Abyss - Kim Seokjin AU Fanfiction

Chapter 15 - Jin

Jin had opted for the restaurant he frequented with Yoongi which was located by the big river. It was warm enough to be able to sit outside now, and Jin took the chance to take her somewhere nice. The idea had been Sarah's. He did not know what he would have done without her guidance. How did she know so much at such a young age? It seemed that she already knew what to do the moment he asked her for assistance at a good dinner place.

"Sir, I think Ms. Young would love it here. It reminds me of Osaka, but the blossoms aren't out yet so it might look a little sparse." She said as she typed in their reservation. He stood behind her at a distance, hands in his pockets.

"That will do, I think."

Sarah turned to him and frowned. "It should."

"Don't be so glum. We have yet to see if she likes it there." Jin waved her off.

"Mr. Min and your friends have all gone there, so perhaps she will?"

Jin laughed. "This is a delicate stage Sarah. I don't want to assume what she likes or does not. It has to come from her."

Sarah laughed. "Mr. Kim, it isn't as if you don't know every little thing about her. With all due respect sir, I think you could take her to a barbecue place and she would still like it." His assistant had already been privy to his decades long secret. If it want for his friends who always teased him when they visited, she wouldn't be able to help him. And Jin, though careful and smart, needed help keeping his footing.

"You seem so sure." Jin said to her, his voice steady.

"I have to be." She responded quickly. "I will not lose this bet I am having with Mr. Jeon."

"What bet do you have with Jungkook?"

"100 euros if she falls in love with you before your wedding." She looked up at him grinning widely. "I do not plan to lose Mr. Kim, so you better leave now so I can win."

The drive to her office once again was filled with his thoughts about her. This time, Jin tried figuring out when wanted to see him this soon. It was strange that she was the one who initiated the meeting. A happy and nervous kind of excitement took over him. He was grinning the moment he pulled at the front parking area of her office building.

At the front desk he was greeted by the receptionist who tapped him in the entrance. He had been cleared earlier by Brandon this morning - without Elara's permission of course. And when he arrived at her floor, the whole team stood and watched him make his way to the private lounge just by the entrance of her office wing.

Ela had a third of the area to herself. One side of her office was a window overlooking the city and beyond it, the big river. The sun was setting, painting the sky in gradients of blue and orange. The other side of her office was glass panels framed in powder coated steel that switched to an opaque screen when she had private meetings with elite clients. Her ceiling was bare, visible pipes and air vents painted in one cool shade of gray that leaned blue at times. In the middle, hung a single wire sculpture chandelier in the form of an acrobat mid-flight. It came from a very famous designer from the south, who came highly recommended by an old client of hers.

It took a moment for Jin settle himself. There was so much of her all around this room. From the color to the replica prints of Picasso tiling the gallery wall in different sizes and frame styles. How could a space look mad and make sense at the same time? This was probably what it was like to be in her head. So many beautiful, strange things that don't fit well together, combined in this space.

Brandon came by where he settled, on the pink Isamu Noguchi sofa, shaped like pebbles. Jin sat at the center, the only area with a full back he could steadily lean on. He straightened at the sight of her assistant nearing.

"She will be out in a while Mr. Kim. Here," he set a glass of water on a tiled coaster atop the glass-top table by the same designer. Elara truly had expensive taste. The clang of clay against crystal echoed around the room, causing eyes to return to gaze at him. 

"Thank you." He said taking the class of water, realizing how dry his throat was. "Brandon, right?" 

"Yes sir." He nodded, smiling politely. There was something about Jin's manner that made everyone around him act proper. 

Jin waved his hand at Brandon. "Please, it's just Jin." 

Ela's assistant smiled and bowed. As he was about to ask Jin a question everyone itched for, Ela's door opened. Her eyes were glued down to the binder she carried as she closed the door. Her hair is a mess tangled at the nape of her neck, and Jin immediately regretted not bringing coffee. 

"Brandon, make sure that the contract states the payment days. I think we need upstairs to raise their price a bit because I don't think any event planner would give us the output we want at this price." She shut the binder, the snapping sound startling Jin. 

Ela turned her head to him and paused. "Jin, you're here already." Her hands involuntarily reached for her hair, smoothing them. Jin saw her delicate fingers, pale, boney and bare. It would be another two weeks to have the ring he selected adjusted to her size. He was lucky enough to have called Arysta to confirm the size. "Give me a few minutes, I'll gather my things." 

"No, please take your time." Jin said, raising his hand defensively. He turned to Brandon who was grinning widely, and behind him, Ela's team had their heads peering to the anteroom lounge. He heard Ela sigh as she handed the binder to her assistant. 

"You can wait inside my office." She said to him as she opened the one of the glass double doors. "Brandon, if everyone is finished they can leave early." 

He nodded at her and watched Jin enter the room. Brandon's eyebrows wiggled suggestively and Ela rolled her at him. All this, Jin witnessed and made him smile a little as he entered her vast office. The acrobat lamp was even more  beautiful up close. He could imagine how the shadows would look on the floor if her ceiling had a skylight.  

As Ela followed in, he could see her hands shaking slightly. She returned behind her desk and opened a drawer. Clattering noises of tablets rattled and echoed in the room. Ela, who watched her staff peek into her office, took a remote and pressed a button, rendering the glass windows opaque - like thick Kozo paper. They were hidden now. 

Her eyes turned to him, but only for a little while. Jin assumed there was something she wanted to say. Was she going to tell him about another plan of hers to try to outsmart their parents? Or did she want to tell him that she did not care and would just not go through with this at all? Somehow, being in her space, brought the same kind off worry she had to him. But that was not why Jin was afraid now. It was more daunting to think that she would admit something completely left field. Was she in love with someone else? Did she have someone already? 

"You said you wanted to see me." He said, voicing out a question he has had since she called him. At least one of them was out now. All he had to worry about was what she was going to say next. 

"Yes." She said plainly as she tossed an orange tube of pills that held four tablets into her bag. Jin could see that they were all different colors. There was something so serene about watching Ela move. She had this way of hesitating every choice, whether it be taking a pen or pressing a key to shut her computer off. For a moment - half a breath - she would freeze, suspended in time and then be mobile again. What would it be like if she were freer? Jin did not want to know. He loved this little trait of hers, loved the way she smiled when she knew she was sure of a choice, no matter how small it may be. 

As he watched her get ready, and make her way towards where he sat, a certain kind of dread poured over him. Yes, he did love her. He could not deny that. It had been the only thing he was sure of since the day he met her. Love at first sight was such a claim at seventeen and Jin had been sure then as he is now. He had been so consumed to devising a plan to woe her and show her how he felt that he completely forgot if for one moment she spared a thought for him. 

"Why?" He asked. Did she think of me? Did she discover the secret I have been hiding? Did she know how much she made me feel with the slightest of words and half-seconds of our eyes meeting? 

Ela looked up at him as she tucked her bag under her shoulder. On one hand, she held another binder in powder blue. It had a label on the front with his father's company's logo and his name on the front and spine. She handed it to him and said, "I have an offer for you. We can discuss it over dinner."