boomerang

Chapter 20

"Wished you could stay longer."

Chaeyoung's soft smile appeared on her face as she took the bag of gifts Jaehyun handed her. "Maybe next time," she winked playfully and Jaehyun laughed softly. "Thanks. These are a lot."

"You sure you can't stay longer?" Jaehyun asked, his eyes soft as he gazed at her.

Chaeyoung could probably apply for leave for one or two more days. After working so hard on this business trip, she was convinced that her boss would let her go on a vacation. But Chaeyoung surprisingly missed home. It didn't help that her mind hadn't been able to be freed of the thought of a certain someone, reminding her everything about home that made her long to be back at Seoul as quickly as she could.

"Wish I could," she chuckled. "But there's so much to do."

Jaehyun nodded his head but sighed heavily and pulled her into a tight hug. Chaeyoung was briefly surprised but hugged her friend back, though when the hug lasted more than she thought it would, her finger that was wrapped with her engagement ring weirdly felt tighter, and Chaeyoung immediately pulled back from Jaehyun.

She bid her friend goodbye before boarding the plane, her stomach tingling with excitement as she thought of home.

*

"Is Mr. Jeon in?" Chaeyoung asked the receptionist with a tired smile.

Despite the long flight and her initial plan to dive into her own bed and sleep for ten hours once she arrived in Seoul, she had napped in her couch instead and jumped into a cab an hour after she woke up.

"How many times do you have to come here to see him without making an appointment?"

Chaeyoung's smile fell and so did the receptionist's. As Ms. Han approached Chaeyoung, she hated how it made her feel timid as the latter inspected her from head to toe. Perhaps it was a mistake to arrive there with her appearance slightly messed up. Maybe she should have gotten her face touched up before jumping into the cab in a rush to see Jungkook. Because now that his assistant was looking at her up and down, insecurity slowly wrapped around herself that she couldn't help but feel like running away that instant.

"What business do you have with him?" Ms. Han asked.

Chaeyoung tried to breathe calmly and tilted her chin up. "It's not something to be disclosed to just anyone."

"Ms. Han—" The receptionist tried to interrupt but the owner of the name scoffed.

"Well, then. For the second time I'm reminding you, if you ever need to see him for any business at all, make an appointment."

She walked away after flipping her long hair, her heels clicking away and Chaeyoung's teeth lightly dug into her bottom lip, her mind began to think of the relationship her fiancé had with that woman.

"Ms. Park," the receptionist called her and she blinked. "You do not actually have to make an appointment to see Mr. Jeon." The receptionist displayed an apologetic smile. "But Mr. Jeon is not in. He left just about 30 minutes ago."

Chaeyoung checked the time and noticed that there were another two hours before he should be off from work. "Where is he off to? Does he have a meeting outside?"

The receptionist shook her head. "I believe I heard him telling Yugyeom that he's going home."

Her brows dropped. "Home? Is he okay?"

"I'm not quite sure, Ms. Park. But he doesn't seem to be okay these past few days."

Chaeyoung wasted no time, rushing to say her 'thank you' to the kind receptionist before she quickly grabbed a cab and headed to his apartment. As soon as she arrived, Chaeyoung rang the bell once but her patience ran out just three seconds after pressing the bell. She checked back the text he sent her of the passcode to his apartment and quickly punched the buttons to access his house.