Golden ◂ NCT Jaemin

43 ◂ Our

welcome to another episode of me needing more actor Jaemin in my life

◂ 43 ▸

Seonghwa's coworker, Sunny, bumped her shoulder against his playfully. He looked at her in surprise while she looked at him sympathetically.

"Who is that?" she asked. 

She was talking about the girl at the back of the bar that Seonghwa kept looking at. She sat alone, dressed in dark blue jeans and a baggy shirt. She was pretty with gentle eyes and soft features. 

However, she didn't fit in with the rest of the customers, attracting glances. 

After not receiving a reply, Sunny took a guess. 

"Your girlfriend?" she teased with a grin, yet quickly knew she had made a mistake when she saw Seonghwa's sad eyes. 

He looked down at the ground first, then up at her. 
"She works here." 

Sunny was the newest addition to the staff. She worked part-time, like Jie. So when Jie wasn't there, Sunny was. She had gotten close to Seonghwa, yet wasn't very familiar with any of the other employees. 

Looking back at Jie, he saw how her eyes fluttered close and she leaned her head against the wall behind her. Seeing her like that made him upset. 

Even more upset than admitting, "She likes someone else." The tone which he talked in fit his exhausted gaze well.

He hated tonight. A crushing feeling had lingered in the air ever since he got here. Later, as soon as Jie had entered the bar, he had noticed her bad mood. 

He tried to talk to her but she wasn't willing to reply much. She kept staring at her phone, always just moments away from calling that one person. 

But she never did. 

"Oh," Sunny exhaled, feeling bad for Seonghwa. "That sucks."

Seonghwa nodded. "Yeah."

"Then, do you know why she is here all alone?" she wondered. "It's late. What if she leaves like this?" 

He agreed, took a deep breath and put his tray aside. He looked at Sunny. 
"Can you take over table 12 for me?" he asked. "So I can go and talk to her." 

She smiled, nodded right away. "Sure! Take your time." 

He made her way over to her, stopped next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. His touch made her open her eyes and, upon seeing him, she smiled. 

Tiredly, but she smiled. 

"Are you okay?" he asked with worry.  

She nodded, didn't say a word though. 

Seonghwa sighed. "Why did you get so drunk?" he asked. 

"I just thought," she began, then stopped and laughed to herself as if it made sense. It was an empty laugh to accompany her empty smile. "I thought that would make me feel less miserable." 

Pushing a strand of hair behind her shoulder to get a better look at her face, Seonghwa shook his head.

"Alcohol usually just makes it worse." 

Jie nodded quickly. "I noticed." She looked down at her hand in her lap. "I feel horrible." 

"Can I do anything to help?" Seonghwa asked carefully. He was worried because her voice made it sound like she was about to cry but her eyes were empty. 

She hummed, then frowned a little as she asked, "What do you do when you feel sad?" 

He looked to the side briefly as he thought about it only to find that, 
"I try to sleep," he then said. "Things look different when you wake up the next morning."