VLIVE | j.jk

t h i r t y - s i x

ARCHIE
D-4

archie played with the sleeves of his sweater as he powerwalked down the street of mia's house the next morning. he had 15 minutes until his morning shift and he was absolutely positive the minute he found parking and stepped out of his car he was being followed by someone.

"shoot shoot shoot," he mumbled as he tripped over a stone. "it's too early in the morning for this."

oh mia so owes me!

feeling his heart pound begging to be released from his chest he stopped in his tracks and made a 180 turn, the thought of what he had to do for her making him second guess his life.

"i can't do this—pft!" archie scrambles in the arms of a familiar large man and screams only to find it snuffed out by the man's hands.

"do anything stupid and i will do things my way and hurt her family."

archie cringed at the line but it didn't make him any less terrified. he nodded quickly and the man let go then forced archie to continue walking as normal alongside him.

"you're going in there and you're going to get them to tell you where they are hiding. i need exactly where they are hiding. i know they didn't tell you everything. so you better find out," he says.

archie rolls his eyes in the dark of the morning. "and what if i report back to you and lie?"

"what a wonderful question," the man says sarcastically, patting archie's shoulder, tapping to a tiny device he had placed on archie when he surprised him seconds prior.

"of course there's some spy device on me," he mutters.

"do what i say and there's no reason you can't go home today."

archie gulped, his steps slower when he saw they were getting closer to the house.

the man shoved him forward, "don't. even think about it."

MIA & JEONGGUK

mia and jeongguk spent their morning in a semi-comfortable silence as jeongguk cooked the bacon and mia made pancakes on a skillet. their new routine had a rhythm to it that was comfortable but everytime they'd have to be near each other for an ingredient or a napkin or whatever else they had in their limited stock pile, they would freeze up, awkwardly smile and then continue.

it wasn't like they needed to talk—well, perhaps. they were both rather flustered about the elephant—or rather—butterflies in the room last night.

but no one seemed to bring it up so they should be fine.

finally, they sat across from each other on their sites picnic table to enjoy their meal, saying thanks to each other for what they were about to consume.

mia tried to hide the sound of her racing heart with a large bite of mapled pancakes and bacon as if that was any less embarrassing only to find a strange taste in her mouth. she paused and looked up at jeongguk who seemed to mirror her exactly.

suddenly his stuffed cheeks widened until he was biting back a laugh with a tight-lipped smile.

mia couldn't help but snort at how ridiculous he looked. she covered her mouth to stop the food from coming out.

seems as though while they were preoccupied with not talking, they forgot to actually make their meal taste good.

with mouth full of food, mia declared, "we awe still eatin alwv of it."

jeongguk shut his eyes as he tried to control his laughter but nodded nonetheless.

so they ate their disgusting breakfast and took turns blaming each other for who did what wrong.