from what Namjoon understood was that Suga said something, which caused Jangmi to go off alone.

“What the hell,” Namjoon started before he finally looked at her, “wer—are you doing?!” Then he averted his gaze to anywhere but her.

“What?” Jangmi asked, as she pulled off her jeans. Relax, it’s not like she was in her underwear. She wore leggings underneath since she had been cold before going out. “I wasn’t lying about being tired.”

She glanced at him and rolled her eyes, “You act like I’m .”

“Just a little warning would be nice,” He told her, finally looking back at her. Then he averted his gaze again and shouted, “Dude!”

“Well, how was I supposed to know you were going to look?” She retorted. No, she wasn’t revealing anything scandalous.

Unless you’re referring to her y arms and biceps because all she did was pull off her work jacket. “Okay, Joonie, don’t look. I’m changing now.”

With that, he spun around and faced the door.

She chuckled under her breath before putting some gray sweats on and a loose yellow t-shirt on. Jangmi folded her jeans and leggings then put them into her drawer. Yeah, she wore them but she felt like they weren’t very dirty.

Her shirt, on the other hand, had grease and tiny splatters of pizza sauce. Tossing it in the dirty clothes basket, she picked up her work jacket and moved to her closet. She grabbed a hanger and just as she put the jacket on it, she noticed something wrong with the sleeve.

Jangmi brought it closer to examine and realized there was a rip. With furrowed eyebrows, she touched the rip and murmured to herself. “What the hell?”

Then she remembered when she ran into the supermarket, she bumped into the newspaper holder. She recalled the sharp pain she felt. Well, it seemed the worst case scenario had happened – she ripped her jacket. She was sad, but she would ask her mother if she could sew it.

“That ,” She pouted and hung the jacket on the door of her closet, a reminder to ask her mother. Then unconsciously she moved her fingers to her arm where she hit the piece of metal on the newspaper holder.

Suddenly, she hissed in pain.

Quickly, Jangmi looked down at her arm and her eyes widened. There was a long horizontal cut on her left bicep and there was dried blood all around it. It even went down her arm, making it look like teardrop stains.

Guess she would have to wash her jacket too, figuring that blood most likely got on it.

As she looked at the cut, Namjoon remarked on her hiss from earlier. “What? Did you stub your toe? That’s what you get.”

When she didn’t reply, his eyebrows shot together. “Jangmi?” He wanted to turn and look, but he didn’t want to see anything that would scar him. “Are you done? Can I turn around?”

“Yeah,” She answered mindlessly, completely fixated on her arm.

“This better not be a trick,” He warned before he turned around slowly. When he saw she was fully clothed, he started to prep himself for her scolding. That’s when he noticed she was looking at something. “What are you doing?”

Then he moved closer to her. When he reached her, she turned to face him. He knew she was hiding something. How? She had grabbed her work jacket and tossed it over her left shoulder, completely shielding her arm.

Namjoon raised an eyebrow. “Yeah because you’re not obvious.”

“It’s nothing, really,” She tried to walk past him, but he blocked her.

“If it’s nothing, then show me,” He challenged her.

Jangmi did not want to show him the cut. She had gotten hurt because she didn’t listen to him and went to the store unsupervised. Sure, it was her own fault she had gotten cut, but still. It happened when she was alone and this would only bring on a harsher scolding.

Before she could retort anything, Namjoon pulled the jacket. He caught her off guard and it slipped through her fingers. Then he looked at her left arm and froze at the sight of blood.

She put a finger up, “Now before you say anything, no one did this to me. I accidentally cut myself on a piece of metal from the newspaper holder. So really, I don’t think I need to be scolded on this.”

…

He didn’t say anything and it truly made Jangmi nervous. His scolding was bad, but at least he was talking and letting out his frustration. When he was like this, it was just plain unnerving.

“What happened today?” He asked lightly, his tone gave her chills and told her he was serious.

So, she told him. What time she and Suga left the pizzeria, their bickering and what Suga had said that irked her, the message from her mother, her decision to go alone, the man following her, running to the store and cutting herself, calling him but receiving no answer, calling V, and finally him coming to pick her up.

She bit her lip when she was finished. He hadn’t said anything nor gave any indication on how he was taking it. His expression had remained blank as he had one hand against his mouth, soaking in the information.

Then he opened his mouth and the words were rough. “What the hell were you thinking?”

She flinched, but she couldn’t open .

He continued on, “Do you not realize the danger you put yourself in? Huh?” No words escaped her as she stared at the floor looking very much like a reprimanded dog.

“What if that man had followed you into the store? What if he had gotten you before you went in?” He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, “I set this all up for your safety and you do this? Disregard it, throw it in my face?”

If she felt bad before, she felt utterly horrible now. She wasn’t trying to disregard what he had done for her. She was only thinking about herself and what Suga had said. Jangmi didn’t mean to cause him grief, or seem so ungrateful. She just…screwed up.

“What were you thinking?” He repeated.

This time she opened . “I guess…I wasn’t.”

At her words, he raised an eyebrow and looked at her. He swore if this was the start to some snarky comeback… But then again, she seemed different. Regretful.

“I wasn’t thinking.” She looked up and met his eyes. “I mean I was, but for all the wrong reasons… I just—I messed up okay? I let Suga’s words get to me and I knew he was just trying to get a rise out of me…but I wanted to prove that I could handle myself.” Then she looked away and muttered, “Guess, I can’t.”

A moment passed where the two childhood friends said nothing.

Then Namjoon spoke, softer than before. “No you can’t.”

Jangmi’s head shot up. She knew she was in the wrong and she even admitted it! Didn’t Namjoon realize that she owned up to her mistakes? Usually, she would fight tooth and nail to prove herself right. And if she was wrong? Well she still fought.

So was he still planning to make her suffer?

Jangmi sobered and glanced down again. She supposed she deserved it. If anyone had done what she did to Namjoon, to her, she wouldn’t show them any mercy.

“That’s why I’m going to ask Jungkook to teach you how to defend yourself,” He finished.

She nodded, still thinking he was scolding her. Then she finally processed his words and her head shot up again. Her eyebrows went high as she unintelligently said, “Eh?”

“Today was a close call,” Namjoon explained to her. “I should have done this before. You need to know how to defend yourself in case we aren’t there.” He paused. “I’m sorry for not answering when you needed me. But I can’t promise that I will always answer or send a text the next time. That’s why I need to know that you can protect yourself and I trust Jungkook to teach you.”

She couldn’t say anything.

He chuckled, “What? The Gre