Wish (Jung Hoseok)

Five

So far, Korea was going well for Riley after the incident on her first day. It had been a week, now.

She entered her new job with confidence, and was even able to convince her new boss that if they were ever able to schedule a bts interview, she would be the one asking the questions.

Though... that didn't seem very important to her anymore.
Considering, she had their personal numbers. At any time, she could hold an interview. Do it herself.

But she wanted to do it right. All of that hard work would have been for nothing if she just cheated like that.

Hyunwoo had checked on her almost every night after her first day. No matter the time.
And so did Hoseok.

Even though she had plenty to do around her apartment she would still gett pretty bored by herself when she had time off.

It was in middle of the day, and Riley had laid in her bedroom watching TikToks all day.

That's when she decided she was bored, grabbing her phone.
Now calling: Hoseok<3

"Who do you think broke the lamp"
His low voice echoed in her head, and it started to give her a headache, as well as the chills she had felt the first time she heard it.
"Riley~! What a pleasant surprise. How are you this fine afternoon?" He said excitedly. Her headache subsided instantly.

"Hobi! I'm bored and lonely, can you come over?" Riley pouted.

"I'm on my way, aien!"

He hung up before Riley could short circuit on his words.

Riley had gotten fairly close to Hobi after he admitted to being the one that saved her from Doyun.
It wasn't that she felt obligated to. It was because she was curious.
Curious as to why her sunshine Hobi could be so bright and caring, then the next moment he would flip a switch and annihilate a man's head with a lamp.
The dark look in his eyes from that night flashed in her head.

Why Hoseok... why do you feel like this toward Hoseok? He's your friend, and a celebrity. You can't catch feelings for him...
So much for not having a bias.

It was during her self lecture that she heard the security lock beep. Someone was there.
Riley still got scared when someone entered. Even though she gave her code to the guys, it was still a lingering thought that Doyun came back.

She didn't hear anything for a moment, thinking the worst.
Then, "Riley~! I brought mochi!" Hoseok's happy voice rang through her apartment.
A sigh of relief passed her lips and she stood from the couch.
"Hobi! You scared me." Riley pouted, but stopped when he held up strawberry mochi. Her favorite.

"That's what I thought." He mused, setting it on the counter.

Damn. She thought.

"Sorry if I scared you, though. I keep forgetting to introduce myself at the door. I'll work on that, okay Aein?"
She smiled to the man and nodded.
"I don't mind if you forget, I forget things too."

"Like your phone, your wallet, your jacket even though last time you talked to Hyunwoo he asked you if you've had it at all times like you promised and you said yes. Yet~ I haven't seen you wear a jacket or have one on you, Riley." Hoseok teased, listing off every thing she had forgotten.

He probably missed some.

"Okay that was one time I told him that! Otherwise I do usually have it in my car." She said, laughing.

Riley sat on the counter, a ball of mochi pinched between her thumb and index finger as she ate the cold dessert. It hurt her teeth, but she didn't care.

Hoseok sat beside her, leaning his head back on the cabinet.

It grew quiet, and his eyes seemed to lose their light again.

"Hobi?" She asked, worried. "What's on your mind? You lost your sunshine for a second."

Hoseok's breath exhaled in a long, quiet groan.
"I've been overthinking. What would've happened if I didn't smash the lamp.
The other guys were too frozen to move, cause I think they were worried they walked in on you and a... special person. But I heard that cry, and I knew it wasn't voluntary."

He took a semi angry bite of his cookies and cream mochi, his brows furrowed in thought.
Riley smiled a bit. "Hobi~ you can't dwell on what could have happened. Be thankful you guys got to me on time. Even still, I'd be fine if anything did happen. I'm a strong girl... I can take care of myself."

Those words again. She remembered how Hyunwoo told her to stop saying them.
But she couldn't. The girl was downright determined to prove her strength in this cruel world.

One traumatizing event after the other.

-

Even though Riley said she was okay, she still had washed her bedsheets over and over, until finally she bought detergent that was different than the one she smelled that night. Riley bought a new lamp, keeping a piece of the broken porcelain lamp stand.

She didn't know why, but she just wanted it, to remember how Hoseok saved her that night.

Riley went through the most drastic measures to change how she felt in that room.

Yet every time she laid down to sleep in that bed, she felt a presence of fear. The same fear she had felt watching Doyun step closer to her bed. The fear when he began to pull the blanket off.

She had always ended up sleeping on the couch. Her back was killing her.

"Hoseok." Riley said randomly, interrupting the Barbie movie they had put on as a joke.
He paused, not really bothered by it.

"Can... I maybe stay with you at the dorms for a few nights?"
A weird look spread on his face, but she quickly clarified;
"It's just I'm getting lonely here and I miss everyone. You're pretty much the only one I keep in contact with all the time so-"

"Aein~ of course you can. You can sleep in my room if you're scared to be alone." His words pierced her pride, but she felt her heart swell.

"Thank you." She said quietly, looking at her hands.

"Oh heavens, Riley. You're so proud you can't admit when you're scared?"
She shook her head.
"I need to prove I'll be fine on my own. I can do this. I'm in a new country, I have an amazing job, and amazing friends. I just had a setback."

"Setback? Riley, I wouldn't call your assault a setback. That's traumatizing, you have to realize that." Hoseok said, a stern tone to his voice and in his eyes.

Riley shook her head.
"I'm fine."

She took the remote, pressing play before Hoseok could lecture her any further.

For some reason, it hurt a lot more when Hoseok was disappointed in her.