All my girls and gentle남자

It's my 10 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

Chapter Four: hoping for better days

Lunch rolled around and you’d gotten a few texts from Jin apologizing and one or two from Jaebeom asking if you were alright and about what happened when he got off the elevator. You hadn’t answered either of them. It was too much. Jackson had come over up to ask how Friday went right as lunch time rolled around and you didn’t say anything to him either. Jasmine was the one left to explain about everything that happened this morning and yesterday and after that even Jackson. The group’s friend who was almost always happy and energetic was down on his mood.

You made it to the cafeteria and Jaebeom was waiting for you, smiling and waving from his table a second tray of food already waiting on you and you felt better about that. He wasn’t making a move to join you at the door just waiting patiently for you to come to him and you did. Walking past a few of the models and Hyeji and her inner circle head held high to go sit by him and try to let all your worries from earlier dissipate. You sat down and bit into the crisp red apple smiling at the fond look he was giving you and the sweet taste. 

“Did I mention earlier that you look beautiful?” He leaned in and whispered.

“Hmm… No, I don't think you did. I remember you calling me beautiful, and saying I looked stunning, but not telling me I looked beautiful.” You commented falling into that easy feeling that you’d had Friday and Saturday when the two of you had gone out by yourselves. The upset from this morning still stung around the edges, but what he’d said on the elevator was right. You had discussed this and you had a plan. None of that involved giving up on Jaebeom just because Seokjin came around. 

“Hey Y/n, JB.” Yugyeom came over from where he had grabbed his lunch and sat down at the table. He was followed shortly after by Sooran and Jinyoung, then Jasmine, Jackson, Youngjae and Mark followed. Finally the rest of you were joined by BamBam who always seemed to take the longest to grab his food, but it didn’t surprise you all that much because he was usually held up talking to Lisa since she sat at one of the other model’s tables close by to the check out counter and vending machines. 

“Hey Bambam, how did that video presentation from this morning go?” You asked, sticking your fork into the salad that had been sitting in front of you.

“It went well. They really liked the track and thought that Lisa was a good choice of model. Thanks for suggesting her. The even said that they want her to be the permanent model for their campaign.” He said taking a bite of his pizza when he was done speaking.

“Hey y/n. Is that a new dress?” One of the models who had been sitting at HyeJi’s table had passed by your table  to go over to where the waste bins were and on her way back seemed to notice the dress you were wearing.

“Oh, yeah, it’s from a new design series I was working on,” you replied.

    “Is there going to be a photo shoot for that series?” She asked curiously.

“Maybe sometime soon. I still have a few more pieces I’m working on and some changes since the advanced copies of the designs were shared I have to change some things.”

“I thought it looked familiar. That’s the dress Hyeji was gushing about. She had a picture of the design sketch on her phone. She said you were making it specially for her. You know, I knew she was lying. If you need a new model for any shoots let me know, okay? By the way congratulations not everyone can leave a catch like Seokjin and land on their feet.” She eyed JB up and down making it obvious what she meant and both of you almost choked on the respective drinks and food you were eating.

“I.. uh...Thanks. If I need a new model I will let you know.” You placated her and tried to recover from her comment and she nodded satisfied that she may have replaced Hyeji as your favorite and that she got something she could hold over Hyeji’s head in the meantime.

“What did she mean by that?” Youngjae asked.

“Probably just that word has traveled about me and Jabeom dating.” You muttered like it was common knowledge and continued to eat.

“Oh okay. Wait when did you two start dating?” Youngjae asked, confused.

“Saturday. We went out for breakfast trying to see if we could really get to know each other after the fun we had Friday, thanks for buying dinner by the way Jackson.” You said.

“Technically we went out for Bingsu Saturday not breakfast.” JB countered. 

“Same thing. After that I helped him dye his hair and we kind of just decided that we’d give this a try.”  You finished.

“And you said we should let them find someone else on their own.” Jackson said smugly and gave a pointed look at Mark who rolled his eyes again. You and Jaebeom gave each other a knowing look. This was actually working. They all seemed to believe you. The pieces were falling into place. 

The rest of lunch was spent with your friends asking you questions about Saturday until you finally told them the story leaving out a few key points of course.

                                            ***Last Saturday Afternoon***

After leaving the Bingsu place the two of you bought the hair dye JB had wanted and went back to his apartment blessedly not running into Jin or anyone else. Jaebeom’s apartment suited him. It was cozy and sort of intimate and looked like it was lived in and loved in the time he’d been here. The door bathroom traveled through his bedroom and it took everything in you to keep from laughing as he scrambled to pick up the mess of laundry lying around and had blushed a little in your direction and apologized. You had tried several different scenarios out in your head for how to go about dying his hair without staining his shirt and finally let out a sigh.

“This is hopeless. Take your shirt off.” You ordered and he got a sly grin on his face.

“I thought we were dying my hair,” he teased.

“I will leave right now and you can call Jackson and explain why you were about to have me dye your hair” 

“I’m just kidding, y/n, please don’t leave me like this.” He grabbed onto the soft denim of the shorts you were wearing. His knuckles brushed the outside of your thigh and your eyes met his for an almost electric moment before you shook your head, made a little uncomfortable coughing noise and went back to mixing the hair dye. 

“I’m... You should... Unless you want your shirt stained I’d suggest either changing or taking it off,” you told him.

“Right, I’ll… I’ll just go change. I have an old t-shirt I use for cleaning. That should be alright. You just keep mixing I guess.” He left the bathroom and went looking through his room for the shirt and you let out a sigh and looked at your reflection in the mirror not meaning to but noticing where JB was standing with his back turned to you as he slipped his shirt he’d been wearing over his head and you found yourself transfixed by the flawless expanse of tan skin revealed as he slid the shirt over his head. His long hair just barely grazed the space between his shoulder blades on his neck and you found yourself imagining what would be like to feel that skin under your fingertips. When he quickly began slipping the new shirt over his head it seemed to snap you out of your daydream and you had shook your head squeaking in panic when you realized your hair had dipped into the pot of hair dye  in your distraction and sat it down scraping it off in a determined fashion with a tissue that you pulled from a nearby box. Jaebeom didn’t even bother to hide his laughter.

