"Whoa whoa whoa. Where are you going Mr. Fancy Pants?" -Park Jimin

Chapter 6: The Beast Meets the Prince

“Mr. Jung?” Hamin knocked on Hoseok’s door.

“Come in,” she heard his low voice and immediately entered the room. As she approached him, she realized he was sitting as he leaned on the headrest of his bed, not in his usual, lying down position. 

“You’re late,” he said bluntly and Hamin nodded, biting her lip.

“Sorry,” she said quietly, head lowered. She had an excuse for being late, but she wasn’t sure Hoseok would find it excusing enough. 

Literally an hour ago, she had to text Namjoon saying she’d be late after Taehyung completely knocked out on her after his plead for Hamin “not to leave him.” She sighed in relief, because if he was serious about not wanting her to leave, she wouldn’t know how to respond. But now that he was sleeping away she knew he was just being the drunk clingy baby he was. And since she couldn’t possibly carry him home, she ended up dragging him to the couch and placing a duvet over him before washing up to get ready for work. After double checking to see if Taehyung was comfortably sleeping, she made her way out of the house...and that all took more time than she expected, hence making her late. Namjoon was understanding, but she didn’t expect the cold Jung Hoseok to be so as well.

“I won’t ask why you’re late,” Hoseok looked at Hamin and she raised her head, surprised she didn’t have to explain herself. She was about to thank him when he continued.

“But I want to ask you something else,” his eyes narrowed, “How do you do it?”

“Do...what?” she asked with big eyes.

“How do you make me...make people...fall asleep?” Hoseok rephrased his question and Hamin soaked in what he was asking her. 

“By reading to them…?” she lifted her eyebrows. Hoseok almost snorted at her obvious answer.

“I know that,” he snapped. He then sighed when Hamin kept staring at him frozen.

“I mean,” he cleared his throat, “nothing I did worked. No pill, no therapist—not even another reader. What makes you different?”

“I’m not sure,” Hamin answered honestly, a little taken aback at Hoseok’s question. Why was he curious all of a sudden? He didn’t ask her this during her previous visits. On Hoseok’s part though, he was just putting out a question he’s had since the day she put him to sleep.

What really did make Park Hamin different?

“But,” she continued, wanting to give him a proper answer, “I just try to read with my heart. With my whole heart.”

“Your...heart?” Hoseok repeated, unconvinced and cringing. 

“Yeah. Because stories have power, and I enter it completely, empathizing with the characters in it to then pull listeners into it as well,” Hamin went on. She then looked into Hoseok’s eyes intensely, making him briefly flinch.

“Let me ask you this then: why do you think you can’t sleep without my help?” she all of a sudden turned the conversation around towards Hoseok. He blinked a couple times before opening his mouth.

“Because I can’t shut down,” he answered, surprised at how easy it was to talk to this girl. He usually didn’t like discussing things (especially with someone he barely knew) unrelated to work, but he found himself answering her question quite honestly.

“Shut down your thoughts?” she asked. He nodded slowly, “Yeah. It’s like my mind doesn’t know how to stop thinking—about work and everything.”

“Then that’s why you need stories. It’s the only thing you’re forced to listen to without argument—it’s not like your work where you can control everything as a CEO. A story invites you in, and you have to go along with it because you’re not the author. All you can do is appreciate it, and thus give your mind a break, letting go of everything and just enjoying the ride,” Hamin explained with a smile, using both her hands to gesture certain words. 

Hoseok took in everything, listening quietly in awe of the girl sitting in front of him. He never thought of stories...or their “power” that way and everything Hamin babbled about became interesting and new to him. He almost smiled himself as he took in her adorable sight, talking excitedly with her little hands peeking out from her huge sleeves of an oversized hoodie she wore.

“So my job is basically to help you, the listener, escape from the worries and thoughts your mind deals with during the day by connecting it to the heart of a good story at night. And that usually does the trick to make you fall asleep,” Hamin concluded her little monologue and stopped moving when she found Hoseok just staring at her without a sound.

“Sorry,” she apologized with an embarrassed smile, “I rant a lot when I’m asked about these kind of things. I bet you thought that was pretty lame, but I mean it when I say it’s the heart that counts. I really believe in that and—”

“No, no,” Hoseok cut her off, with a strange, tickling feeling in the bottom of his stomach. He ignored it as he gazed into Hamin’s eyes, “I understand what you’re saying.”

“Oh that’s good. You can always tell me when I talk too much,” she laughed and smiled brightly as she lifted a book out of her bag, “Then let’s shut you down for tonight, yeah?”

