10-- Saja

Who Are You?

"Where are we going?" I ask Jongin for what must be the hundredth time.

"Somewhere." Is the only reply I get.

"Somewhere? What a place. I feel so enlightened." Sarcasm coats each word, but Jongin only laughs at me as he passes by.

Before we leave the apartment, he tugs me over to the mirror and stands behind me. As soon as my body registers his close proximity, I feel a tingle in my arms and I clear my throat. I look at us both in the mirror and Jongin does the same. He's only a few inches taller then me but his shoulders are way broader then mine. His hair is brown and messy and a few shades lighter then my own, which hangs down to just above my waist.  Both our eyes are brown but where mine are wide, his are almond shaped and have so much more depth and emotion

Jongin reaches up and places the small pouch I always carry over my head, lifting up any of my hair that's trapped under the strap.

"Ready." He smiles in the mirror. He places his hands on my shoulder and his eyes soften. "Everything's going to be okay you know. I have a plan."

"Should I be worried?" I raise an eyebrow. Jongin's eyes widen,

"Worried? Why would you be worried, have I ever given you a reason to worry?"

There's a twinkle in his eyes and the air of laughter over his lips.

I am definitely worried.

"Come on," Jongin clenches my shoulder once and then let's go. "We don't want to keep them waiting!"

"Keep who waiting?" I'm instantly alert, "The boys? Are we meeting them?"

Jongin considers my question for a moment. He almost seems on the verge of laughter before he casually replies:

"I guess you could say that."

"Then what else can you say," I cross my arms and give him my best stern glare, "Yah Kim Jongin what are you planning? Tell me!"

He sighs heavily and rolls his eyes.

"Why are you so suspicious? Do you think I'm going to lead you to your death or something? Just relax and wait and see!"

I bite my lip and nod. It's not his fault that I'm so uptight. My parents always said to me 'Make sure you know exactly where you're going at all times.' It's dangerous to blindly follow someone they told me, you never know what the destination could be. But the friendly clear look in Jongin's eyes isn't the look of someone wanting to harm me.

And he saved me.

Lighten up Ara.

I put a bright smile on my face,

"Okay come on then, let's get going. This surprise better be good!"

"Your changes in mood are pretty scary," He laughs. We step outside the door and he locks it. “Is there anything you need from there?” He nudges his head towards my apartment door but I shake my head quickly. I know I’m going to have to go in there some time but I’m not ready for that some time to be now.

As we jog down the stairs, I become aware of a drilling sound vibrating through the space. Jongin clicks his fingers,

“Ah yes I forgot to tell you. I called the landlord this morning and he’s come to give us a new door system.” He says.

“Door system?”

“So instead of using a key to open the door, he’s fitting in a key pad where we can put in a code that we’ll change every week. That way it will be safer.” He grins.

“Thanks,” I say quietly. I’m touched that he went to the trouble of calling our landlord and as we enter out into the street, the landlord puts down his drill and grabs my hands.

“I’m so sorry to hear what happened to you!” He says. He has fluffy brown hair and is short and squat. His eyebrows draw up in concern at the cuts and bruises on my face. “Don’t worry I’m making the apartments even more safe. And I’ll call you in the week about changing the locks your door.”

“Thanks ahjussi,” I smile and pat his hand, “Don’t worry I’m fine now and thank you for coming out so early to change our door system.”

“Of course! I need my tenants to be safe. I really couldn’t believe when young Jongin here rang me, I said to my wife-”

“Thanks ahjussi,” Jongin says, gently steering us away. “We’ll be going now,”

“Oh… oh yeah yeah, I imagine you young people are busy! Take care of yourselves!” He calls after us.

We duck under the chain link fence and walk over to the bus stop. Jongin stuffs his hands in his pockets and peers at the timetable.

“I can never get the hang of these things,” He mumbles. He stands back and leans out to look down the street and then turns back to the timetable. “I think we get this bus,” He points to the screen and then brings the finger to poke at his bottom lip, unsure. I’ve noticed he has that habit of touching his lips when he’s unsure, just like I’ve noticed how his lips pucker and he blinks a lot when trying to work something out.