“We could have matched.” He said and you swatted at him before tugging him down into the seat and putting gloves on so you could apply the bleach to his hair. Things were quiet while you did this. He watched you as you focused on what you were doing. Your brows knit together and concentration tugged the corners of your mouth down in this cute little frown. He found himself imagining what your reaction would be if he kissed the little creases you had forming there and mentally cursed. The two of you weren’t really dating he couldn’t just take advantage of thoughts like that any time he wanted and you were his friend there should be a line. That did remind him though. He cleared his throat a little and you pulled away satisfied with the work you’d done on the bleach. Now all you both had to do was wait for it to do its job. He tapped your side where you had leaned across and sat the bowl and brush down then you turned to look back at him.

“We should probably decide what our boundaries are for this whole thing.” Jaebeom said.

“What do you mean?” You sat down on the edge of the tub and shifted so the two of you were face to face.

“Like for what would cross the line and be a deal breaker.”

“Oh. Right. No meeting parents or siblings unless it is absolutely unavoidable. The last thing either of us needs is our families getting attached to the idea of us being a thing and getting hurt too.” You said setting a timer on your phone for when to rinse the bleach. 

“Fair enough. Um… no sex. I think that would complicate things.” Jaebeom said.

“Really? You think sex would complicate things. I would never have guessed.” You teased.

“Listen here smart ass.” He chastised you for the comment and you let out a full and jovial laugh tilting your head back and exposing your bare skin at your neck and creating a clear line to the v of your shirt to his eyes. He was starting to already be glad he set that rule, but also beginning to curse himself for it. You were still as beautiful as always, but for some reason even more enticing as the realization sunk in that you were essentially untouchable now due to the rule he’d just put in place.

“Okay um… We should go to every public function that requires a plus one together if it means one of the others will see us.” You said drawing him back to the topic at hand.”

“Does that mean I am driving you to and from work from now on too?” He asked and you nodded. 

“I can give you gas money if you need it, but it would look weird if you let me ride the bus when you have a car.”

“Fair. Um… couples clothes or accessories?” He asked.

“Not unless you think we need to unnecessary money being spent if you ask me.” you replied.

“Not yet. If it gets too hard to keep the ruse up then maybe.” he said thoughtfully.

“Group dates?”

“Probably unavoidable, but only if someone asks.” He answered.

“You just want me to have all my attention focused on you. I should probably borrow some of your clothes too.” You teased then suggested the latter as an afterthought.

“What? Why?” The thought of you in his clothes with your small stature and how his hoodies would probably fall about at the same length as the shorts you were wearing now effectively making you look like you were wearing nothing underneath them was a particular brand of torture he hadn’t even imagined when he had been factoring in things that would complicate your friendship. 

“Wouldn’t it be odd for a girlfriend to not at least have one piece of her boyfriend’s clothes?” You asked.

“Fine but I’ll pick it.” He said.

“Deal.” You agreed.

“Y/n are you sure you still want to-” The timer beeped and interrupted what he was going to say. You pulled the shower hose down and sat on the edge of the tub switching the water to the hose rather than the faucet and gesturing with your free hand for JB to lean back across your lap from his seat on the lid of  the toilet his hair dangled down now a whitish shade of yellow. You were right to buy the toner because you were going to need to take the yellow out after you dried it so that his hair wouldn’t turn green. Not that you really thought he’d mind, but he’d wanted blue and you weren’t going to be the one to ruin it. 

A few more hours passed and his hair was finally a dark blue with his black brown roots poking out of the top. It looked good on him and you smiled and nodded your approval after drying his hair a final time.

“Thanks, y/n. I owe you one.”

“No you don’t this is the least I can do for you helping me with the whole Jin and Hyeji situation.”

“That’s another thing we need to talk about. What are we going to do Monday. Jin is going to see us there.”

“I’m going to avoid him like I’ve been doing I guess.”

“That’s not going to work forever, y/n.”

“Then what do you think I should do?”

“I think if he bothers you, then you should stay by my side. We don’t have to talk to him, but if you stay by me maybe he will probably get the point and at least you will know you have someone there for you.”

“And if that doesn’t work? What if the two of us get in an argument or you two get in a fight?” 

“If he and I get in a fight I can handle it, but if you two argue then when it’s over the two of us will get back together and have a good day and you will act like nothing happened. It will be hard, but he deserves to see you happy without him and so do you if we’re being honest. If at any point you are sad, call my name, do you think you can do that? ” 

“We’re not being honest JB, that’s the whole point of this, but I can try anyway.” 

“Just trust me. We can make this work, Y/n I know it.”

“Okay… well I guess since we’re done with your hair I’ll get going. I need to clean the extra dye off of me anyway.”

                                                   ***Present***

“So you’re telling me that you spent the entire day in his apartment and nothing happened?” Jasmine had been pestering you since the two of you got back from lunch with the others.

“Pretty much,” you replied. You walked over to the different bolts of fabric selected a few and nodded when you were satisfied with the combinations cutting small sample squares from each of them and safety pinning them to the respective designs that they were going to be used for in the look book you had planned for the company’s next runway production. A few of them had more than one layer and you were already discussing with the people who usually did the sewing how you wanted them to work when she caught back up to you.

“You and I have really got to have a chat about seizing opportunities, y/n. You were in his bedroom, for crying out loud. In his shower,” She scolded and you laughed.

“Okay, first off, I wasn’t in his shower. Second, what was I supposed to do just finish dying his hair and have my way with him right there until we were both covered in blue hair dye?” You asked.

“Yes. Yes you were.” She said matter of fact tone and a serious look on her face.

“That is a quality man downstairs and you should take advantage of every inch of him from head to toe.” You laughed again this time for a good solid few minutes and even snorted a few times from how hard you were laughing. She began laughing too and that’s how you knew this entire exchange was just her way of trying to cheer you up. Jasmine was almost as energetic and twice as eccentric as Jackson was and you were grateful to have her as a friend but she definitely had her priorities skewed sometimes. 

“It was only our first real date.”

