For Love's Sake || Jeno

05: Our worst fears

When Naeun was five or six years old, she remembered waiting for her mom in the school's playground to pick her up. On a warm summer day, Donghyuck and she were playing on a slide when a man approached them. "Hey, kid," he had addressed Naeun. She was sitting on the base of the slide, looking up at the tall figure.

She did not remember what the man had looked like but she remembered his words. "Your father asked me to pick you up from school. Let's go." Upon hearing that, Naeun stood up to follow the man until Donghyuck stopped her.

"Wait," he addressed the stranger. "Call her father first." The man looked at the two of them then at the horde of students and parents around, then he left. Afterward, Donghyuck had called her 'stupid' and told her not to trust strangers so easily. That's how she had become friends with Donghyuck.

Every time she thought about the incident, she felt stupid and afraid. She could have been kidnapped if it wasn't for Donghyuck. And she was feeling stupid and afraid at the moment too, riding a bike with Jeno who was practically a stranger and dangerous besides. He could kidnap her and sell her kidneys and she would be powerless against him. She supposed she trusted him after he saved her that one night.

The lunch with him and her friends that she had been dreading went better than she expected. Her friends took a liking to Jeno who was all easy smiles and courtesy. If he did kidnap her, no one would ever suspect him.

His bike came to a stop some distance away from The Seventh Sense. She quickly hopped off and took off the helmet. Earlier, Jeno had offered to give her a ride since he had an errand to run in the vicinity. She returned his helmet and thanked him.

Jeno pulled the visor of his helmet up before asking, "where did you put the things I gave you?"

Naeun patted her bag, "right here."

"Don't put them there. Put them where they're accessible, like your pockets," he commanded.

"Of course," she replied, rolling her eyes. "I was going to do that anyway." From the corner of her eye, she detected movement in the alley, but when she whipped her head in that direction it was only a stray cat. Still, she could not bring herself to feel relieved. She could have sworn she saw a larger shape.

"What's wrong?" Jeno's voice pulled her back to face him.

"Oh, it's nothing." She unzipped her bag and pulled the weapons out, and placed them in the pockets of her blazer. Jeno nodded and snapped the visor back on and the two went their separate ways.

It had been three weeks since Naeun started working at The Seventh Sense. The month was almost at an end and Naeun was a bundle of nerves. Every time she came home late she was afraid of Seulgi's questioning. A single slip of the tongue was enough to get her in trouble.

Naeun knew she had to come clean to Seulgi one day. It was only a matter of time before Mr. Choi, the landlord, showed up demanding his money. Seulgi would see the outrageous amount of money in her account. Then she would check her logs and find out that Naeun had transferred the money. Until that time came, Naeun wanted to earn as much as she could because Seulgi would immediately put a stop to her activities.

She sighed as she cleaned the table customers had just vacated. She removed the wine glasses and partially filled ashtray and wiped the surface with a rag. "Hey." She almost jumped out of her skin as someone whispered in her ear.

"Oh, Johnny," she placed a hand on her chest, feeling her escalated heartbeat. "You startled me."

"Sorry 'bout that." His eyes shifted and he donned a more serious expression. He subtly gestured towards something behind her. "Tell Jeno that he comes here twice every week. Tuesday and Friday."