Hoseok nodded and laid down. The tickling feeling came back. He closed his eyes in hopes it would go away.

“Oh and by the way,” Hamin said before opening her book. Hoseok opened his eyes and waited for her to go on.

“I want to apologize again for last night sir. Sorry I...made you uncomfortable,” Hamin’s voice was quiet as she suddenly remembered what she did to Hoseok the night before. She wanted to really make sure she apologized again for her unprofessional behavior.

“It’s okay,” Hoseok said, wanting to forget the awkwardness last night had brought just as much as Hamin.

He closed his eyes again, lost in thought. As a person running a company that invented games, he had forgotten for so long what it felt like to be a part of a story and not worry about creating it. What Hamin said struck him and he was slowly beginning to find himself more and more willing to “let himself go.” He silently waited for Hamin to begin leading him off to the world of slumber.

“There was once a little princess whose father was king over a great country full of mountains and valleys,” Hamin started to read from her book: The Princess And The Goblin. She wanted to continue reading from the book she brought the day before, since Hoseok stressed he wanted “consistence,” but it seemed to have gone missing. And Hamin didn’t even think about bringing back Noona’s My Girl, convinced Hoseok hated it.

“His palace was built upon one of the mountains, and was very grand and beautiful,” she continued and already Hoseok’s heart and mind relaxed. 

It was rather odd that the two had their first “actual” or “deep” conversation that night and it didn’t end with Hoseok barking at her or anything of the sort. Hamin was surprised at how easily she ranted in front of a man she considered a beast, and wondered if he really was nicer than she originally thought. Well whatever the case was, she tried to focus on making the imsonic man sleep at the present moment. She was actually quite glad that she could be of help to him, especially after having heard from Namjoon that his dark circles were about to become his permanent friends before they met her. 

“They were much too afraid of the goblins to let her out of the house then, even in company with ever so many attendants; and they had good reason, as we shall see by and by…” Hamin finished the first chapter and already it looked as though Hoseok was fast asleep. She paused for a good minute, waved her hand in front of his face, and then collected her belongings as she tiptoed out. And just like always, Namjoon was there waiting for her to take her home.

It was another day...or night of Hamin’s late night job, but this one seemed less draining than the previous nights. Maybe it was because deep in her mind, this night was the starting point where she no longer thought of Hoseok as a difficult man to work with but rather someone in need of some stories in his life.

She smiled, because if anything, that could be easily done.

***

 Hamin continued to read for Hoseok for the next several nights, but the two never had any other noteworthy conversations afterwards. Everything just became a normal routine: Hamin went, read, Hoseok slept, Hamin left.

And that was the way it should be, right? 

But it wasn’t a lie to say that the two had a tiny bit of a desire to...well, talk. They were pretty curious about each other, but neither one of them actually started a discussion about it. It became clear that Hoseok asking Hamin that night about “how she put people to sleep” was an extremely rare sight and thing to do. 

“What should we get for lunch?” Cindy asked as soon as their second class was over. Hamin looked at her and shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“How about we go to Mrs. Kim’s place? I could use for some cheese kim-bap and tteokbokki right now,” Cindy said, packing her bag. Hamin nodded positively, “I’m down.”

The two girls hurried out and made their five-minute walk to Mrs. Kim’s, which was a Korean fast food restaurant the two loved, especially because Mrs. Kim herself was like a Mom to them both. And of course, her food was amazing.

“Mrs. Kim!” Cindy’s loud voice rang as soon as the two entered the place. With small wooden tables and an orange-themed wallpaper throughout, the whole place gave off a comfy atmosphere and a mouth-watering smell. 

“Girls!” Mrs. Kim came out in her signature red apron, embracing the two girls and seating them in their usual spot by the glass window. She smiled at them, “What can I get you girls? The usual?”

“Yes please and a bowl of cheese ramen as well,” Hamin smiled back and the lady nodded with a thumbs up, “You got it!”

While waiting for their food, Hamin poured some water into her cup and found Cindy eyeing her. She raised her eyebrows.

“What?”

“Are you going to avoid the question for the millionth time if I ask you about that mysterious job you took over a week ago?” Cindy placed her elbows on the table.

“Um,” Hamin averted her eyes but Cindy hit the table, making her jump, “Come on Minnie! I want to know what it’s like! You know you never told me about it ever since you started working there. And you even tried to change the subject whenever I brought up the topic! Don’t think I haven’t noticed.” She wagged her finger at her.