“No it wasn’t. You had a date Friday.”

“That doesn’t count. You guys set us up.”

“Okay yes we did, but it should still count anyway.” She argued and before you could protest the point further your phone chimed. 

“Is that him?” She asked trying to peek over your shoulder, but you hid the phone away and made some distance between the two of you.

Chapter 3: I’m not okay I promise

You were waiting to hear the painfully familiar buzz when the worst possible thing could have happened. 

“Y/n? What are you doing here? I haven’t seen you since… well anyway I am so sorry you had to find out like that. I told Jin he should have come clean about it and I really hate that…” The buzz cut her off and you rushed inside heading for the elevator only belatedly remembering she had to ride up with you.

“So… what are you doing here?” She asked as we waited for the elevator to go up to the correct floor.

“Meeting Jaebeom.”

“Oh right the runway show is coming up so you must be needing to go over the tracks with him and the client, right?”

“Nope.”

“Then for the new ad campaign? Jin told me that you had a new shoot coming that Jimin had lined up for V. Did you need a female model for that one? My schedule’s empty this week.” She said positive that it had to be business because apparently, in her mind, if Jaebeom hadn’t liked her, there was no possible way he’d want you.

“No. I don’t need a female for that one. It is a men’s shoot for Dazed and JB and I have already finalized the tracks for the Runway show and for that shoot, but thanks for asking.” You managed to keep your voice professional  not wanting to tell her what you were really doing there and grateful that Jin’s apartment was two floors up from JB even if there was a possibility she was going to tell him she had seen you. The elevator doors finally opened and you could swear you heard the hallelujah chorus.

“It was good seeing you Hyeji.” 

“You too y/n. Tell Jaebeom I said hi, okay?”

The doors shut behind you and you scrunched your nose in distaste mimicking her voice. 

“Tell Jaebeom I said hi, O- dear Jesus! Jimin, Hi.” You jumped and slammed your elbow into the wall, hissing in pain and biting down on your lip to keep from cursing, when you realized you weren’t alone in the hallway. 

“Hi, Y/n. You okay?” He nodded in the direction of your elbow which you were rubbing at to sooth the bruising ache away.

“Yeah, fine. How have you been? I haven’t exactly been on the marketing floor since Jin and I… anyway thanks for setting up that photoshoot for Taehyung.”

“No problem. So what are you doing on this floor?” Oh great not him too. You thought.

“I came to visit JB.” 

“Oh. Does Jin know?”

“I’m sure Hyeji will tell him. I rode up with her.”

“You know he didn’t mean to hurt you, right? I mean I know what it looks like and I’m not saying any of this is right, but Jin, he’s not… he’s not a bad guy.”

“Jimin I know that, but that kind of makes it worse. I’m late so I’ll catch you later.” You went down the hall giving a small smile to Yoongi where he was bringing his laundry back into his room and knocked on JB’s door.

“I was beginning to think you got lost,” he joked smiling until he saw the deflated look on your face.

“What happened?” He asked looking around trying to figure out what could’ve made you so sad in the twenty minutes it had taken to get from your apartment to his.

“I ran into Hyeji on the elevator and then Jimin in the hall.”

“Should we have met at your place?”

“No, I am going to have to get used to this. If we are going to be really committing to this thing then I need to be seen with you. By everyone. Half of this is supposed to be proving I’ve moved on too, right?” 

  “Did Jasmine decide she was going to grill you about last night after all?" JB asked you when you pulled out your phone. 

     "Uh... No. It's just work emails. It can wait until Monday. Where did you want to go for breakfast? I know of a great Bingsu place a few stops down from my apartment." He seemed to think about it for a minute. You started to just say forget it and suggest that you two just go to a bakery or a cafe for a normal breakfast when he finally spoke. 

     "Dessert for breakfast, I like it. Let's go."

     It was surprisingly easy being on Jaebeom's arm. He had an easy way about himself that put you at ease too. It helped that he was the type of person who knew how to laugh at himself even in the face of being such a handsome guy. He was the opposite of Seokjin in so many different ways. Seokjin had sometimes seemed too aware of the fact he was beautiful and had needed verbal reassurance of the fact often so his insecurity was kept bay; Jaebeom, despite being reminded through compliments, and Jackson fawning over him in the way only a stylist could, seemed to be oblivious to it or just not care. Hell, he'd recently pierced under his eye only to take it out a few months later because he was bored with the look of it and this morning had been filled with talk of him redying his hair blue now that it had grown out. 

     "Really though if I don't dye the roots do you think it will still look good? Here, have a bite of this." He held a spoonful of Bingsu out so you could try it. 

     "Mmm, oh my god," you mumbled around the mouthful of fruit and shaved ice. The different flavors were a perfect match to one another and completely different to the matcha and chocolate you had chosen.

     "Here, bite." You gave him a spoonful of yours before speaking again. 

     "If you want my honest opinion I think as long as you wear it with confidence anything looks good on you. Even that God awful blonde with the orange bang clip you wore in college. You looked like a banana but a very cute banana. I also think the fact you're dying your own hair is going to drive Jackson and Sooran nuts so I say go for it." 

     He seemed to think about it for a while and after finishing off a strawberry at the bottom of the Bingsu he finally came to a decision. 

"Will you help me after this then?"

"Yeah sure."

      Sunday unlike the day before had been spent alone staring at your phone as it rang and wondering if you should just bite the bullet and answer Jin. Maybe you'd cry. Maybe you'd yell at him and demand for the answers to why or what you weren't sure. Maybe you'd be cruel and make up fallacies about how JB was ten times better in every way so that he could feel the hurt and inadequacy you'd felt this entire time. In the end you'd done none of those things. You chose to cry on your own and stare listlessly at the phone hoping to some God it would just die so you didn't have to hear it anymore. 

     You'd foolishly been drinking in the feeling of being around JB and thought maybe you were getting past the whole Seokjin thing, but when faced with your own thoughts and the reality that two days couldn't mend three years going to waste you just felt stupid... and sad. Why didn't he just give up? Clearly he was still seeing Hyeji. He couldn't honestly think continuously calling was going to do anything. Could he? You were contemplating this when a loud and very insistent knocking rattled your door. 

