Jamais Vu

Chapter 14

Hoseok was finally done with work that night. He was on his way back home in the company car. Jungkook was his car pool partner for the day and he was already dozing off at his side of the passenger seat. Hoseok was getting himself cozy in his space as he checked through his messages on his phone. He was smiling widely when he got to the messages from Sunhee. She was obviously freaking out after he left the bakery.

Sunhee:

6.20 p.m. Are you serious?

6.20 p.m. You're not serious right?

6.21 p.m. You can't just drop that kind of bomb and leave

7.20 p.m. I would guess that you would be too busy to reply to this now. I won't bother you anymore.

7.40 p.m. Fine. I'll treat whatever happened as null and void if there's no response to my message in 24 hours

9.00 p.m. I take back. Respond by 12 p.m. Tomorrow. Tick tock tick tock

10.30 p.m. I'm serious

11.00 p.m. Seriously serious

Hoseok nearly laughed out loud in the car but kept that all in. How can a person take someone serious if the person kept on repeating the word serious a lot of times? It was near midnight and judging from the timeline of Sunhee's messages, he didn't think that Sunhee was able to sleep. He dozed off in between the photoshoot during the day so he was quite awake at that point. He got an earful when he was late for the meeting that evening as he stayed longer at the bakery.

That was really not in his schedule. He was not even supposed to be in the meeting at the bakery. The original plan was just to drop by, say hello, look around and leave. That was until Jaesuk happened.

Hoseok shook his head. He felt if he didn't make his move then, Jaesuk was going to ask Sunhee out. Baby steps, his foot. He would be a fool if he stood idle in front of the blatant flirtations. Hoseok looked out the car window. Yoongi's question echoed in his head.

Is the feeling mutual?

Sunhee said whatever that came to her mind. Was it just another meaningless banter? Darn, he didn't think that much when he went straight in. He massaged his temple. Awkward would be an understatement. Does she even like him that way, other than just as her partner?

He suddenly felt like he was being a presumptuous fool. She was like that since the storage incident and nothing came out of that. He was seriously considering whether if he should meet Sunhee after he reach home or, like Sunhee said, null and void by 12 noon. Should he just go to bed and leave it as that? Truthfully, he didn't want it to be null and void. The group would be flying out again to the US and if he wanted to get this work out, he'd better sort it out fast.He wouldn't put past Jaesuk not to try again and both Jaesuk and Sunhee are going to meet again for the project.

The car stopped at the basement parking, right in front of the elevator. Jungkook went out of the car in autopilot mode and went straight to the open door. As Hoseok went to his room, he was still considering his next move. Jimin was already settled in his bed, Hoseok could hear his soft snores marking his exhaustion. He was unable to ask for anyone's opinion. Everyone was tired to the bone and sleep would be inevitable. It was not the case for Hoseok as he went pacing in his room. He changed his clothes and hesitated as he sat on his bed. He stood up. He looked at the time again and he took his car keys.

He needed to go out.

Not long after, he reached the back alley of the bakery. The drive wasn't that long due to the clear traffic and the shop was not that far from their dorm. The light at the baking area was turned on. Didn't Sunhee sleep? She told him she's usually asleep by 9. A wave of guilt swept through his chest. She did say before she had trouble sleeping and he's just making it worse.