“Okay okay,” Hamin held up her hands in surrender. She sighed and vaguely said, “It’s...great.”

“What do you do? Who is it you’re working for? When do you go?” Cindy began to interrogate Hamin, making her laugh, “Whoa there. One at a time officer.”

Cindy waited for Hamin to give her details with her arms crossed.

“I um, read for this rich CEO every night because...well, he has insomnia,” she explained before taking a sip of water. Cindy’s eyes grew big and round.

“Is he hot?” she asked and Hamin almost choked on her water. 

“Out of all the things I said, that’s what you’re interested in?” Hamin asked, wiping . Cindy nodded with a smirk.

“Wow. You know most people would be worried a girl like me is going into a grown man’s bedroom to read him a bedtime story,” Hamin said, faking a disappointed face.

“Oh come on, I know that “a girl like my Minnie” wouldn’t even have taken the job if it were fishy like that,” Cindy rolled her eyes before leaning in again, “So is he?”

“He...is pretty good looking,” Hamin ended up answering, recalling Hoseok’s sharp features. She also remembered how her first impression of Hoseok was indeed that he was handsome. Cindy’s eyes grew wider and opened.

“Is he married? How old is he?” Cindy kept asking.

“He’s in his early twenties I think. And I don’t think he’s married since he lives alone,” Hamin replied, tilting her head. She found herself unable to give her friend exact numbers and information about the guy.

Wow, I barely know anything about this man, she thought.

“Dang girl. Does Taehyung oppa know about this?” Cindy almost squealed. Now she was a bit worried; would the overprotective Kim Taehyung allow Hamin to work for a good looking bachelor each night if he knew about it?

No he wouldn’t, Cindy shook her head internally.

“He knows I work for a CEO at night,” Hamin nodded. 

“But does he know that CEO is a hot single man?” Cindy asked and Hamin rolled her eyes.

“Stop being so dramatic,” she laughed, “He’s just my boss and client. Being good looking and single has nothing to do with me.”

“Right,” Cindy ended up saying right before Mrs. Kim came out with their food. The girls thanked the lady before digging in. Cindy decided not to push much further about Hamin’s late night job, although being the keen girl she was meant that she would keep in mind the possibilities that can happen between a man and a woman who met up every night. It could be that the CEO Hamin read for wasn’t and wouldn’t be interested in Hamin but in Cindy’s eyes, he would have to either be in love with someone else or gay if he didn’t find Park Hamin cute.

“Hey but if anything happens between you and that CEO,” Cindy began to say in between munches, “you better tell me okay?”

“Nothing’s going to happen but okay mom,” Hamin scoffed as she popped a kim-bap into . Cindy shook her head, “I mean it.”

“Oh so now you’re worried about me?” Hamin raised her eyebrows at her friend who just shrugged, “Yeah I mean I’m worried now that I know that there’s a chance someone might end up getting a heartbreak.”

“Don’t worry. I told you nothing’s going to happen so no one’s getting a heartbreak,” Hamin assured her friend, not knowing that the person Cindy was referring to wasn’t her but...Kim Taehyung.

“Okay okay,” Cindy finally let go of the matter. She didn’t want to jump to any assumptions and if Hamin was certain “nothing was going to happen,” all Cindy could do at the moment was nod along. The two then ate in silence before Hamin opened .

“Hey but what about you? Anything happen with Park Jimin?” 

This time Cindy choked on her food and Hamin immediately poured her a cup of water.

“Sorry. You okay?” Hamin watched her friend drink to stop her coughs.

“Yeah,” Cindy washed down her food before going on, “I haven’t talked to him since that night he took me home.”

“Oh,” Hamin silently nodded. There really wasn’t much she could do except ask and listen to her friend’s sob story because Cindy made it clear that she didn’t want Hamin to ruin her sibling-relationship by helping her out. She wanted to pursue Jimin solely on her own and of course Hamin didn’t argue with that. 

“But don’t worry. It’s not like I expected that him driving me home was going to change anything,” Cindy said with a smile. Hamin nodded again, able to relate with her because even her incident with Taehyung that night didn’t change anything either. The next morning Taehyung seemed to have completely forgotten his behavior and treated Hamin as if nothing happened. At least, that’s what it seemed like to her. And Hamin was fine with that somewhat because at least things weren’t awkward.

But back to Cindy.

“One day he’s going to regret not saying yes to you,” Hamin comforted her friend who looked at her in shock, “You make it sound like I’m going to give up on him, which I’m not.”

“I didn’t say you were,” Hami