     "Y/n. Open up please," Jin's voice called despairingly on the other side of the door you didn't answer, but you waited by the door holding your breath and wondering what he'd do.  You watched out of the little peep hole where he paced then raised his arm up like he'd knock again in the end deciding against it and walking away. You slumped down to the floor feeling a familiar friend bump up against the side of your arm. Gureum.

 "I know buddy. He left us both, but we still have each other and we don't need that stinky man. Isn't that right Gureumie." You started cooing at him and he purred loudly nuzzling into the ear scritches and batting at your hand every time you tried to stop petting him. 

     Monday came and your head was pounding when the alarm went off. You groaned rolling out of the bed and shuffling your feet a little to get them to fit into the slippers they’d landed on top of when you stood up. You walked over to the closet and rubbed at your eyes looking through the different colors and styles of clothes wondering which you should wear. Something comfortable and neutral that didn’t really take much thought, or something eye catching that would show everyone that  you were fine. 

     You thought you were past the facades and the lying and that you really were almost fine before yesterday. Something about just having Seokjin at your door and acting like he still loved you was different from all the phone calls and texts in the world. Probably the fact you couldn’t delete a person. Couldn’t ignore a voice that was attached to a person and not a machine. Couldn’t escape the words shouted at you through your apartment door. It was like having the place that was supposed to be a haven away from the outside world turn into a cage that trapped you in all of your insecurities and Jin was the one who locked you in.  Your phone let out a small chime and you hesitated before turning around to grab it letting out a sigh of relief when you saw whose name was lighting up on your lockscreen.

You threw your phone back on the bed and went back to your closet flipping through hangars until your hands landed on a two piece black dress and a wrap asymmetrical blazer combination with ruched 3 / 4 length sleeves and gold button details on the left shoulder and slanting diagonally across the abdomen to seal it closed.  It was one of your newest creations and one you hadn’t shown anyone yet. You slipped the dress on and buttoned the blazer in place pairing it with a pair of black ankle boots with gold buckle accents to match.

True to his word Jaebeom was knocking on your door right at seven and you were fixing your hair and makeup into place. You went to open the door a few moments later and noticed Jasmine loitering around outside talking with him. His back was turned full focus on whatever conversation they’d been having. You hoped it was about work and not about yesterday. You honestly didn’t know if Jasmine even knew about what happened yesterday hopefully she’d been out. 

“-Yeah, no JB I didn’t even know he ca- Wow.” Jasmine stopped mid sentence and JB immediately turned around. For a moment your breath caught in your throat. Jaebeom’s eyes had started from the top of your head roaming all down your body to the sensible boots at the bottom and back up until they met your eyes the two of you stayed like that for a minute. JB looked like he wanted to say something but he also seemed just as speechless as you were.

“New dress?” Jasmine saved you both from the awkward silence. You’d honestly forgotten for a moment she was standing there but you turned to her and smiled, trance broken. 

“Yeah I finished it last month. Been sitting in my closet ever since. I was going to give it to Hye- one of the models, but I think I’m going to keep it.” You gave a slow turn and she whistled and nodded in approval.

“Looks better on you anyway. Right JB?” Jasmine said. 

“What? Oh. Yeah. She looks… I mean you look stunning, Y/n” He said and smiled.

“Aren’t you glad you went on that date Friday now?” Jasmine taunted both of you and you rolled your eyes.

“Shut up. Let’s just get out of here before we’re late for work,” you chastised.

The ride to work was quiet. Music playing over the radio and you lost in your own thoughts about everything, yesterday, this morning, what was going to happen at work when you got there. You may not have shown this exact dress to anyone but Hyeji had seen the design sketches before you’d started on it and mentioned that she’d love to wear it when it was made. Maybe that was why you’d chosen it. You knew she’d wanted the dress and after hearing what JB had to say about everything she’d done you’d decided that being petty in some small way was more than deserved. Maybe, though, you’d worn the dress for the look on Jaebeom’s face when he’d turned around this morning. He’d looked at you like you were the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on. Then he looked at you like he’d give anything for Jasmine to get lost and the two of you to be late for work… extremely late. 

“You ready for this?” JB asked as he pulled the car into his space in the parking deck drawing you out of your thoughts which had strayed to the idea of what the two of you would be doing if you had decided to just let Jasmine go and be late.

“I think so. Are you?” 

Now that it was here you were second guessing if what you and JB had decided on wasn’t completely crazy and if you should just call it off but he scooped your hand in his and kissed the back of it smoothing off the chapstick imprint with his thumb. 

“Come on,” He said letting go of your hand only to come around and open your door. You had to go outside and around to the front of the building to get in and when you got past the revolving door he settled in beside you with an arm over your shoulder like it was perfectly natural to be there. 

“Hey Y/n, JB how was your weekend?” Bambam had walked up and was already carrying a tablet which meant he was about to get to business talk after the pleasantries.

“It was ok. What you got? Ad campaign or something that needs an audio overlay?” you asked, holding your hand out for the tablet.

“Audio.” 

“And that would be you.” You passed the tablet to JB.

“You trying to get rid of me already?” He took it and hit play on the video that Bambam and his team had made and you could already see the gears turning and hear him humming a little of a few different songs. It was incredibly endearing and you could feel yourself smiling as the three of you walked towards the elevator that would take you to your respective floors.

“Y/n!” You looked up from where you were waiting for the doors to open and saw Jin walking in with Jimin, Taehyung and Namjoon.

“I’m just gonna take the stairs.” You started to walk off but JB caught your hand.

“It’s okay. We talked about this, trust me,” He whispered into your ear. He was right. The two of you had talked about it. How it was going to be hard to face Jin and the others today as your hands had washed through his hair and soaked the dye into it. Your fingers were still a little blue around the cuticles but his hair looked great. You thought back to how much fun Friday and Saturday had been and took a deep breath. He promised to stick this out with you. The least you could do now was what you promised. You nodded. 

“Y/n can I talk to you.” 

“Why don’t you go talk to Hyeji instead.” Bambam muttered.