“Such a cutie pie!” I joke, flicking his cheek. A faint tinge of pink spreads across his cheek bones,

“I’m not really good with the bus system,” He fiddles with the straps on his back pack. I think insecure Jongin is making an appearance again.

“That’s okay,” I smile and sit down on the seats. “Even though be thankful you don’t live in London.”

“How comes?” Jongin sits down next to me.

“My Aunty says that the subway system is insane. All these different coloured lines are meant to represent a different train line, but in actual fact it just looks like someone through loads of multi-coloured ribbons down on a piece of paper and was like “Hey here’s your subway map!”

Jongin laughs,

“I guess it must be easier if you live there though.”

“I guess so,” I turn to him, “So do you have any relatives living abroad?”

Jongin looks down and plays with his fingers.

“Yeah, my sister lives in Japan.” He mumbles.

“Is she your only sister?” I press. I’m curious as to why he suddenly seems to have shrunk in on himself.

“No I have two sisters. One’s five years older than me and the other is nine years my senior.”

“So you’re the baby of the family, baby Jongin,” I tease, pushing his shoulder. “Do your parents spoil you?”

For a while I wonder if he’s even heard me. He just keeps looking down at his fingers, nibbling on his bottom lip, hair falling softly in his eyes. Then he softly shakes his head.

“No,” He whispers, “No they don’t.”

Suddenly he stands up and walks to the edge of the pavement and glances down the street to see the on-coming bus. When he turns back, the smile is on his lips again,

“The bus is here!”

I get up, still eying him uncertainly. His replies have definitely made me more curious and it’s made me realise I don’t know that much about him. I’m reluctant to push for answers however; I can see it’s a touchy subject.

And I don’t want to do anything that could take the sunny smile of his face.

The bus journey takes about forty minutes but it flies by. We play games on the bus like rock paper scissors and eye spy. Eye spy is the best as Jongin tries to guess what I’ve spied, his eyes widening when he thinks I’ve got it and then the look of devastation when it’s the wrong answer.

Finally we step off the bus. The weather is quite bright for the middle of autumn and I sigh happily before turning to look expectantly towards Jongin. He’s peering around the street and then his expression clears.

“Down here,”

We set off down the street. It’s still quite early in the morning and as it is a Sunday, the streets aren’t too busy. Street stalls selling snacks line the pavement and I spy couples sitting down at the plastic chairs, eating and laughing together. It makes me wonder if people think that me and Jongin are a couple since we’re both young and walking together.

This is unlikely. It doesn’t even look like we’re walking together since I have to run to catch up to him every few steps. By the time we arrive outside of the place, I have to catch my breath.

“A café?” I ask.

“Yep,” Jongin claps his hands.

“Please don’t tell me we came all this way for a café.” I say. My fears are confirmed when I see his shining eyes.

“You don’t even understand Ara,” He says reverently. “This place does the best breakfast in the whole of Korea- no no in fact in the whole world.”

“We travelled 40 minutes to have breakfast?”

“That’s how good it is,”

I stare at him, waiting to see if he’s joking, but he’s really not. He looks like a happy kid, his eyes shining at the promise of good food. I shrug.

“Alright then let’s eat,”

 

We leave the café an hour or two later.

“I feel like one of those stuffed dumplings we ate,” I groan, clutching my stomach.

“I told you so, I told you there food is amazing.” Jongin grins smugly.

“How’d you know about this place?” It suddenly clicks, “This is where you used to live isn’t it.”

He smiles softly, nodding.

“Not directly here, but roundabouts.”

“So where’s your house?”

He gestures to the right.

“Down there somewhere,” He says vaguely.

“Do you miss living round here?” I ask as we get on the bus.

“Kind of, I mean I grew up in this neighbourhood so I have found memories of it! But it’s not like I moved from Japan to Korea or something like that. Like I still live in Seoul,” He shrugs, “So I can’t really complain.”

