xiii. " The Freedom"

“He could talk freely, show his disapproval on anything and everything with no fear...”

He opened his eyes, a simple blink and it felt like he was completely transported to a different world. The air was crisp, cold and harsh. It felt like it will cut through his flesh and it left him feeling numb.

Where he was no longer seemed to be the priority, because the only thing that seemed to stand right in front of him, that he cared about, was a beautiful charcoal black masquerade mask. It was shining, reflecting the slight light that peaked through the dense dark clouds. And it was eye catching, mostly because it was simply sitting there, on the floor.

With no face hiding behind it.

Where she was and what she looks like, that was the only thing that he could think about now. According to the bartender, the girl who held all the answers and the solutions to all his problems, was the girl who owned that mask. And all he could think about is, who that girl was.

Junhong was right, who wouldn’t want to know. The answer, the solution was all held by the delicate hands of one girl. A girl who lures with her kind and mysterious voice and completely hypnotizes one with her dark eyes. And she could do it all in five seconds, and by the count of five, her target would be spilling their entire hearts out.

The more time went on, the more he understood himself. She made him question so many things about himself. But the fact that she could trigger a reaction like that from him was something new. No one could ever get him to react like that.

He always kept everything to himself, he hated telling anyone anything. And for some reason, she could pull so many details out of him, mostly because she made him feel all the right things. And with that kind of power, it is only natural to uncover who wields it.

He blinked one more time, and he was no longer in a foggy scene straight out of a fairy tale. He didn’t have time to inspect his day dream, but it was a groggy field full of green scenery, red roses and thorns. It was cloudy and very much low in light, but now, he was simply parked in his new house.

The driveway doors opened, and he realized he had made it to his new house all in one piece.

“Mr. Jeon, are you still there?” The voice asked, her voice muffled by the static of the phone, but it was still clear enough for him.

“Yeah,” he spoke, his voice croaked and a little shaken.

He wasn’t sure what just happened. His head seemed to have lost connection to the real world, and he could simply not recall as to where he was and what he was doing. Let alone, why Cinderella was talking to him on the phone.

He simply couldn’t understand.

“I have a class right now, if you need me, I’ll stay, otherwise I’ll get going, and I’ll see you again Saturday,” she asked, her voice a little thinned out, as if it was in the verge of breaking.

Jungkook simply drove into his new property, saw all the moving men trying to finish unloading the last of the furniture.

“No, it’s fine, I’m home now. I should help unpack all of my things,” he spoke, not waiting for her to respond before ending the call.

He felt odd, he felt like he was coming down from a high he wasn’t even aware he was on. He sighed heavily, and felt his eyes blur as he was having a hard time seeing his surrounding in a straight-crisp picture. His stomach clutched onto something and then he got this dizziness out of nowhere.

He didn’t understand the feeling, until he saw the bottle of whiskey in the passenger seat, and he understood. He was drunk. The little bit that he could remember was that he was at the bar, with the bartender that had no consideration with formalities.

“Crazy bastard,” he whispered, a smile creeping at the end of his words.

He wasn’t mad, but simply amused remembering that the older male did not give two s about being formal. It was refreshing, because he didn’t have to tell the male to drop formalities like he did with Yein. He had no intentions of being formal, it was like his intentions were making him feel comfortable by talking to him like a friend.

When he walked into the house, the movers were finishing up setting the living room the way that Yein was demanding it. She seemed to have a clear vision as to how she wanted it all to look, and the movers simply complied with the requests.

He noticed that Sky had her little eating area in the kitchen, she was currently feasting in what looked like meat mixed with some broth and not even Jungkook could pull away the poor pup from the dish.

He peered at the kitchen, seeing that there were pots and pans in the stove, no cook around to look over them because, Jungkook didn’t hire a cook. He didn’t hire any staff because he wanted to feel like there was no one keeping tabs on him for his father.

“The food is ready, I was waiting for you so we could eat,” Yein spoke, her soft voice making her presence known in a very gentle way.

Jungkook simply looked at the kitchen, it was just them two and the pup, and it felt odd. He has never lived in a house that was not infested by staff and the presence of his father lingering in the hallways. It all felt vacant, and almost wrong, but the silence seemed to have embraced him so deeply, with one breath, all the doubt went away.

And when looked at Yein, their eyes meeting, she simply looked at him softly and smiled softly, and he knew, it was simply a matter of getting used to. It couldn’t be that bad.

He moved out of the house, out of his father, out of his step-mother and of everyone who wanted to control him. He could talk freely, show his disapproval on anything and everything with no fear of his father calling him over to his office to scold him.

