Smoke Me.

Chapter 27: Pants on Fire

'Keep walking.' I thought once, twice, and then lost count.

With every step we took towards the workplace, I sweated a little bit more. Heartbeat was beating to the point that the chest almost couldn't contain it.

I stopped first, looking through the store's see-through automatic sliding door, praying that the boss was not there to see me hang in front of the store I said I couldn't come to.

Namjoon spun me around by the shoulders the second he caught up to me.
"What?" I asked, hoping that the long hairs were covering the fear from inside my eyes.

"The scarf?"

He showed the piece of fabric he must've carried all the way there and then wrapped it around my neck carefully.

"Huh? Oh. Thanks..."

Looking drained and upset, he simply stared and then asked:

"Aren't you going in?"

"Yeah."
"Then go. It's cold."

I nodded, but didn't move an inch.

After spending the whole morning avoiding him entirely, I now had a clear view. And something within me relaxed the more I looked at his face.

"Namjoon...are you alright?" I immediately wanted to slap myself at the thought that V might appear out of a sudden and it'd be my fault that he hadn't left yet.

An audible smirk coupled with the now avoidant eyes; he uttered the word: "Me?" With disgust and went on: "Shouldn't you be worried about yourself right now?"
"What do you mean?"

'I know what you mean.'

"Yesterday, what Fred said was... true. But it's not fair." Arms crossed, he said words that I thought no one should say in the middle of the day with people going back and forth on the sidewalk whilst they're having conversations about what to buy for dinner and work. The words: "She was sent to kill me."
"What?"
"We should talk later, after..."

"You can't leave after saying that! Tell me now. I can't...work after you said that."
"I'm not saying that excuses the fact that I raped her, but I...really, really liked her Jungkook! So, I couldn't kill her...every time I got near her, I wanted to touch her, but she..."

Hands went inside the pockets and eyes wandered back and forth. Eyes that looked like there was sun bothering them despite the fact that we were in the shadow of the building.

"Why would she want to do that?" I whispered.
"This was when Fred had some enemies that were still...alive. I was new to the business, and he was trying to mentally free me from...my own mom...and I... " He talked softly. Voice almost cracking at the end.

"And what?" I cleared my throat, feeling the earth underneath crumbling. "What...happ, ahem, what happened to that girl?"
"I told you, I couldn't do it. So, he...did it. Since it was his fault that my grandma got cut and all. Look, it's a long story. But it doesn't matter. It was so wrong. Everything, that year was...hell. I don't even remember all of it, to be honest."

"When I get home." I breathed out, feeling faint. "You'll tell me everything. Promise?"
He nodded with a sad smile, saying: "Pinky promise."

We touched pinkies in the cold air, in the middle of the sidewalk and then he just left, without looking back.

I stood, frozen in time and space, staring at where his back used to be, thinking: 'Then who...'

Cold and hot sweats tried me until I heard: "Kookie, aren't you cold? Let's go somewhere. Have a drink or two."
Kim Taehyung emerged from behind the trees that were on the other side of the street not even ten minutes later with a long, black-haired girl. It was so straight, it almost looked like a wig.