The Elephant Between Us || SKZ

chapter nineteen

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THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR BUT FEAR ITSELF

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They were about to cross the street to get to their building when, from the other side, Jeongmin noticed the shape of a man in a suit leaning against it, smoking while slowly creating messy shapes with all the smoke he expelled.

Jeongmin didn't need to get much closer to realize the intense stare he had on her.

He barely blinked.

Jisung?

Jeongmin's body flinched and, before she could do anything about it, Bangchan had already noticed the glimpse of fear on her face. From the frown on her forehead to the curved shape of her lips, everything on her told him she had seen something she wasn't expecting to. Glancing around, he approached her, which made her elbows drop a little - his body right by her side made her feel safer crossing the street.

"What's wrong?" He whispered, chuckling out of worry. "It looks like you've just spotted a ghost somewhere."

"Nothing," Jeongmin answered in a similar tone, looking at him in the eyes before forcing a smile. "It just got colder."

"Do you want my-"

"No, thanks."

In less than twenty seconds, Jeongmin's nostrils touched the toxic smoke that shaped man expelled and, in seven, she was standing next to him, impatiently waiting for Bangchan to take the keys out of his pocket and open the door.

Now that she had got closer, he no longer seemed to be looking at her. Instead, he had his head turned to the opposite side, and Jeongmin couldn't help but curse at him under her breath.

Won't you stare at me now?

Looking at that man from the corner of her eyes, Jeongmin tried to recognize him, yet it was way too dark: there was no way she could identify him, let alone spot any familiar detail.

F.cking coward.

"Hey, Jeongmin, come," Bangchan called Jeongmin lowly, holding three of her fingers as he silently noticed her gaze on the man leaning against the building. 

With no questions involved, Bangchan received Jeongmin's nod with a smile, taking three steps inside only once he was sure she was going to follow behind.  

Jeongmin was about to take her second step when she was suddenly stopped by a cold big hand, which grabbed tightly by the wrist. Her eyes widened the moment she realized it was from the man outside, having fun with the toxic smoke he expelled. 

It's him, Jeongmin, he came for you.

Before Bangchan could interrupt, Jeongmin motioned for him to go upstairs alone. Something deeper than her bones told her it was Jisung and, although that made her heart panic, she didn't want to have Bangchan involved at all. She could take care of it alone, or that was what she hoped. 

It didn't go the way she had expected though. 

In a movement quicker than her reasoning, Bangchan exited the hall and, with no further interactions, pulled the cold hand away from Jeongmin's wrist: he was not going anywhere without her, and that stole a gasp out of her mouth.

"Do you need anything, Sir?" He asked as Jeongmin tightened her grip around Bangchan's smooth warm fingers. 

As he threw his cigarette onto the ground and stepped it with the front of his shoe, the man in a suit raised his gaze to look right into Bangchan's brown eyes, lifting his chin as his hands found comfort in the inside of his pockets.

Jeongmin let out a sigh the moment she saw Felix licking his lips while straightening his posture.

Relax, it's not him.

Her sudden relief though: in two seconds, all she could feel was anxiety mixed with frustration and a soft bit of guilt. What was he doing there, anyway? She hadn't told him her address, and she was sure his house wasn't even close to that small piece of earth she lived in.

It didn't look like a tourist visiting the Banquet, and Jeongmin's first instinct was to look at Bangchan.

"I see you don't stick to the same for long, huh?" Felix commented, laughing as he patted Bangchan's shoulder twice. "Brown hair, brown eyes, broad shoulders and- what is this?" Under the serious gaze of Bangchan, Felix slid his fingers to feel the volume of his forearm. "Gym subscriber? This one's new." Chuckling, the male winked at her, and Bangchan pulled away abruptly. "You got a good eye, honey."

Jeongmin was about to speak when Bangchan suddenly pulled her closer to his back.

"Do you need anything from us, Sir?" That time, he didn't speak so nicely.

"I do, yes." Felix cleared his throat, his right index finger pointing first at Jeongmin and then at himself. "I do need you to leave us alone. Right now."

"May we know what it is about?"

Looking at her while slowly tilting his head to her side, Felix mouthed 'Have you told him already?' and, interpreting her hard gulp as a 'no', smiled and took a glance away. Nothing in the world would ever make him a gossiper. Ew. According to his principles, it had to be her telling him, yet of course, he could always give it a nudge.

Felix wouldn't be that Felix if he didn't, after all.

"Hmmm." Looking at Bangchan, the male hid a smirk behind his teeth. "I don't think she'd like sharing these things with you, buddy." Then, he whispered. "It's kinda too intimate."

Bangchan glanced at Jeongmin slowly enough for her heart to die and revive four times in a row.

Asshole.

She tried to hide the trembling of her fingers, she really did, yet she was not even close to succeeding in that mission: Bangchan could feel it against his skin and, more than ever, despite the words he had just heard, he felt like taking Felix's teeth out of his goddamn mouth, one by one.

"Do you want me to leave?" Bangchan asked her in a low tone yet, before she could answer, Felix took a few steps in their direction and combed a few strands of her blonde hair with two of his slim fingers. 

"Since you insist." He told Bangchan and, before Jeongmin could step away, reached out to whisper in her ear a couple of secret smiling words. "Tic, tac, tic, tac, tic," Felix held on to a soft chuckle and, placing a gentle kiss on her lobe, left on her mind a last slow word. "tac."

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