The journey back is quieter then the journey there; the food makes us too lazy to talk much. I don’t really mind that we went on such a trek just for breakfast; I enjoyed spending time with him and finding out, albeit a little, about his back ground.

When we get back to our block of apartments, the ahjussi’s still there, but he’s on the phone so we manage to avoid another conversation. We bow as we pass him before jogging up the stairs.

As we get to the hallway, I remember something.

“Hey Jongin, you know before when you said ‘we don’t want to keep them waiting,’ what did you mean?”

“Ah yes about that-” Jognin begins but a sound cuts him off.

A strange sound.

A sound that sounds almost like,

“Barking?” I say in disbelief. “Is that barking I can hear? Can you hear it?”

Jongin looks like he’s struggling not to laugh. I hear the barking again but this time it sounds like it’s coming from my apartment.

“Is that a dog? Is there a dog in my apartment?”

“Open the door and check,” Jongin shrugs.

Confused beyond belief, I open the door to my apartment and cautiously step inside.

A furry white ball launches itself at me, pattering around my feet excitedly.

“A dog?” I gasp. Bending down, I lift him into my arms, where he nestles comfortably, still sniffing. His white fur is soft and his warm body feels lovely and comfortable. Around his neck is a small cardboard notice and I adjust him so I can read it.

 

My name is Saja and I am reporting for duty to protect my owner Ara. Now that I’m here, no one will ever be able to hurt you again; as I will be able to protect you (my furry looks can be deceiving; I’m actually a warrior dog). Please take care of me and look after me so I can look after you! ^.^

“Did you do this?” I turn towards Jongin, who’s leaning against the doorway, an amused smile on his face. He shrugs again. Suddenly everything starts clicking into place. “He wasn’t here when we left. That means someone dropped him over. That’s why we went on a…”

“40 minute journey,” Jongin pushes himself off the wall, “I needed to give Chanyeol time to drop him over and I knew you would hear him if we stayed home.”

“You did this for me?” I whisper. Saja my cheek almost as if he can sense the tears behind my eyes.

“Of course,” Jongin whispers. He tilts my head to look up at him and places his hands on my shoulders. “I just thought it would be a right step in the direction of making you feel safe in here again. I know it’s not much but…but if something happened at least Saja’s barking would be able to alert someone or he could run out the door or he could bite them, or I don’t know just something.

I nestle my face into Saja’s fur, holding him tight.

How can someone be so sweet?

“Also,” I hear Jongin say quietly. I feel his hand my hair. “I did it for myself. I can’t see you hurt like that again.”

--------------

A/N: Saja means Lion in korean by the way ^^ Thanks for reading and commenting and upvoting I really appriciate it

BUT THE REAL REASON THERE'S AN A/N IS BECUASE GROWL HAS BEEN RELEASED

IT.IS.PERFECTION.

GO WATCH IT!

Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!
Jeojadu
10/07/14 In the process of writing the next update! Don't worry guys I will be back soon

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
katieboice
#1
Chapter 45: it’s been yrs and I come back to this site for this story sometimes HAHA I loved this sm yrs ago and I still love it now hahahha
shipwreckedeva
#2
Chapter 5: He's so caring jsnsk
shipwreckedeva
#3
Chapter 4: Lol up all nite
shipwreckedeva
#4
Chapter 3: Naurrrr theyre flirting to each other
shipwreckedeva
#5
Chapter 2: Lmao these two
shipwreckedeva
#6
Chapter 1: Oh cmon man its only 1st meeting yet u already screwed her up
shipwreckedeva
#7
Yassshhh baek sumin ma it gal
brigitapw
#8
I really hope i could finish this story somedayy:(
justmydailyrant #9
I am still hanging around waiting for this story to be updated some day
exospirit93 #10
Chapter 44: I think I’ve read this last chapter about a hundred times. It’s THAT good. Your writing and your words are so so so good at making the reader feel every emotion so vividly T_T I know this was last updated years ago and whether you finish this story ultimately is really up to you but I sincerely hope you never stop writing. You are seriously so talented!!