ENTICE || JJk•PJm•KTh

Chapter 08 || Wrinkle of the Past

"Mamma bye-bye!" Jihun waves at his mother from SeokJin's arms, making the elders smile in relief as he's grown acquainted to the man and the daycare to the point where he bugs Iah about going there even on Sundays.

Jiah waves back at him and then at the elder male who chuckles in response before heading inside the room with the toddler while Jiah takes a deep breath, making her way out. SeokJin is a great man and knows exactly how to deal with kids which makes it so much easier for Jiah to concentrate on her job. Other than being at the daycare he often drops by with Yoongi whenever they have time together and play with Jihun as if he was their own family's kid.

Even Namjoon often showed his wish to meet the baby boy but his work always came in between, which Jiah understood and assured him that it's fine for they all know how grumpy their boss can be at times. For instance take yesterday, the man had been mad and didn't utter a word to Jiah because she did his tie wrong. She apologised once and then twice even, but on seeing how he sulking and dumping more work on her out of frustration, she huffed back and didn't attempt on talking to him. So childish, never knew the man being the face of several business magazines was actually the man-child who would sulk about his tie not being perfect.

But to avoid more of his stupid tantrums, Jiah had grabbed Yoongi after returning home and made him stand still while she practiced tying the tie on him. The amount of curses she heard during those two hours were more than what she heard Yoongi ever mutter around her son. But at least she learnt how to do a tie properly and today she was determined to show Park Jimin her skill.

She was waiting by the bus stop, going through the procedure roughly to make sure she remembers making the tie, when a voice fills her ears. She turns around, hissing at the disturbance, but stops, staring at the men as she recognises one as Hoseok and the other one is wearing a mask.

But the voice wasn't Hoseok's.

"Yes?" She looks at him, staring right in his eyes as she forces her brain to recall where she's seen the similar pair of dark orbs.

"Jiah..." He repeats, almost as if smiling under the mask. He steps forward, closer to her and it hits her now. The deep voice and the round eyes that once were too familiar to her.

"Taehyung?" She blinks a few times, gulping thickly and glances back at Hoseok who smiles as bright as his personality.

"Hey, Jiah are you going to work?" The elder asks and she nods slowly, not looking at the masked man again.

"You know each other?" Taehyung frowns at her and then at Hoseok who laughs, nodding his head. "How?"

"We met through a common friend. But how do you know her?" Hoseok asks, "Anyways Jiah, he's the one I work as a manager for."

"What?" Jiah coughs, placing her hand on her chest and gapes at him with eyes. "Unbelievable..." Her lips mutter.

"I know, look we all know each other and didn't even realise it." Hoseok laughs amusedly, "You didn't answer my question though, how do you both know each other?"

"She's-"

"A fan from the past," Jiah looks away, "I met him during one his shows. I was a fan then."

"Not now?" Hoseok asks while Taehyung stares at her with unreadable eyes, sighing deeply and nods his head, deciding to play along as if they never actually met each other personally, never dated, never loved each other.

"No," Jiah's voice comes as a firm one for Taehyung making his breath hitch with a tiny pang in his chest when she looks at him with hurt eyes as if asking him why the heck is he back now.