Criminal Next Door [Namjin]

You Know What Else Is Big? . . . My Feet

With the reluctant bathroom attendant’s help, Seokjin finally managed to get past MinJee and out of the bathroom. He pushed through the swinging door and nearly ran into Namjoon waiting for him on the other side, holding his coat. One look at the man's face and he knew Namjoon’d seen MinJee enter the bathroom behind him.

Seokjin stormed past him, through the lively banquet hall and lobby, encountering a few curious looks as he passed. He found himself on the dark street outside the hotel before he took a single breath. Namjoon’s hand wrapped around the boy's arm, stopping him before he could hail a cab.

“Slow down. What the hell happened in there?” he spun on Namjoon and the latter's irritated expression vanished. “Talk to me,” he implored.

“I’ve just been accosted by your hammered ex-girlfriend in the bathroom.”

“Jesus.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “What did she say to you?”

Seokjin ignored the question. “You know what I don’t understand, Namjoon? Why weren't you just honest with me? We're not dating. We barely like each other. You told me this date was a favour to you. If you’d explained your reasons for bringing me along, we could have put on a really good show for MinJee. Hell, if you’d asked nicely, I might have let you feel me up on the dance floor.”

Namjoon stared at him for a minute, expression confused, then took his arm and led him down the sidewalk, away from the hotel. A valet attendant even jumped out of his way to let them pass. Nice.

“Let me go.”

“No.”

Upon arriving, Namjoon had parked his SUV down an empty side street adjacent to the hotel, placing a police department placard in the windshield so it wouldn’t be towed. In the night’s darkness, the street now resembled more of an alley, steam rising in white curls from manhole covers and zero traffic passing by.

Having no choice but to trip after the man in his platforms, Seokjin fumed in silence at Namjoon’s back the entire way to the car. Reaching it, he whirled around to face the boy.

“Are you jealous?”

Sputtering, Seokjin pulled his arm out of the latter's grasp. “Excuse me?”

“You are.” He nodded slowly. “Good.”

“You have no idea how close you are to a painful death right now.”

Namjoon stepped closer and Seokjin held up a hand to stop him. He merely kept coming, pressing his chest against the other's palm and groaning at the simple contact.

“I don’t play bullshit mind games, Seokjin. I brought you here for a lot of reasons. Making MinJee jealous definitely wasn’t one of them.”

Seokjin scrutinized Namjoon’s face closely to judge his sincerity and sensed him telling the truth. He’d been up-front with the boy since the beginning of their association about what he wanted. Mind games simply weren’t his style. If Seokjin allowed himself, to be honest, he’d hardly believed MinJee in the first place.

So why didn’t he feel reassured? Namjoon's words did nothing to soothe the foreign emotions swirling around, bumping into each other inside his chest. He felt out of control, a little giddy. He wanted to slap Namjoon across the face just so the man’d chase him down and make him pay for it. None of his thoughts made sense.

Namjoon had been watching him carefully. Now he stepped closer, right into the boy's space. Seokjin’s back came up against the SUV. Tipping his face up using his chin, Namjoon’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully on his face.

“Unbelievable. You’re still jealous, aren’t you?”

Seokjin's voice shook. “Let go of me. Get away from me.”