“I’m sorry, is there a problem here?” Jin snapped.

“Yes Seokjin there is.” about that time the elevator dinged and opened up.

“Bambam,” You shook your head and he gave you a look like, ``Are you serious?” and you nodded. Your hand was still being held by JB’s and you had noticed him squeeze it once or twice in solidarity but he hadn’t said anything. He looked like he wanted to though. He looked like he wanted to push Jin out of the elevator to when he’d climbed on. Namjoon was off first as he worked on the accounting floor. Taehyung was off next shooting conflicted looks to both you and Seokjin but he shook his head and let out a sigh before stepping out. Jimin would be riding all the way up with you and  Jin unless Jin kicked him off with JB and BamBam who were going to the media floor. You half thought of getting off with the two of them yourself and making some excuse like the video they were working on was for one of your photo shoots, but you couldn’t do that either. 

When it hit JB and Bambam’s floor Bambam shoved his way out of the back annoyed and looked to JB. 

“I’ll see you in the studio, okay? Deadline is at eleven.”

“I already figured out the track we just need to overlay it so it will be done way before that. I’ll see you at lunch, beautiful.” He turned to face you hooking the elevator door with his foot so it wouldn’t close and kissed you on the cheek. You nodded and reluctantly let go of his hand. As the door shut you could hear Bambam speaking to JB.

“Why didn’t you-” the doors cut the sound off and it stayed quiet for a moment. Jin was the first to break the silence.

“Hyeji told me she saw you at the apartments the other day.” 

“Hyeji should learn to keep out of things.” You replied.

“That’s not fair. The two of you were friends.”

“Were friends Jin. Then she reminded me why you don’t befriend just anyone in this industry.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think I’ll let you ask her.” The elevator door dinged open on your floor and you stepped off. Jin followed grabbing you by the arm.

“Seokjin let me go.”

“No. You have been avoiding me for weeks. We need to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk, Jin. Not yet. Can you please just go now?” You tried to wrench your arm loose, but he still had a grip on it.

“Let her go and go back to your floor right now or I swear I will file workplace harassment.” Jasmine came over followed quickly by Mark, Jungkook and a few of the other staff. Jungkook put a hand on Seokjin’s arm and Jin seemed to visibly blink out of the anger and frustration he had before looking at his hand like it belonged to someone else then up to your eyes.

“Shit, Y/N I’m sorry.” He let go and went to the elevator hitting the button so he could leave.  

“Are you okay?” Jasmine wrapped an arm around your shoulders and tears leaked out of your eyes. Your breathing hitched and you shook your head.

Chapter Two: Blind Date

You were beginning to wonder where everyone was when you noticed Jaebeom sitting at a table very obviously set for two people by the window overlooking the Han River and the lit up city surrounding it. He was dressed in one of his nicer suits and his hair swept back and styled over the undercut in a way that sharpened his features and made his piercings stand out. He looked handsome and suddenly you were glad you’d taken the time to put on the dress instead of your usual slacks and solid color blouse get up.

“Hey. Why are you sitting here?” You asked an obvious confusion lilting into your voice as you got closer to him. He blinked a moment like he hadn’t recognized you at first but recovered quickly, stood and pulled out your chair for you. You sat down thanking him and smoothing out your skirt from the creases the movement caused.

“No clue. Told her the reservation would be under Jackson’s name and she brought me here.” 

“Oh. Well did you try calling Jackson or the others? What about Jinyoung or Youngjae. Jasmine and Sooran were giving me fits about being late so I didn’t have time to make sure we were at the right place. I’m sorry.” 

“I tried calling Youngjae and Jinyoung. There wasn’t an answer and I thought maybe there was a mistake about the table, but none of the others are even here.”

“Okay. Well...I’ll text Jackson and figure out what’s going on.”

“They set us up.”

“They what?” Jaebum was looking at you like you’d spoken a foreign language.

“This. The restaurant, the clothes, your hair. It’s a date. I can’t believe this,” you scoffed.

“I can. It’s Jackson,” Jaebeom replied. He was starting to smile and you pointed at him.

“Don’t you dare laugh. This is so n-not funny.” Even as you said it you were beginning to giggle. It wasn’t funny, no, but it was incredibly absurd. Jackson did stuff like this all the time but for the others to agree to this too was just crazy. The two of you were laughing for a good while only sobering when the waitress came over to take your orders. You told her what food you wanted and looked back at Jaebeom who was wiping at his eyes and trying to catch his breath.

“So now what? I mean we obviously can’t let them get away with this.” You mused out loud even though you weren’t necessarily expecting an answer. 

 “We could pretend that it worked.” JB said.

“What do you mean?” You asked propping up on one elbow and turning your full focus to him.

“I mean. We could pretend to hit it off. Then after a couple weeks start arguing like we hate each other until we have this big break up. It could work. We get revenge on Jackson. I get to hang out with a good friend and go to nice places. You get to show your stupid ex and Hyeji up. Sound’s good from where I’m sitting.” 

"That implies that I care about Jin and Hyeji enough to want to show them up, which I don't, besides what would they care about us dating?"

"Well considering she tried to hit on me first and I turned her down flat and it was only after that she started to cozy up to you and Jin…"

"Wait what?!"

"Yeah. You know she was new here. She was looking for friends that could help her out in the industry and I suggested you and Jin. I mean I would have suggested Mark, but he mostly designs men’s clothes and couple outfits, so I suggested you and since Jin and Jimin are our marketing guys I knew she’d have to talk to one of them, but Jimin was on vacation at the time so I suggested she talk to Jin too. Then she asked me if I knew anyone that could help her personally and kind of made it obvious what she meant and I turned her down flat. I guess after that she asked Jin for the same advice and he told her what she wanted to hear. I’m sorry y/n if I’d known that she was going to do that I would never have sent her your way.”

You were spiraling. You knew that. The idea that Hyeji had planned all of this from the beginning. She’d been your friend. The two of you had gone out, shared secrets, you’d even made sure that she got into some of your best designs and into more than one of the runway shows because you’d thought you were doing her a favor by helping her get a foot in the door. Really you’d just done exactly what she’d wanted. Aside from you she now knew the best of everyone in your connections and probably in Seokjin’s too. 

