His Obsession ➸ Taekook ✓

- Second -

Hey! Today's my birthday! So... double update!!!💕
Ah, and don't forget, there is no error. If something seems strange to you, maybe it's part of the story....

~🥀~

Jungkook dropped his bag on his desk and let out a long sigh. His back hurt like hell, so much so that he had to stretch and massage it for a good minute before slumping back into his wheelchair, which slowly moved away from the desk under his weight. He was really tired, he'd had a really hard time getting up this morning, and had to shoot himself up with caffeine to keep his eyes open. He started massaging his temples, hoping to get rid of his morning headache.

"You look like shit, Jung." shouted a woman to his right.

The young man barely looked up at her, contenting himself with a simple grunt. She'd just arrived too, so she put her bag down at her feet, took out her laptop and the documents she'd brought from home, and settled down at her post too.

"Seriously though, Jungkook, you look really scary. You're paler than usual, are you sure you're all right? Do you want some vitamins? I always carry some with me just in case..."

Jungkook shook his head.

"No, I'm fine: I'm not sure they'll go down well with the litre of coffee in my blood..."

He straightened up, stretched one last time and turned to the woman.

"Thanks anyway, Lia."

Lia had been his work colleague for over a year now, and she was one of the few people he got on with. After his business studies, he had managed to find a job in this ready-to-wear company, and was really living the life of an ordinary Seoulite employee. He got up, went to work and came home exhausted. It was only at weekends and one or two evenings a week that he indulged in a few late-night escapades.

"There's been a breakdown on my line." he explained. "I had to take a bus instead of the metro, and it took me an extra hour. Especially as it was packed. Normally, I should have started half an hour ago..."

"Ouch, I hope the boss doesn't say anything to you..."

He shrugged disinterestedly.

"Well, I'm still good for overtime. It's no big deal."

Lia gave him a sympathetic look, before clapping her hands and smiling.

"Cheer up, Jungkook! It's Friday: if we hang in there a bit longer, we'll be able to enjoy our well-deserved weekend!"

He smiled back.

"It's the only thing that keeps me going."

They chatted for a while, Lia telling him how her dog had got his head stuck between the bars of her balcony, and how she'd had to distract him with a toy. Jungkook loved Lia's company: she always had funny anecdotes to tell, and was always unfailingly positive. Even if he didn't miss the dark circles under her eyes. She was slightly younger than him, twenty-five if he was not mistaken, but the world of work had already sucked all the energy out of her. At the same time, she was a bit like him: with no family to support her financially, she had had to build herself up on her own, and with an enormous amount of effort. Life was never kind to people like them.

Suddenly, someone walked past their offices and placed a pile of documents on the young man's desk. Jungkook looked up, meeting his department head's gaze.

"Here are the proposals made by the marketing team for the winter collection, and I need you to put everything together and give us a presentation in two weeks. Do you think you can do it on your own, Jung?"

Jungkook quickly looked at the pile of documents with a slightly disgusted expression, before nodding.

"Yes, Mr Han, you can count on me."

The man nodded and walked away, shutting himself in his office.

"Are you going to be all right?" Lia asked him when she was sure no one could hear them. "Do you want to divide up the work? I've almost finished mine, and I'm ahead of schedule."

"Don't worry, you can rest while you're at it. Two weeks is plenty of time."

Lia wasn't convinced, but seeing the annoyed look on the young man's face, she preferred not to insist. She had never seen Jungkook get angry, but she had this proverb well in mind: the calmest and quietest are often the most dangerous. When he seemed moody, she often decided not to interfere. It was their balance, and it suited them just fine.

Jungkook, for his part, reluctantly picked up the first file and began to leaf through it.

"Come on, let's get to work..."

***

When he looked up from his documents, it was just under eight o'clock.

"Well, I'll stop here for today..."

He quickly turned off his computer and put the file he was working on in his bag. He put the rest in one of his drawers. He was exhausted, no, you could even say worn out. He didn't like this job at all, but he'd known that when he was a student. However, the pay was decent and his job was secure, and that was all that mattered to him. He wouldn't risk ending up on the street because he didn't like his job.

Besides, his real life was starting now. He grabbed his coat, which he put on quickly, and threw his bag over his shoulders. He left the company at full speed, thanking the heavens when he saw his bus arrive at the end of the street. He hated having to wait for it in the cold, especially as winter was already here. When he got on, he managed, by some miracle, to find a seat. The journey was quite long, almost an hour, but the place he was going to was a long way from his place of work. He didn't want to risk running into anyone he knew there. It was his own little moment, and he didn't want one of his acquaintances, whose company he didn't usually enjoy, to spoil his weekend. He was already bored enough at work, he wasn't going to bring any more problem with him when he wasn't there.

When he heard the name of his stop, Jungkook rushed to the door and was the first to get out when it opened. This neighbourhood was nothing like the one where he worked. You could even say that with his shirt and tie, he really stood out in this colourful setting, in front of these neon signs. Itaewon was the dark side of Seoul, where passions ran wild, where people came to forget themselves for an evening. And if during the day he gave the impression of a clean-cut young man, at night Jungkook became a completely different person.

He took a determined step forward, zigzagging between the pedestrians who had invaded the streets, and finally arrived in front of a sign that was brighter and more eye-catching than the others. Its warm red and orange colours were a natural eye-catcher, bewitching passers-by. It was a cabaret, the kind you don't see much of these days. It had a vintage feel to it, and despite the hustle and bustle of the alleyways, you could hear the music wafting through the air. Jungkook let his gaze wander over the name of the sign, which he found as poetic as ever: "Polar Night". He glanced at his watch: almost twenty-one. Well, he clearly wasn't early, but it was still manageable.

"Come on, let's get going."