Homme Fatale | KSJ | ✓

Expectations and Realities

Jaehwa couldn't quite hold the smile upon her lips.

"Seokjin? Do you mean Kim Seokjin? Yoongi's secretary?" She pressed for confirmation.

"Yes."

Jaehwa didn't quite like the way her heart sank. Her smile had turned quite sour that it was no longer one. She looked away from Jieun, still attempting it for her best friend's sake. "O-oh."

"Come on now. I knew you would react like that!" Jieun whined, placing her hands against her hips with a pout. "This whole rivalry thing is getting to your head. You know that whoever becomes the winner, in the end, we'll all be here still. Nothing will really change. You know that, right?"

Jaehwa could only give her a half-hearted nod. "I- I'm happy for you." She lied.

A lie like that wouldn't hurt, right? After all, that's what white lies were supposed to do. No one mentioned how much it hurt the person who told the lie though.

"Thank you, Jae~" Jieun gushed, giving her side hug, practically bursting with joy. "You know?" She began whispering in a mischievous tone, "He mentioned that he had something to tell me. Not quite literally but he did say something like that. Maybe... you know..." Jieun trailed off, trying to convey the gist of what that meant to Jaehwa. "Maybe you're right," Jaehwa said softly. Jieun burst into a fit of chuckles. "Ah! Maybe I'm reading too much into it!"

Jaehwa couldn't quite find it in her to laugh with her. She stood up from her seat. "Excuse me."

Before Jieun could ask where she was going, she rushed out of the place. Somehow the building had turned suffocating. She needed a breath of fresh air and she needed to clear her mind. It had turned to a jumble of emotions.

She walked up to the balcony where Jieun and her usually hung out on their lunch break and heaved in a deep breath. Of course. What did I expect?

She should have seen it coming. The clues were all there all along. He had always had an eye for her best friend. Ahh! Forget it. The whole thing was just a stupid play of hormones anyway. It wasn't like it was serious or something.

Jaehwa sighed as she basked in the midday sunlight watching the workers rush by here and there outside. The warm breeze visited the tree line and it ruffled the leaves on its branches. She leaned her arms against the railing as she stood there trying to ease her mind.

Familiar voices floated up to her from below and Jaehwa's attention turned to the ground. There he was, the subject of her thoughts, walking below. Song Chaeyoung running as she called out. "Seokjin Oppa!"

Jaehwa watched with wide eyes as she ran up to him and latched her arms around his. Seokjin let out a hearty chuckle along with her. Jaehwa scrunched her forehead. What was that? Did I see that right?

Seokjin and Chaeyoung seemed especially close. Was that right? Or was she reading too much into things? It can't be, could it?

She shook her head. She was most probably thinking too much of it. It wasn't like it was any of her business either way. She left the balcony.

___________

Jaehwa had decided to throw herself wholeheartedly into her work in order to forget the annoying needle that kept pricking her heart. Why can't she get a break? Why did she have to go and make everything complicated? She would have been fine if she hadn't developed certain unwanted feelings.

She grumbled to herself as he walked down the hallway carrying some of her work papers in her hand that she needed to make copies of. Unfortunately for her, she was met with none other than her rival secretary on the way. Her eyes widened as panic settled in. What should she do? Should she act as she had always acted? She was too tired for that. She decided to ignore him. That was the only way she could avoid having to talk to him because if she talked to him, Jaehwa wasn't sure that things would go well.

Seokjin seemed to have other plans. Jogging past the rooms, he quickly caught up to her. "Salut mon rayon de soleil! Where are we going?"

"None of your business."

He made a dramatic show of acting as if he were taken aback by her rudeness. "Whoa, that hurt. I thought we had something!"

Jaehwa paused in the middle of the hallway. "What do you mean by that?"

He blinked back at her innocently, "I meant what I said."

She didn't know why she felt angry all of a sudden. Ignoring him, she resumed her stroll. Seokjin caught up to her before long. His height gave him an advantage over her. Walking to her front he extended a hand as traffic police would do, halting her progress.

"You're acting really weird nowadays..." He commented, scrutinizing her as if she were a bug under a microscope. Jaehwa clenched and unclenched her jaw trying to keep calm but his scrutinizing stare wasn't helping her at all.

"I... heard you asked Jieun out." She cringed. The moment the question left her mouth she wanted to take it back, but what was done was done. Seokjin made a face of recognition.

"Oh! So that's what this is about?" He asked. He never got a response from her except for her chilling glare.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that ma belle." He dismissed her glare with a wave of his hand. "You know you're the only one for me, don't you?"

She didn't deem that sarcastic comment worthy of a reply. Seokjin breathed out an impatient sigh as he trailed off. "Don' bother too much about it. I'm just ditching her after a date anyways..."

"What did you say?" Jaehwa stared at him wide-eyed, unable to believe her eyes. Seokjin looked indifferent to her surprise. "Isn't that what you want?"

"A-are you serious? S-she was so excited about it. She even thought..." She couldn't bring herself to continue. Seokjin's expression had contorted to that of boredom.

"Well, if she thought something else about it, it's not my problem. I may have given her the wrong impression but it's her fault for believing that."

"WHAT?!" She seethed suddenly feeling her contained anger rise in ferocity, "Are you toying with her feelings? Do you have no conscience?! You're leading her on!"

Seokjin exhaled softly as he looked at her with his tired-bored eyes.

"I'm leading her on?" He asked slowly as soft as a whisper as his eyes turned intense. "So what?"

"W-wha-"

"What's wrong with that, Han Jaehwa?" He raised his voice, the deep timbre of its falsetto resonating through the hallway. "They all lie and cheat in the end. So what's wrong if I make that process a little faster? What's so wrong about it?!"

"Huh?"

"I don't care," he declared. "I don't care if they get hurt. It has nothing to do with me. It's their fault if they expected something from me! I don't have-"

Slap!

Jaehwa didn't know what took over her but the next thing she knew, Seokjin had a deep red handprint on his cheek. Her hand stung from the harsh impact. She was breathing deeply. The hot red fury in her had finally exploded. It had blocked out her reasoning and her emotions had taken control.

Seokjin's jaw ticked as he gritted his teeth trying to reign in his rage. She had slapped him. How dare she?! He snapped his head back to Jaehwa ready to snap but as his eyes met hers, the words got stuck in his throat. Her eyes... 

She was on the verge of tears.

"Don't you f**king dare hurt her." She spoke slowly, each word laced in deadly venom.

"That's a warning."

Jaehwa whirled around and left.

________________________

Salut mon rayon de soleil - Hello, my ray of sunshine

Ma belle- my beautiful