“I’m so stupid.” 

“What?”

“You heard me. I thought I was helping a friend out and this entire time I gave her everything she needed to double cross me. Hell I might as well have just let her and Jin borrow my bed.” Hot tears rolled down your cheeks, not out of sadness, but out of anger. 

“You aren’t stupid. If anyone, it is Seokjin. He gave up on someone like you for someone just like everyone else in this industry. Now stop crying before someone thinks I’m the biggest jerk here and say you’ll go out with me just so we can break up in a couple weeks and teach our friends a lesson.” He wiped at the tear tracks and teased earning a small and slightly exasperated titter of a laugh from you.

“We have got to work on your sales pitch,” you laughed a little harder at the affronted look on his face and more still when he replied.

“It worked. Why should I fix what isn’t broken?”

“Point made, so, what are we going to tell the team on Monday?”

“Why don’t we just get through dinner first? If we get along well enough here without being awkward then we can make it anywhere else. Food.” He said and the two of you shifted so that the waitress could easily put your plates down. 

The first few minutes were quiet as you two ate and thought about what you’d just agreed to do. You were also still hanging up on all the lies that Hyeji had told you and possibly told Jin too to get where she was now with him on her arm at all the appropriate events and you behind the curtains once again with your emergency sewing kit and a broken heart that you couldn’t quite seem to get stitched back together.

“Cats or dogs?” He asked.

“Huh? Oh cats. I have a little ocicat that I adopted in a shelter I volunteer at. He was a runt so he was the last of the litter and they’d been separated too soon from their mom so everyone, but me, thought he wasn’t going to make it. I said I would take care of him and here we are,” you told him smiling after you finished the last bite of your food. You sat your fork down moving the plate so the waitress could access it and pulled out your phone to show a picture of you with a kitten who had his paw extended trying to swat at your phone so it was obscuring a third of the photo.

“He’s adorable. What’s his name?” 

“Gureum”

“Well I suppose his fur does look like rain clouds.” 

“What about you?”

“Cats. I have three. Nora, Kunta and Odd are their names.” 

“That explains the scratches.” You muttered not really intending for him to hear it, but since the two of you were in a more intimate setting than usual he did.

“I thought no one noticed.” He twisted his hands in the light where you could see a few white scars and some raised pink areas along with a few red scabbed lines. To anyone else they probably would go unnoticed, but you had similar ones on your own hands you’d just covered them with a bit of concealer. 

The night went on until you were sure there wasn’t much left you could learn about JB that you didn’t already know either from what you’d learned as his friend before or what you’d come to learn tonight. It amazed you also that you had never really realized how funny and extroverted he was up until now.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, but we will be closing soon.” A busser came up to you for his part really looking apologetic to be breaking your night up. Apparently being one of the only few staff left on shift for the night, your waitress long gone after serving dessert and making sure you didn’t need anything else having told you that Jackson had put the meal on a tab for the two of you.  

“Thank you. It’s late anyway. I’m not worried about Gureum, Jasmine would have fed him for me. She lives across the hall, but I am worried about whether she waited up.” you said laughing. If you knew your friend she’d probably done that and invited Sooran over to join in.

“I’ll take you home anyway. The busses stopped running for this district an hour ago and I’d rather know you’re safe than have to guess at it.”

“You just want to go ahead and get our prank started.”

“Or maybe I had fun and want to spend more time with you?” He countered.

You flushed a little feeling your ears get warm and tossed your straw paper at him. He really could be charming and it had felt nice to just have someone to talk to like this.

“I’m going to take the silence as a yes. Don’t forget your coat.” He stood and came around to put it on your shoulders and guide you out of the door over to the valet station to get the car brought around. A slate colored Hyundai Sonata was pulled around, not the newest model but a fairly recent one and you nodded. It suited him. It was a very chic car and you couldn’t help but wonder once again why you’d never bought a car of your own but it hadn’t really mattered considering the proximity that your apartment building was to the transit and bus lines and that you were practically in walking distance of all your favorite places and people aside from that. 

“This is where you live? I live in the building three streets over.” He laughed when you directed him to a parking deck and swiped your resident card to get in.

“Isn’t that the building where Jinyoung, Sooran, Mark and Jackson live?” you asked, trying to think of the apartments in that direction.

“Nah, Youngjae, Yugyeom and BamBam live in that one with them. I have been trying to get in there, but for now I still live in the same building as Seokjin, Yoongi and Jimin. Made things a bit awkward since Jimin sided with Jin...” That was right, she'd seen him once on the way to Jin’s place when they’d accidentally gotten off on the wrong floor made enough rukus for JB to poke his head out of his room and Jimin and Yoongi had lived right next door on either side with their orange and mint fluffs of disheveled hair popping out of their doors too. She’d forgotten since she never really had stopped by for anyone, but Jin before. Small world.

“I can’t say I blame him. Jimin and Jin went to college together along with several of our other employees, some of our models, and a few of our accounting reps are in that group. Namjoon, Yoongi, and V were really the only ones who really seemed sorry to hear about it but V hasn’t really liked her since she got here, and Yoongi is down there with you most of the time so he interacts more with me than Jin, even though he is on a different team. In fact most of the models haven’t really gotten along with her since Ceo Yoo had her hired on, and it’s strange since Jungkook likes everyone, just about.” The two of you had talked all the way up to your door and just like you thought before you could get the key turned in the knob it opened.

“Where have you two been?” Jasmine said getting a knowing look on her face eyeballing the dress you’d worn and the suit JB was in. She looked a little like she was trying to inspect you to see if there were any signs things had gone really really well and you rolled your eyes a little. Sooran poked her head out behind Jasmine a little later holding Gureum in her arms who was purring away and squinting his eyes in that happy way of his… traitor. Both yours and Jabeom’s outfits were a little crumpled from how long the two of you had sat at the restaurant and the car ride, but not in any more of a disarray than was socially acceptable. 