No step-mother that kept her distant but would always make snarky remarks to his behavior with the excuse of worry, even if he knew she was doing it because she wanted to be like a mother to him.

No more staff pampering and kissing up to him to the point that they nearly piled on the bathroom door to see who would get to wipe his .

He had freedom here, and sharing that with Yein, the girl who kept to herself and did everything to not be in the way, could not be as bad as going back.

“Yeah, let me just change and I’ll be right back. Which room am I taking?” He asked, his voice calm as he was trying hard to not slur his words and let her know he was basically hammered.

He undid the knot of his tie, and grabbed a liter of water from the fridge. A cold bucket of water and a liter of water usually sobered him up well enough to hide his drunken state, the water to wash away the alcohol from his system and the cold bucket to shake his senses up.

“The last one on the hall, the one with the largest balcony. I remembered that you seemed most amazed by that one. I’m taking the first one, and the one in the middle, that will be the show bedroom, for when our parents come, they don’t realize we aren’t sharing a room,” she spoke, her words spoken with confidence as she was sure that the room arrangement would be no problem for him.

Jungkook simply nodded, accepting it because it was honestly the best option. He loved balconies, he loved feeling the air hit his face and simply sitting down and looking out into the world. It made him feel like he was not caged and tied down to his family, it made him feel like there was something out there apart from his life.

“Were there any complications during the move?” He asked, his voice reaching her from the doorway as he was now in a pair of black soccer joggers and a black hoodie.

His hair was dripping with cold water, saturated with it as he was trying to get a small towel to get his head dry. Yein hasn’t unpacked the toiletries just yet, and he had to settle with the hand towel that was there. He felt refreshed, still dizzy and still couldn’t walk in a straight line, but he felt his senses coming back to him and, that was all that mattered.

“No, everything ran smoothly. How was work?” She asked, setting all the food on the table as Jungkook took a seat across from her.

She was working quick to open everything up as Jungkook looked a little worn out. She was sure he could use a good meal right about now. Jungkook wanted meat, and the quickest thing she could make with the time crunch of the move was bulgogi and spicy rice cakes. It may not be the most perfect combination, but it is something, and she prides herself on the cooking she learned in her culinary arts class.

“I don’t really want to talk about it,” he spoke, his mind flashing back to a distraught Moonbin walking away from him.

“Moonbin told me what happened, and I think you need to know, Moonbin doesn’t want to leave your side. He worries about you, he would love to have a high position, but he said he doesn’t want to leave you alone,” she spoke, handing Jungkook his bowl and setting down some green cabbage leaves for his wrap.

Jungkook looked at her with pure confusion, not understanding why he would tell her that, and not him. Why would Moonbin tell Yein such things? Better yet, how were they so close that they shared their personal troubles like that?

“He told you?” He asked, not knowing what else to say because he could feel this ball of frustration begin to form at the bottom of his stomach.

He was Moonbin’s boss, and if there was one person that the assistant needed to tell this to, was him. Not his fiancé, not anyone else, just him.

“Yeah, you weren’t answering your phone so your father called me, and I thought you were at work, so I called Moonbin and he picked up the phone very distraught. And he ended up telling me. Moonbin has always been very anxious and a very controlling guy, he worries how thrown off everything will be if he leaved his current position and he worries that you’d feel alone,” she spoke, grabbing some rice cakes and stuffing them into .

She wondered how much of this she should tell Jungkook, but it was clear he didn’t know anything and couldn’t understand why the assistant reacted the way he did. She felt like she needed to make the male understand.

Jungkook simply grabbed some of the rice cakes, letting the cake rest in his bowl as he was not sure what was going on. Moonbin was sure a complex guy. He always though that the assistant was simply too scared of any little thing, but only to realize, the boy loves having control and calculating his every move. But now, it feels like the assistant is someone else, or maybe, he was simply not considering Moonbin deep enough.

“Why would he care about me? Who said I would be alone?” He begun to speak, that ball of frustration turning into slight anger and he was letting it control the words that came out of his mind.

“Moonbin said the only person you talk at work is him, at times Jin oppa, but that is like twice a week and for a brief ten-minute conversation. He is the only one you converse with, the only one you dare talk to about things other than work, and you also let the boy spill his concerns to you. If he moves positions, you won’t have someone like that,” Yein spoke, letting her chopsticks settle on her lips as she watched Jungkook’s reaction to all of this.

