Long Nights. 1227 words. General. Mafia!Namjoon

“When will he gets home then?”

The little girl asked, body comfortably wrapped in her favorite soft pink toned blanket. Jimin knew how much the girl loves to be wrapped by the blanket (that blanket had been there ever since she was just a month old) when she sleeps. She took another plushy (it was a Nemo plushy from her beloved Uncle Taetae) and sat it down near her head. Jimin smiled at her daughter and sighed.

“Soon. Is it comfortable enough now, your highness?”

“Not enough, but i think i can handle this.” Iseul answered almost innocently. Jimin rolled her eyes.

“Just try to close your eyes, i will watch you till you fall asleep. i promise.” Jimin reached Iseul’s cheek and softly pinched the fluffiness of it. A minute passed with the little girl was staring at her unsurely, fingers fidgeting beneath the blanket.

“What is it, Seul?”

“It’s just...we have our theatre show due this weekend,”

“i’ll make sure i have the biggest banners with your name.”

“What—no, i mean. First of all, please don’t come with that. it’s embarassing. Seriously, i’ll be the Dorothy here, Mom!” Iseul pouted. Jimin laughed in return. “Let me finish, please.”

“Do you think...Daddy would make it to the show?”

Jimin’s smile had erased from her face the second Iseul let out the question. But then, as fast as her mind told her, she managed her most assuring smile. Jimin ruffled the little girl’s soft curly hair. “I’m not sure, baby. But remember what i always tell you. he loves you and will do anything for you. he loves you the most, even more than he loves me.”

Iseul’s face srunched in disagreement. Sometimes it reminded her of the girl’s father. A slight line of frown upon his forehead, the same line the man would make whenever he’s feeling unpleasant about something.

“If he loves me the most, this easy task of attending my class’ winter show wouldn’t be a problem,” Iseul let out her index finger form under the blanket then pointed it right at Jimin. “and Uncle Taetae said to me that once you had to leave the house to take care of Grandma—Dad went crazy—he almost took the wrong flight and for the first time he looked so unprofessional and dumb. So i can’t say that i agree with your statement.”

Iseul was growing up, Jimin could see it everyday. Her daughter was growing too fast for her liking. Jimin then gave her eight year old daughter a pleasant laugh and kissed the little girl’s forehead. “I love you so much, Mommy.”

Jimin smiled. “Sweet dreams, honey. I love you more than i love myself, remember that.” With that, she closed the door silently.

Jimin never been so sure of anything. Anything except the last sentence.

“Long night?” Jimin gently asked, voice toned in formality. She kept her focus on the book she was holding. She thanked herself for not stuttering as she waited for his reaction. Jimin took a mere glance at him in silence. Namjoon was standing in front of a gigantic golden-framed mirror in their even-more-gigantic bedroom—it’s too big and too cold—loosening his tie with an annoyed look on his masculin face. She debated whether to offer him a help but at the end, she decided that it was okay to ask.

“Do you need help with that?” Jimin was trying so hard to keep her voice as steady as possible. She gulped and mentally patted her back for not making a stutter. The tall man only grunted, but Jimin took that as a ‘yes’. Jimin slowly got up from her place and made her way to her husband.

For Park Jimin, Kim Namjoon was something strange. It was amazing how Jimin had spent her life in a marriage—that she’s being forced to—trying to read Namjoon’s mind. What he was thinking of, what he didn’t like. What he was afraid of. Jimin had tried. And now, she was just tired.

Jimin could still remember the sadness in her mother’s soft eyes when her step father told her that the notorious, dangerous Kim Namjoon had wanted her. It was not like Jimin don’t know who Kim Namjoon was, hell, every living person in the country knows. His name was as cold as the Seoul’s snow—was written like an old book in every corner of Seoul’s darkest places. That was the second when all her dreams and achievements had shattered completely into broken pieces, and she would never get it back together. She would never forget the feeling. She had cried that night. She had blamed her greedy step father for selling her to cover all his debt. She had hated her mother for just sitting there, doing rather nothing at all to stop it. But then, she thought she never loathed someone as much as she was to Namjoon that time, for ruining all her dreams. And when she met the man of the name, Jimin was rather lifeless. She felt like giving up on emotion and just received her written life already.

‘Mrs. Kim Namjoon’

Was written for her title. His men would bow for her. The maids would look at her with utter respect. Or fear. Jimin couldn't find the difference, most of times.

She loathed her title.

“What are you thinking of, Jimin?”

Jimin was brought back from her thoughts to the man in front of her. “Huh?”

“You clearly has something to tell me. What is it.” He never asked her. It was always a solid command. And she was far from feeling numb inside that she answered automatically.

“Iseul asked me...if you’re going to her school’s theatre next Monday.” Jimin lied. She didn’t like the way her voice trembled and crushed perfectly into a whisper.

For a moment, Namjoon’s face softened. He sighed as he changed his heavy gaze to another object in their bedroom. “I’ll talk to her in the morning.” He threw his gaze right back to her. “I know that’s not the only thing, Jimin. What else?”

I want you to let me go. Let me free, please. Give me back my life, all my dreams.

Sometimes, Jimin would get a nice dream in her sleep. It’s about the life she once had. It’s about her father. It’s about her loved one she had. Before she became the spouse of a mafia, the woman of the most wanted criminal in South Korea.

Most of times, it’s a bad dream. She was there, being chased by some men behind, and she was crying for help. Just when she thought she could escape from those men, she was already catched by someone else. And it was Namjoon. Pointing a gun to her head.

“Jimin? Did you hear what i said?”

Jimin quickly replaced her frown with another smile. she took off his tie and loosened the hem of his collar. Her small hands then came to touch his well defined jaw. She tiptoed and placed a soft kiss near his lips. It slowly came to his neck, and ended somehow on his now bare collarbone.

She could hear every sharp take of Kim Namjoon’s breath at each kiss. And when she looked up again, they were already there. Those flames in his eyes. Like a beast looked at its prey.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow she would have the courage to tell him.