“I gave you that key so that you could feed my cat not so that you could spy on me. I will take away your best friend privileges. Out. You too, Sooran, out and give me back my cat.” You ordered a smile still playing at your lips. They bowed their heads looking some mocking version of pouty and ashamed as they went over to Jasmine’s door which you noticed remained cracked open even though they’d gone in.

“I thought you were joking when you told me she’d wait up,” Jaebeom had somehow inherited the responsibility of Gureum, but he didn’t seem to mind that fact as he scratched at the cat’s head behind his ears.

“Nope. You can sit him down. He’ll just walk back into the apartment when I do,” you told him.

“So is this your way of telling me you’ll see me Monday?” He asked.

“How about tomorrow instead?”

“Tomorrow’s good. Should I pick you up? Or do you want to meet me down at my building and go from there?” 

“I’ll meet you. Ten okay?”

“Sounds good to me.”

Chapter One: Friday Nights

If there was one thing everyone could count on it was Jackson Wang’s ability to be a hopeless romantic, but even this was a bit far fetched. 

“I’m just saying guys Y/n is single, JB is single, which really is a crime against humanity, but anyway maybe we should set them up.” Jackson was speaking in a hushed conspiratorial tone even though it wasn’t likely that either you or Jaebeom could even hear him over the music and across the barbecue restaurant where you were grabbing everyone’s drinks and trying to get a waiter to bring the usual Friday night menu for the team or at least give you the dishes so you could carry them back over.

“Y/n just broke up with Jin. Do you really think it’s fair to force her into dating before she’s ready?” Mark asked.

“Seokjin was a narcissist and didn’t care about her. Maybe Jacks is right and we should try and get her with someone better.” BamBam piped up. 

“You’re drunk Bammie so maybe you shouldn’t be making decisions for anyone. Jackson, do you have to try and set everyone up? Maybe it’s best to leave the two of them alone. They’ll find someone when they’re ready,” Sooran chided the two men drinking down the last of her beer.

“I am not.” Bambam protested followed by a fit of hiccups that belied his protests. 

“It worked out for you and Jinyoung didn’t it?” Jasmine rebutted teasingly. It was true though Jackson had been the one to introduce Jinyoung to Sooran the first day he’d been on the job, over two years ago, and at first they worked well together, then they started getting along well together, and one day they were just together. 

“Point proven,” Jinyoung chimed from where he was before lifting Sooran’s hand and leaving a light kiss on her knuckles. BamBam, Jasmine and Youngjae started cheering and cooing at the two of them while Jackson got this self satisfied expression crossing his arms and Mark and Yugyeom just rolled their eyes. 

“So it’s settled. Next Friday meet up they’ll be here we won’t. Deal? Yugyeom go help Y/n with that.” Jackson gestured to where you were carrying a serving tray full of meat and sides and all the talk of setting anyone up on dates died down.

“Why don’t you just ask her to marry you already, you sap?” Your voice carried over everyone to Jinyoung where he was looking at Sooran like she had hung the moon. They all separated when you arrived at the table, reaching up trying to help you with the food and help JB with his drink haul. The waitstaff here were used to your team doing this. Friday nights at the beginning and end of the month were the team’s night to meet up and discuss work and the new designs as well as the next scheduled plans.

“As always our lead designer comes up with a brilliant idea.” Jackson joked. You blushed a little sitting down and Jaebeom let out a slight chuckle.

“Hey!” Mark protested the ‘lead designer’ comment throwing a piece of dried squid at Jackson and everyone burst into laughter.

“What? It is a brilliant idea. Besides, I’ve got it all planned out.” Jackson popped the food in his mouth and grinned.

“Of course you do.” all of them groaned. 

“Is this really all you guys talked about while we were up?” JB asked.

“Actually…” Bambam started and Jasmine cut him off.

“Yeah pretty much. We just talked about romance. Boring stuff.” She waved a hand and gave the drunken video tech a look like he was the biggest idiot in the galaxy which he didn’t seem to notice or mind.

“You guys don’t have to do that you know.” You said mood darkening from the earlier laughter.

“Do what?” Jasmine asked.

“Pretend like you don’t know about me and Jin. I’m okay I promise.” You said.

“Oh Y/n, that’s not… Yeah, we found out about what Hyeji did. Don’t worry about her we have officially frozen her out and Jackson transferred her to another team so that she wouldn’t be an issue. If we can do anything...” Youngjae wasn’t good with dealing with sad topics so he was a little fumbly, but it was still sweet of him to tell you all of this anyway and you appreciated it.

“No thanks Jae. I appreciate it. Really guys I don’t know what I’d do without you but what you can do for me right now is to cook the food and tell me what the plan is for next month. I’m starving and I don’t want to think about Jin or that woman when we can do something productive and put the dream team at the top of the fashion scene once again.” You said trying to lighten the mood by lifting your soju glass and getting everyone to move past the story of your break up.

“I’ll drink to that.” Jackson said and everyone followed suit raising their glasses into a salute before taking a drink. 

It was Thursday now and you had been ‘doing just fine’ for almost two weeks since that Friday and almost a month since the day you and Jin had broken up. In spite of what BamBam and some of the others thought Jin wasn’t a horrible person. Yeah he was a bit full of himself, but he had treated you well up until you’d introduced him to that model at one of the company’s charity functions. It started small from there, other charity functions and she’d gotten closer to the two of you. Then it went from being close with you to just being close with Jin at those functions and outside. Then it was “don’t worry about it y/n any model worth her salt would want to get to know the head of marketing for the most prestigious fashion company in the country. It’s just business”, “I’m sure he’s just finalizing a new deal on an ad campaign I’ll tell him to give you a call”, and then finally the day came when you stopped by to surprise him in his office with dinner because you both were working late because of the most recent magazine deal the company had made. You’d walked in to find him with her in his arms and instead you’d been the one to be surprised. It had taken everything you had not to put her career on ice, but you’d done it. You walked away and hadn’t looked back. Jin, however, had called every day since and left messages apologizing and begging you to pick up. He’d even gone as far as trying to get on the design floor a couple times but you’d made sure each time that one of the guys had intercepted him and put your headphones in so you didn’t hear him calling for you. Funny how that worked out, wasn’t it?

