Namjoon
Same, but DifferentWhat did he just say? Personal assistant…? I snort.
“Thanks, but no thanks,” I say, reaching into my back pocket for my phone and suddenly remembering that I have neither pockets nor my phone. I cuss under my breath but on second thoughts, I decide that I don’t really have to use my phone.
“Isn’t that a bit too short?” Rap Mon says out of nowhere, a frown on his face.
“What is?” I follow his gaze to my dress. “Nah, not really.” Rap Mon takes a look at me and rolls his eyes.
“So you don’t want to be my personal assistant?”
I’m confused for a moment at his sudden change of topic. “Why would I?”
“Well, why wouldn’t you?” He asks a pretty good question.
“Because I have school?”
“What about the times you’re not in school?” Rap Mon seems to be getting exasperated and I turn to look up at him, my eyebrows furrowed.
“Why are you so bothered by this?” I ask out of sincere curiosity just as the same time Soo calls my name. She waves from across the road, Seob and Jin standing beside her.
Even as the traffic light turns green, I stand still for a while. Look left, look right, no cars, cross. Back with the group, I take my bag from Soo and keep my wallet. I raise my eyebrows at Soo who returns my look by pointing at Jin with her eyeballs. I fling my bag at Seob.
“What!” His look is so innocent I can only shake my head and look away.
“Thank you for the meal,” I thank Jin with a warm smile. “We’ll treat you back some other time.”
“That’s fine,” he tells me, stealing a sip of coffee from Rap Mon.
“Is that someone you know?” Seob taps me on the arm and nods at someone behind me. Even without turning around, I know who it is – I can feel his piercing gaze on me.
“Isn’t that…?” Soo furrows her brows.
“You know him?”
“He’s…”
“Byeol sunbaenim!” A junior from the same department calls my name as I exit the lecture theatre.
“What’s up?” I stand to one side to not block the other people coming out. Soo puts her hands on her waist as she waits beside me. She had been complaining about her hunger throughout the whole lecture.
“Someone made me pass this to you.” The boy shoves me an envelope before turning away.
“Oh, a love letter!” Soo teases, pulling me towards the cafeteria. I elbow her away and open the envelope. Before I can look at the content, someone from behind me grabs the envelope away.
“Namjoon!” I smack him on the chest as he hangs his arm around my shoulder. Smiling cheekily, he waves the envelope at me.
“A love letter?” He whistles. Without my permission, he pulls out the paper inside. Taking a look at it, he stops walking suddenly and the smile on his face fades.
“What is it?” I ask, leaning over to peek at the paper. Namjoon annoyingly flips it away but looking at the type of paper, it seems to be a… photograph?
“Who gave this to you?” His tone is harsh, anger in his voice evident. My eyes widen in shock. Namjoon rarely gets mad but when he does, it’s best to stay clear.
“This junior guy,” I tell him. “Hyun is his name.”
“You go for lunch first,” is all Namjoon says before storming back down the corridor.
Come to think of it, I never got to know what was on that paper.
“You’re right, it was a photograph,” Soo says. We came to a nearby park and are seated casually on the grass field. Curiosity piqued, Jin and Rap Mon are still sticking around to hear what Soo has to say.
“Why don’t I know about this?” Seob interrupts, earning him a glare from his sister.
“What was on it that made Namjoon so angry?” I mention Namjoon forgetting that someone else here shares that name.
“It was a secretly taken picture of you and Namjoon,” Soo explains. “At the swings.”
I vaguely remember that day.
“Let’s go on the swings!” I tug on Namjoon’s arm as we bypass a playground. Night class at the tuition centre had just ended and Namjoon volunteered to come fetch me. Since the breeze is comfortably cooling, we’re walking our way back.
“Fine…” Namjoon sighs and lets me pull him towards the playground. I sit on one of the swings and kick myself off. When I swing down, Namjoon pushes me up again. I don’t know for how long Namjoon does this but when he’s tired, he catches me on my downswing and stops the motion. Smiling at me, he takes a seat on the other swing beside.
“That was fun!” I laugh freely for the first time in a long while. Struggling between my dad and my passion for singing is so tough to the point that I want to give it all up. The stage, the crowd, and singing in its entirety.
“I know you’re having a hard time,” Namjoon says suddenly. I don't need to see his face to know how it's scrunched up in worry for me.
“Hey, the stressed out one is me but why are you the one with the constipated face?” I joke and lightly swing myself. Namjoon’s frown deepens.
“If you want to quit…”
“No.”
“Byeol…”
“I don’t want to quit,” I repeat. More than singing, I hate the thought of not always being beside you.
Flash. A bright light followed by a shutter sound shocks me. Flash, there goes the shutter again.
“We should go,” Namjoon stands abruptly. Taking my hand, he leads me back on the route home. Distracted by his mere presence, I overlook the fact that his footsteps are quicker and wider than usual.
“So that was that flash?” I scratch my head. “But why?”
“That’s not all,” Soo continues. “The picture was not very clear since it was dark, but Namjoon’s face was clearly scratched out.”
I roll my eyes. “So Namjoon went crazy because his picture was disfigured?”
“No, because at the bottom of the photograph the psycho wrote, “You’re mine.””
There was an awkward silence but I break it by laughing. “What drama is this from?” I wipe artificial tears from my laughter.
“Byeol, this is serious.” Soo looks at me with burdensome concern.
“Didn’t you do anything then?” The present Namjoon asks with an equally heavy voice.
“Namjoon did…” Soo takes a deep breath and sighs. “But investigations were sloppily done and the case was closed due to an apparently lack of leads."
This is growing out of hand. Is there a hidden camera somewhere? “If things were so serious, why didn’t Namjoon tell me anything?”
“He didn't want you to know! Soo looks about as exasperated as I am. "The target wasn’t you, Byeol. At least not then.”
“Namjoon-ah,” Jin whispers from the side, glancing at his watch.
“You two should be on your way.” I put on a smile for the probably awkward idols. It wasn’t good manners of us to bring them into our – my – issues. Jin returns an apologetic smile. Unwillingly, Namjoon leaves with Jin, leaving just the remaining three of us in yet another round of awkward silence.
“The target wasn’t me,” I prompt Soo to pick up where she left off.
“Before you received that photo, Namjoon had already been receiving threats from an unknown sender.”
“Why didn’t he tell me anything?” I furrow my brows. “But why did he send me that photo?”
Soo shrugs. “I guess it was his last straw. His target may have been Namjoon, but his ultimate motive was you. When he couldn’t get Namjoon to leave you, he probably wanted to try making you leave him.”
“Namjoon…” He stuck with me even though he was being threatened? “How bad were the threats?”
Soo’s silence answers my question. “You never realised, but you were his source of life, Byeol.”
“What does that mean?”
“He loved you probably more than you love him, but never felt he had the right to ask you out. But still, he didn’t want that psycho bastard to come between him and you.”
“But noona,” Seob pipes in. “If he’s back, isn’t Byeol noona in danger again?”
No… My mind runs to the one my heart has unknowingly drifted to. Namjoon. Kim Namjoon.
A/N: I hope no one's too confused about the Namjoons here. Also, Hyun is just a calefare. He's just passing by so don't think too much about him :)
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