FILTHY || J.JK

28| Choke

1 PM

"I'm all salty." She wriggles her arms in the air like a puppy and gets rid of the water, rushing towards the car where I'm at. She nuzzles herself into my open arms.

"You are a good learner." Kang comes up behind me, patting her head, and we both exchange glances and I understand he's motivating Haerin who had been learning to swim, earlier. "Hmm, do you want your sugary donut?" She nods and I open the box of donuts we got on our way, and I offer one to both Minjae and Kang after giving one to Haerin.

"Thanks." He takes a big bite of it, making the circle into a semi-circle, and I laugh at how impatiently he had been waiting for the sweet.

"Shall we leave?" Kang swallows what's in his mouth and looks in my direction, "you also have to drop by at mister Jeon's, don't you?" I nod to affirm, my heart suddenly beating louder with the image of the person appearing in my head that Kang just mentioned about. "Well, I hope you like and feel good about your new job. I kinda miss having you with us, but that's totally fine because you seemed to face problems and it was uncomfortable."

He shares his feelings about it, revealing some expected things. I don't look at him, but we all move inside the car as the weather started to worsen, "I'm sure I'm gonna be fine now, mister Jeon cannot choose wrong. I hope I'm not disappointed."

He doesn't add on and puts his seatbelt to start driving, only leaving a small hum in a reply. I sit back and look out the window, ready for a new start; hopefully, a better one.

26 minutes later...

Having arrived at the Jeon residence, as soon as Kang stops the car, I grab my phone to give a call to mister Jeon. He attends it too fast, as if he'd been waiting, "hey, you're here?" On hearing his voice, I ridiculously feel happier, as if he's something to me, "yes. I'm outside right now."

I end the call as soon as my eyes go forth at the manly figure who opened the door, taking a step out. "I'm gonna wait here, you'll be back soon, ri-" I cut Kang off before he could imply this idea, "I'm fine, Kang. You should head back home now, don't wait up. I'm not sure how long it's gonna take." I grab Haerin's hand and step off the car, taking my jacket to put it on. He protests against my words, "I'm gonna be fine if it takes long, don't w-"

"Kang," I take his name, trying to sound serious, "Minjae is already out and cosy in the arms of Morpheus, you have driven too much as well, and I can really take the train. Go home."

After so much of insisting, he finally decided to leave. "Be safe, take care." I nod and smile in a kind way, leaning towards his window, "I will. Take care you too." He rolls the windows up and goes away, so I walk to the porch of the house, holding onto the little one's hand.

"Good evening." I smile as I reach to the tall one, his eyes travelling down to my lips as he repeats the words, "good evening." Mister Jeon steps aside and lets us enter the house. We go inside, Haerin also seeming tired and out of her energy. "Did you have a good weekend?" He locks the door and comes to me, his half-opened and sharp eyes not leaving me, making me feel so nervous, I nod.

"Did you?" He walks past me, kind of answering after thinking about it, "I did too. I slept well, so I guess, you can say I enjoyed my day." He opens the fridge and gets out a bottle of flavoured water, "you seem to be a little out of breath. Have it."

His attractive, veiny hands open the cap and he passes the bottle over to me as I didn't even notice how I'm sounding, not even a bit. Embarrassed, I take it and take a few sips, his gaze on me but not for long, it drifts low to my neck. And for some while, it stays there, like he's inspecting my skin from the far. "Have you hurt yourself?"

I knew it, this bruise on my neck can be seen now after the make-up I wore over it had got washed off.

I almost choke on the water but the bottle and shake my head right away, "I did not. It's just a scratch, I accidentally scratched myself." He comes closer without a warning and my breath hitches up in my throat and I don't even breathe normally, "it's looking bad, wait a second. I'll get something for it or else it can cause an infection."

I can't believe he's going to do this. It's only a small injury.

"Here," he brings it quickly, exiting the nearest bathroom, and puts the antiseptics and bandages on the counter. "I want to sleep..." Haerin leaves my grasp and runs off somewhere, out of the blue, stressing me out. "Haerin, come here." I turn to go but mister Jeon stops me, grabbing my wrist, "it's alright. She can rest."

I shiver at how strong and warm his touch was, but on the contrary, how he cares to not be harsh with it.

My back sticks to the wall, his intense eyes fixate on the wound below my neck which he looks at from the close. His cool breath hits my skin and I shudder from the spine, hoping for this moment to pass quickly. "I'll apply some cleansing alcohol so it's going to burn a bit, but you'll be fine."

I simply fix my posture, taking time to ease my breath once he moves back. Mister Jeon cups my throat gently only to move my head to face to side, and he rubs the cotton swab on the bruise. I can't lie, this hurts like hell.

"That's it." He takes his hand back once that particular area is cleaned, he applies a soothing gel on it which cools it down. His heavy touches make me feel sick in my stomach, but I don't seem to hate that. "After some time when it dries, I'll stick the band-aid." He tells me the reason for bringing the bandage with him, and I nod, letting him do his thing as he knows more than me, obviously.

Mister Jeon goes discards the cotton ball and cleans his hands in the sink, "can you wait for me in my office? I'll be there soon."

I follow his instructions and exit the kitchen to look out for Haerin and I find her sleeping on the sofa, her eyes shut tight and she seems comfortable in her position. I don't want to disturb her, so I let her be. And I walk towards his office. Opening it, I step inside. I never intended to, but I find myself feel curious to peek at the photo album kept opened on the large table.

As soon as I take a step forward to get a better view of the Polaroids, the sound of the door creaking alerts me and I stay where I am, still as ever.

"Oh, I didn't take them out. My bad." Mister Jeon joins me, his strong hand carrying a cup of coffee; from the smell and aroma that spreads around, I can tell that it's a black one. And it's very bitter. "This is for you. And now you can put the bandage." He gives another one to me, the one he had been holding in another hand, he then closes the photo book with subtleness. Coming closer to me, mister Jeon stands against my body and rips the paper apart to stick the bandage on my neck, his fingers brushing past my hot skin.

I glance up at his eyes and feel them soften as he looks down in mine, "it's a sweet tea. It's rose milk latte. Have it, hmm..." He fixes his gaze at me, giving me a brief information about this beverage which I'm going to consume, shortly.

"Oh," my lips curve upwards without my will, as a form of gratitude, I finally avert the heavy eye-contact with him that I managed to nail. "Thank you, it's nice to have it in this season..." he doesn't show any disagreement, sipping his own drink,  "it surely is," he goes past my body to go behind and walk to the old, wooden armoire kept next to the window.

"Can you take this out for me, please?" He asks me to do so, his eyes on the documents kept above the bundle of papers. I scurry to him after keeping my cup on the table, "this one?"

"Yeah, and the files as well." I bend down after he moves aside, and I grab the stuffs he has asked me to, making sure I'm not going to screw up and make a mess of myself because I always do, whenever I'm given an opportunity to work. Carefully, I take them out and grab the file as well, peeking at the tall one as he takes these from my arms.

"Grab a pen and sit down," he walks back to his table and sits down on his office chair, keeping his cup down as well. He wears his round glasses while I make my way to the opposite side, I sit down and hold the pen in my hand.

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