“Hey Y/n don’t forget about Friday okay? If you don’t mind when you go down there can you remind JB too?” Jackson asked, drawing you out of your bitter memories. You nodded and finished locking up for the night. You did have a little extra to do, but it wasn’t on the design floor so there was no need to leave it open.

“Yeah, sure thing, I’ll let him know. I was going to have to head that way anyway. We have a runway show coming up next week and I need to check on the tracks for that.” 

“That’s our girl always ahead of the curve. See you tomorrow.” Jackson waved a hand over his shoulder at you before heading out the door that led to the elevators. That’s my girl… Jin’s voice and the barest memory of being kissed on the top of your head made your eyes prick. Like he was summoned by the memory your cell phone rang again. 

MISSED CALLS 23

You opened your phone cleared your notifications and texted JB.

I’m back. will be working on some new things. Sorry for the extended hiatus

The detective had just left the precinct headed to the local coffee shop to grab breakfast for him and his partner. He would never understand why he just couldn’t just get his own damned coffee before coming in. It wasn’t like the kid was hurting for money and of the two of them he was still the rookie. If anyone should be grabbing the coffee for him and half the homicide division it should be the kid. Honestly he still wasn’t sure how the boy managed to land the promotion to Homicide from being a simple beat cop for less than six months. There were rumors he had family in politics but as far as the detective could tell that’s all they were was rumors.It didn’t matter anyway as long as he did his job and didn’t get in his way on this case. Multiple execution style homicides seemingly targeting crooked political figures. The more he had worked on this case the more he wanted to bring the culprits to justice. No one deserved to play executioner as they saw fit. The law wasn’t always effective but it still held the world together. No matter how noble a cause stepping outside of it was wrong. Executing people for money no matter how crooked they were wasn’t justice. It was just murder. 

He was drawn from his thoughts when a flash of sunlight reflected from the top of a nearby rooftop. There wasn’t anything up there. Shit! How could I have been so stupid? He mentally berated himself and ducked into the shop apologizing to the multiple complaining customers. 

“Wonsik you can’t shoot him. He’s just doing his job trying to track us down.” Hakyeon walked up behind him crossing his arms and wearing an amused smirk. 

“He’s getting to close Hakyeon. You heard what the president said. If we get caught then we go down. He won’t leave any one of us alive. The public can’t know about us. We’re a ghost squad for a reason. Suicide Squad would have been a better name if you ask me. Fuck! He must have spotted me.” Wonsik grumbled situating himself into a better position and dismantling his rifle.

“That’s sloppy even for you Ravi.” Hakyeon teased giggling triumphantly. 

“You know good and damned well that if you had been even a minute later he’d have a bullet in his head.” Wonsik said closing the rifle case. 

“And you know good and damned well the consequence for executing a civilian. Or do I need to remind you what happened to the last operative who ignored our orders?”

   “Well I guess it can’t get any worse.” You gave a wistful smile to the old lady at the bus stop before lifting your too small purse over your head and darting out into the rain. You were already late for work as it was so what did it matter if you showed up rain soaked as long as you made it. This hadn’t been the best week. Your bank account was in the negative, the car needed new brakes so you’d opted for the bus that never showed on time, and now it was pouring down rain, but you were determined. Today would be the day things changed. Something had to give. You just knew it. Today would be better.

“You’re late,” your boss said simply with a strong air of disdain when you came skidding to a halt in front of her office, “and you are dripping on my floor. Do you realize the danger that water causes for everyone else in the office? You should be more considerate.” She hadn’t needed to tack that part on, but you’d expected it anyway. 

“I am sorry ma’am. I couldn’t take the car this morning, and the bus was late, and it just started rai-” You rushed and brushed your wet hair out of your face trying to get your appearance into some semblance of an order.

“Did I ask for excuses?” She crossed her arms and raised a sharply shaped brow in your direction.

“I wasn-” You started to protest but her brow raised higher with every syllable and you stopped talking with a defeated sigh.

“I understand ma’am. It won’t happen again.” You conceded and walked past her to clock in for your shift. 

“Oh and y/n?” Your boss stopped in her tracks and turned quick on a Louboutin clad heel to look at you. 

“Yes ma’am?” You froze and turned to her along with everyone else in your office.

“See me in my office at two this afternoon. Preferably dry and on time if that isn’t too much to ask.” She gave a cold smirk and you knew.  You looked around to the coworkers you had made friends with, but all of a sudden they were too busy to look at you. Everyone knew what it meant for her to see someone in the office. It was something they all dreaded and of course your life couldn’t give you one break after everything else. Three months of letting this job bleed you dry and now it was all over.  

“Yes ma’am.” You bowed to her then continued on to the photo editing station where you worked.

“So she fired you?!” -Bang- It was hard to hear your brother over the ear protection in your ears. Even harder when you started firing at the target down the lane. 

“Yep.” You answered curtly then exhaled. -Bang-  Another shot fired. By now you should only have three left. You chambered another round and were getting ready to shoot when a shorter but well built man with brown hair and his own gun came up to you and your brother. Your brother stepped in between him and you and crossed his arms.

“Its our lane Jackson. What do you want?”  Your brother asked. 

“Cute Binnie real cute. I need to test my gun it was locking up last time. Hey why don’t you let me have the lane. Pretty girls like her shouldn’t play with guns anyway. They aren’t toys.”  He said in kind of an annoyed whine. For him to look like he did you hadn’t expected such a childish reaction. -Bang! Bang! Bang- You fired the last three rounds one right after the other before removing the empty magazine, sitting the weapon in a defensive position on the counter top, and retrieving your target from the rack. 

“First off I’m not Hongbin’s girl, I’m his sister, and second,” you shoved the target at Jackson’s chest then moved past him. He paled when he saw that each shot grouped around dead center and looked back at your brother who just started to laugh.

“No one said I was playing.” You finished then walked out with a triumphant smile on your face. Jackson was still floundering for something to say, but coming up empty.  “Why isn’t she a cop?” Jackson finally snapped out if his daze when the door slammed shut behind you.