She always tries not to make him angry, trying her best to not make more of the situation than it should be. But today, she was taking a risk, she wanted Jungkook to understand because it seemed like he wasn’t even taking Moonbin into consideration, he was simply doing what he desired without even consulting the younger.

“What are you trying to say?” He asked, this time, his words a little bit more cold and stiff.

He wondered if this was the first time Yein was going to try and tell him what to do. If this day, the day they move in together and start a new life as soon-to-be wed, is the day she tries to control him.

He peered at her, her eyes not moving away from the center of the table as she was trying hard not to make eye contact because she could sense it in his words that he was getting agitated, and the wrong wording can set him off for the first time.

She took a deep breath and finally looked up, seeing Jungkook peering at her with those stiff eyes and clenching jaw. She was not about to back down from there.

“I’m giving you Moonbin’s perspective. He has always been sensible to certain things. I think it would be a good idea to ask him what he wants and if you still want him to be at a higher position, get an assistant that will make Moonbin comfortable in leaving his current position. At the end of the day, it is your decision Jungkook, I’m just trying to make sure, you know all your options,” she spoke, her voice confident yet so delicate at the same time.

She looked at him with simple eyes that drowned of concern. She was shaking a little bit, because she never wanted to tell Jungkook what to do simply because the male detested that, and she hated making people angry. So, she tried her best to word it all, and make sure he knew that she wasn’t pushing him to make the decision she wanted him to make, but simply, tell him he had to power to do it.

“It’s my decision? Then why do you try to influence it?” Jungkook asked, his words sounding a little harsher than he intended to.

He was in slight shock. His heart was holding onto those words and it ached all throughout his body. At the end of the day, he had the final decision, the final verdict and Yein understood this and acknowledged it. Yet, she still tried to say something, and that has never happened.

No one has ever told him their thoughts and then, bluntly state his power. She wasn’t trying to control his decision, only influence. And it made him wonder why? Why would she try and influence his decision instead of bluntly telling him what to do? Why was she taking this approach?

“Because, your decision involved a person other than yourself. I think it is only fair to see two sides of the story when they are two people involved. You have the final decision, but with that power, comes a price. And I’m not sure if you know what the price is, so it’s best you make a decision you won’t regret,” she spoke, her voice wise and filled with so much comfort.

She looked at him with a delicate set of eyes that widen at her words, and her rouge tinted lips forming each word delicately, and it was all said in such a soft manner, it drove the point across.

Jungkook was never talked to in such a way, he was always talked in such a head strong way, that words never sounded so soft and sweat. For once, it didn’t come out as controlling, but as caring and as a warning, that if he doesn’t think about it, he could make a terrible decision.

“Thank you, I’ll take that into consideration,” he spoke, his eyes meeting hers one last time across the table, and her eyes pulled a slight smile out of him.

Yein was never the person he loved being with, and it was all because he didn’t give her the time of day very often. They have converse and known each other for years, but never has he held such a conversation with her. Especially one that made him feel so confident and it was all because she understood him more than he gave her credit for.

“Thank you,” he repeated one more time, this time a soft and very faint smile appearing on his lips that only pulled doubt out of her.

“What for?” She asked, confused as to why he was thanking her a second time.

“For the food, for listening, for understanding,” he said, causing her to release a dry chuckle.

“Hey, we are getting married and will have to deal with each other. It’s what we should be doing,” she spoke, her words lingering in a pool of amusement as she simply smiled.

He nodded, getting a feeling of comfort hugging his stomach as he took another piece of the rice cake. It was delicious, and it made his body happy. But what made his mind relax and his body sink comfortably on the chair was the realization that he was lucky to have meet Yein, he has been lucky to get her as a feign fiancé.

Even if he doesn’t love her, he is lucky to have someone so understanding.

Okay, I never lie when it comes to my lack of updates. Here is the truth, I am living in Mt. Olympus where wifi is like, non-existent.

Okay, the truth….COLLEGE!

I am a 2^nd year college student, who is studying Electrical Engineering and who’s work load piled the moment class started. Also, my hard drive decided to crash on me like a month ago, so guess who lost all of the chapters I had planned/wrote.

ME!!

Anyways, this past Thursday was my last midterm, I casually had 3 weeks of midterms, and finally could write, so, that is the truth. I will try my absolute hardest to stick to my regular updates, which is a chapter every other week.

Thank you for reading and I can officially say, we are half-way done with the story because, Jungkook has already displayed majority of his symptoms and again, the main character here and the main point is Jungkook and his illness.

Until next time, happy reading and hope you have an amazing day you amazing human!