"I suggest you let go." -Jung Hoseok

Chapter 3: The Beast and His Beauty Sleep

    “I love you.”

The voice of Hamin flowed through Hoseok’s ears and he immediately opened his eyes. He sat up and looked around, only to find sunlight shining through the windows with the sound of birds chirping outside.

He couldn’t believe it.

It was morning.

And he had slept through the whole night.

“I can’t believe this,” he muttered to himself as he got up to get ready for work. How can that girl make me sleep when not even the pills prescribed for me can? Hoseok thought. He closed his eyes for a brief moment with his eyebrows furrowed. And why is her voice still lingering in my mind? he shook his head rapidly.

He didn’t like what was going on.

***

“Good morning,” Namjoon smiled at Hoseok as soon as Hoseok walked in the doors to their office. Hoseok and Namjoon shared a large office, structured almost like a mini-apartment. It was located on the highest floor of their building, with a living room area in between two rooms that served as individual office spaces for the two co-CEOs. The interior of the whole place was simple yet modern, with hints of red and grey themed furniture. 

“Did you sleep well?” Namjoon continued when he didn’t hear a response back. He inspected Hoseok’s face who was speedily walking into his room and was surprised at how it glowed. 

Well looks like he finally got some beauty sleep, Namjoon chuckled to himself. Hoseok hadn’t quite been himself these past few weeks, ever since he got a severe case of insomnia. He would fall asleep in meetings, doze off during meals, and exhaustion would droop from his face with his frequent dark circles and sunken eyes. The company’s pride, Mr. Genius Jung Hoseok was slowly going away, with only Mr. Fatigue to stay. And that had worried Namjoon immensely. 

Now that he slept well for the first time this month, Hoseok was looking quite better, with a glowy complexion and a concentrated brain. Hoseok himself felt this too, especially as he sat down to work. He could feel energy he hadn’t felt in so long, and his mind was so refreshed from his rest that he was able to accomplish multiple (difficult) tasks in a short amount of time. Oh what wonders sleep did to a person! 

After a while, Hoseok came out of his room for a cup of tea, and Namjoon came out to join him as well. The two sat on the couch and sipped, before Namjoon opened his mouth, “See what I told you? I knew Ms. Park would be able to help you.”

“Oh please,” Hoseok scoffed, unhappy about the mention of Hamin’s name. Something about that girl was unpleasant to him. She had an odd charm about her for sure, but perhaps it was the book she was reading that made his stomach fill up with butterflies whenever he thought about her. He felt his cheeks burn up as her voice once again rang through his mind:

“I love you.”

He shook his head and looked at Namjoon. Namjoon raised his eyebrows as he took another sip.

“I don’t like her. Fire her immediately,” Hoseok snapped and crossed his legs. He was about to take a sip himself when Namjoon said, “No.”

“I don’t want her to read me another one of her stupid, cheesy soap operas,” Hoseok argued. And before Namjoon could rebut anything he continued, “And think about it. She’s a girl. From what I can see she’s a young girl too. And I don’t want a random girl in my bedroom watching me fall asleep.”

“She’s not a random girl, and she’s just doing her job. Think of her as a therapist or doctor, and nothing more,” Namjoon leaned forward to set his cup on the table in front of them. He added, “And have you seen yourself? You look amazing for the first time in weeks! She’s the perfect remedy to make you your ‘beautiful’ self again, so what’s the issue?”

“I just don’t want her okay? Fine, I admit that I slept well last night and that it’s paying off nicely when I work. But there’s something about her that I just don’t like. I’ll get another reading therapist myself so call her and tell her that she doesn’t have to come anymore,” Hoseok nearly rapped, making Namjoon close his mouth. He let out a deep breath and finished the rest of his tea before getting up.

Namjoon only stared at him.

***

Hamin finished her classes and began to walk back home. It was nearly five in the afternoon. Thankfully, she didn’t have any early morning classes that day, given that she woke up at half past nine with Taehyung’s call. If he hadn’t called her, she would have slept till noon.

“I gotta get used to this,” Hamin mumbled. She didn’t want to make the same mistake again. She was lucky this time, but she knew how there were days where she had to get to school by 8 in the morning. To balance school and work, she had to get used to this sleeping schedule of sleeping way past midnight and getting up at sunrise. 

Hamin thought about last night. Mr. Kim Namjoon had described Hoseok to be “difficult to work with” and he wasn’t kidding. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, recollecting all her feelings from last night. It wasn’t difficult to come to the conclusion that she wasn’t fond of Mr. Jung Hoseok, with his cold stares and biting tongue, but the job itself was too good to be thrown out. After all, she did succeed in making him sleep, didn’t she? Perhaps things would get better as the nights went by, much like it had at the hospital.

She quickly took out her phone and hummed a tune as she started typing a text message to Namjoon. 

Hello Mr. Kim. What time will you be coming to pick me up tonight? her fingers were about to press send when they felt a vibration. It was an incoming call.

From Namjoon himself.

Hamin smiled.

“Hello? I was just about to text you Mr. Kim,” she answered. But before she could go on his voice came through, “Hi. I wanted to tell you that you don’t have to come tonight. But don’t worry; that doesn’t mean you’re fired or anything.”

“Pardon?” Hamin asked, confused about what it was he was saying. 

“Hoseok is a little bit...stubborn at the moment. But he’ll come around, so let’s give him some time,” Namjoon explained. Hamin was still confused.

“So you don’t want me to come tonight?” she asked, repeating Namjoon’s earlier words.

“Uh yes. I’m so sorry about this. Just get some rest tonight and I’ll call you back...or even better, maybe Hoseok will call you back,” Namjoon said through the phone and all Hamin could reply with was, “Okay sure thing.”

“Alright thanks. Bye,” Namjoon said before he ended the call. Hamin stood where she was for a brief minute before beginning to move her legs again.

What a weird duo, she thought. She didn’t know what was going on exactly, but felt like she could trust that Mr. Kim Namjoon knew what he was doing. As she made her way back home, she decided to do as Mr. Kim said and rest for the night, despite her lingering confusion. 

***

The clock headed towards 11pm. Hoseok laid in bed, staring at the ceiling with his left hand under his head, supporting it comfortably. He side gl